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But I'm sure you're intelligent enough to realize that the users on HoFo are far from an accurate representation of the general population of cellular customers. The average customer isn't paying for service on multiple carriers. Pointing out that a handful of phone junkies on a tech website who pay for service with several carriers isn't a strong case for argument.

I haven't seen anyone bragging here bragging about using WiFi calling to make up for T-Mobile's shortcomings on the road or in rural areas. It's just something useful to have in buildings where cellular signals can have trouble penetrating. No matter how much you downplay it, it's a nice feature to have rather than not. I'd certainly prefer to use Wi-Fi calling over the $100 cell boosters that AT&T/VZW sell and I'm sure their customers would prefer that as well. If their coverage was so strong in all buildings then they wouldn't even offer them.

There is no setup to the cell boosters, i dont have to give out my wifi password, and anybody in my house can use it. most public wifi stinks, cant even facetime from it...like Panera for example. but that is an entire other conversation.
 
I do have a T-Mobile phone- how do I know if I'm even using wifi calling? Does it just switch over automatically if it senses the wifi signal is stronger?
 
There is no setup to the cell boosters, i dont have to give out my wifi password, and anybody in my house can use it. most public wifi stinks, cant even facetime from it...like Panera for example. but that is an entire other conversation.

But weren't you just claiming that talk + data isn't a useful feature since public wifi is great and all over your area? Which is it?

I didn't say signal boosters don't work well. But rather that they are not free and you can't carry them with you for when you go to work in a basement or shop at a mall for example where cell reception might be weak. When I complained to Verizon about how their service was garbage in my area despite the "excellent" service shown on their maps, they suggested I pay $99 for a booster because their maps are inaccurate. Guess how much I'll have to pay to use Wifi calling? WiFi calling is useful. Why is it so hard to admit just because Verizon doesn't offer it yet?

That's like someone claiming VoLTE isn't useful or something because their carrier doesn't offer it yet and current GSM/CDMA works fine.

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I do have a T-Mobile phone- how do I know if I'm even using wifi calling? Does it just switch over automatically if it senses the wifi signal is stronger?

It's not available yet on the iPhone until iOS 8 is released. From what I've seen of people using the iOS 8 beta, it shows "T-Mobile Wi-Fi" at the top instead of the signal bubbles.
 
But weren't you just claiming that talk + data isn't a useful feature since public wifi is great and all over your area? Which is it?

I didn't say signal boosters don't work well. But rather that they are not free and you can't carry them with you for when you go to work in a basement or shop at a mall for example where cell reception might be weak. When I complained to Verizon about how their service was garbage in my area despite the "excellent" service shown on their maps, they suggested I pay $99 for a booster because their maps are inaccurate. Guess how much I'll have to pay to use Wifi calling? WiFi calling is useful. Why is it so hard to admit just because Verizon doesn't offer it yet?

That's like someone claiming VoLTE isn't useful or something because their carrier doesn't offer it yet and current GSM/CDMA works fine.

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It's not available yet on the iPhone until iOS 8 is released. From what I've seen of people using the iOS 8 beta, it shows "T-Mobile Wi-Fi" at the top instead of the signal bubbles.

Not every square inch of the tri-state is on cable hotspots. Even though on most public non-cable wifi, one can browse, even if netflix is not useable due to bandwidth and/or throttling.

i have the same issue at my house with every carrier...im in a dead zone and have a signal booster. there is no doubt i wish vzw would open it up and allow wifi. however, i cant ever recall being somewhere, except home, where the signal was bad and had wifi. Usually bad signal places mean no wifi either.

This just popped up:
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/08/26/verizon-volte/
 
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Weird how some carriers cripple or disable features like that on phones.

Why not allow that dual band feature?



Battery life?


Battery life? No I'd bet it's so you use your data more instead of wifi. Especially Verizon att with their capped data plans.

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Not every square inch of the tri-state is on cable hotspots. Even though on most public non-cable wifi, one can browse, even if netflix is not useable due to bandwidth and/or throttling.

i have the same issue at my house with every carrier...im in a dead zone and have a signal booster. there is no doubt i wish vzw would open it up and allow wifi. however, i cant ever recall being somewhere, except home, where the signal was bad and had wifi. Usually bad signal places mean no wifi either.

This just popped up:
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/08/26/verizon-volte/


Won't this use your data too?

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Sorry didn't read. No
 
most public wifi stinks, cant even facetime from it...like Panera for example. but that is an entire other conversation.

Funny a few days ago you were raving how there's public wifi everywhere and its blanked the NYC area in the other conversation about Verizon's Talk and use data limitation. Now public wifi stinks and its slow:D
Make up your mind lol


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There are a lot of posts about not needing data because wifi is available at every nook and cranny. Where is the wifi these people allude to that allow talk and surf on iphone? The NY metro area is blanketed with hotspots, even the rails and subways are getting into the act.

The only time one probably wouldn't have wifi, is while driving and for those of us who are smart....we should be off our phones.
 
There is no setup to the cell boosters, i dont have to give out my wifi password, and anybody in my house can use it. most public wifi stinks, cant even facetime from it...like Panera for example. but that is an entire other conversation.

But, if you have trouble obtaining a call signal in areas you visit frequently, like home or work, then wi-fi is most certainly an easier option, since it's ready to go and you only need to do the setup once. Also, I would assume that wi-fi calling uses a lot less data than Facetime.
 
There's no reason wifi calling is a bad thing. Cmon. You don't have to use it but if it's there and u need it it's nice
 
Funny a few days ago you were raving how there's public wifi everywhere and its blanked the NYC area in the other conversation about Verizon's Talk and use data limitation. Now public wifi stinks and its slow:D
Make up your mind lol

You're not following. The tri-state area is blanketed by cable hotspots from Comcast and Cablevision. (Maybe Verizon, I don't know) These hotspots are fairly good (example: https://www.optimum.net/internet/hotspots/) and you can get them if you are a subscriber to their respective services.

Then there are the public hotspots such as Starbucks, Panera, Dunkin Donuts and all of the business that offer free wifi. Some of these hotspots are perfect for "talk and surf" but not so much for anything streaming, depending.

Those hotspots that are limited, might also impact wifi calling, which was my point. However, in the tri-state area there is virtually nowhere you won't be able to make a call. While I won't turn down added features and it would be cool if VZW offers wifi calling, it's not really necessary for me. It's true there are places in the fringes I could go without wifi, which means no talk and surf for me; but I don't really care.

You guys can up-play talk and surf all you want; and if you need it you need. I don't need it with what I do in life.

That I have a network extender in the house at this point is superflous. During hurricane sandy and two weeks without power, we all managed fine with our cell phones and ipads; even though I'm in a "dead" zone.

To me wifi calling and talk and surf are meh. To each their own and YMMV.

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But, if you have trouble obtaining a call signal in areas you visit frequently, like home or work, then wi-fi is most certainly an easier option, since it's ready to go and you only need to do the setup once. Also, I would assume that wi-fi calling uses a lot less data than Facetime.

With VZW I even got a good signal in the middle of the Grand Canyon. It's rare there isn't a good enough signal to make a call, but it has happening in the middle of nowhere and where I was at that time...wifi wasn't anyway. So it really depends on your situation.
 
Verizon doesn't need Wi-Fi calling. They get signal almost everywhere and inside most buildings. T-Mobile not so much.
 
Verizon doesn't need Wi-Fi calling. They get signal almost everywhere and inside most buildings. T-Mobile not so much.

There's bad areas and dead spots with every carrier. Don't drink the verizon koolaid that fast.
Wifi calling is great to have on any carrier in the world. It's a bonus option to those that have it available.
 
There's bad areas and dead spots with every carrier. Don't drink the verizon koolaid that fast.

Wifi calling is great to have on any carrier in the world. It's a bonus option to those that have it available.


Lol I know like having wifi calling is a bad thing or something.
 
I was thinking about taking the T-Mobile test drive, reading through the fine print I read this "A fee of $100 will be assessed if the device is damaged or has an active Find My iPhone feature".

Now i understand the damaged part, but i am not sure what they mean by the "active Find My iPhone feature".

Any thoughts on this.
 
There is no setup to the cell boosters, i dont have to give out my wifi password, and anybody in my house can use it. most public wifi stinks, cant even facetime from it...like Panera for example. but that is an entire other conversation.

You need to change Panera stores as I see people, multiple people, using not only Facetime but also Skype on a regular basis!
 
I really wanted to switch from AT&T to T-Mobile this month because my contract is coming to an end so I took advantage of their Test Drive program which loans you an iPhone 5s for a week. Unfortunately there wasn't a time where T-Mobile out performed (voice and data reception). Driving around my neighborhood (I live in a very populated suburb of DC) the data was really spotty, going from LTE to nothing in under a block. While driving to my parents house in NC, taking two very big highways it would be LTE around the cities, but would be EDGE, GPRS or nothing in the long stretches in between.

With AT&T I get LTE 75% of the time down the highway and 4G the other 25% of the time. I also get LTE all the time in my neighborhood.

Hopefully they'll still have this Test Drive program in 2 years, I will definitely give them another chance.
 
I was thinking about taking the T-Mobile test drive, reading through the fine print I read this "A fee of $100 will be assessed if the device is damaged or has an active Find My iPhone feature".

Now i understand the damaged part, but i am not sure what they mean by the "active Find My iPhone feature".

Any thoughts on this.

They just want to make sure they can wipe the phone and it's still usable after you return it. As long as you disable it or have the passcode so the rep can disable it, it'll be fine. I just did an Erase all settings and content before returning mine and the rep appreciated I did that for her.

Also you get to keep the earpods after the Test Drive!
 
They just want to make sure they can wipe the phone and it's still usable after you return it. As long as you disable it or have the passcode so the rep can disable it, it'll be fine. I just did an Erase all settings and content before returning mine and the rep appreciated I did that for her.

Also you get to keep the earpods after the Test Drive!

Cool, thanks.
I ordered it, if this phone works inside my house i thnk we are going to switch
 
I really wanted to switch from AT&T to T-Mobile this month because my contract is coming to an end so I took advantage of their Test Drive program which loans you an iPhone 5s for a week. Unfortunately there wasn't a time where T-Mobile out performed (voice and data reception). Driving around my neighborhood (I live in a very populated suburb of DC) the data was really spotty, going from LTE to nothing in under a block.

Which suburb?

I'm in NoVA often. Usually around Tysons or out in the suburbs (Loudoun County). With the amount of wealth in that area and how densely populated it is, one would expect good T-Mobile service, but that is the opposite of the real experience.

EDGE/GPRS holes are everywhere! It should be all LTE, but I barely even get HSPA. AT&T/VZW have a dense cell-grid that is all LTE there. No holes in their networks. And T-Mobile's service hasn't improved one bit over the last few months.
 
Which suburb?

I'm in NoVA often. Usually around Tysons or out in the suburbs (Loudoun County). With the amount of wealth in that area and how densely populated it is, one would expect good T-Mobile service, but that is the opposite of the real experience.

EDGE/GPRS holes are everywhere! It should be all LTE, but I barely even get HSPA. AT&T/VZW have a dense cell-grid that is all LTE there. No holes in their networks. And T-Mobile's service hasn't improved one bit over the last few months.

I'm in Woodbridge. The holes are so strange too. I'll get 4g going north on a road, but no data going south on the same road. Getting Edge and GPRS is basically worthless because nothing loads anyways.

I was really hoping it would be a good experience because I could shave $20+ off of my bill and get a better data plan, but I can't stream more than a few songs on Pandora before it goes out.
 
Usual verizon fanboys that snob everything their network cannot do and claim that nothing is needed or wanted that verizon cannot offer.
All verizons limitations are features to them:D

Do I detect a bit of jealousy? Tmobile is great if it works for you. No doubt about it, cheaper than verizon, with some areas (as few as they are) maybe better than verizon.

But you are right I like how tmobile fanboys tout features not really needed on verizon due to usage and/or coverage. #
 
Do I detect a bit of jealousy? Tmobile is great if it works for you. No doubt about it, cheaper than verizon, with some areas (as few as they are) maybe better than verizon.

But you are right I like how tmobile fanboys tout features not really needed on verizon due to usage and/or coverage.
Bingo. This needs to be repeated. AT&T/VZW users have next to no use for WiFi calling because our networks actually work well. Touting WiFi calling as some sort of VZW/AT&T trump card is pathetic at best.

Not to mention, public WiFi is complete junk. They are never quick enough. Almost always bogged down.
 
Bingo. This needs to be repeated. AT&T/VZW users have next to no use for WiFi calling because our networks actually work well. Touting WiFi calling as some sort of VZW/AT&T trump card is pathetic at best.

Not to mention, public WiFi is complete junk. They are never quick enough. Almost always bogged down.

Because AT&T and Verizon have perfect, full-signal coverage everywhere in the USA, right AutoUnion? :p
 
I'm in Woodbridge. The holes are so strange too. I'll get 4g going north on a road, but no data going south on the same road. Getting Edge and GPRS is basically worthless because nothing loads anyways.

This is ironic because I've noticed this around Ashburn, VA. One way you get HSPA and then come around opposite way and it's EDGE/GPRS. Makes no sense. I've pulled some fast data speeds all over this area with my AT&T/VZW devices.

Almost as if all the towers aren't upgraded or there aren't enough towers to cover the area
 
Do I detect a bit of jealousy? Tmobile is great if it works for you. No doubt about it, cheaper than verizon, with some areas (as few as they are) maybe better than verizon.

But you are right I like how tmobile fanboys tout features not really needed on verizon due to usage and/or coverage. #

Lol:)
Yes I'm jealous that I'm not getting ripped off by verizon.
And jealous that I can actually use data and talk on the phone also:D
Can you hear me now?
 
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