Galaxy A3 2017 wifi calling

[9TRUMPET9]

Right - this is driving me insane! I'll keep it as brief as possible.....I get no signal at home (rural area). Three are retiring the Home Signal Box which I have been using successfully up to now. I've got a Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 which by all accounts is capable of wifi calling. It was originally locked to EE but has been unlocked and I have been using it on 3 for years. Nobody seems to be able to tell me definitively why I can't access wifi calling - it just doesn't come up as an option like it should. Spent hours on webchats/phonecalls - Samsung tell me it is a network provider issue. 3 representative couldn't figure it out. Try Samsung again and they tell me it is because it was locked to EE, and EE can sort it. EE tell me that only 3 can enable it. I'm going round in circles and getting nowhere! Right now my only options are - 1. Going over to EE (very expensive plans and  I'm not confident it will sort the wifi calling issue). 2. Buy another phone (can't really afford it and there's **** all else wrong with this one. If anyone can help, it would be much appreciated!

[JonathanB]

Hi @9TRUMPET9,

Thanks for joining the Three Community.

That does sound really frustrating, and I'm sorry you haven't been able to get any help or answers on this. It sounds like although your phone is unlocked to all networks, it must be on EE specific software, and that this software isn't compatible with our WiFi calling. Open market Samsung phones (the ones that are originally supplied unlocked) generally do work on our WiFi calling.

On point 1, and to test the above, it might be worth getting a hold of an EE PAYG SIM, I can't speak for other networks but usually you can get a PAYG SIM for free online or £1 in lots of shops, and you wouldn't necessarily need to top it up to check if the WiFi calling reappears in your settings.

I'll ask around and see if I can get more info on this.

JonathanB

[JonathanB]

@9TRUMPET9 are you able to share the software version that is installed? And this is the most up to date version available?

Just to double check, you're going into settings, then phone, and there's no WiFi calling option in there, but it used to appear before you moved to Three?

JonathanB

[9TRUMPET9]

Thanks for taking the time to respond @JonathanB. The phone is set to  update software automatically - current version A320FLXXS9CTJ1/A320FLEVR9CTJ1/A320FLXXS9CTJ1. I've tried every method I can possibly find  online for accessing WiFi calling - it's just not there. I bought the phone new but boxed/unused on ebay - someone obviously upgraded and chose to sell it - so never had a reason to look for it before. I had it unlocked to use with Three. Thanks for the tip about trying an EE sim, easy enough to give that a go. I assume if I tried a sim borrowed from someone on EE that would achieve the same result. If that works then I guess my only option would be to move to EE though?

[JonathanB]

Hi @9TRUMPET9,

Thanks for the update, I've passed this info on to see if we can find anything else out. Yes no need to get a new PAYG EE SIM specifically, if a friend/family member has one handy that will work just as well to test.

Unfortunately the Samsung support for your phone has ended, which means they are unlikely to be releasing any new software updates to resolve this.

I'll let you know if I get any further update though.

JonathanB

[9TRUMPET9]

Well - no way round it, it seems. I'll now be an EE customer. Thanks to @JonathanB for taking the time to help, no thanks to 3 for withdrawing the Home Signal Box though........

[JonathanB]

Hi @9TRUMPET9,

I'm sorry we couldn't do more here. I'll definitely be raising feedback about this issue with software tied to EE, and potentially other networks, preventing WiFi calling access.

The only other thing I could find is that if your phone was "reflashed" (this involves wiping all data and reinstalling Android from scratch) with the open or 3 software it would solve this.

Usually reflashing is only used for repair purposes, and so I'm not sure if Samsung or an authorised repair centre would agree to do this, or if there's agreements with EE to only allow their software on the phones they supply though.

JonathanB