Here in the canyon area the cell phone coverage is horrendous and it’s not just Verizon, it’s all of them. Dropped calls, no service messages, just about everything that can go wrong does.

It is so bad that I actually thought that Verizon was deliberately screwing with the service to get me to buy one of their new $1400 phones. However I chatted with a comms guy who specializes in commercial service and he said it has nothing to do with my phone. He said it’s the 4G/5G crap
They are tinkering with and it’s every provider.

So, given that background and the fact that my internet seems very robust and highly stable, is there sone way I can exploit wifi and turn off cell service here at the house until I get about 1/2 mile away and I get 4 bars?

TIA

Don't know what phone you have, but when I'm at home my iPhone automatically runs off wifi. It only goes on the cellular network when I leave home.

Verizon does that. Last time I had them I had exactly that setup.

Call em up and they'd tell you how to configure your phone, or they'll send you a booster that you connect to your network that behaves as a cell tower.

Most mobile carriers support "WiFi calling" which allows your mobile device to receive and initiate calls over an Internet connection. The type of Internet connection doesn't matter, it could be WiFi, a cellular data connection, or even a wired connection (although that would be pretty stupid for a mobile device). This uses VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) AKA SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to connect to one or more SIP servers administered by your provider. There is nothing to prevent one from using the same technology to any random SIP provider, except that the built-in dialer and pjpme spftware assume use of the provider's server with no way to configure another. There are plenty of add-on SIP apps that will let you use an alternative provider.

If your provider supports this there will be an item to enable WiFi calling in your phones settings. May help to google for your specific provider and phone unless you enjoy paging through dozens of unrelated configuration option, or (horrors!!!) contact their technical support.

My Samsun S20 has the option to enable that under settings/connections/WI-FI calling. Then there is an option for entering your address in case you need to dial 911 while using it. Of course your cell phone provider needs to support it but I suspect most of them do.

Verizon and ATT are very picky about which phones they allow to use WiFi calling.
T-Mobile - I have yet to find a phone with the feature that it doesn't just work.

For someone on VRZ or ATT I would suggest a company store bought phone that the carrier says supports it. And even then once in a while they send out a new firmware that breaks it, that happened to a family member.

I bought an unlocked phone from BestBuy that was exactly the model that AT&T said would support WiFi calling, and when it wouldn't their support just huh it should sorry.

When we switched to T-Mo it worked immediately.

iPhones are probably the best guarantee for it to work.

like others, i'm with verizon, with wi-fi calling!

wi-fi at home, network when i drive away!!

You shouldn't need to turn off cell service. If your cell coverage is that bad your phone should automatically switch to WiFi Calling. You may have to enable it. ISTR I did on my iPhone. (It's under Settings -> Cellular there.)

I did have a problem for a short while where our cell service was good enough to work most of the time, but it'd be spotty. This resulted in erratic phone and messaging. I had to force the phone over to WiFi Calling when at home. Haven't had to do that for a while.

Yep, you already have your answer but to pile on...

We can get cell service here, barely. Most cell calls will drop within the first minute.

Wifi calling... you turn it on yourself on your phone, you don't have to involve the carrier at all, if your phone is equipped. It (for us) is perfect and it seamlessly switches between cell and wifi on the fly.

Doesn't cost any extra either.

You can't get cell service much worse that what I get here in my part of SoDak. Thanks to a local entrepreneur who set up a small business boosting Wifi from a Verizon tower to area farms and residences so I am able to get cell service.

I also have a VTech phone connected to my land line that has a 'cell' button and through my bluetooth connection I am also able to get my cell phone calls through it.

Download the app "Google Voice." It is a WIFI calling-only system that does a "ton" of other really cool things.

""""Google Voice is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service that allows users to make phone calls, send texts, and more. It works on smartphones and computers, and syncs across devices.

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:


Wifi calling... {snip} ....

Doesn't cost any extra either.

It benefits the carriers to get you off their towers and onto WiFi. The expensive towers have limited (albeit large) capacity and the more people who are willing to offload their voice/data from these towers, the better for them.

My daughter is on Verizon and works for one of the CA State Universities. Her office location gets about zero cell phone signal. She just got a new iphone 15 and turned on "calling over wifi." It didnt work at all. VZW is telling her that "it must be the university is blocking their internet signal from doing wifi calling."

Is that even possible? Would Google voice get around that? Any other ideas?

She's talked to the tech people at school and they just blame VZW.

quote:

Originally posted by ranger312:
My daughter is on Verizon and works for one of the CA State Universities. Her office location gets about zero cell phone signal. She just got a new iphone 15 and turned on "calling over wifi." It didnt work at all. VZW is telling her that "it must be the university is blocking their internet signal from doing wifi calling."

Is that even possible? Would Google voice get around that? Any other ideas?

She's talked to the tech people at school and they just blame VZW.

So does her calling over wifi work elsewhere like at home or at the library etc. You can turn off the cell radio with airplane mode to test this --- leave only WiFi on in airplane mode.

Also, I assume she can do other things on the wifi at the university, like getting to web sites etc??

We have Verizon cell phones. Android & Apple.
We have less than 1 bar of Verizon cell signal at the house & cabin.
We have cable Internet at the house.
We have fiber optic Internet at the cabin.
Both locations have WiFi and an interior cell tower connected to the Internet.
I believe the technical name for the interior cell tower is a metrocell.
One we bought, the other Verizon provided free when I threatened to switch carriers.
All cell phones, ours and guests, operate as if they had five bars of conventional cell signal from a Verizon cell tower.

+1 Verizon.

quote:

Originally posted by ranger312:
My daughter is on Verizon and works for one of the CA State Universities. Her office location gets about zero cell phone signal. She just got a new iphone 15 and turned on "calling over wifi." It didnt work at all. VZW is telling her that "it must be the university is blocking their internet signal from doing wifi calling."

Is that even possible? Would Google voice get around that? Any other ideas?

She's talked to the tech people at school and they just blame VZW.

First have her confirm that she's actually connected to the Wi-Fi network there.

Been using WiFi Calling on the iPhone since 2014 I think. 10 years or close to that. I remember the announcement that it was coming out was 2014. Cell service at my house isn’t the greatest. Before all these assholes invaded the area from out of state, it was 50/50. Since, it’s abysmal. I’d drop calls at the house without WiFi calling.

Call Verizon and complain about the dismal service you’re paying for. They sent me a “booster” for free. Our signal went from one bar to a full four or five. Works great.

Public places CAN set their systems to not allow Wi-Fi calling while still allowing Internet browsing. I've seen this in numerous places.