I am looking for a cellular provider that offers WiFi calling


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I am trying to find a provider that offers WiFi calling as well as all the other things (unlimited talk and text, etc) it also needs to allow BYOD, since I have a perfectly good phone. I currently am using Red Pocket, and pay $19/mo for unlimited talk/text and 1GB of mobile data, but I am fairly sure that I won't be able to find anything around that price anywhere else. If anyone can suggest a carrier to look into I would appreciate it.

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If you are in North America, you have either AT&T Mobility or T-Mobile (both directly, and via their prepaid and MVNO partners in T-Mobile's case - Metro and Tracfone).  Xfinity Mobile has a similar deal via Verizon WIreless.

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17 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

You try Ting?

Not yet, I can get a discount from them since I work for Amazon, might be worth looking into

13 minutes ago, PGHammer said:

If you are in North America, you have either AT&T Mobility or T-Mobile (both directly, and via their prepaid and MVNO partners in T-Mobile's case - Metro and Tracfone).  Xfinity Mobile has a similar deal via Verizon WIreless.

Ah, MetroPCS, had them for years, but they got really bad, so I left them. Xfinity wireless I could not find any info about BYOD except for iPhones, which I do not have.

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2 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Not yet, I can get a discount from them since I work for Amazon, might be worth looking into

Might not be to your liking, but I have Mint Mobile right now. You don't pay per month, but in 3-6-9 month intervals. Think the cheapest is $30/mo tho...

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1 minute ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Not yet, I can get a discount from them since I work for Amazon, might be worth looking into

Ah, MetroPCS, had them for years, but they got really bad, so I left them. Xfinity wireless I could not find any info about BYOD except for iPhones, which I do not have.

Xfinity Mobile is a JV between Comcast and Verizon Wireless - and uses the cable backbone of the former and the wireless network of the latter.  Metro is now owned by T-Mobile, and uses their network.  Tracfone uses both T-Mobile's network and that of Verizon Wireless (and is owned by Amarillo Slim's American Movil - and is the largest MVNO in the United States -  and is my own cellular provider, incidentally; I am on the T-Mobile half of the network, which is why I have access to Wi-fi calling myself).  Wi-fi calling is very much equipment-dependent as far as reliability goes; I find it works best with telephony routers - such as those deployed by cable companies - such as Comcast/Xfinity, and commercial routers (as opposed to home/prosumer routers).

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1 hour ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I am trying to find a provider that offers WiFi calling as well as all the other things (unlimited talk and text, etc) it also needs to allow BYOD, since I have a perfectly good phone. I currently am using Red Pocket, and pay $19/mo for unlimited talk/text and 1GB of mobile data, but I am fairly sure that I won't be able to find anything around that price anywhere else. If anyone can suggest a carrier to look into I would appreciate it.

https://www.textnow.com/plans

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4 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I'd forgotten about them, the biggest issue with them is that you can not use 3rd party text message or phone, and seeing as I use Trucaller and Textra, that is a deal breaker.

T-Mobile and Tracfone let you use whatever you want - I use Facebook Messenger for darn near everything (including voice calls).

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I just switched from Cricket over to Metro by T-Mobile a couple months ago and love it.

 

They support wifi calling among a bunch of other nice things.

 

I have my fiance's line on my plan and we're paying $84 a month for unlimited talk/text/data + 2gb of hotspot data | visual voicemail (free) | auto spam/scam call blocking w/ easy to use black/white lists in an app that works at carrier level (the spam/scam blocking is free, the user editable blacklist is a $2/month per line addition to your monthly bill so I find that completely worth it) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.privacystar.android.metro&hl=en_US 
(base price would be $50/month if you subtract the extra line and the blacklist subscription and they offer a $40 plan as well if you don't need hotspot use)

14 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Ah, MetroPCS, had them for years, but they got really bad, so I left them. Xfinity wireless I could not find any info about BYOD except for iPhones, which I do not have.

They've definitely improved now that T-Mobile owns them; I'd recommend giving them another shot (that's the nice thing about no contract carriers; you can test them out and switch out at will if you don't like their service :))

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6 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

I have my fiance's line on my plan and we're paying $84 a month for unlimited talk/text/data + 2gb of hotspot data | auto spam/scam call blocking w/ easy to use black/white lists in an app that works at carrier level (the spam/scam blocking is free, the user editable blacklist is a $2/month per line addition to your monthly bill so I find that completely worth it)

TrueCaller can do all that, too. ;) 

 

Spam/scam calls, they have recommendations for those, if 100,000 people say it's scam, it will tell you.

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4 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

TrueCaller can do all that, too. ;) 

 

Spam/scam calls, they have recommendations for those, if 100,000 people say it's scam, it will tell you.

I don't think TrueCaller works at a carrier level though (at least not that I can find) I used it for a short time when I was still on Cricket;

 

NameID is provided by T-Mobile and if it blocks a scam number it does it from carrier end and doesn't even ring my phone; I just get the block notification (if notification enabled of course)

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1 minute ago, Brandon H said:

I don't think TrueCaller works at a carrier level though (at least not that I can find) I used it for a short time when I was still on Cricket;

 

NameID is provided by T-Mobile and if it blocks a scam number it does it from carrier end and doesn't even ring my phone; I just get the block notification (if notification enabled of course)

Oh, missed that part... carrier level. But it is still helpful. :) 

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14 hours ago, PGHammer said:

If you are in North America, you have either AT&T Mobility or T-Mobile (both directly, and via their prepaid and MVNO partners in T-Mobile's case - Metro and Tracfone).  Xfinity Mobile has a similar deal via Verizon WIreless.

ATT won't allow wifi calling on devices not purchased in their store. If you have an unlocked, non branded Galaxy for example, no wifi calling for you. The exception being iPhones. And no wifi calling regardless unless you're post paid. 

 

If you really want ATT coverage and wifi calling on a BYOD that is also an iphone, but only want to do prepaid,  one of their mvnos, Cricket, does allow wifi calling on unlocked iPhones. Cricket throttles their data speeds though to 8mbit and it is noticable when you're scrolling throw pic heavy apps like instagram.

 

Verizon prepaid also does wifi calling but you don't get visual voicemail. Not sure about their mvno called visible. Verizon post paid offers wifi calling on just about any byod device if it supports their Network.

 

Your best bet is TMobile but coverage leaves a lot to be desired. 

Edited by shockz
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4 minutes ago, shockz said:

Your best bet is TMobile but coverage leaves a lot to be desired. 

IDK a couple years ago I would have agreed with you but their coverage map seems to have exploded over the last year; especially with their acquisition of MetroPCS (at least in the Midwest where I'm located)

 

https://www.metropcs.com/coverage.html OP is in Florida it looks like so he shouldn't have any issue :)

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