At the end of 2022, Vodafone began shutting down its 3G network. It was certainly a logical step and the elimination of which should promote the improvement and deployment of 4G and 5G. However, you may experience problems with calls even have a connection to one of these networks.
It’s something that It can’t just happen to Vodafone customers, but also to those who are customers of an operator who uses Vodafone coverage, being Lowi, Finetwork or Lebara in the lead here. This is mainly due to the fact that it is the 2G networks that must support the calls and their saturation can often occur.
VoLTE and VoWiFi calls for calling “over the Internet”
There are currently two possibilities to be able to make calls when the coverage is not good or when the 2G network is saturated
The ace VoLTE calls they take advantage of 4G networks to make calls using mobile data. Vodafone has been offering these calls for almost a decade now and it’s a good way to make calls when the 2G network is saturated, but not when the problem is a lack of voice coverage because in those cases 4G coverage is generally also bad.
As Vodafone explains, VoLTE calls are enabled automatically. Therefore, you will not have to do anything, although you have to activate the Voice over WiFi service.
for those VoWiFi calls, announced by Vodafone at the end of 2022 and also known as “Vodafone VoWiFi calls”. These allow you to take advantage of the WiFi network to make calls, being in this case an optimal solution both for the saturation of 2G networks and for places where voice and data coverage is weak, but there is a WiFi Internet connection. .
However, not all mobiles are compatible with Vodafone VoWiFi, having here some models of brands such as Samsung, Xiaomi or OPPO, but not all. You can view the full list in this Vodafone document.
He process to activate calls via WiFi on the mobileIf it is compatible, it’s very simple, just go to the settings and enter the connections or WiFi section. There, the option ‘WiFi calls’ will appear ready to be activated and that, by default and as long as there is a stable WiFi connection, calls are made through this network.
Alternatives for non-compatible mobiles or those of other operators
If you don’t have a smartphone that supports VoLTE and/or VoWiFi calling or you’re direct from Lowi, Finetwork or another MVNO with Vodafone coverage, be aware that in these other companies there is no VoLTE
This is where the possibility of make VoIP calls. Yes, yet another type of calling and that’s actually very similar to VoLTE, as all you need is an internet connection, either with data on 4G or 5G networks, as well as WiFi.
You don’t need to enable anything to do this, just have an application like WhatsApp or Telegram that allow you to make voice calls or video calls. These are independent of the mobile tariff contracted, so that Vodafone and the MVNOs do not intervene directly, although these are calls that consume rate data.
It should be noted that almost all mobile messaging applications already support this type of calls. Therefore, you must have downloaded one and your contact has it as well, which is the lifesaver for those occasions when traditional voice calls don’t work well and your mobile doesn’t support VoLTE and VoWiFi calls. .
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