O2 WiFi calling doesn’t work abroad

[elise2000]

Hi all

Posting this mainly in case it helps anyone else in the future, but also in case anyone has any knowledge that may help me!

I have a home abroad that I spend a lot of time at. There is virtually no phone signal in the area. It is essential I have a phone that works at my property as I use it to run my business from.
I have visited the home countless times when on my previous network (three) and my phone has been able to be used via wifi calling.
I changed to O2 recently and assumed that my phone would still be able to be used with wifi calling.
On arriving a few weeks ago my phone would not work anywhere (in house/in town etc. absolutely nowhere).
I called o2 regarding this (mainly about the wifi calling) and was told it needed to be activated in my settings (it was already obviously). Told to reset network settings/restart phone etc etc.
I called again and was told there was nothing wrong with the wifi calling and it must be the internet provider. I went through a load of fault finding things with them (Starlink) and there is no problem their end. To clarify, everything is fine on the wifi (data on phone/laptops etc) it is merely making/receiving phone calls that does not work.

At this point I googled the issue and the o2 website says “WiFi Calling is not currently supported outside of the UK. In certain circumstances, however, it may be possible to enable WiFi Calling when abroad.” I called them again, and they said that if Wifi calling is enabled in the settings then no calls whatsoever would work anywhere!). On disabling Wifi calling in the settings, the phone works fine out and about, but still not in the house.

I called them again asking what the “certain circumstances” were when you could enable Wifi calling abroad. I have since spoken to at least 4 people (in tech support and customer service). Some of which say Wifi calling should work in EU. Others say that there are no circumstances that you can enable it (yet also say the info on their website is correct!). One said it just couldn’t be enabled on pay-monthly – but on checking someone else said it couldn’t on PAYG or business either! And the classic yesterday, is I was told the “certain circumstances” would be if I moved network then another network would enable it!

Their helpful advice was to use whatsapp/facebook to make calls. This is fairly useless as the main problem is I need to receive incoming calls from landlines/people who don’t know that I can’t be contacted with a traditional phone call at present.

I have no clue why O2 do not allow wifi calling abroad – the other networks do. It’s a big iPhone feature and a reasonable assumption imo that it would be enabled wherever.

I’ve sent the above to o2 in the vague hope that someone with a modicum of knowledge may reply, but don’t hold out much hope!

[Defcon5]

If you connect to a starlink terminal in the UK, does it work then?

[elise2000]

Defcon5 said:

If you connect to a starlink terminal in the UK, does it work then?

Yes it works on WiFi calling in Uk. Won’t call over WiFi on any network over here, not just Starlink.

[Captain_Morgan]

Have you considered running a vpn back to your home network in the U.K. and making it the exit node when at home?

It might resolve your issue, if starlink can support this with its cgnat config.

[elise2000]

Captain_Morgan said:

Have you considered running a vpn back to your home network in the U.K. and making it the exit node when at home?

It might resolve your issue, if starlink can support this with its cgnat config.

I have express vpn on my phone (purely for watching the snooker on Iplayer….).

My tech knowledge isn’t that great- can you explain re nodes and cgnat config?

Thanks

[Griffith4ever]

elise2000 said:

Captain_Morgan said:

Have you considered running a vpn back to your home network in the U.K. and making it the exit node when at home?

It might resolve your issue, if starlink can support this with its cgnat config.

I have express vpn on my phone (purely for watching the snooker on Iplayer….).

My tech knowledge isn’t that great- can you explain re nodes and cgnat config?

Thanks

He means setting up a VPN server (your router usually) at home, so you you can VPN back from your phone, to your home network. However, this can be rather tricky with ISPs that give you a shared IP address (cgnat is the name for that) as your phone won't have a fixed address to contact the home VPN server, and even if it did, cgnat is shared, so you can't do it, well, you sort of can, with some tools, but its not easy.

cgnat, btw - carrier grade nat. NAT is network address translation. It's used when people like phone companies don't want the hassle of giving out real IP addresses to phones, that are constantly disconnecting and reconnecting. There are also too many! Not all do it. 3 UK give a real dynamic IP- which is why I use them.

I dropped EE as a home 5G provider the moment I realised they use cgnat. It makes this kind of thing a nightnamare.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 28th May 08:03

[Captain_Morgan]

Griffith4ever said:

elise2000 said:

Captain_Morgan said:

Have you considered running a vpn back to your home network in the U.K. and making it the exit node when at home?

It might resolve your issue, if starlink can support this with its cgnat config.

I have express vpn on my phone (purely for watching the snooker on Iplayer .).

My tech knowledge isn t that great- can you explain re nodes and cgnat config?

Thanks

He means setting up a VPN server (your router usually) at home, so you you can VPN back from your phone, to your home network. However, this can be rather tricky with ISPs that give you a shared IP address (cgnat is the name for that) as your phone won't have a fixed address to contact the home VPN server, and even if it did, cgnat is shared, so you can't do it, well, you sort of can, with some tools, but its not easy.

cgnat, btw - carrier grade nat. NAT is network address translation. It's used when people like phone companies don't want the hassle of giving out real IP addresses to phones, that are constantly disconnecting and reconnecting. There are also too many! Not all do it. 3 UK give a real dynamic IP- which is why I use them.

I dropped EE as a home 5G provider the moment I realised they use cgnat. It makes this kind of thing a nightnamare.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 28th May 08:03

Yep pretty much.

I’d suggest that tailscale might work.

You’d need the agent on your phone and then a device pc/Mac etc at home that is on 24/7, if you don’t have one then a pi or 1ltr pc or mini pc would suit.

That would run tailscale and set it up as a exit node.

That gives you some sense of where to go if your interested.

The challenges are testing it out before you depart abroad, you’ll need to find somewhere with no 4/5 G signal but with wireless.

It might be best to accept the cost and move to a vendor that allows wireless calling from abroad.

[elise2000]

Captain_Morgan said:

Griffith4ever said:

elise2000 said:

Captain_Morgan said:

Have you considered running a vpn back to your home network in the U.K. and making it the exit node when at home?

It might resolve your issue, if starlink can support this with its cgnat config.

I have express vpn on my phone (purely for watching the snooker on Iplayer .).

My tech knowledge isn t that great- can you explain re nodes and cgnat config?

Thanks

He means setting up a VPN server (your router usually) at home, so you you can VPN back from your phone, to your home network. However, this can be rather tricky with ISPs that give you a shared IP address (cgnat is the name for that) as your phone won't have a fixed address to contact the home VPN server, and even if it did, cgnat is shared, so you can't do it, well, you sort of can, with some tools, but its not easy.

cgnat, btw - carrier grade nat. NAT is network address translation. It's used when people like phone companies don't want the hassle of giving out real IP addresses to phones, that are constantly disconnecting and reconnecting. There are also too many! Not all do it. 3 UK give a real dynamic IP- which is why I use them.

I dropped EE as a home 5G provider the moment I realised they use cgnat. It makes this kind of thing a nightnamare.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 28th May 08:03

Yep pretty much.

I d suggest that tailscale might work.

You d need the agent on your phone and then a device pc/Mac etc at home that is on 24/7, if you don t have one then a pi or 1ltr pc or mini pc would suit.

That would run tailscale and set it up as a exit node.

That gives you some sense of where to go if your interested.

The challenges are testing it out before you depart abroad, you ll need to find somewhere with no 4/5 G signal but with wireless.

It might be best to accept the cost and move to a vendor that allows wireless calling from abroad.

Thanks both. Can’t do that sadly as no longer have a house in the UK.

When im next back in the Uk I think I’ll just have to change network.

[jan8p]

I'm on EE and I've never known WiFi calling to work outside of the UK.

[vaud]

Captain_Morgan said:

Yep pretty much.

I d suggest that tailscale might work.

You d need the agent on your phone and then a device pc/Mac etc at home that is on 24/7, if you don t have one then a pi or 1ltr pc or mini pc would suit.

That would run tailscale and set it up as a exit node.

That gives you some sense of where to go if your interested.

The challenges are testing it out before you depart abroad, you ll need to find somewhere with no 4/5 G signal but with wireless.

It might be best to accept the cost and move to a vendor that allows wireless calling from abroad.

Go test could be not just switch off 3G/4g and go WiFi + airplane mode?

[mcflurry]

elise2000 said:

Thanks both. Can t do that sadly as no longer have a house in the UK.

When im next back in the Uk I think I ll just have to change network.

Can you buy a sim locally plus a UK number from one of the VOIP providers?

[rossmc88]

Save a lot of hassle and use Facetime or WhatsApp calling instead?

[vaud]

rossmc88 said:

Save a lot of hassle and use Facetime or WhatsApp calling instead?

Per the OP:

"Their helpful advice was to use whatsapp/facebook to make calls. This is fairly useless as the main problem is I need to receive incoming calls from landlines/people who don’t know that I can’t be contacted with a traditional phone call at present."

[vaud]

Could you create a Google Business Voice line, and then set up call forwarding from your mobile to that new number (if your carrier supports it)? Then you can answer the google number from laptop or device.

Longer term you good migrate to just google voice away from your mobile number.

[elise2000]

mcflurry said:

elise2000 said:

Thanks both. Can t do that sadly as no longer have a house in the UK.

When im next back in the Uk I think I ll just have to change network.

Can you buy a sim locally plus a UK number from one of the VOIP providers?

Yes I could get the uk number diverted to a local sim. A bit pricey, but possible