Poor EE signal area but WiFi calling not working

[57Ford]

Morning all,
Hoping you can solve this incredibly frustrating issue for me please gents. It's severely hampering my output.
My current client have moved into a new office and the EE signal is really poor. Outdoors is patchy but indoors is virtually non-existent and calls repeatedly have dropouts or eventually fail entirely.
My phone is an iPhone 17P running latest iOS and it's connected to the client's WiFi network via the AP which is approx 6m away from my desk. It performs perfectly well when browsing but even with WiFi Calling enabled, the call connection's rubbish.
Client's IT seem stumped as to why WiFi Calling won't work for me and since I'm a contractor, they aren't too concerned.
I've tried all sorts of setting changes to no avail. I've tried putting it into Flight Mode and reenabling WiFi but when I try to make a call the phone starts whinging that I need to connect to a network or turn off Flight Mode.
I really don't want to shift to a different network because I've been with EE for around 20 years and find their service excellent everywhere else. I believe I can pop an additional SIM in this phone can't see how that would work because everyone knows my current number so it'd just be confusing if I started calling from a new number when in the office but the old one the rest of the time when I'm out and about.
I can use What'sApp and Teams here quite happily on the computer but only once I've made initial contact with new suppliers via phonecall. Unfortunately when people need me, they are dialling my phone.

Is there a 4G signal distributor that I can connect to the client's WiFi (not allowed to plug anything into it)? Since this is not a permanent thing ( possibly <12 months), I don''t want to spend fortunes.
Any other suggestions please? I'm at my wits' end!

[superpp]

perhaps get a 4g mifi router (pocket size) off ebay and put a cheap lebara sim in it.
this will create your own wifi network which your phone can call out through.

[57Ford]

superpp said:

perhaps get a 4g mifi router (pocket size) off ebay and put a cheap lebara sim in it.
this will create your own wifi network which your phone can call out through.

Cheers, I do have a couple of EE 5G home hubs so might try that with a different SIM in it if it’s not locked to EE.

[camel_landy]

That's by design...

When it comes to the different bearers (Wifi vs cellular) and making a voice call, it doesn't calculate which one to use based on any kind of signal strength or performance, it just selects based on availability. So if cellular is available (no matter how crap), it will try and use it...

I have the same issue where I live and I find the simple workaround is to simply put it into flight mode but enable Wifi. The phone should then use WifiCalling and NOT try switching to cellular (VoLTE).

M

Edited by camel_landy on Friday 9th October 10:54

[GlenMH]

camel_landy said:

I have the same issue where I live and I find the simple workaround is to simply put it into flight mode but enable Wifi. The phone should then use WifiCalling and NOT try switching to cellular (VoLTE).

Pixel phones have the option to set a preference for making the call between Wifi calling and cellular. I am also in the same position of iffy coverage, particularly inside the house but that setting has made my calls so much more reliable.

[sicarumba]

camel_landy said:

I have the same issue where I live and I find the simple workaround is to simply put it into flight mode but enable Wifi. The phone should then use WifiCalling and NOT try switching to cellular (VoLTE).

Edited by camel_landy on Friday 9th October 10:54

I don't know if iPhones have a similar feature, but I am in a similar position with very poor EE signal at home (work SIM so no option) - it's a Samsung Galaxy which does Bixby Routines. I was able to set up quite a neat little routine which automatically enables flight mode when I arrive home. And when I leave home it reverses it.

For anyone interested in the exact rules, it's an IF / THEN setup :

IF:
Wi-Fi network connected to <my Wi-Fi ssid>

THEN:
Flight Mode : On
Wi-Fi : On
Bluetooth : On

When Routine Ends :
Flight Mode : return to previous status
Wi-Fi : return to previous status
Bluetooth : return to previous status

[57Ford]

RIGHT! Does anyone want an iPhone17P? You'll need to retrieve it from beside the wall at the other end of the office...
I swear I tried the Airplane Mode and enable WiFi last week and it worked to a degree, but today the phone just refuses to dial out and gives me a message to say No Network Connection, Connect to a WiFi network or disable Airplane Mode to make a call.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll add them to my list of things to try.

[sicarumba]

I don't know if it's worth trying this, but I did notice when trying to get my EE signal up a bit I was able to change the network mode from "4G preferred" down to 3G and even 2G which did increase the signal strength a little. Not to any usable degree for me, but you may have more luck with it.

[shtu]

Is the place using any proxy or similar to secure/inspect outbound traffic?

WiFi calling works by creating an encrypted tunnel between the handset and the mobile provider, in such a way that it can appear to not be coming from a device on the local network.

I've had a similar problem at home recently, and after hours of work found that my PiHole adblocker was silently ignoring the DNS request as it didn't look like it's on my LAN. Modifying a setting in PiHole to ignore that fixed it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pihole/comments/q6lect/wi...

It may well be something similar in your case. There's other things to check, but that was what fixed it for me.

If the IT gonks aren't interested,

superpp said:

perhaps get a 4g mifi router (pocket size) off ebay and put a cheap lebara sim in it.
this will create your own wifi network which your phone can call out through.

Is a pretty good solution. WiFi calling uses almost no data, so a billy-basic data allowance will do.

Edited by shtu on Friday 9th October 15:28

[Harpoon]

GlenMH said:

Pixel phones have the option to set a preference for making the call between Wifi calling and cellular. I am also in the same position of iffy coverage, particularly inside the house but that setting has made my calls so much more reliable.

It's the providers choice if they do or don't expose that option. I'm on ID Mobile and I don't have the ability to set a preference.