FLLA phones?

isie said:
Well i transferred an MP3 via Bluetooth to this unit so it does work.
I don't understand though,
The phone itself is mobile already , if you want her to user a mobile handsets why not just put the sim in a cheap cellphone?
Click to expand...
Thanks, yes that is a good option .
 
bobcpt said:
Have you thought about using a Huawei B315 or B525 router which has a telephone jack on the back of the device? You would place the flla sim card into the router, set it to always use the 3G band and lastly connect the dect phone to the telephone port. These routers can be bought second hand on Gumtree starting around R500.

It also gives you the option of using it as an internet connection or using voip (B315) if you want to go that route.
Click to expand...
Thanks great , that is an interesting option I never thought of, I'll check it out.
 
Telkom have a dlink router where you can plug your fixed line or portable in , support voip too . Not sure about model number tho
 
alanj9za said:
Thanks great , that is an interesting option I never thought of, I'll check it out.
Click to expand...

You are welcome.

Depending on whether your mother wants to keep her landline numeber, you can swop the flla simcard for a telkom freeme simcard to save money on the monthly 'air' rental. FLLA costs R210 per month before any calls, while the entry level Freeme top-up package costs R100 per month which includes 3000 Telkom to Telkom minutes. It is a much better value proposition in my opinion.
 
jcheek said:
My parents are in a retirement home in the Morningside / Paulshof area in the north of Jo'burg. In the last 6 months their complex has had several visits from a Telkom sales team trying to persuade them to move to FLLA due to cable theft / damage in the area. As yet they have not had official notification of a "forced migration" and Telkom cannot give me a definitive answer on whether this is actually going to happen or not.

As it happens, the analogue voice/ADSL services in this area have actually been very stable over the past few years, so I'm not sure what criteria Telkom use to decide who to migrate and when.

I would consider FLLA to avoid any future disruptions, but - as already mentioned in this thread - they already have a sizeable investment in cordless DECT phones that need an analogue POTS jack to work :-\
I moved them off ADSL onto fixed-wireless LTE a few months ago, so that part of things is taken care of. For now they are good with a landline carrying voice only.
Click to expand...

So the past year has seen continued "aggressive marketing" (read : harassment) in this complex to try and persuade people to move to the FLLA service, but still with no official cut-off date for the copper lines. Then a few weeks back all the phones in the complex suddenly stopped working. Telkom claim this was due to "massive cable theft" in the area and say they don't have any plans to fix it. Since there has never been significant cable theft / loss of service in the past, I have my doubts as to whether the "fault" was genuine. Rather, think it might have been engineered to force people to move. Either way, the official line is now "move to wireless/FLLA or no more service". Nice one, Telkom - now you have a whole suburb just looking for any voice alternative so that they can toss you.

As regards the official Telkom options, they are indeed now supplying the D-Link DWR-720PW (very similar to the Atel KGP-AW125) as a "standalone" desktop cellular phone solution.
756716

For people who have existing multi-handset DECT cordless phone setups, they are pushing either the Huawei B525 or D-Link DWR-956M hybrid routers. Both are fairly conventional 4G/LTE routers that also support making GSM/3G/VoLTE phonecalls from analogue POTS phones via one or more RJ-11 sockets on the back. My parents were offered the D-Link version:
756718

But as always ... beware of "Telkom capture" : the basic FLLA service has an "access fee" of R210 per month and includes the DWR-720PW "free" (I think), to which you can add various calling plans ranging from an additional R18 to R422 per month.
There are also the SmartVoice plans that start at R199pm (SmartVoice Basic) and work their way up to R599pm (SmartVoice Unlimited). All these plans include only the DWR-720PW desktop cellphone (or an "entry-level smartphone") as part of the deal; the DWR-956M router option incurs an additional charge and/or is subject to a 24-month contract. See points (8) and (11) of the SmartVoice T's & C's here.
All the SmartVoice deals include some quantity of data which seems to be separate from that required to support whatever "free minutes" are included. It's not yet clear to me whether the analogue calls are carried over GSM/3G or VoLTE, but I suspect the former.

The access fee, the full-on 4G/LTE modem/router and the included data on the SmartVoice plans are all an unnecessary and massive overkill for people who just want to continue make calls using their old DECT phone solution. On the lookout for alternative/better solutions ...
 
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Some alternatives to landline phones, and to the FLLA phone on Telkom's cellphone network:
  1. If you want to keep your landline number, VOIP (calls over the internet). These can be with a fixed/cordless phone plugged into the back of a router that connects to the internet. VOIP can also be set up on a smartphone. Some VOIP providers are Vox, Axxess, Mweb, Switchtel, Freshphone.
  2. If you don't want to keep the telkom number, a basic/feature cellphone, or a smartphone, with a prepaid sim in it, can make calls over the cellular network. I took this route, using a Cell C anynet voice plan. There are several of these Cell C anynet calling plans, ranging from R7 to R200. I mainly use the one for R200. lasts 30 days, gives 15 hours of calls, and toll-free and emergency numbers are free. An alternative is Cell C's prepaid 66c/min calling plan.
  3. There are also phone calls using apps on a smartphone or computer where both parties have the same app, eg Whatsapp, Skype.
Maybe these threads will be helpful:
 
argh said:
Some alternatives to landline phones, and to the FLLA phone on Telkom's cellphone network:
  1. If you want to keep your landline number, VOIP (calls over the internet). These can be with a fixed/cordless phone plugged into the back of a router that connects to the internet. VOIP can also be set up on a smartphone. Some VOIP providers are Vox, Axxess, Mweb, Switchtel, Freshphone.
  2. If you don't want to keep the telkom number, a basic/feature cellphone, or a smartphone, with a prepaid sim in it, can make calls over the cellular network. I took this route, using a Cell C anynet voice plan. There are several of these Cell C anynet calling plans, ranging from R7 to R200. I mainly use the one for R200. lasts 30 days, gives 15 hours of calls, and toll-free and emergency numbers are free. An alternative is Cell C's prepaid 66c/min calling plan.
  3. There are also phone calls using apps on a smartphone or computer where both parties have the same app, eg Whatsapp, Skype.
Maybe these threads will be helpful:
Click to expand...
Thanks, argh - some useful links there. That CRDB link for looking up ported numbers is handy!

I'm familiar with most of those options; I ported my Telkom analogue landline to SwitchTel VoIP some years ago using an OpenServe fibre line as the carrier. The SwitchTel VoIP pricing and customer experience is pretty smooth but I have to say the audio quality is variable at best, even with the best codecs and a high-speed fibre line. There are also a lot of dependencies (ie power up, fibre line up, ONT up, router up, switch(es) up, AT adapter up ...) before it works - not a robust solution for the non-tech-savvy when compared to an analogue landline. We don't even want to talk about VoIP calling on a PC (think elderly folks lol).
I would think that for most folks being railroaded into a wireless solution, number porting is a big consideration. Many people will have had the same landline number for literally decades.

Using a "desktop cellphone" like the DWR-720PW is a pretty straightforward cellular solution. Plugging analogue phones into the back of a router (B593, B315, B525, MF286 etc) and forcing it to route them over cellular (GSM/3G) is also pretty straightforward.
But has anyone here tried using a VoIP solution (like SwitchTel) on a router that is only connected to the internet for 4G/LTE data (no GSM/3G voice service) ? From my own experience with VoIP-on-fibre I can't imagine that VoIP-over-4G is going to be all that great. Although the newer 4G/LTE modem/routers (like the D-Link DWR-956M) support VoLTE, I'm not sure whether Telkom is actually using VoLTE to carry voice on the SmartVoice plans.
 
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jcheek, you are much more knowledgeable about VOIP than me. Thanks for all the information.
 
argh said:
jcheek, you are much more knowledgeable about VOIP than me. Thanks for all the information.
Click to expand...
It doesn't matter who is more or less experienced in anything; the power of a forum lies in information sharing!
The links and options you have brought to the table - while perhaps simpler - are incredibly useful, perhaps more so than you realise. Thanks again!

So ... over the weekend I did some research at my parents' place using the D-Link DWR-956M router that Telkom dropped off on the SmartVoice contract. The device is a lot smaller than one might think, about the size of an A5 book and about 1" thick. Its most imposing feature is the four relatively large antennas, two for 4G/LTE and two for Wi-Fi :
757518
The DWR-956M has dual-band Wi-Fi and is fibre-ready; there is a WAN socket (for a feed from a fibre ONT) on the back panel, along with a single RJ-11 socket for plugging in an analogue phone.
The router is somewhat customised for Telkom and the firmware has a 'setup wizard' that is actually quite user-friendly, it guides the novice user through a basic setup of creating UserID/Password combo for the device's login page, doing a basic (wired) DHCP network setup and setting up Wi-Fi. There is a SIM tray on the underside that takes the Telkom-supplied 'SmartVoice' (or other) micro SIMcard:
757524
After running the setup wizard, the internet (data) side of the things worked pretty much out the box. Voice calls made from an analogue phone (corded or cordless) plugged into the back phone socket worked fine too.

Accessing the router's "advanced settings"page revealed a 3-way setting that allows voice calls originating from the analogue phone socket on the back to be routed in one of 3 ways:
  • 'CS' ("Circuit-Switched") - meaning voice calls are carried as a normal cellular call (GSM or 3G) over a dedicated digital voice circuit;
  • 'VoIP' - meaning the call will be carried on a SIP/VoIP link over the router's 4G/LTE or fibre WAN connection;
  • 'VoLTE' - meaning the call will be carried using the dedicated VoLTE protocol over 4G/LTE.
  • 'Auto' - like the name says (this was the default setting as Telkom deployed the device)
The router's front panel has a few indicator LEDs; one of them (the rightmost one in the pic below) indicates which phone mode is in use : solid green for CS, blinking green for VoLTE and solid blue for SIP/VoIP:
757540
Out the box, the 'phone' light was solid green indicating CS mode, ie the device was routing over a normal cellular voice circuit. Changing the voice-call setting to explicit CS on the router made no difference, ie phonecalls still worked fine.

Conclusion : At least for now, Telkom is routing voice calls originating from the back-panel RJ-11 socket as normal cellular (GSM or 3G) calls, ie they are not doing anything special (like using VoLTE).

My parents already had LTE internet using a ZTE MF286 router that was supplied previously under an MWeb-over-CellC contract. That contract was recently migrated to an MWeb-over-Telkom contract due to CellC exiting the fixed-wireless market. So we already had a working MF286 setup and that device has some nice additional features including a lithium-ion backup battery and two RJ-11 analogue telephone sockets (the D-Link DWR-956M only has one).

After moving the Telkom SmartVoice SIMcard from the DWR-956M to the MF286 and changing a few settings, I was able to make phonecalls and get internet on the MF286 as well - no problems. My parents used to have two incoming analogue telephone lines, one feeding a set of 3 DECT cordless phones and the other feeding a wired bedside extension/fax (yeah, I know). I plugged both RJ-11 cords into the MF286's two RJ-11 sockets and all worked fine. Calls originating on either of the analogue phone sockets are carried over the same cellular circuit and appear to the called party as originating from the same number, which in my parents' case was the number ported from their old landline. Happiness.

Subjective impressions so far, using the ZTE MF286 router and an old Siemens analogue corded phone and three Panasonic DECT cordless phones :
  • Audio quality from all the analogue phone sockets is excellent - as good as any normal 'good' cellular call;
  • Call volume is excellent at both ends;
  • Dial tone sounds a little different (no warble, just a long, continuous tone);
  • It takes a little while longer for a dialed call to connect and for the router to recover (give back dial tone) after a call is terminated - about 10 seconds for both;
  • The voicemail number on the Telkom cellular network (181) is different to what it was on the analogue landline network and voicemail needs to be set up from scratch.
Nothing too much there that the elderly folks can't deal with. Happiness again.

So, the superfluous DWR-956M (with its horrible 2-year contract) will be returned to Telkom this week; and the 2nd voice/fax line my parents had will get cancelled.

So : if you already have a 3G or 4G/LTE cellular modem/router that has analogue phone support, it seems this can be used directly with the SmartVoice contracts with no particular issues. It is now proven to work with the ZTE MF286, it is almost certainly possible with the Huawei B315 or B525, and I have done something similar in the past with a Huawei B593 (2 phone sockets).
If you are starting from a clean slate, it will of course also work with the D-Link DWR-956M that Telkom supplies with a 2-year contract. But it may be a better option to purchase a router and go month-to-month, avoiding the contract with Telkom. With the steady uptake of fibre internet, there are plenty of these types of routers on the 2nd hand market.
 
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jcheek said:
It doesn't matter who is more or less experienced in anything; the power of a forum lies in information sharing!
The links and options you have brought to the table - while perhaps simpler - are incredibly useful, perhaps more so than you realise. Thanks again!

So ... over the weekend I did some research at my parents' place using the D-Link DWR-956M router that Telkom dropped off on the SmartVoice contract. The device is a lot smaller than one might think, about the size of an A5 book and about 1" thick. Its most imposing feature is the four relatively large antennas, two for 4G/LTE and two for Wi-Fi :
View attachment 757518
The DWR-956M has dual-band Wi-Fi and is fibre-ready; there is a WAN socket (for a feed from a fibre ONT) on the back panel, along with a single RJ-11 socket for plugging in an analogue phone.
The router is somewhat customised for Telkom and the firmware has a 'setup wizard' that is actually quite user-friendly, it guides the novice user through a basic setup of creating UserID/Password combo for the device's login page, doing a basic (wired) DHCP network setup and setting up Wi-Fi. There is a SIM tray on the underside that takes the Telkom-supplied 'SmartVoice' (or other) micro SIMcard:
View attachment 757524
After running the setup wizard, the internet (data) side of the things worked pretty much out the box. Voice calls made from an analogue phone (corded or cordless) plugged into the back phone socket worked fine too.

Accessing the router's "advanced settings"page revealed a 3-way setting that allows voice calls originating from the analogue phone socket on the back to be routed in one of 3 ways:
  • 'CS' ("Circuit-Switched") - meaning voice calls are carried as a normal cellular call (GSM or 3G) over a dedicated digital voice circuit;
  • 'VoIP' - meaning the call will be carried on a SIP/VoIP link over the router's 4G/LTE or fibre WAN connection;
  • 'VoLTE' - meaning the call will be carried using the dedicated VoLTE protocol over 4G/LTE.
  • 'Auto' - like the name says (this was the default setting as Telkom deployed the device)
The router's front panel has a few indicator LEDs; one of them (the rightmost one in the pic below) indicates which phone mode is in use : solid green for CS, blinking green for VoLTE and solid blue for SIP/VoIP:
View attachment 757540
The light was solid green indicating CS mode, ie the device is routing over a normal cellular voice circuit. Changing the voice call setting to explicit CS on the router made no difference, ie phonecalls still worked fine.

Conclusion : Telkom is routing voice calls originating from the back-panel RJ-11 socket as normal cellular (GSM or 3G) calls. At least for now, they are not doing anything special (like using VoLTE).

My parents already had LTE internet using a ZTE MF286 router that was supplied previously under an MWeb-over-CellC contract. That contract was recently migrated to an MWeb-over-Telkom contract due to CellC exiting the fixed-wireless market. So we already had a working MF286 setup and that device has some nice additional features including a lithium-ion backup battery and two RJ-11 analogue telephone sockets (the D-Link DWR-956M only has one).

After moving the Telkom SmartVoice SIMcard from the DWR-956M to the MF286 and changing a few settings, I was able to make phonecalls and get internet on the MF286 as well - no problems. My parents used to have two incoming analogue telephone lines, one feeding a set of 3 DECT cordless phones and the other feeding a wired bedside extension/fax (yeah, I know). I plugged both RJ-11 cords into the MF286's two RJ-11 sockets and all worked fine. Calls originating on either of the analogue phone sockets are carried over the same cellular circuit and appear to the called party as originating from the same number, which in my parents' case was the number ported from their old landline. Happiness.

Subjective impressions so far, using the ZTE MF286 router and an old Siemens analogue corded phone and 3 x Panasonic DECT cordless phones :
  • Audio quality from all the analogue phone sockets is excellent - as good as any normal 'good' cellular call;
  • Call volume is excellent at both ends;
  • Dial tone sounds a little different (no warble, just a long, continuous tone);
  • It takes a little while longer for a dialed call to connect and for the router to recover (give back dial tone) after a call is terminated - about 10 seconds for both;
  • The voicemail number on the Telkom cellular network (181) is different to what it was on the analogue landline network and voicemail needs to be set up from scratch.
Nothing too much there that the elderly folks can't deal with. Happiness again.

So, the superfluous DWR-956M (with its horrible 2-year contract) will be returned to Telkom this week; and the 2nd voice/fax line my folks had will get cancelled.

So : if you already have a 3G or 4G/LTE cellular modem/router that has analogue phone support, it seems this can be used directly with the SmartVoice contracts with no particular issues. It is now proven to work with the ZTE MF286, it is almost certainly possible with the Huawei B315 or B525, and I have done something similar in the past with a Huawei B593 (2 phone sockets).
If you are starting from a clean slate, it will of course also work with the D-Link DWR-956M that Telkom supplies with a 2-year contract. But it may be a better option to purchase a router and go month-to-month, avoiding the contract with Telkom. With the uptake of fibre internet, there are plenty of these types of routers on the 2nd hand market.
Click to expand...
Thanks for you clear and detailed post, and explaining technical details in a way that anyone can understand (including me!). I hope that those considering VOIP read your post, because it will answer a lot of VOIP questions that have appeared in the VOIP-related threads.
 
bobcpt said:
Have you thought about using a Huawei B315 or B525 router which has a telephone jack on the back of the device? You would place the flla sim card into the router, set it to always use the 3G band and lastly connect the dect phone to the telephone port. These routers can be bought second hand on Gumtree starting around R500.

It also gives you the option of using it as an internet connection or using voip (B315) if you want to go that route.
Click to expand...
Great pointers there from bobcpt.

thehuman said:
Telkom have a dlink router where you can plug your fixed line or portable in , support voip too . Not sure about model number tho
Click to expand...
The D-Link router thehuman refers to is the DWR-956M/TK, which seems to be a "Telkomized" version of the overseas DWR-956, with added support for legacy analogue phones.
See D-Link(SA) web page (with links to setup guide for use on Telkom network) here.
See the full Telkom datasheet on the device here (and copy attached).
Fibretiger did a review on it here.
 

Attachments

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jcheek said:
...
So, the superfluous DWR-956M (with its horrible 2-year contract) will be returned to Telkom this week; and the 2nd voice/fax line my parents had will get cancelled.
Click to expand...

Started the process of downgrading the FLLA/cellular line from SmartVoice300 to SmartVoice100 and returning the DWR-956M router to Telkom for credit. I feel more than a little trepidation for how much pain the latter issue might cause me lol.

I also decided against cancelling the 2nd voice line, in favour of porting it to SwitchTel VoIP. For R49/mo for the VoIP line, R150 for the port and some odd Rands in call time, I will be able to do some tests to see how well VoIP works over 4G/LTE. My folks live practically in the shadow of a cell tower, so their 4G/LTE signal is excellent, we'll see if that translates into good VoIP call quality. If it works well, we'll port everything to SwitchTel; if not, we'll just stay with the (expensive!) Telkom FLLA/cellular service.
As a bonus : The whole porting/line cancellation process is driven by SwitchTel, and from previous experience it's absolutely seamless. The first Telkom will know of the line cancellation is when a number port instruction arrives from SwitchTel. For the pleasure of not having to deal with Telkom for canceling a line, the princely sum of R150 is a bargain :love:

Also : Speaking to the SwitchTel staff is the epitome of what customer service should be. Compared to the Telkom 10210/10213 call centres, it's like your call got routed to a different planet.

Disclaimer : the writer is in no way affiliated to SwitchTel lol
 
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In the process of researching the Telkom FLLA/SmartVoice offerings, I saw that some of them include some quantity of minutes to Telkom fixed-line and Telkom Mobile numbers. For example, all the SmartVoice plans include "unlimited" calls (max 50 hours) to Telkom Fixed and Telkom Mobile numbers (source : here).
This got me wondering : is a call to a Telkom FLLA number regarded as being to a Fixed or Mobile phone ?
At the technology level, the "last mile" to the destination phone is a cellular call, so it's being carried on the Telkom Mobile network. But Telkom are pushing these FLLA lines as "fixed-line replacements". So which is it ?
For what it's worth, the staff at the Telkom 10213 call centre say that a call to an FLLA phone will be charged as a fixed-line call. I have my doubts. I see some discussion in other threads about Telkom's "All-network" minutes not being truly "all". So I guess we'll see ....

Anyone got first-hand knowledge/experience with this ?
 
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jcheek said:
Started the process of downgrading the FLLA/cellular line from SmartVoice300 to SmartVoice100 and returning the DWR-956M router to Telkom for credit. I feel more than a little trepidation for how much pain the latter issue might cause me lol.

I also decided against cancelling the 2nd voice line, in favour of porting it to SwitchTel VoIP. For R49/mo for the VoIP line, R150 for the port and some odd Rands in call time, I will be able to do some tests to see how well VoIP works over 4G/LTE. My folks live practically in the shadow of a cell tower, so their 4G/LTE signal is excellent, we'll see if that translates into good VoIP call quality. If it works well, we'll port everything to SwitchTel; if not, we'll just stay with the (expensive!) Telkom FLLA/cellular service.
As a bonus : The whole porting/line cancellation process is driven by SwitchTel, and from previous experience it's absolutely seamless. The first Telkom will know of the line cancellation is when a number port instruction arrives from SwitchTel. For the pleasure of not having to deal with Telkom for canceling a line, the princely sum of R150 is a bargain :love:

Also : Speaking to the SwitchTel staff is the epitome of what customer service should be. Compared to the Telkom 10210/10213 call centres, it's like your call got routed to a different planet.

Disclaimer : the writer is in no way affiliated to SwitchTel lol
Click to expand...
Regarding cancelling a Telkom service: I first cancelled my ADSL line, and a month later the landline phone, on the Telkom website. It worked! The only extra steps were having to register on the website, and phoning billing on 10210 to ask which of the reference numbers shown on the cancellation page to use.

VOIP over LTE: I saw on the Vox website that Vox is now offering sim-only Telkom LTE, and unlimited VOIP calls can be added for about R171/month. Vox also sells an appropriate LTE modem if required.
 
bobcpt said:
Have you thought about using a Huawei B315 or B525 router which has a telephone jack on the back of the device? You would place the flla sim card into the router, set it to always use the 3G band and lastly connect the dect phone to the telephone port. These routers can be bought second hand on Gumtree starting around R500.

It also gives you the option of using it as an internet connection or using voip (B315) if you want to go that route.
Click to expand...
thanks @bobcpt - any screenshots / tutorial of how a Huawei B315 router should be set up to use legacy Analogue / DECT phones with the Telkom FLLA SIM ?

I found the tutorial below of how to set up a B315 for Freshphone VoIP / SIP. but I gather the settings will differ for Telkom FLLA:

http://help.freshphone.co.za/support/discussions/topics/17000005021
 
Space said:
thanks @bobcpt - any screenshots / tutorial of how a Huawei B315 router should be set up to use legacy Analogue / DECT phones with the Telkom FLLA SIM ?

I found the tutorial below of how to set up a B315 for Freshphone VoIP / SIP. but I gather the settings will differ for Telkom FLLA:

http://help.freshphone.co.za/support/discussions/topics/17000005021
Click to expand...

I don't have a FLLA sim card, but have setup a prepaid Telkom Mobile simcard into a B315 router which is dedicated for use with a dect phone.
- Connect the analogue phone using a telephone cable to the gray rj11 jack on the back of the router.
- Put the sim card into the router.

Login to the router (e.g. 192.168.8.1) and change the following settings:

1) As far as I know the FLLA service uses an apn called telkominternetflla. Create a new profile and set the profile and apn name to telkominternetflla.
759776


2) Set the network to always use 3G instead of LTE.
759778

3) Unless you use the data associated with your flla simcard, you can disable the mobile data connection. Click on the up/down arrow button to enable/disable the mobile data connection.
759780

4) Dial a number from the analogue handset to test the setup.
 
Great how-to-guide there, bobcpt !
That setup should work fine.

One observation : these modem/routers effectively provide two separate connections to the cellular network : one for digital voice calls (over GSM or 3G) and one for data (over 3G/4G). The APN name is only associated with the data connection. If the data side of the router is not used, you should not even need to set that APN name for cellular voice calls to work from the analogue phone sockets. Provided the SIMcard in the router is enabled for voice and has airtime, routing of voice calls from the analogue RJ-11 socket(s) to the cellular voice network should work fine.

See this old post for a (very) brief description of how it works on the Huawei B593, specifically:
  • If the network mode on the modem/router is set to "4G only", cellular voice calls are not possible.
  • If the modem/router is set to "3G only", the voice call proceeds immediately over the 3G cellular voice network.
  • If the modem/router is set to "Auto", the device would drop out of 4G/LTE (data only) mode into 3G mode for the duration of the voice call, then go back to 4G/LTE mode when the call is terminated.
The behaviour on the B315 should be similar.

Of course, if you want to route voice calls from the analogue phone sockets over VoIP, then you are effectively using the 'data side' of the router and you need an active data connection.
 
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@jcheek outbound telephone calls and ussd command don't work while the B315 router is forced to use the 4G connection. If you leave the network mode on auto, it connects on the LTE band by default and drops to 3G when you make a call. It does not appear to support VOLTE/Hd voice which would have been nice. By setting it to use 3G, I suspect/hope that it also reduces the amount of time that it takes to setup a call and it keeps the LTE band for data usage.
 
Hey @bobcpt !

bobcpt said:
outbound telephone calls and ussd command don't work while the B315 router is forced to use the 4G connection.
Click to expand...
OK, so same behaviour as on the B593 then.

bobcpt said:
If you leave the network mode on auto, it connects on the LTE band by default and drops to 3G when you make a call.
Click to expand...
Ditto ...

bobcpt said:
It does not appear to support VOLTE/Hd voice which would have been nice.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I guess we will see usage of VoLTE growing slowly over the next while.
I have to say though, I can't fault the call quality I've experienced so far on plain old cellular voice calls made from the analogue phone sockets.

bobcpt said:
By setting it to use 3G, I suspect/hope that it also reduces the amount of time that it takes to setup a call and it keeps the LTE band for data usage.
Click to expand...
I'm using the data connection actively for internet on the ZTE MF286, so have no option but to use Auto mode on the Telkom SmartVoice SIMcard.
I suspect the 4G-to-3G switchover is where most of the call setup delay arises.

Interesting feedback, thanks!
 
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