MTN and WiFi Calling

Honestly, after using this on Cell-C because I travel a lot I had some major issues with it;

1. Even on high-speed Wifi networks the voice quality on the calls was terrible at best. It was like an old asynchronous call where only one party could speak and 2sec later the other party heard it and could reply.

2. Most Hotel and/or Free Wi-Fi networks disconnect you after a while even if you have traffic. If you don't know this your phone simply goes off line and there goes your incoming calls until you login to the hotspot again.

3. Some firewalls either block the ports or Cell-C couldnt keep their service up because for a few of my trips to some hotels my Wi-Fi calling just did not work at all, there was no connection.

I'm on MTN now because their normal roaming rates are pretty good. will be interesting to see what they do with the wifi calling.
 
Last edited:
neoprema said:
Honestly, after using this on Cell-C because I travel a lot I had some major issues with it;

1. Even on high-speed Wifi networks the voice quality on the calls was terrible at best. It was like an old asynchronous call where only one party could speak and 2sec later the other party heard it and could reply.

2. Most Hotel and/or Free Wi-Fi networks disconnect you after a while even if you have traffic. If you don't know this your phone simply goes off line and there goes your incoming calls until you login to the hotspot again.

3. Some firewalls either block the ports or Cell-C couldnt keep their service up because for a few of my trips to some hotels my Wi-Fi calling just did not work at all, there was no connection.

I'm on MTN now because their normal roaming rates are pretty good. will be interesting to see what they do with the wifi calling.
Click to expand...

That is probably only Cell C.
I've used Wifi calling on many different providers over the planet and it usually works without issue.

As for your point 2, seems you have a broken phone. When the wifi is down or disconnected it falls back to the cellular network unless you don't have roaming.
 
Ported to Cell C as I just couldn't be arsed to wait for MTN anymore.
As I'll be spending a lot of time in Asia over the next few months and need my SA number without rage inducing roaming costs.

That said, with my luck having just ported it would mean MTN is probably going to announce their wifi calling this week.
 
whatwhat said:
Ported to Cell C as I just couldn't be arsed to wait for MTN anymore.
As I'll be spending a lot of time in Asia over the next few months and need my SA number without rage inducing roaming costs.

That said, with my luck having just ported it would mean MTN is probably going to announce their wifi calling this week.
Click to expand...

i wouldnt hold my breath

Just check you handset is on the list of cell c compatible , friend took out a contract with cell C with a handset that is wifi calling capable , but not supported by cell C :wtf:
 
isie said:
i wouldnt hold my breath

Just check you handset is on the list of cell c compatible , friend took out a contract with cell C with a handset that is wifi calling capable , but not supported by cell C :wtf:
Click to expand...

That list is very old and missing a lot of their supported phones.
Check the latest franchise booklet as newer phones such as Samsung S9, etc support it as well.
Usually the franchise booklet will have a wifi calling icon on the phone throughout the franchise book.
 
Fcon_Vpro said:
That list is very old and missing a lot of their supported phones.
Check the latest franchise booklet as newer phones such as Samsung S9, etc support it as well.
Usually the franchise booklet will have a wifi calling icon on the phone throughout the franchise book.
Click to expand...

yep you would think they are capable of keeping an online list updated.
Anyway, that's what happened to my friend she took the phone and at the time had the little wifi calling logo on the booklet but after trying it didn't work called them and they said they do not support on their list. she had been arguing with them for weeks.
 
neoprema said:
Honestly, after using this on Cell-C because I travel a lot I had some major issues with it;

1. Even on high-speed Wifi networks the voice quality on the calls was terrible at best. It was like an old asynchronous call where only one party could speak and 2sec later the other party heard it and could reply.

2. Most Hotel and/or Free Wi-Fi networks disconnect you after a while even if you have traffic. If you don't know this your phone simply goes off line and there goes your incoming calls until you login to the hotspot again.

3. Some firewalls either block the ports or Cell-C couldnt keep their service up because for a few of my trips to some hotels my Wi-Fi calling just did not work at all, there was no connection.

I'm on MTN now because their normal roaming rates are pretty good. will be interesting to see what they do with the wifi calling.
Click to expand...

Have to agree with you on point 1. Even on my 1GB fibre connection at my apartment the voice quality on Cell C is terrible.
In comparison the wifi calling on TMobile and the Asian operators I use are HD call quality.
 
Didn't know this existed for other networks and see MTN still have not activated this on their network. Since I am on a month-to-month contract with them, it seems I will be cancelling and porting to Cell-C prepaid.
 
Any update if MTN offering this.

If not does Vodafone offer it as I don’t mind porting.
 
isie said:
still no info from them - honestly I don't understand why they not doing this - so may areas where signal is crap but people have access to wifi
Click to expand...
It's not really of immense benefit to the network operators. Whilst i agree that WiFi offload can decrease congestion in the densely populated areas, one just sees a decline in revenue ie voice and data as the call is handed over to an MNO that could end up offering the wifi for free.
Cell C implemented this first, seeing as they have so many dead spots that they need to cover and haven't invested even close to what MTN has in terms of network infrastructure..
VoLTE just came into effect recently, that was their flagship project that they were working on before this other issue, I'm pretty sure we will see wifi calling this year though.
 
Voldemort said:
It's not really of immense benefit to the network operators. Whilst i agree that WiFi offload can decrease congestion in the densely populated areas, one just sees a decline in revenue ie voice and data as the call is handed over to an MNO that could end up offering the wifi for free.
Cell C implemented this first, seeing as they have so many dead spots that they need to cover and haven't invested even close to what MTN has in terms of network infrastructure..
VoLTE just came into effect recently, that was their flagship project that they were working on before this other issue, I'm pretty sure we will see wifi calling this year though.
Click to expand...

Well I'm using Cell C wifi calling as I'm living overseas now to get access to my SA number without having to care about roaming charges or the like.

So yes, it's not a benefit to the operator only to the customer.

Can't wait for Cell C or Vodacom to support eSim so I can port my number to that too. My Hong Kong, Taiwan and USA contracts are already converted so SA is really my only physical simcard left.
 
Voldemort said:
It's not really of immense benefit to the network operators. Whilst i agree that WiFi offload can decrease congestion in the densely populated areas, one just sees a decline in revenue ie voice and data as the call is handed over to an MNO that could end up offering the wifi for free.
Cell C implemented this first, seeing as they have so many dead spots that they need to cover and haven't invested even close to what MTN has in terms of network infrastructure..
VoLTE just came into effect recently, that was their flagship project that they were working on before this other issue, I'm pretty sure we will see wifi calling this year though.
Click to expand...
I won't hold you to that, but isn't wifi calling easier to deal with then having to deal with tin foil hat no tower complainers?
and on their VOLTE haven't anything new either , their website still only shows 4 phones compatible :cautious: doesn't really help anyone who doesn't have any of those
 
isie said:
I won't hold you to that, but isn't wifi calling easier to deal with then having to deal with tin foil hat no tower complainers?
and on their VOLTE haven't anything new either , their website still only shows 4 phones compatible :cautious: doesn't really help anyone who doesn't have any of those
Click to expand...
That list is very out of date, check the latest catalogue to see the options. My Mate20pro has Volte enabled.
 
Im surprised iPhone wasnt targeted early for VoLTE.
I have been waiting for WifiCalling for a long time from MTN. Hope it does come this year.
 
With Vodacom it seems to work like a charm just wish it would be on mtn one day girlfriend has such bad signal at her place. They probably too focused on some rubbish than implementing this
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X