topic Re: SMS over Wifi Calling in Welcome & News

SMS over Wifi Calling

Chris_K — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 14:30:21 GMT

Hey everyone. I have some fantastic news to share on a network functionality customers have been asking about for a while. We’re excited to confirm that we’re now expanding the Wifi Calling capability to also work with SMS. This means customers who are using Wifi Calling will also be able to send and receive text messages over a wifi network if they are using a compatible device.

What devices and when?
The service launched on select handsets on 10th January 2022 and we’ve been monitoring the stability first before announcing it here on the Community. Right now the service is only available on the Samsung Galaxy S20 family – the regular S20, S20 Plus and S20 Ultra.

We will be rolling out capability to more handsets but cannot confirm exact dates at this time.

How do I activate the feature?
Customers with a compatible device will need to have the Wifi and 4G Calling service provisioned on their account and will need to update their device to the latest software version.

Note that the update for the S20 family of devices will come in the form of a ‘System configuration update’. Your device will notify you when the update is available, and you will be asked to apply the update. The device will then restart, and the update will be applied. At this point, SMS over Wifi Calling should now work as expected.

Why can’t all current Wifi Calling handsets support SMS over Wifi Calling?
Each device that supports Wifi Calling today will need to receive a software update in order for SMS over Wifi Calling to work. There are some handsets we support today that are now too old to receive software updates and therefor will not become compatible with SMS over Wifi Calling. Newer devices will receive updates, but it will take time for the manufacturers to develop and release the software, for which we have no further details or ETA – but we’ll continue to work closely with manufacturers to help implement this.

I’ll update this thread as and when new devices become compatible with SMS over Wifi Calling.

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

Cleoriff — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 15:05:35 GMT

Great news @Chris_K . Hopefully more devices will have this feature enabled pretty quickly. 👍

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

Luke30 — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 02:13:19 GMT

@Chris_K do you know if is available to use sms on WiFi calling as my device is Samsung galaxy A20e?

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

MI5 — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 08:01:10 GMT

@Luke30

Those marked with an asterix here.

Samsung Galaxy A12, Galaxy S20 FE, Galaxy A42, Galaxy S21 Ultra, Galaxy S21+, Galaxy S21, Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G, Galaxy Note20 5G, Galaxy Note20 4G, Galaxy Z Flip 5G, Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, Xcover Pro, A21s, A41, A51, A51 5G, A71, S10 Lite, Galaxy Fold 5G, Galaxy Z Flip, S20*, S20 Plus*, S20 Ultra*, S10 5G, Note10, Note10 Plus 5G, S10, S10e, S10 Plus, S9, S9 Plus, S8, S8 Plus, Note8, S7, S7 edge and J3 2017, A10, A20e, A50, A70, A8, A3 2017, A6, J6, J5 (2017), A5 (2017), Note9, A7, J6+, J4+, A9, A90 5G, A40, Xcover 4S,AO2, A52 5G, A42 5G, Xcover Pro

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

madasaf1sh — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 09:24:53 GMT

Seems a bit odd to just release on 3 handsets....

But good to see progress albeit very slow progress....

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

Chris_K — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 10:54:20 GMT

@Luke30 wrote:

@Chris_K do you know if is available to use sms on WiFi calling as my device is Samsung galaxy A20e?

Hi Luke, in terms of just Wifi Calling, the A20e is compatible, but it isn't currently compatible with the SMS over Wifi Calling functionality - as mentioned above this is launching initially on the S20 devices. The functionality will get rolled out to other devices in the future, but we've no further details just yet around which ones and when.

Keep an eye on this thread for any future updates RE: new devices being added.

@madasaf1sh wrote:

Seems a bit odd to just release on 3 handsets....

But good to see progress albeit very slow progress....

This is just the initial launch and by focusing on a small selection to begin with, it's allowing us to test and monitor the performance to ensure it's all working as expected and providing an optimal experience. Because software changes are needed per device to make it compatible, this isn't an easy or quick task and as you can imagine, it's not something we can really affect since it's not us making the software.

We're working closely with our vendors to make this happen on additional devices but exactly which, and when, I'm unable to share just yet - but i'll update this thread as and when there's any changes.

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

Spenny — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 13:38:23 GMT

nice to see that this is coming. Does make me think about how much I use SMS vs WhatsApp type messaging apps when I only have wifi. A good addition though.

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

gmarkj — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 14:31:04 GMT

Let's just hope it takes less time to get this rolled out to more devices than it did to arrive...

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

Luke30 — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 01:42:22 GMT

Oh OK thanks for the help on what I asked @MI5

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

MI5 — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 07:31:52 GMT

You're welcome @Luke30

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

pgn — Sat, 05 Feb 2022 12:42:03 GMT

A thread worth watching, this one, thanks @Chris_K.

WiFi Calling (handset dependent) and now SMS over WiFi are an area where Community Guides are a bit scarce - perhaps because the O2 pages for enabling Voice over Wifi exist, perhaps? Hopefully some similar website advice to follow in due course, or a section on that page to encompass SMS over WiFi soon! 🤞

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

Chick_Lunchbox — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 14:56:37 GMT

Are handsets not supplied with o2 firmware likely to benefit from sms-over-net? O2 like to give out that only o2 firmware phones work with volte/vowifi but this is not the case.

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

Junior — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 21:39:27 GMT

Has anyone on here actually got access to sms over Wi-Fi and can feedback how it’s working so far?

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

npdcjksncjkjcsk — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 18:53:53 GMT

Something i didnt even think to ask when i joined O2 a couple of months ago, i foolishly assumed that it was something all networks had, now i am currently stuck with a sim plan thatll ill have to pay out my remainding balance just so i can swap to another carrier that has this feature.

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

madasaf1sh — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 19:01:09 GMT

@npdcjksncjkjcsk

It is coming to o2, they are just starting out slowly...

Just note that no MVNO such as Virgin, or GiffGaff / 1P Mobile offer SMSoWIFI and to be honest after seeing implementations of this across other networks, i dont know why people are so excited about it, as its as flakey as you can get...

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

npdcjksncjkjcsk — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 19:09:08 GMT

Ive had it with 3 for years, the problem i am experiencing at the moment is several websites i use for work keep wanting to send me text messages for confirmation (including the absolute ball ache i have had today trying to get my office account set up after the recent storm damage) and i happen to work in one of the 1% of the UK that doesnt get phone signal so i am reliant on sms over wifi. I cannot progress with websites unless i drive several miles away from my office, which just doesnt work for me. Like i said i should have looked a bit more closley before signing up.

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

kguk — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 10:55:54 GMT

i have a s20 and the latest software update but still can't text message over Wifi

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

Junior — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 10:44:22 GMT

Hi @O2Sarah-

any idea when pay monthly iPhone customers will have access to SMS over Wi-Fi? Been a customer 15 years but need this facility so may have to leave o2.
thank you

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

Absthechatter — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 17:42:06 GMT

I have an S20 Ultra. Do I need to have O2 software? Mine is unbranded. Getting fed up of never receiving the texts for 2 factor authentication. I believed the coverage checker that said excellent signal indoors and out.... Of course I get none! 😃

Re: SMS over Wifi Calling

DrJase — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 11:44:53 GMT

Hi,

Does anyone know if the Samsung S22 Ultra is able to:

1) Voice over Wi-Fi?

2) SMS over Wi-Fi?

Thanks in advance.