Now that most MVNOs have enabled VoLTE and VoWiFi, is there any prepaid offering (besides Telstra Prepaid / Boost) that supports free VoWiFi "roaming" while travelling overseas?
MVNO with VoWiFi That Works Abroad?
uk3000 on 19/06/2023 - 23:38
Comments
I think sending SMS over VoWiFi worked for me with Telstra Prepaid last time I tried that from Fiji.
Correct - only Telstra services + boost have SMS over voWIFI activated.
Not yet for Telstra wholesale resellersTks for confirming. Fully functional VoWiFi roaming has been the only thing keeping me with Telstra. I really hope other operators will catch up soon.
Good to know, thanks. I only tested it once as was not expecting it to work for some reason. My phone must have been trying to send over roam instead of vowifi.
I had roaming turned on, on the handset, for receiving SMS (free). Should roaming be disabled at the handset level? And incoming SMS will work over wifi?
p.s., I misread. So with Telstra MVNO, we get free incoming SMS over roaming, VoWifi takes the place of roaming for calls in and out, but no outgoing SMS.
BTW, I had to set my phone to prefer VoWifi to VoLTE.
Coles, and Boost I have tried and BOTH ARE CAPABLE OF DOING VoWifi. (may be Kogan does it too given they got 5G on some plans in past but I aint too sure on Kogan)
Just to make sure, you're talking about using Coles and Boost while travelling outside Australia and still having VoWifi there? Tks!
Yes coles 100% definitely. lookup past comments here
👍
From overseas?
I have an Optus flex plan and I never got the vowifi to work overseas.
I tried via a VPN on an other device but it still was not working unfortunately.
kogan works too
Awesome! I recon Lebara might work too?
I doubt that Kogan is quite close to vodafone but I dont think lebara is that close to be able to score vowifi 5G and other premium features ( i might be wrong though)
so does that mean, you can make calls and still leaving roaming 'off' ?
if you have wifi yes, you can place and receive calls to/from Australian numbers.
+ sms over wifi.It also works if you have two sim cards on your phone,
Sim 1 - telstra (if the sim card has access to a roaming network - it might not work - you can do that by locking the Telstra card to a network they do not have a roaming agreement with).
Sim 2 - anything that gives you internet access (esim - local sim, roaming sim… anything).Your phone then uses sim 2's internet connection to connect to Telstra servers and initiate the vowifi link.
Invisible and works perfectly on IOS - haven't tried it with an Android but I assume it would be the same behavior.if you have wifi yes, you can place and receive calls to/from Australian numbers.
+ sms over wifi.That is awesome.
I can redeem a free data e-sim and don't need to get a Boost roaming pack….@jv: My only problem with this are the those pesky incoming MFA/OTP texts. They usually go through for free while roaming, but not everywhere. E.g., I heard it, not in New Caledonia.
if the sim card has access to a roaming network - it might not work
why wouldn't you just turn off roaming on your phone?
On IOS, you can only disable roaming data with a toggle on/off (as far as I am aware?)
However, if the Telstra sim is locked to only search for Telstra signals before leaving Australia, the phone constantly searches for Telstra signals overseas so the battery drains quickly.Otherwise, you have to turn off the SIM card and you cannot use vowifi.
You could also put the iphone on Airplane mode and use an other phone/device to get Internet access and tether to your iPhone.
Apple has many forums queries asking them to implement a switch to switch 'off' the antenna for a roaming device but continuing using the second sim to still gain access to vowifi access on sim 1.
Hopefully in a few years…!
While vowifi and volte works with Telstra and Boost, it only works if that particular phone model is on Telstra's whitelist, unlike Vodafone and Optus which appear to allow any device that is capable of vowifi/lte.
I've had a Xiaomi Mi6 and Mi9 Pro which worked perfectly on Boost with vowifi and volte, but Poco x4 Pro, Nokia 8 and Mi11t Pro will not. If I put an Optus or TPG SIM in they work perfectly. I've spent heaps of time with Boost and Telstra support before they admitted they had a whitelist and these devices weren't on it. After a bit more digging I found a list of devices on Whirlpool known to work on Telstra, but it's incomplete because it was created by trail and error.
With a spotty volte whitelist I can see a lot of pain when they finally switch off 3G.
The only way to guarantee vowifi and volte will work on Telstra or Boost is if they sell you the device.
Indeed it can be hit and miss. During my last trip to Fiji, Telstra Prepaid VoWiFi worked flawlessly on my OH's iPhone 11 Pro for both in/out calls and texts, for the whole stay. On my Pixel 5 though, it worked for like 2 days, then stopped and only came back when we returned home.
There does seem to be issues with "older" Pixels. I have a 4a and need to jump through hoops every time I want to use VoWiFi when OS with Boost. I do get it to work but it takes time.
Inbound SMS is consistently reliable if in a country that Telstra has an agreement with.
Woolworths Mobile works fine for me. I believe other Telstra mvnos do too.
Does "VoWiFi" using second sim for local mobile data.
Of course you can't send SMS.