killerz298

I've been out of my office for 3 months now and I got an email last night that the box hasn't connected in awhile. I had someone there check and it was definitely powered on and appeared connected. I had her do a reboot. We'll see what happens.

Wifi calling uses your internet connection to route just the the call, not SMS or MMS (thanks Sprint....). VoLTE uses the carrier's LTE data connection to route the call and allows for SMS and MMS at the same time. When on a wifi call, you can still receive SMS and MMS but not if you have a shit cell signal (doesn't even matter if you are on a call or not, with a shit signal you will still have trouble anyway). The Pebble is used to boost your cell signal so your SMS and MMS will be more reliable (and your LTE data connection). For actual internet use, you are correct, you can just use your wifi. Femtocell for the Home For the consumer, Femtocells can be used to transform an already existing internet connection into useable cellular service. It may sound counter-intuitive, but there are many people in the United States who have access to high-speed broadband but who are unable to make phone calls from anywhere inside their home, and for people facing that situation, femtocell technology may be their best option. Here’s why: Femtocells operate like a tiny cellular base station, literally tiny, at about the size of a cordless phone’s base station, and can be easily attached to your home internet network modem. The Femtocell then transforms your home broadband connection into a usable cellular signal that can be used to make phone calls and send and receive SMS text messages. In a scenario like this, a femtocell system may be the absolute best option, especially for consumers who are unable to utilize Wi-Fi calling with their current contacts and cellular provider. Most individuals, especially those who run a small business from their home, still require a reliable cellular signal in order to handle their affairs, and a Femtocell network can provide 5 bar connectivity from anywhere within the home. Unfortunately, this cellular connectivity does come at a cost. Because the Femtocell uses the existing broadband to create the cellular signal, there can be a noticeable loss of broadband speed in certain situations where phone calls and web browsing (especially uploading or downloading) behavior is occurring simultaneously. However, if your home office broadband connection is currently 50 Mbps or faster, then your internet connection should remain perfectly steady, even if you decide to use both at the same time.

1. Wifi calling directly uses your home's wifi to place the call while the Pebble uses your internet connection to broadcast an LTE signal which your phone uses to place the call (once VoLTE is enabled). Before VoLTE is enabled, you don't place calls through the Pebble, it only boosts data. After 2-3 weeks, VoLTE should be enabled on the Pebble allowing simultaneous voice and MMS which wifi calling doesn't allow mms (but if you have a decent signal you can receive MMS without issue while on a wifi call). 2. Yes, any user can piggyback off the signal but I noticed the footprint isn't that large and didn't extend outside my home. I wouldn't be too concerned with that. 3. If you disconnect the device they will send you warnings that they will charge you if you don't reconnect it or send it back.

Agreed... it is definitely not my desired solution, but a necessity as of right now.

So I got a call back from the compliance department. She told me that AR4 are officially end of life (replaced by the Pebble) due to the T-mobile conversion, and that had I waited around for the other tech to get them in stock, I would have been even more annoyed than I already was. She said Sprint accounts are being provisioned for T-mobile in waves, and mine hasn't been yet (not that I think it will help this situation as the area is a dead zone for all carriers). As for a technical explanation as to why the Pebble takes 3 weeks to activate VoLTE, she said she read the manual they were provided, and it didn't indicate, but she'd look into it and get back to me if it was something she could share. It is more curiosity for me at this point as wifi calling for voice with through the roof LTE for MMS (and not killing my battery all day) is fine for my usage while VoLTE is enabling on the Pebble.

I definitely don't need more coverage... just the damn VoLTE activated so I can get calls and MMS at the same damn time. Like I said, it isn't a huge deal, just annoying that this is even a problem in the first place. They told me AR4 are out of stock and they have no idea when they'll be back, nor can they put me in touch with someone that knows. They said they just have to keep checking and see if it comes back in stock. Once again, I said that is nonsense, but what can I really do about it. For right now, the Pebble boosting the LTE, and using wifi calling, is working fine for my needs. Much better than the AR2.5 I was using which didn't work at all.

I'm trying to switch over to the Airave 4 now that the've enable VoLTE on them. That should fix this problem. The only reason I got the Pebble over the AR4 is because VoLTE wasn't enable on it yet.

I just figured it couldn't hurt for it to have a fresh reboot every week at 4 am on Sunday while not in use. I don't know if it particularly NEEDS that but the point is that any type of power/internet failure knocks the damn VoLTE out for 2-3 weeks which is ridiculous. I'll disable it for now and see if the router becomes unstable.

Odd... I escalated as high as I could go, and spoke to a technical supervisor, who told me in no uncertain terms, there is NOTHING that is within their control (in order to enable VoLTE). She told me it is a technical limitation of the device which I said I thought was bullshit. She wanted to leave it at that but I told her I wasn't happy with that answer and wanted an actual explanation as to why they would even offer a product which they had no control over and which took 2-3 weeks to activate fully, and which resets every time the power goes out, and she said she would send my ticket to corporate compliance and they would call me back. I also realized my router is set to reboot once a week which knocks the connection out. I'm wondering if that is causing this Pebble to never activate VoLTE.

I agree, I never had much luck with wifi-calling either, I just don't like when decisions are made for the end user because the company thinks it is best. In my specific situation, I WANT/NEED to use wifi instead of LTE while I understand some/many others might not.

I just found this out myself on the s10e. Download the Samsung Band Selection app and you can set it back to wifi if you want. Dumb that there is no menu option for it natively.

So I got the Pebble from Sprint, I'm waiting for the damn VoLTE to enable. I harassed Sprint and they said it is a limitation of the device (which they still can't explain why) and waiting is the only option. They also told me every time there is a power failure the wait for it to enable begins again.... really? Does anyone know how it works and why there is a 2-3 week lead up to VoLTE enabling? So now my voice calls drop down to 1x and I can't receive MMS when I'm on a call. No problem I thought, I'll just switch to wifi calling for now and I can still get MMS over LTE while I'm on a call. Not so fast. For some damn reason wifi calling doesn't work on my SM-G970U1 (unlocked s10e) when I'm connected to the Pebble. If I turn airplane mode on, wifi calling pops right up. If I unplug the pebble, wifi calling pops right up. That leads one to believe the Pebble is preventing wifi calling from activating for some reason. However, my dad's LG V20 has absolutely no issue using wifi calling while connected to the Pebble and can therefore receive MMS just fine. Do you have any idea what in the hell could be causing this? Is this some whack setting on the s10e which I'm not seeing? Phone has the latest updates, 911 is updated, I did PRL and profile updates. I'm stumped.... UPDATE: So I found the answer in the wifi-calling menus and googling that took me to a post here. Apparently starting in April of 2020, Sprint decided it knows what is best for you so it sets calling over the network to preferred and only if signal is too weak will it default to wifi calling. There is no visible option in the phone to change that setting. I had to download Samsung Band app to set it to prefer wifi and bam.... now it is enabled. I'd still like to know WTF the Pebble is doing with VoLTE though.