Volte phone not calling if bought separate to contract

hopefulmoneysaved

Hi in a previous thread I discovered my phone does not have Volte so I looked into newer phones with Volte. There are lots which is good.

I have found posts on forums where phones bought separate to a contract do not work on Volte. So these are phones where Volte is actually switched on but no call can be made. Some posts say UK carriers only register the IMEI of phones they supplied rather than the IMEI of phones the manufacturers say have the feature. Vodafone and O2 are named on different forums. The response from the provider has been that the phone wasn't bought from them so little that they can do. This was 4 months ago.

So has anyone bought a phone separate to their contract and had no problems with Volte? I just want to get an idea of how important it is.

Also isn't this locking into a provider which Ofcom stopped a few years ago? Should this be looked at by a consumer group like MSE?

Peter999_2

I have a google pixel 7 that I bought outright from Amazon with no phone contract.    VoLTE and Wifi calling work fine (though, annoyingly when using ID Mobile it doesn't default to use Wifi Calling if there is any mobile signal, no matter how bad).   

So far I've used it with Smarty, O2, ID Mobile, Spusu, Sky Mobile, Vodafone, Tesco Mobile, EE.    It has worked fine on all of them so far.

d123

If you stick with a big brand it isn’t as big an issue. An iPhone will work on any network’s VoLTE no matter where it is from, Samsung is usually reliably going to work, I recently had to change a family member’s Motorola for a Samsung (from Amazon) as VoLTE wouldn’t work on Spusu Mobile on the Motorola but works perfectly on the Samsung.

It also helps if the phone is up to date software wise (so Android 14) to be compatible. Unfortunately a lot of the more niche or cheaper brands either have older versions of Android or versions that have been customised to the extent they aren’t compatible.

flaneurs_lobster

I found this to be true a while ago, two identical phones (Samsung A52s), one bought from O2 on contract (which was cancelled immediately) and the other direct from Samsung.

The O2 phone would not activate VoLTE or Wi-fi calling unless an O2 SIM was providing service, the other worked fine with any provider. The phones have different firmware (can be seen by checking the About/Software) and the networks can choose to restrict services to their "own" phones.

OP mentions the illegality of "locking" phones to a carrier, grey area IMO, the phones are restricted in some ways but can, of course, make use of any carrier's basic services.

Bottom line is to check any phone before you buy, preferably hands-on with the SIM of your carrier of choice (I know this can be very difficult if no physical store is available), next best is to buy direct from the manufacturer. 

Or buy an iPhone, they always work.