Mobile network operator EE (BT) appears to have quietly made their “4G Calling” and “Wi-Fi Calling” features available to customers of their Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) and “no contract” Flex plans, which is part of a rollout process that started on the 9th June 2021.
Just to recap. The 4G Calling service is really just a marketing term for Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) technology, which simply means that any calls you make or receive will stay on the 4G network rather than dropping back to 3G or 2G. Meanwhile, Wi-Fi Calling enables consumers with a supporting Smartphone to harness their home broadband or other WiFi connection in order to make mobile voice calls.
Both services are already available to EE’s pay monthly mobile customers, but it seems like they’ve now quietly also arrived for those on the operator’s PAYG and Flex plans too.
The change, which was spotted by one of our readers (credits to Alex), was notified to EE’s related customers via a text message. Upon querying this, one of EE’s support agent’s said: “We’ve been rolling out WiFi Calling (and 4G Calling) to our Pay as you go and Flex customers from the 9th June 2021.” At the time of writing, the operator’s website doesn’t yet reflect this, but they’re aware of that.
They just need to add 5G to their pay as you go offerings now. 1p mobile allows 5G connectivity (not tested yet) so I’m not sure why their own payg network can’t support, unless that is due.
It makes total sense . If they can move traffic off their module network and on to other ISPs for the back haul, then why not. It’s the way all mobile operators will be going. Gone are the days of femto boxes and just use WiFi calling. As long as the have the peering capacity to take the calls via the internet then to me this makes absolute sense.
Does this mean VoLTE (and 800MHz LTE) is closer to arriving with MVNOs like PlusNet?
This won’t effect mvno’s unless wants it to effect mvno’s which is unlikely.
The MVNO roll out (I run an EE MVNO) is likely to be the end of 2021 / early 2022. There is a massive programme to migrate customers across different segments from the “Orange” 3G systems onto the common EE platform, supporting LTE (incl 800Mhz spectrum) VoLTE and VoWifi.
Thanks for the insight Peter – very interesting! All the best with IQ Mobile.
Does this mean EE Pay as You Go now includes band 20? I was looking to rejoin EE and if that’s the case then pay as you go will be perfect for me as I don’t want to commit to a contract
Hi Stuart.
Yes pay as you go customers more have access to band 20 [800mhz]
That means all the 4G frequency bands are available to pay as you go users.
This is new if EE PAYG users can now access Band 20 (800mhz).
@Smith.
Yes it’s only this month it was activated.
It’s long overdue.
But apparently EE will start decommissioning their 3G network from some time next year.
They will switch off 3G HSPA one region of the UK at a time.
So for those who don’t have VoLTE devices will fall back to GSM. But people have had plenty of time to update their phones & for the last few years almost all phones support VoLTE.
“But people have had plenty of time to update their phones & for the last few years almost all phones support VoLTE”
Vodafone was locking down VoLTE to Vodafone branded oem phones for long time (don’t know about o2) 3 was very late on using VoLTE on anything but the useless 4g800 band
“Vodafone was locking down VoLTE to Vodafone branded oem phones for long time”
Prett sure iPhones were exempt from this…
Some network operators are better than others on support. EE are possibly market leading – it just seems to work, even on phones that they do not sell or have never sold, even if their website says it won’t work.
OTOH Smarty don’t even seem to support the full range of handsets that would work on 3 themselves.
This just leaves o2 PAYG users as the only Mobile Network Operator without VoLTE/WiFi calling.
Fianlly.
What about 5G on EE Pay As You Go? Is it now available?
Looks like speeds are about get worse for premium plan users…
Not necessarily, just because EE has pushed both WiFi calling and 4G calling to all customers doesn’t necessarily mean a drop in quality.
The webpage is out of date anyway as I’m using a Nokia 6.1 that I didn’t buy from EE and the above works fine.
Snobbery aside, Increased 4G calling support allows 2G/3G spectrum to be reused for 4G/5G – so in the longer term “premium” users will benefit. WiFi calling takes it off the mobile network entirely, in a lot of cases. Given the low bitrates used by phone calls, it’s unlikely to move the needle for those who obsess over speed tests.
When not in a call they’d be using 4G or wifi anyway.
I believe O2 EE and Vodafone all three network same but three(3) network good for roaming calls. Three network not very good enough in UK. O2 very good because thousands hotspots underground and
shopping mall and city centre. O2 more benefits than any other networks in UK.
This is very good, as unless you want to pay £23 a month or more on a fixed term contract, then EE’s pay as you go is by far the best value way to use there service, because their flex packages and sim only fixed term packages less then £23 a month are frankly an utter joke for the value they offer.
Agreed. This is why I’ve moved away from them. The push to 24 months on SIMO to is a major off put.
They probably do have the best network, in theory, but do I really need 600mbps+ on my phone via 5G? Not really? A good performing 4G network would be beneficial, lately, they haven’t been that!
@James What problems have you had with EE’s 4G network recently? I’ve ordered a PAYG sim from them to see what it’s like in my area. But am interested to know what problems it can have.
Just had issues with the basics. Calls dropping, robotic voices, overall congestion. Was receiving texts about ‘Problem in your area’ these could be up to 10/11 a month. We hope.to have it fixed by X time, oh it’s taking longer than usual.
The last 9 months of my SIMO deal, I think 6 of those were paid for by EE.
I can’t grumble at them paying but I’d rather have a decent consistent service.
1pmobile (EE network) might be better value than PAYG directly from EE.
Wifi calling is now working on 1pmobile (tested with Pixel 4a).
I’ve try the VoLTE and WiFi call in Birmingham on PAYG, and at the moment do not work. Tested on an Samsung S8 plus dual sim, one sim on EE and second on O2 network but roaming. Any ideea why?
It has been said that it will take a few weeks for all PAYG users to see VoLTE & VoWiFi activated on their accounts.
1pmobile has 5g, VoLTE and VoWifi working as tested on my SIM yesterday.
I’ve just had both WiFi calling and Volte enabled for my payg after asking them on twitter.
Both work great on my Pixel 3a + lineageos.