Wifi calling problem - can I prioritise our mobiles? / Other solution?

[#1]

From searching here, I think the answer to this is no.  However, does anyone have any ideas?

We have 2-off wifi calling mobile phones in a rural area with no cell signal. These connect to our Plusnet Hub One.  Calls intermittently drop out and from the last few days' experience I am sure that it is when something else is usign the wifi/broadband.  If nothign is using the internet, calls are absolutely fine.

We have Plusnet FTTC, download 35 Mbpd and upload 6.2 Mbps.

The phones are Samsung A20e's on Three PAYG, Android 10

I actually have trouble believing that our line speed is inadequate for multi-device use, however, it does appear to be the case.  Whether it's the wifi end or the broadband end, I don't know.  We've tried the trick of turning the phone 4G off so that the phones don't hunt between an extremely poor 4G signal and the wifi, that doesn't help.

What I'd like to do is to prioritise the phones with a guaranteed minimum bandwidth, by MAC address.  As I say, the answer appears to be that it's not possible with Plusnet-supplied Hub One.  I've had a look around the router controls and don't see anything, either (only time-based blocking - no good).

Other ideas I've had is to try and set up the devices between 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz, or to try and ensure separate channels, though I don't know if these would help.

Any ideas? (preferably short of buying a new router!)

Thanks in advance

[#2]

@Cliff_g 

First of all there is no means of controlling QoS on a Plusnet hub so you can't prioritise WiFi calling.

The key question here is whether your broadband connection is working correctly. Are you on ADSL or Fibre? What speed should you be getting? What speed are you getting? Have you done any broadband diagnostic testing?

Have you proerly separated the 2.4 and 5 GHz channels, see here: https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/2-4ghz-and-or-5ghz-best-practice/m-p/1351966#M840? If not I would start with trying this.

[#3]

Thanks.  We are FTTC, download 35 Mbpd and upload 6.2 Mbps, and these are the expected speeds at our distance from the cabinet.

I'll give the band separation a go and see how that is.

[#4]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from My Router

[#5]

@Cliff_g 

At these speeds you should have no problems with WiFi calling. I have therefore moved this topic to Fibre as I suspect that it is the broadband connection that is the root of your problem.

[#6]

Thanks. I wasn't actually looking to prioritise wifi usage, though my wording was not perhaps clear. I need to prioritise end to end according to what is connected to the wifi, as that's the only way to really differentiate between devices on the same frequency.

I've turned on the 5GHz and whilst the phones aren't 5GHz capable, most of the other devices we have can. So the phones will be on 2.4 and the rest on 5.

Yes, I'm sure the issue is around how devices get shared down the broadband line.  With fibre speeds of 35 Mbps down and 6 Mpbps up, the wifi will be much faster.  What I don't understand is that most phones' wifi calling need about 2 Mbps minimum broadband, which is a fraction of both my up and downstream line speeds. There's maybe a protocol which uses the fastest available speed and cuts back quality as the available bandwidth drops, hence the very in-and-out call pauses.  Or it could just be poor wifi calling s/w on the phones. Whatever, it's darned annoying on important calls.

[#7]

...the above might work as long as the router doesn't prioritise 5 GHz devices down the broadband line!

[#8]

https://www.networkcomputing.com/networking/your-network-optimized-wifi-calling/  reckons up to only 72 kbps required per wifi calling device!

[#9]

@Cliff_g 

As I wrote earlier, I suspect that this is a broadband or wireless problem. You need to take a step back and forget WiFi calling until you have confirmed that you have a fully working broadband connection. What speed do you get when running a speed test on a computer over both an Ethernet and wireless connection?

[#10]

@Cliff_g I have wifi calling on my Vodafone contract phone, on only Plusnet ADSL (1Mb up, 18Mb down) and its fine - so your bandwidth shouldn't be a problem. My phone does have a habit of switching randomly between WiFi calling and GSM every few minutes as I move about the house, if it decides the vodafone coverage is good enough for a few minutes.

As a test, force it to use only wifi calling - put the phone into airplane mode, then enable wifi, and it should connect to wifi calling all the time, with no option to switch randomly back to GSM (as the GSM radio will be off). See if that makes a difference?

[#11]

Yep, we always have the phone signal off, and in fact have never noticed a difference, though of course it's always difficult to be certain with an intermittent problem.

[#12]

I can't take a step back, all we have here is wifi calling, for all practical purposes no mobile signal here, and I need it to work better. We get 35/6 Mbps whether wifi or ethernet, unsurprising as ethernet and wifi are usually a lot faster than the basic FTTC/VDSL we have.  These are also a bit faster than Plusnet's stated speed for our distance to the cabinet. I think the problem is how the broadband is shared, not its headline speed. Wifi calling goes via a VPN tunnel to the mobile company, what I can't understand is why that seems to get throttled when there is other router traffic. Maybe it's just rubbish wifi calling. My son is in a town area, 80 Mbps FTTC, top model iPhone, and his wifi calling often drops out too, so he switches it off to use 4G

[#13]

... that last comment somewhat infers that the cause of WiFi calling dropping has nothing to do with QoS, band width or the router, but maybe an issue with the phone supplier's infrastructure.  Have you discussed this issue with your mobile service provider?

[#14]

WiFi call on Voda with an iPhone is absolutely flawless on my PN connection.

[#15]

Yes, Three are my next port of call, though you can be pretty sure they will say it's nothing to do with them! Just the way these things are, these days.