small, cheap phone with wifi calling
Discussion
I do not want to buy a new phone.
But the mobile coverage here is rubbish and I have a Femto booster here so that my phone can receive those two factor authorisation text messages. It works well, and i have no problems.
BUT next month BT are withdrawing the support for the booster box as they are disabling 3g and moving to 4G. There is NO 4G coverage here and they acknowledge that. In fact there's no network with rock steady coverage indoors in many parts of the village.
Their suggestion is that I ditch a perfectly good phone and get one with wifi calling.
My existing phone is a Wileyfox Swift 2X, it does everything I need except wifi calling. I do not want anything bigger!
so, suggestions please for a small, cheap phone with wifi calling. Pref new or refurbished by reputable source.
But the mobile coverage here is rubbish and I have a Femto booster here so that my phone can receive those two factor authorisation text messages. It works well, and i have no problems.
BUT next month BT are withdrawing the support for the booster box as they are disabling 3g and moving to 4G. There is NO 4G coverage here and they acknowledge that. In fact there's no network with rock steady coverage indoors in many parts of the village.
Their suggestion is that I ditch a perfectly good phone and get one with wifi calling.
My existing phone is a Wileyfox Swift 2X, it does everything I need except wifi calling. I do not want anything bigger!
so, suggestions please for a small, cheap phone with wifi calling. Pref new or refurbished by reputable source.
Redmi 10. On offer today for £99. It's bigger than your current phone, but the lack of bezels compared to your Wileyfox means it's not massively bigger overall despite the 6.5" screen
https://www.mi.com/uk/product/redmi-10/?skupanel=1
https://www.mi.com/uk/product/redmi-10/?skupanel=1
DE1975 said:
Redmi 10. On offer today for £99. It's bigger than your current phone, but the lack of bezels compared to your Wileyfox means it's not massively bigger overall despite the 6.5" screen
https://www.mi.com/uk/product/redmi-10/?skupanel=1
If the OP wanted a television, he’d have asked for one. https://www.mi.com/uk/product/redmi-10/?skupanel=1
Problem here is size I think.
Second problem is long term support. I presume that the OP doesn’t care about phones and doesn’t change them unless needed.
I’d have concerns about support/security using something running an out of date OS.
I run apple kit. If the OP went for a used iPhone SE 2020, it would cost £250, do everything needed (and quite a bit more) and be supported by apple for the next 4-5 years.
I understand that blows the budget and I am a fanboy saying “buy apple”, but I think a cheap android device might be a false economy.
Paul Drawmer said:
I do not want to buy a new phone.
But the mobile coverage here is rubbish and I have a Femto booster here so that my phone can receive those two factor authorisation text messages. It works well, and i have no problems.
BUT next month BT are withdrawing the support for the booster box as they are disabling 3g and moving to 4G. There is NO 4G coverage here and they acknowledge that. In fact there's no network with rock steady coverage indoors in many parts of the village.
Their suggestion is that I ditch a perfectly good phone and get one with wifi calling.
My existing phone is a Wileyfox Swift 2X, it does everything I need except wifi calling. I do not want anything bigger!
so, suggestions please for a small, cheap phone with wifi calling. Pref new or refurbished by reputable source.
Pixel 3a refurbished will be under £100 and does WiFi Calling. Not too large a handset.But the mobile coverage here is rubbish and I have a Femto booster here so that my phone can receive those two factor authorisation text messages. It works well, and i have no problems.
BUT next month BT are withdrawing the support for the booster box as they are disabling 3g and moving to 4G. There is NO 4G coverage here and they acknowledge that. In fact there's no network with rock steady coverage indoors in many parts of the village.
Their suggestion is that I ditch a perfectly good phone and get one with wifi calling.
My existing phone is a Wileyfox Swift 2X, it does everything I need except wifi calling. I do not want anything bigger!
so, suggestions please for a small, cheap phone with wifi calling. Pref new or refurbished by reputable source.
DE1975 said:
Redmi 10. On offer today for £99. It's bigger than your current phone, but the lack of bezels compared to your Wileyfox means it's not massively bigger overall despite the 6.5" screen
https://www.mi.com/uk/product/redmi-10/?skupanel=1
I've got a Note 10 Pro, and it's a fantastic phone, rendered almost impossible to use because of the awful proximity sensor it has. If you're considering any Xiaomi phone, it's worth googling the phone and proximity sensor to see if it's as bad.https://www.mi.com/uk/product/redmi-10/?skupanel=1
Thanks for the suggestions so far..
It does look as if I will have to get something with the larger case size of 165mm which is quite long. Don't folks put these things in their pocket anymore?
The mobile phone for me is a tool. It must run whatsapp to talk to the family and spotify. I really don't use it for watching videos or TV at all so a big screen is actually a nuisance.
One more help thing please; what part of the tech spec shows that it has wifi calling? I understand it's an android extension, and the reason the current wf2x doesn't have it is because wileyfox never organised it with the carriers.
It does look as if I will have to get something with the larger case size of 165mm which is quite long. Don't folks put these things in their pocket anymore?
The mobile phone for me is a tool. It must run whatsapp to talk to the family and spotify. I really don't use it for watching videos or TV at all so a big screen is actually a nuisance.
One more help thing please; what part of the tech spec shows that it has wifi calling? I understand it's an android extension, and the reason the current wf2x doesn't have it is because wileyfox never organised it with the carriers.
most phones don't seem to say that they specifically support WIFI calling in their tech specs, as I believe it's more of a software feature than a hardware feature.
I think most Android phones based on Android 10 or later will almost definitely support it. You need to dive into the SIM settings in the phone settings menu and enable it. It also needs to be enabled by your network provider (again, I think all major UK networks support it).
I think most Android phones based on Android 10 or later will almost definitely support it. You need to dive into the SIM settings in the phone settings menu and enable it. It also needs to be enabled by your network provider (again, I think all major UK networks support it).
Paul Drawmer said:
OutInTheShed said:
Is it worth considering a WiFi phone handset just for in the house?
How would that receive the 2FA text codes?You could look at what bands your local basestation is using.
Voda's 2G on 900 MHz is pretty bullet proof for SMS in most places.
megaphone said:
Are you sure your mobile provider supports WiFi calling? Some don't, IIRC Plusnet don't for example.
It's OK as I said in the first post I'm with BT.https://www.bt.com/help/mobile/using-wi-fi-calling
How abut the Sony Xperia XA2? You can buy one brand new on eBay for £139 and they do wifi calling:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353784142595?mkcid=16&a...
Much better phone than what you have currently too I would suggest.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353784142595?mkcid=16&a...
Much better phone than what you have currently too I would suggest.
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