After latest update, GS9 keeps defaulting to Cellular Preferred over Wi-Fi calling

This now July 4, 2023 and I am experiencing the same BS everybody here has been complaining about.  It is a problem that has been going on for years apparently but never resolved as it is still happening today.  The information I have gathered so far is that the E911 service is linked directly to Wi-Fi calling but is a function of the United States, therefore when out of the country the E911 doesn't work, therefore WiFi calling doesn't work either. I suspect that this was part of the update. I recently received a statement from T-Mobile that was nearly double and when I checked, I noticed that even my WhatsApp calls were charged to my account. The rep wanted to sell me a more expensive international plan because he said I might not have a strong enough WiFi signal but I had no issues with the signal.  I decided to switch to WiFi calling and my bill went back to normal…then the update took away my WiFi..LOL  Good luck to the rest of you.

I found the solution

Switch to Airplane mode than wifi calling

Since it is on airplane mode it would be impossible to switch to Cellular

I'd like to refresh this very old thread.  T-Mobile still refuses to fix this issue.  I am now on a Galaxy 23.  The same thing has been going on 4+ years. 

They still "automagically" change this setting to Cellular Preferred.  They have no business ever touching this setting. It is simply a customer preference.  A preference should have nothing to do with what is actually happening while a phone moves. 

What should happen (obviously) is that when a phone move to a location where there is no Wi-Fi they should (silently) change over to the cell network.  IF the customer has Wi-Fi preferred and they go back to a location with Wi-Fi they should silently change over to Wi-Fi.  There is absolutely no need for this user preference to ever change unless the user changes it manually.

I have tried to explain this simple concept to T-Mobile reps on at least 7 occasions (including over an hour today).  For whatever reason they are completely unable to understand this simple concept.  This is very, very frustrating!

ONCE I actually got a rep who understood the issue the first time I explained it.  She finally said she'd refer to up the line.  Obviously nothing happened (in 18+ months).

I don’t understand why T-Mobile is so resistant to fixing this issue.

BTW, I know that Verizon does not do this.  I don't think AT&T does either, but I haven't tried them.

 Team T-Mobile, You need to pay attention to this thread. 

I think maybe AT&T is messing around with your customers. It may be unintentional,  I don't know.  When I'm driving, I switch to the AT&T network when your signal goes low, and I get virtually no data from them.  If I hard code my network to stay on you, then I have virtually no drops on my commute.

 Now Now catch this, if I do the same thing when I'm at home, my cellular calling preference does not change from Wi-Fi preferred repeatedly. II I leave my cellular network selection on automatic, then AT&T network is selected, And my cellular calling preference continues to switch to cellular preferred.

 Can others confirm this, go in and change your network selection to be T-Mobile only and see if your Wi-Fi calling preference stops switching to cellular preferred.. This may be a bug in android's cellular network selection, or it could be another provider messing with T-Mobile settings.

 I'm finding that after updates I no longer can drive my commute without interrupted streaming. Now I'm also dealing with my cellular preference switching off of Wi-Fi and on to cellular. I have the Samsung S21.

Just to let you know that with an android update many months ago this constant switching from wi-fi to cellular stopped and most of the time my android phone stays on wi-fi. Once in a great while I get a "preferences updated" notice and after that happens my phone reverts to cellular preferred. However, this is very rare. This seems to happen only with ONE of the wi-fi systems that I regularly use. I have no idea why. Just had a new android update today and my phone was still on wi-fi preferred after the update. Hope my update is helpful to the community.

tmo_amanda wrote:

¡Hola, @drinktigermilk​!

 

Unfortunately, this is the first post that I've seen around the Support Community regarding WiFi calling taking a back seat to cellular after updating to Pie. We're still working to get answers on why this is happening and what we can do to fix it. In the meantime, we're using this thread: Official Android 9.0 Pie Discussion Thread to track user-reported issues related to Pie. When we have more info, we'll be sure to post it over on the linked thread.

This thread doesn't exist and this link is broken. Also this isn't a solution.

This is happening with my Galaxy s21

Wifi preferred keeps switching back to cellular preferred. I'm missing important calls because I work from home where I don't have great cell coverage. 

Since last Android update my Galaxy S9 is driving me nuts. Tells me via notification with a beep that wi-fi is optimized every 10 minutes and phone refuses to retain wi-fi preferred setting. I live in a high rise where wi-fi works but I'm up high and cell service competes so calls are dropped and have a vacation home with practically no cell coverage so wi-fi is vital. I'm about ready to give up on T-Mobile. Wi-fi service is a great feature but it stopped working and when you call technical support they have never heard of the problem. There are some screws loose in this system. All these messages about the same or similar issues and technical support knows nothing? Why have this idea exchange?? A high up technical support person told me it was other applications on my phone causing the problem. Samsung says its T-Mobile's fault. T-Mobile says its Samsung's fault. I am exploring other carriers as I write this. I just cannot understand why this problem cannot be fixed NOW. All the advertising to recruit new customers and T-Mobile will be losing old ones. Wi-fi use with the cell phone is very useful -- but not having it so screwed up. Should they not admit that there is a BIG problem and get it FIXED. This company seems totally and completely unresponsive and irrational.

KKC wrote:

Same issue with iPhone 12 and 12 mini. Something to do with 5g phones or Tmobile 5g SIM cards.  They need to fix this WiFi calling issue or I have to find a new cell company. It's been going on way to long now . TMOBILE get with it already stop going one step ahead and then 3 steps back

Same issue with iPhone 12 and 12 mini. Something to do with 5g phones or Tmobile 5g SIM cards.  They need to fix this WiFi calling issue or I have to find a new cell company. It's been going on way to long now . TMOBILE get with it already stop going one step ahead and then 3 steps back