I hope I haven't steered anyone in the wrong direction!
In researching the Radiant Core, I noticed that all the official descriptions seem to say it does have WiFi calling. I also saw several forum discussions started by folks who could not have WiFi calling working, and observed that the menu setting for it wasn't there.
I ran across this thread:
which seems to imply that the phone does have a setting for WiFi calling, but that the manual & AT&T tutorial is wrong about where that setting is in the menu. The original poster, who was frustrated by the lack of WiFi calling, seems to have responded positively at the end of that thread, but does not specifically say "it works now".
idanth, could you check the phone settings menu as suggested near the end of the linked thread, & see if the setting does appear?
I also noted this from the responder: "The earliest SIMs that supported those features have 27 or higher for the 9th and 10th digits of the ICCID. If those digits are 26 or lower, you need a new SIM."
I could probably check on the one I got: but I don't know if the setting will be visible on a phone that hasn't been activated.
Last message on that thread contains following words:
"The documentation may need updating on that phone. On most of the newer phones I've used the Wi-Fi Calling settings have moved to the Phone app settings instead of Network settings. These screenshots are from an LG Phoenix 4."
This is for LG Phoenix 4 and not for ATT Radiant Core. ATT Radiant Core does not have wi-fi calling option in Call Settings. It is possible that this option enabled only for AT&T Prepaid or Postpaid SIM cards (first generation of Wi-Fi Calling enabled phones supported it only on "parent" operator but not MVNOs).
Even more, I suspect that Premium Freedompop Wi-Fi calling (and texting) works only on iPhone.
@FreedomPop Thanks for dropping by! I will say the new updated plan is effectively good for an emergency phone. Still, one is bound to have billing surprises.
The minutes can easily be managed and the allotments are acceptable for quick calls.
Now, texts and data are a joke. With the amount of text spam received these days (even on a so called "clean line"), I don't see that lasting more than a few days for some. Just with this election, the number of unsolicited political messages skyrocketed (can't wait for that to be over and done with). Once you run out, then what? Top up for unsolicited texts or for that one individual that sent a group text and results in you getting the replies of everyone else? Yeah, probably the biggest joke of this plan. If you offer a hard cap, then acceptable.
As far as data, you try and go to a news website and within a minute or less, you'd blow through that due to the number of videos embedded and ads that load as part of the news article. Even with some serious data management, this is a cruel joke without a hard cap option.
PS, unlike Android which offers a number of options to significantly customize your data usage and even stop it, I have yet to find an option for IOS that effectively forces the data to stop, so folks, you'd have about a 99% risk a top up on iPhones for sure.
In summary, it sounds like a free plan the plan was offered because of a prior expectation however the offered option shows that the company has no interest in supporting a usable option for voice and data. I'd anticipate this would cause more trouble than what is worth - not to count the extra negative publicity / bad reputation. Proceed with caution!
PS.
For that $5.00 almost guaranteed top up, might as well go with Tello and have a much better experience along with allotments.
Sadly I think this is the end of my FreedomPop free SIM, which might be what they're hoping for. I got a lot of good use out of it, but for what my money is worth, I'll just pay a few dollars to another provider.
you can probably use the premium voice free plan with a glove compartment box emergency phone or as a home only wifi calling device, but not much else.
I'm also curious to know if FP will keep the annoying $.01/month charge when a line doesn't have any data use. If that's the case, I would also have to remember to play a few songs a month on Pandora via data. (Each song only uses about 2mb.)
bingyee, thanks for the tip on controllable data usage for plans that have a required minimum use!
I've usually browsed a couple of websites that I like to look at anyway: Most news sites are difficult or impossible to calibrate for minimal usage, due to ads, pictures, and embedded video. Ironically, my favorite ultra-low-data news sites just take too long to consume 5-10MB. (text.npr.org or lite.cnn.io )
I never thought about streaming low-res music, but it sounds enjoyable and predictable.
@FreedomPop, can you help us with some info and insights about WiFi calling?
This (and RCS chat) seems to be the most interesting, and in many ways vital, part of the new Freemium plan .
We know that WiFi calling on AT&T is very limited to branded AT&T phones (some? Most?) , and a few unlocked devices. Will WiFi calling automatically be enabled on lines that have supported phones, or must a user request enabling WiFi calling? And will it be enabled for Android phones as well as iPhones?
Assuming that WiFi calling will actually be enabled on this plan-- is there a check tool or reliable method for determining if a phone supports WiFi calling on your plan? If not, can it be assumed that a phone that supports WiFi calling on AT&T Prepaid would also support WiFi calling on the Freemium plan?
As I said in my previous post, I suspect that in case of Freedompop Premium, Wi-Fi calling works only on iPhones. Does somebody have positive experience of configuring Wi-Fi calling (with Freedompop Premium) on AT&T branded Android phones (it will not work for sure on non-AT&T branded phones except iPhones)?
Yes, I did see your earlier thought about this, and I'm curious about why you might expect that result. I haven't seen a single report of anyone trying WiFi calling at all, much less on an Android that is certified for WiFi calling if on AT&T Prepaid. (or MVNO that supports WiFi calling on the AT&T network.)
Sooner or later, someone is going to try it, and likely report on it. It would be nice to get a info about what we should expect. Personally, I can't imagine what I'd do with this plan that makes sense if I can't enable WiFi calling without buying an iPhone, or if the promise of WiFi calling is just a chimera.
Spotted on Reddit, posted by usdang:
"You can use top-ups:
$2 - 100 mins
$2 - 100 text messages
$2 - 100 MB data
$5 - 250 MB Data
$10 - 1 GB Data
$15 - 2 GB Data
Top-ups expire at the end of billing cycle"
With careful application, it still might be possible to make this work as a usable backup device. Leave it on the free plan, unused, until needed, and top up when needed. $2-$6 for an occasional need is not bad. Neither is $10/GB for on-demand readiness.
If you were to use this as a glovebox phone, you'd need login info to get to your dashboard to buy the top-ups, be able to accomplish it within the 25mb data allotment, and you'd need to be willing to have a payment source on file. (And a lot of folks don't like giving FP CC info, and it wouldn't be safe to play too many games with CC if you want this to work when you really need it.)
If WiFi calling can be achieved, I think I also saw that unlimited WiFi calling only works as long as you have some allotment left from the 10-minute cellular allotment.
It's a narrow path, and only theoretical at this point.
FreedomPop's old website now appears to be completely shut down and inaccessible. It has been replaced by the new site.
That means, you can't log in to view or change anything about your old sims and plans. Instead, you are directed to "upgrade" to the new plans.
Data is still working on my old sims, although I had a few that were inactive and I suspect there may be no way to "reactivate" them on the old plan anymore without access to the old site.
EDIT: You can still use My Freedompop to reach the old site/accounts -- thanks to the other poster for pointing that out!
We’ve extended the deadline to accommodate all of our customers. For an optimal experience, transitions should be completed before the end of October, and for the moment, service will continue as is until you work your way into the new FreedomPop experience and everything is migrated successfully.
That being said, we encourage you to take action as soon as possible with the best time to upgrade being no more than 5 days before your current billing cycle is scheduled to end.
Please note, once our migration to the cellular voice network is complete, any lines that did not transition will be disconnected.
@Freedompop You might want to review how you are communicating this. As of now I have not received anything from you via email or otherwise I only saw someone else mention it on reddit and not everyone will find out via social media. Especially when you say lines will be disconnected - informing customers sooner rather than later is key.