I need to find a workaround for poor AT&T mobile cell signal in a
vacation home that has Xfinity service, which includes the XB7 (Arris
TG4482A) gateway. Wifi signal within the home is fine, and laptops
connect easily. But cell calls, in or out, are sometimes impossible to
make, and if made, constantly disconnect. Basically, cell service is
unusable.

I need to make/receive calls between my primary home and this vacation
home. My primary home also has Xfinity, with a rented cable modem, but I
have my own wifi router. The setup works fine. I also have AT&T cell
service, which works fine in my area.

I'm not interested in Xfinity Voice for the vacation home, unless it
turns out to be the only answer.

One option I have is something like a hardware VOIP box, like Ooma, but I
don't know if Xfinity's XB7 only works with Xfinity Voice. Anyone know?

Another option I have is wifi calling. All our (Android) phones have
wifi calling. I've tried to educate myself about wifi calling, but still
have some questions.

If I'm in my home area and out and about, but not near a wifi hotspot,
and I have to use mobile, will the vacation home get the call? For
instance, if the doctor calls the vacation home, from either a landline
of a cell phone that's not set up for wifi calling, will the vacation
home get the call? My understanding is that both ends have to be set up
for wifi calling for the call to be received.

On 1/31/2022 3:04 PM, Boris wrote:
> I need to find a workaround for poor AT&T mobile cell signal in a
> vacation home that has Xfinity service, which includes the XB7 (Arris
> TG4482A) gateway. Wifi signal within the home is fine, and laptops
> connect easily. But cell calls, in or out, are sometimes impossible to
> make, and if made, constantly disconnect. Basically, cell service is
> unusable.
>
> I need to make/receive calls between my primary home and this vacation
> home. My primary home also has Xfinity, with a rented cable modem, but I
> have my own wifi router. The setup works fine. I also have AT&T cell
> service, which works fine in my area.
>
> I'm not interested in Xfinity Voice for the vacation home, unless it
> turns out to be the only answer.
>
> One option I have is something like a hardware VOIP box, like Ooma, but I
> don't know if Xfinity's XB7 only works with Xfinity Voice. Anyone know?
>
> Another option I have is wifi calling. All our (Android) phones have
> wifi calling. I've tried to educate myself about wifi calling, but still
> have some questions.
>
> If I'm in my home area and out and about, but not near a wifi hotspot,
> and I have to use mobile, will the vacation home get the call? For
> instance, if the doctor calls the vacation home, from either a landline
> of a cell phone that's not set up for wifi calling, will the vacation
> home get the call? My understanding is that both ends have to be set up
> for wifi calling for the call to be received.

I believe WiFi calling means the phone can receive any calls directed to
it using Wifi, even when there is no mobile signal. My phone has a
switch to give wifi priority.

On 1/31/2022 3:04 PM, Boris wrote:
> I need to find a workaround for poor AT&T mobile cell signal in a
> vacation home that has Xfinity service, which includes the XB7 (Arris
> TG4482A) gateway. Wifi signal within the home is fine, and laptops
> connect easily. But cell calls, in or out, are sometimes impossible to
> make, and if made, constantly disconnect. Basically, cell service is
> unusable.

You can use a device like an Obihai or Ooma. Note that Polycom stated
that they will stop support for the Obihai boxes with Google Voice next
year (they will continue to function unless Google Voice makes changes
that makes them stop working).

Not sure what Xfinity services you have, but I just signed up for 600
Mb/s Xfinity internet. It was part of the promotion of 12x the speed if
you sign up for Xfinity Mobile so it was less expensive to get the 50
Mb/s plan for $19.99, boosted to 600 Mb/s by signing up for a $15/month
Xfinity Mobile line (with a "free" 5G phone). So it's $35 per month for
600 Mb/s and one Xfinity Mobile line with 1GB of data (I don't need, and
probably won't use the Xfinity Mobile line).

Boris wrote:

> I need to find a workaround for poor AT&T mobile cell signal in a
> vacation home that has Xfinity service, which includes the XB7 (Arris
> TG4482A) gateway. Wifi signal within the home is fine, and laptops
> connect easily. But cell calls, in or out, are sometimes impossible to
> make, and if made, constantly disconnect. Basically, cell service is
> unusable.
>
> I need to make/receive calls between my primary home and this vacation
> home. My primary home also has Xfinity, with a rented cable modem, but I
> have my own wifi router. The setup works fine. I also have AT&T cell
> service, which works fine in my area.
>
> I'm not interested in Xfinity Voice for the vacation home, unless it
> turns out to be the only answer.
>
> One option I have is something like a hardware VOIP box, like Ooma, but I
> don't know if Xfinity's XB7 only works with Xfinity Voice. Anyone know?
>
> Another option I have is wifi calling. All our (Android) phones have
> wifi calling. I've tried to educate myself about wifi calling, but still
> have some questions.
>
> If I'm in my home area and out and about, but not near a wifi hotspot,
> and I have to use mobile, will the vacation home get the call? For
> instance, if the doctor calls the vacation home, from either a landline
> of a cell phone that's not set up for wifi calling, will the vacation
> home get the call? My understanding is that both ends have to be set up
> for wifi calling for the call to be received.

Xfinity Voice uses different channels than for their Internet service.
Do you have Internet service at your vacation home? If so, VOIP is
Voice Over Internet.

You could get Google Voice (only in the USA) to use VOIP, or several
other VOIP providers (e.g., Callcentric). Searching "free voip" via
online search engine provides much information, like:

https://www.g2.com/categories/voip/free

With Google Voice, I use an Obihai 200 converter attached to my wifi
cable modem. The converter uses the Internet service on the cable
modem. To the converter I connect a landline phone. I could even run
an RJ45 cable from the converter to a wall jack that then lets me use a
corded phone on any phone jack in the house to use VOIP service via
Google Voice. However, Obi intends to discontinue service after
December 18, 2023. See warning at:

https://www.obitalk.com/info/products/obi200
They do NOT mention the discontinued devices will get replaced with
other devices.

So, I'll have to switch to something else in a couple years, like Ooma.
The Obi 200 device that I have works with several other VOIP providers,
but I'd have to review them again to see which are free and reliable.
Obi's announcement is vague. Yeah, the devices themselves will get
discontinued. Mine went out of support a couple years ago (you get 1
year of support, and zip thereafter). You won't be able to provision
the Obi device to Google Voice. However, what is not clear is if, after
prior provisioning, the Obi device will no longer function with Google
Voice. Obi isn't involved in a VOIP call: Google Voice directly
connects to the Obi device (after provisioning the device to Google
Voice). Calls forwarded by Google Voice do not go through Obi. Google
Voice calls the Obi device.

A few years ago, I compared Ooma and Obitalk, and chose Obitalk which
was half the cost of Ooma back then. You pay once to get the device,
and no further cost thereafter. Whether you pay for the actual VOIP
service depends on who you choose. Google Voice is free, for now, but
there has been speculation that Google will drop it, or charge for it,
because it competes against their Google Fi service.

Polycom's obitalk.com web site has no e-store to buy their
business-grade devices which hints Obi is planning to go out of
business.

Comcast used to have their Voice2Go wifi VOIP service and app:

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/voice-2go-faqs?view=app

I had a virtual VOIP number for many years, but then they killed it
because it provided a free VOIP service via wifi hotspots that competed
with their mobile cellular service:

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/xfinity-connect-sunset

Reminds me when Comcast dropped Usenet service. It didn't afford them
any revenue, and was a cheap and easy way to avoid the threat of getting
sued for providing a pipe to child porn.

If you pay for Microsoft's 365 subscriptionware, 60 minutes per month of
Skype calling is included. Skype-to-Skype is free, but interfacing with
cellular and landline providers costs money. While I used to have
Office 365 with the 60-minute/month SkypeCall quota, I never used the
Skype VOIP service, and eventually I dropped the subscriptionware which
meant no SkypeCall quota, too. You use the Skype app as the VOIP app to
a wifi hotspot, like to your wifi cable modem at home.

https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA12230/how-do-i-activate-my-microsoft-365-skype-minutes

With Ooma, which others may mention, it isn't entirely free. See:

https://www.ooma.com/home-phone-service/savings/#get-tax-calculator-position

You buy the device (as I did for Obi200 at $60, but Ooma's is $100), and
you get their basic service for free, except they still charge for
monthly taxes and fees (their calculator says it would be $6.30 in my
area).

To use VOIP, you need Internet service. You're paying for Internet
service at your vacation home? If so, some cellular carriers have their
femtocell (aka microcell) devices that connect to your cable modem. The
femtocell provides cellular coverage to your cell phones through the
cable modem via Internet to the cellular provider. I remember AT&T had
a femtocell. You didn't mention who is your cellular provider.

You sure your cell phone gets no signal in the area of your vacation
home? To me, vacation homes are not the same as cabins off in the
middle of a state park, but are in or near some metropolis. Even if
signal strength is low at the vacation home, you could get a cellular
booster to up the signal strength. They aren't cheap at $400 for low
end boosters (https://www.weboost.com/products/home-room), but the best
boosters cost $1000+ (https://www.weboost.com/products/home-complete
using an inside antenna) to $1300
(https://www.weboost.com/products/weboost-installed-home-complete using
an outside antenna which you could attach to the house or, at more cost,
on a tower).

Am 01.02.22 um 04:32 schrieb Bob F:
> I believe WiFi calling means the phone can receive any calls directed to
> it using Wifi, even when there is no mobile signal. My phone has a
> switch to give wifi priority.

Usually it is better to leave that to the phone. If the signal is better
in the Wifi-covered area in and around the house it will use it
automatically and switch back.

--
De gustibus non est disputandum

Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
> If I'm in my home area and out and about, but not near a wifi hotspot,
> and I have to use mobile, will the vacation home get the call? For
> instance, if the doctor calls the vacation home, from either a landline
> of a cell phone that's not set up for wifi calling, will the vacation
> home get the call? My understanding is that both ends have to be set up
> for wifi calling for the call to be received.
>
As far as I am aware (in the UK) WiFi calling should be totally
transparent, i.e. calls work exactly as they would via a 'real' cell
connection, cost the same, etc. That's certainly how it seems for us,
we have marginal cell coverage at home so most of the time (especially
indoors) our phones use WiFi calling. It 'just works' with no change
from our point of view.

--
Chris Green
·

On 2/1/2022 12:51 AM, Chris Green wrote:
> Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> If I'm in my home area and out and about, but not near a wifi hotspot,
>> and I have to use mobile, will the vacation home get the call? For
>> instance, if the doctor calls the vacation home, from either a landline
>> of a cell phone that's not set up for wifi calling, will the vacation
>> home get the call? My understanding is that both ends have to be set up
>> for wifi calling for the call to be received.
>>
> As far as I am aware (in the UK) WiFi calling should be totally
> transparent, i.e. calls work exactly as they would via a 'real' cell
> connection, cost the same, etc. That's certainly how it seems for us,
> we have marginal cell coverage at home so most of the time (especially
> indoors) our phones use WiFi calling. It 'just works' with no change
> from our point of view.

In the U.S. we have "carrier-based" Wi-Fi calling where your phone
switches to using Wi-Fi and minutes (if you are not on an unlimited
plan) are usually not counted (though there are exceptions with some
prepaid MVNOs where Wi-Fi calls are also charged).

We also have Google Voice, a free VOIP service (Calls to the U.S. and
Canada are free, international calls are not free). Fortunately, the
U.S. doesn't have the bizarre "caller pays" system or free services like
Google Voice could not exist. Incoming calls can are forwarded to the
carrier (or landline) number or can be answered with an app on the phone.

Google Voice can be set up to use either data or to route calls through
the carrier network, with automatic fallback.

sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
> We also have Google Voice, a free VOIP service (Calls to the U.S. and
> Canada are free, international calls are not free). Fortunately, the
> U.S. doesn't have the bizarre "caller pays" system or free services like
> Google Voice could not exist. Incoming calls can are forwarded to the
> carrier (or landline) number or can be answered with an app on the phone.
>
We (outside the US) find anything else *except* caller pays bizarre! :-)

There's absolutely nothing to stop a service being free to the caller
though, so how would our system prevent Google Voice from working? It
surely doesn't charge the person receiving the call does it?

--
Chris Green
·

Am 01.02.22 um 11:06 schrieb Chris Green:
> sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>>
>> We also have Google Voice, a free VOIP service (Calls to the U.S. and
>> Canada are free, international calls are not free). Fortunately, the
>> U.S. doesn't have the bizarre "caller pays" system or free services like
>> Google Voice could not exist. Incoming calls can are forwarded to the
>> carrier (or landline) number or can be answered with an app on the phone.
>>
> We (outside the US) find anything else *except* caller pays bizarre! :-)

SIC!

--
De gustibus non est disputandum

Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
> Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> If I'm in my home area and out and about, but not near a wifi hotspot,
>> and I have to use mobile, will the vacation home get the call? For
>> instance, if the doctor calls the vacation home, from either a landline
>> of a cell phone that's not set up for wifi calling, will the vacation
>> home get the call? My understanding is that both ends have to be set up
>> for wifi calling for the call to be received.
>>
> As far as I am aware (in the UK) WiFi calling should be totally
> transparent, i.e. calls work exactly as they would via a 'real' cell
> connection, cost the same, etc. That's certainly how it seems for us,
> we have marginal cell coverage at home so most of the time (especially
> indoors) our phones use WiFi calling. It 'just works' with no change
> from our point of view.

At least when you also have "4G calling" or "VoLTE calling" enabled.
If not, the calls will not transfer between the mobile network and
the wifi calling. So, when you walk out of your house while talking
on a wifi call, you will lose the call. Same when you walk into your
house talking on the mobile network and going out of coverage due to
being inside.

With "4G calling" or "VoLTE calling" enabled, technically the calls
can seamlessly transfer between the mobile network and the wifi.

Whether that is really going to work, well that is another matter.

Joerg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.ch> wrote:
> Am 01.02.22 um 04:32 schrieb Bob F:
>> I believe WiFi calling means the phone can receive any calls directed to
>> it using Wifi, even when there is no mobile signal. My phone has a
>> switch to give wifi priority.
>
> Usually it is better to leave that to the phone. If the signal is better
> in the Wifi-covered area in and around the house it will use it
> automatically and switch back.

Unfortunately that appears to depend on both the phone type and the
mobile network operator.

E.g. here indoors it appears to work perfectly using Samsung S9 and
not work well on Samsung A40 phones. The S9 has the priority setting,
the A40 does not. Is supposed to do that automatically. Well, it loses
calls when walking around inside the building, so that apparently does
not work.

Am 01.02.22 um 14:03 schrieb Rob:
> With "4G calling" or "VoLTE calling" enabled, technically the calls
> can seamlessly transfer between the mobile network and the wifi.
>
> Whether that is really going to work, well that is another matter.
Here it works perfectly on all iPhones since the 5G-Version. Certainly
4G is a conditio sine qua non.

--
De gustibus non est disputandum

I use Wi-Fi calling on my Android by simply enabling it in my settings. When I use it, I can receive calls and make them normally.

The only possible problem is that if I am not in a call zone and neither in a Wi-Fi zone, if someone calls me, I might not get any notification at all when i re-enter a zone.

On Tue, 1 Feb 2022 01:55:09 -0800, sms wrote:

> Google Voice can be set up to use either data or to route calls through
> the carrier network, with automatic fallback.

Is there any other VOIP that can call a "real" phone number that is free for
the USA _other_ than Google Voice today and that isn't obnoxious to use?

While I'm not an overall fan of Google, one nice thing about Google Voice is
that it can ring any set of numbers, and, if you don't answer, it sends you
an email with the transcript and the recording.

I used to use other VOIP solutions for POTS calling but they started
charging money. I also have a few "second line" solutions, but they are all
obnoxious in quite a few ways.

The only obnoxity of Google Voice is it's a use-it-or-lose-it proposition,
but I use it enough not to lose it (dunno how long as others get the
warnings, not me).

By contrast, the second-line VOIP solutions have something like a one or two
week (or maybe as long as a month?) use-it-or-lose-it obnoxious policy.

Plus, most (all?) have obnoxious ads, which suck (some even pop up in the
_middle_ of the phone call in my tests!). That sucks.

Since Usenet is a team sport, maybe someone knows more than I do though.

Is there any other VOIP that can call a "real" phone number that is free for
the USA _other_ than Google Voice today and that isn't obnoxious to use?

On Tue, 1 Feb 2022 22:36:50 -0000 (UTC), Andy Burnelli wrote:

> Is there any other VOIP that can call a "real" phone number that is free for
> the USA _other_ than Google Voice today and that isn't obnoxious to use?

Correction...

Is there any other VOIP that can call a "real" phone number
(and that can receive a call from a "real" phone number)
that is free for the USA _other_ than Google Voice today
(and that isn't obnoxious to use, as in no ads please)?
--
Real === POTS or cellular

Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote in
news:XnsAE30995F9C04CBorisinvalidinvalid@144.76.35.252:

> I need to find a workaround for poor AT&T mobile cell signal in a
> vacation home that has Xfinity service, which includes the XB7 (Arris
> TG4482A) gateway. Wifi signal within the home is fine, and laptops
> connect easily. But cell calls, in or out, are sometimes impossible
> to make, and if made, constantly disconnect. Basically, cell service
> is unusable.
>
> I need to make/receive calls between my primary home and this vacation
> home. My primary home also has Xfinity, with a rented cable modem,
> but I have my own wifi router. The setup works fine. I also have
> AT&T cell service, which works fine in my area.
>
> I'm not interested in Xfinity Voice for the vacation home, unless it
> turns out to be the only answer.
>
> One option I have is something like a hardware VOIP box, like Ooma,
> but I don't know if Xfinity's XB7 only works with Xfinity Voice.
> Anyone know?
>
> Another option I have is wifi calling. All our (Android) phones have
> wifi calling. I've tried to educate myself about wifi calling, but
> still have some questions.
>
> If I'm in my home area and out and about, but not near a wifi hotspot,
> and I have to use mobile, will the vacation home get the call? For
> instance, if the doctor calls the vacation home, from either a
> landline of a cell phone that's not set up for wifi calling, will the
> vacation home get the call? My understanding is that both ends have
> to be set up for wifi calling for the call to be received.
>
>
>
>

My daughter was home for the past few days, and I told her to configure
wifi calling on her Galaxy S10, because she was going up to the vacation
home the following day, and we'd see how that worked.

Today my daughter went to the vacation home and she called me on her wifi
calling configured phone, and the audio was ABSOLUTELY the BEST I've ever
heard. Better than mobile, on both ends.

On Wed, 2 Feb 2022 02:01:51 -0000 (UTC), Boris wrote:

> My daughter was home for the past few days, and I told her to configure
> wifi calling on her Galaxy S10, because she was going up to the vacation
> home the following day, and we'd see how that worked.
>
> Today my daughter went to the vacation home and she called me on her wifi
> calling configured phone, and the audio was ABSOLUTELY the BEST I've ever
> heard. Better than mobile, on both ends.

I apologize in advance for not reading the thread, so it may have been
mentioned, but you can quite easily check your wi-fi access point strength
and cell signal strength using any free debugging apps such as these are.
<https://i.postimg.cc/4xgmTTgm/wifi01.jpg>

The one I like best is this one, as it does both Wi-Fi and cellular graphs.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Hn05bQwG/wifi02.jpg>

This is an example of a cellular signal strength graph over time.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Gtywwn8f/signal01.jpg>

You can even get maps that show all the local towers (even homeowner ones).
<https://i.postimg.cc/CKFhMZtS/signal03.jpg>

Or, just call the carrier and ask what tower you're using (mine will tell
me) and even if they don't know, they can tell you the nearest tower.

In addition, it's probably covered already in this thread by the others as
it's a very basic suggestion which everyone already knows, but to say it
just in case nobody knows what I know, it's my experience over the years
that each of the major USA carriers will provide (usually free of charge,
but not always) a cell tower for each home.

I have two of them (one is a repeater, the other a femtocell, aka microcell
depending on the power output) in my home to cover all the floors.

This essentially gives you something like -75 to -85 (or so) decibels inside
your home, which, for cellular signal, is damn good signal.

You can place these free towers anywhere, so you can have fantastic cellular
signal inside your house where you need it most.

In addition, my carrier gives free Wi-Fi hotspotting and tethering, which I
almost never need, but the OP may want to see if that fits his needs also.

Apologies if all this has been covered already as it's very basic stuff.

On 01/31/2022 08:09 PM, sms wrote:
> On 1/31/2022 3:04 PM, Boris wrote:
>> I need to find a workaround for poor AT&T mobile cell signal in a
>> vacation home that has Xfinity service, which includes the XB7 (Arris
>> TG4482A) gateway. Wifi signal within the home is fine, and laptops
>> connect easily. But cell calls, in or out, are sometimes impossible to
>> make, and if made, constantly disconnect. Basically, cell service is
>> unusable.
>
> You can use a device like an Obihai or Ooma.

We bought an Ooma device for a number of years and love it. $6/month
for the taxes the governments charge, and the devices go on sale every
once in a while. I get $20 and my 'friend' gets $20 off if they buy the
device (something like $80 or $90) through a link to me. Just sayin;.
The first year we got spamproofing and some other stuff for free that we
decided wasn't worth the additional cost. YMMV.

Best $50 we ever spent was adding the Sentry2 spam-blocking device.
Only REAL calls ring now. Land-line/VOIP only.

> Note that Polycom stated
> that they will stop support for the Obihai boxes with Google Voice next
> year (they will continue to function unless Google Voice makes changes
> that makes them stop working).
>
> Not sure what Xfinity services you have, but I just signed up for 600
> Mb/s Xfinity internet. It was part of the promotion of 12x the speed if
> you sign up for Xfinity Mobile so it was less expensive to get the 50
> Mb/s plan for $19.99, boosted to 600 Mb/s by signing up for a $15/month
> Xfinity Mobile line (with a "free" 5G phone). So it's $35 per month for
> 600 Mb/s and one Xfinity Mobile line with 1GB of data (I don't need, and
> probably won't use the Xfinity Mobile line).

--
Cheers, Bev
You need only three tools: WD-40, duct tape and a hammer. If it doesn't
move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use duct tape.
If you can't fix it with a hammer you've got an electrical problem.