Wi Fi calling apps like Tu Go

[Mr Mackay]

I wondered if anyone has found an app that gets anywhere near the Tu Go app from O2 ??
I find TuGo very very useful ,as we live in a dead spot ,mobile signal wise , 1 bar if youre lucky and go out the farm gate and lean on it ,and you may very well get mobile signal that does not drop!!
House and buildings very patchy. So Tugo has been a boon ,just boost the wi fi around the buildings and youre covered !! Except O2 are binning it.
I have been told they expect everyone to buy the new expensive 4 g wi fi all singing dancing handsets and youll be ok .

 

[Boysground]

I used to have tu go which was ok but using the app was a pain. When the contract ended I switched to ee and use their wifi calling. It is much better the phone sorts it all out you dial as normal. If you are on android the phone has to come from ee for it to work. All IPhones should work with it.

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[Dealer]

I wondered if anyone has found an app that gets anywhere near the Tu Go app from O2 ??
I find TuGo very very useful ,as we live in a dead spot ,mobile signal wise , 1 bar if youre lucky and go out the farm gate and lean on it ,and you may very well get mobile signal that does not drop!!
House and buildings very patchy. So Tugo has been a boon ,just boost the wi fi around the buildings and youre covered !! Except O2 are binning it.
I have been told they expect everyone to buy the new expensive 4 g wi fi all singing dancing handsets and youll be ok .

I am in the same boat Sh1te signal at home just about managed with Tu, its ending tonight so that's that's 4G wifi calling is not an option on my handset as they have not listed my phone as compatible so app wont download, EE it is then next week 20 years + on 02

 

[DrDunc]

I wondered if anyone has found an app that gets anywhere near the Tu Go app from O2 ??
I find TuGo very very useful ,as we live in a dead spot ,mobile signal wise , 1 bar if youre lucky and go out the farm gate and lean on it ,and you may very well get mobile signal that does not drop!!
House and buildings very patchy. So Tugo has been a boon ,just boost the wi fi around the buildings and youre covered !! Except O2 are binning it.
I have been told they expect everyone to buy the new expensive 4 g wi fi all singing dancing handsets and youll be ok .

I also relied upon tugo. So much so that upon learning it was being binned, I bought an all singing dancing 4g Wi-Fi calling phone!

However bought it on internet black Friday deals. For unlimited minutes and texts with 4gb data the new phone is only £21.66 a month. That's £10 a month less than my old phone which was restricted minutes and no free data. Also got £78 for the old phone! By luck my 24 month contact was paid up this month anyway.

Still O2 and just swapped number from old to new account.

There was a noticeable lag when using tugo that made talking strange. With my new Samsung S8 it's crystal clear, almost better than a "normal" phone call. (The camera and screen are also stunning).

Unless you're really attached to your old phone or still have a lump you pay off on your contract, I'd chop it in for a shiny new one.

 

[DrDunc]

I also looked into changing provider to EE. They have a big range of handsets that are already set up for WiFi calling. O2 don't yet have many options bar the top of the range models.

However despite the publicity, EE coverage here is utterly abysmal ( not that O2 is much better).

Get a mate on EE to let you try their handset and see what the signal is like in your area?

 

[steveR]

We have naff all signal with ANY provider, just 3 miles from Telford central :-(

I ended up on Voda purely to be able to use their Sure Signal device which piggybacks on the broadband (also crap!) It works well, but has very little range we have found, certainly no power to punch through a couple of walls... I am hoping that I can double up and run 2 here in the farm without the widgets getting pissy! Just need a 4G phone and the box will register around 10-12 Voda mobiles.

The EE signal box was a shocker, and after trying 3 units and shite CS from EE, I gave up... The new EE offering requires you to lock into a Contract and use their specific phones, so I moved to Voda...

I tried free PAYG SIMS for all providers for checking the best offering.

 

[DrDunc]

Android phones on the O2 supported list don't need to be bought from O2.

The Samsung S8 that I bought came through mobiles.co.uk which is the carphone warehouse. No O2 branding but did need a call to (the excellent) o2 customer services to help find the setting menu that turned on WiFi calling.

On voda and EE you do need to buy it from them.

 

[steveR]

On voda and EE you do need to buy it from them.

The Voda Sure Signal will work with any 3G phone as long as the account holder registers the numbers.

Obviously, the phone needs to be either unlocked or a Voda unit...

 

[Mr Mackay]

Having an old Samsung Galaxy Note , on a sim only O2 at 11 .45 a month , I had consider going onto a business phone contract (sim only again) with O2 , and getting them to supply me with a Boostbox !
The lady on O2 told me business users can have one !! Not sure what they charge if anything??!!
I wanted one a few yrs ago but they didnt bite !
Not sure just how good they are anyway
I quite like the mobiles.co.uk contracts , but I see 4 gb deal is £26 per month and what on earth would I do without an S Pen if I didnt have the note again?

 

[DaveJ]

Android phones on the O2 supported list don't need to be bought from O2.

The Samsung S8 that I bought came through mobiles.co.uk which is the carphone warehouse. No O2 branding but did need a call to (the excellent) o2 customer services to help find the setting menu that turned on WiFi calling.

On voda and EE you do need to buy it from them.

I'm debating between doing the same, or binning O2 after 20 years and moving to EE. Only reason I depend on TuGo perversely is texts.

I have a terribly unreliable signal for the Fire Service alerter, but since we moved to a new mobilising system they also send you a text when we get a call. Unfortunately texts aren't instantaneous so I don't always get the call straight away.

However 6 months ago O2 had a mast down so I downloaded TuGo as a temporary fix. As you say, the lag makes voice calls strange, however much more important to me is texts seem to be instantaneous. It's been a revelation to me. And now the beggars are binning it.

I finished a 24 month contract 6 weeks ago. However I smashed my S5neo earlier this year, and had a new one courtesy of NFU Mutual. So whilst Carphone warehouse are moithering me about upgrading, I'm not particularly desperate for a new phone. But for the text issue I'd be tempted to go for a cheap Sim only contract and keep the phone.

 

[DrDunc]

I'm debating between doing the same, or binning O2 after 20 years and moving to EE. Only reason I depend on TuGo perversely is texts.

I have a terribly unreliable signal for the Fire Service alerter, but since we moved to a new mobilising system they also send you a text when we get a call. Unfortunately texts aren't instantaneous so I don't always get the call straight away.

However 6 months ago O2 had a mast down so I downloaded TuGo as a temporary fix. As you say, the lag makes voice calls strange, however much more important to me is texts seem to be instantaneous. It's been a revelation to me. And now the beggars are binning it.

I finished a 24 month contract 6 weeks ago. However I smashed my S5neo earlier this year, and had a new one courtesy of NFU Mutual. So whilst Carphone warehouse are moithering me about upgrading, I'm not particularly desperate for a new phone. But for the text issue I'd be tempted to go for a cheap Sim only contract and keep the phone.

If texts are that important, then you'll need to go to EE.

You can't currently get texts on O2 WiFi calling

An end to end encryption text service like WhatsApp solves the problem, provided the sender also has the app, and internet access.

 

[Philip Watkins]

On voda and EE you do need to buy it from them.

You don't need to buy from EE to have wifi calling.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

You don't need to buy from EE to have wifi calling.

And you dont have to buy the handset from Voda either to enable WiFi Calling.

WiFi Calling (as in the handset and network do it all seemlesy for you behind the scenes) is the way forward people.

 

[DaveJ]

If texts are that important, then you'll need to go to EE.

You can't currently get texts on O2 WiFi calling

An end to end encryption text service like WhatsApp solves the problem, provided the sender also has the app, and internet access.

Thanks for that, I didn't realise about the texts. EE it is then by the looks.

I do use Whatsapp and we have a station group, but that's not much use when the control software only sends out texts!

 

[J B]

Just a few random comments.

The Three wi-fi calling app is rubbish - we would sooner have a poor signal than use that!

I have a MotoG phone which does 4g and was around £125 IIRC

SteveR - there is a spare Sure Signal box here which belongs (?) to sister in law.
Not sure if they are linked to a particular owner.

 

[Mr Mackay]

If texts are that important, then you'll need to go to EE.

You can't currently get texts on O2 WiFi calling

An end to end encryption text service like WhatsApp solves the problem, provided the sender also has the app, and internet access.

Texts are essential IMO , because you can always seem to get one ,when a call isn't possible . And to expect your other respondant to install Whats App is a bridge to far really !!! O2 have really shafted us on closing TuGo

 

[steveR]

I have a MotoG phone which does 4g and was around £125 IIRC

SteveR - there is a spare Sure Signal box here which belongs (?) to sister in law.
Not sure if they are linked to a particular owner.

We are a family of Moto G users. Why spend more....?

Sadly, you can only use on Sure Signal on a Broadband connection, or so Voda techies told me. Bit of a nuisance, as the SS box is about as powerful as a match in a thunderstorm... Thanks for the offer mind

I am looking (again) at one of the Repeaters that are available around 130-150 quid for a basic device to cover a house. I reckon with a judicious location of the box, I should get decent coverage in the outbuildings as well as the house.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Having an old Samsung Galaxy Note , on a sim only O2 at 11 .45 a month , I had consider going onto a business phone contract (sim only again) with O2 , and getting them to supply me with a Boostbox !
The lady on O2 told me business users can have one !! Not sure what they charge if anything??!!
I wanted one a few yrs ago but they didnt bite !
Not sure just how good they are anyway
I quite like the mobiles.co.uk contracts , but I see 4 gb deal is £26 per month and what on earth would I do without an S Pen if I didnt have the note again?

Weve had a boostbox for several years. Works fine as long as you have half decent Wi-Fi (2 meg is stated as minimum - though it'll work down to about 1 if no one else using the wifi).
Paid for the box, £100 odd IIRC. Can only register 6 phone numbers to it I think, though I think they do an "office" version that will take more.
Range is limited. Covers the house fine but won't reach the 50/60 metres up to the yard.

 

[reboot]

All this phone reception lark in nonsense

If a foreign visitor comes here their phone will roam and pick up whichever is closest or best mast in the area. So why couldn’t we do the same for our own? Let a third party manage all the Phone masts and let the network providers sell the service.

Just like gas comes down the same pipe and electricity comes down the same cable but with different providers. We could have less masts that people moan about and move others to black spot areas.

Seems silly that we can only make use of every 4th antenna.

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

Gutted TuGo has gone, it was great for texts and seeing missed calls, sometimes I wont get texts or notifications for missed calls for many hours, days or even at all in the usual way.

I've got a Samsung Galaxy S7 so it supports the wifi calling so I've sorted that out and it works pretty well, mind you our wifi isn't the best so it's only as good as the connection I think....

WhatsApp is good, but of course the person the other end has to have it too, and an internet connection.

General signal has been ok lately, it was horrific over the summer. Apparently we have a new temporary O2 mast coming near us soon which will be very welcome as it's a major black spot where it's going.

Only thing I'm going to be concerned about now is not picking up messages or knowing I have missed calls now....