long, free calls

Or needs a different voice artist.

Genuine question, I'm not being overly pedantic (no more than is usual on USENET)

But does "VoWiFi" imply that your mobile service provider's implimentation of calling via WiFi is being used? It's usually referred to as "WiFi Calling" but for all I know different SPs may brand it differently.

In a previous post mm0mf stated "Calls made by a mobile phone over Wifi are billed out of your allocated minutes". Not on my phone they don't.

No, it's the standard built-in to the phone, like VoLTE

WiFi calling, is the friendly name, but VoWiFi is what the GSM Association refers to it as

If you use an android phone, check whether your handset supports "Phone Information" by dialling

then from the ellipsis menu, you can choose "IMS Serviice Status".

There's a subtle difference between billable, and billed.

They are billable for every mobile operator I know of, wifi calls will use up your available minutes, after which they will cost you, of course if you have unlimited minutes you never reach that point, so they're never actually billed.

Tests on a Sony Ericsson T280i and some old New-old-stock BST36 batteries are complete. Two last for close to 1hour 45minutes. One, the most recently purchased, a clear fake, 18 minutes. Finally, a battery that seems to be able to charge fully but drops the call after less than five minutes, with plenty of battery left indicated. Any thoughts about that last one?

The T280i was free. Well £20 but preloaded with £20 credit (Carphone Warehouse, 2008). It still works well as a superior replacement for a PSTN land-line. An old-style PAYG with a "contract" of 1p a day plus one chargeable call per six months. Plus about £1 per annum spent on NOS batteries. Compare that to about 200 months of PSTN line rental.

The Sony Ericsson's spec is "up to 7 hours" talk time - presumably under optimal circumstances rather than real-world ones? 2G is about 2-3 bars here. 4G is, at best (Vodafone) -105dBm - in just one position in the house. 5G or FTTP - not a hope.

I like to keep old things going. Thanks for your posts.

PA

All mobile calls contain two billable components, the originating charge and the terminating charge. In the UK Ofcom caps the terminating charge.

The originating charge is what your network provider charges you for providing "ringtone" and for transporting your call over their network to their switching centre. Your call then goes over the terminating network,this may be the same as your own provider or another provider's network. That bit attracts the terminating charge.

In Europe we have CPP Calling Party Pays, i.e. the person making the call pays the originating and terminating charge.

In Wifi calling, you use your Wifi and internet connection to route the call to your mobile provider's switching centre. However, you pay exactly the same for this despite not using their network. If you have inclusive minutes then Wifi calls use up these inclusive minutes and once you have used all the inclusive minutes you pay normal charges.

If you are suggesting you can make Wifi calls for free then run, don't walk, and setup a 09xx premium rate number that charges £/min for incoming calls and ring it with your free Wifi calls. It wont cost you anything to dial and you can make thousands. (Which is why Wifi calls are billable.)

Ditto. Not quite as long as that, but certainly in excess of an hour.

HMRC help line too

This one will if you have considerable capital gains in assets that you have held for some time (= a tax on inflation :-( )

I have. It cost me £36 for the year - which is not exactly expensive[1].

Does that affect bicycle pumps?

My comment simply questioned your use of language. "Calls made by a mobile phone over Wifi" does not unnecessarily equate to "VoWiFi" (thanks Andy) or even "WiFi Calling". You could, as I do, be using a Smartphone with a VoIP app, or its native dialler, set up to use a third-party VoIP provider.

Or WhatsApp.