Understanding VoLTE and its implications
VoLTE technology and the withdrawal of the 3G network are the talk of the town, and rightly so. It’s not a topic that’s easy to understand. Our VoLTE FAQ has been updated, but we’ve put together some information for you below. If anything is unclear, we’re here to guide you through the transition.
A change that affects the entire telecommunications industry.
The withdrawal of the 3G network will start July 31, 2025, for Fizz and several of its partners. The decommissioning of this network, to be replaced by more advanced technologies, is an initiative undertaken by all mobile service providers in Canada. To find out more about the withdrawal of the 3G network in Canada, visit:
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) website
The Canadian Telecommunications Association website
Why does this concern me?
If your SIM card and/or your phone are not VoLTE (voice over LTE) compatible, no calls (including 911 calls) will go through when the 3G network is gone.
Next steps.
Once the 3G network is withdrawn, the ability to make calls with VoLTE technology will depend on two things: your SIM card and your phone.
Your SIM card:
A SIM card that is VoLTE-compatible will show a red lightning bolt. If that’s not your case, you should have received an email from Fizz inviting you to order your free VoLTE-compatible SIM card. If not, contact us by chat. Changing your SIM card for one that is VoLTE-compatible will not impact your plan or phone number.
Your phone:
The phone associated with your mobile plan must be VoLTE-compatible at Fizz. Here’s how to check:
- Start by checking your SIM card (see higher up) to prevent the test for your phone from failing because of an incompatible SIM card.
- While at home, make a call by dialling #TEST (#8378) from your mobile phone and listen to the voicemail.
-The message confirms your call went through the LTE network? Your phone is VoLTE-compatible at Fizz
-You hear another message? Your phone is not VoLTE-compatible at Fizz and must be replaced.
The VoLTE function in your phone:
Make sure the latest manufacturer software update is installed on your phone, and activate its VoLTE function. Here’s how
All the phones available at Fizz.ca, new or Preloved, are VoLTE-compatible. You can also replace your phone with one you buy elsewhere. Make sure, however, to confirm it’s VoLTE-compatible at Fizz by calling #TEST (#8378).
Important to know: Fizz does not block any phone.
Now, the question on everyone’s lips, why are certain phones VoLTE certified for some Canadian operators, but not for others. In fact, a mobile phone’s VoLTE certification is the result of a specific certification process between the manufacturer and the operator. That’s why Fizz can only guarantee the proper functioning of phones that both appear on its list and are purchased at Fizz.ca.
That being said, if you buy your phone elsewhere it could still have the VoLTE feature and be able to place calls on the LTE network. Fizz will not, under any circumstances, block or prevent the operation of VoLTE on a phone that hasn’t been certified by the company. If the phone is compatible with the Fizz VoLTE configuration, it will be able to make VoLTE calls. Complete the #TEST (#8378) to confirm.
There’s a lot of information out there about VoLTE, and it can be hard to make sense of it all. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need help.
The Fizz team.
Comments
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Reading this
Fizz will not, under any circumstances, block or prevent the operation of VoLTE on a phone that hasn’t been certified by the company.
Do you mean that Fizz sends the provisioning to all phones, or does Fizz check the model and then decide to send it?
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In my opinion it means that if a phone is able to run VoLTE on Fizz, even if it is not certified with Fizz, it will not be blocked.
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To work, the phone must receive the configuration. Is Fizz sending this information to all the phone, or decide which one can have it (they always talked about certified phone and a procedure to do it)?
Why does a phone (it was a Samsung) bought in Canada was working, but the same model bought for the South America, it wasn't working? This happened in the past ( I don't find the post, yet), and it is not a frequency issue since LTE was working without any problem. I believe that the implementation of VoLTE was suppose to be the same.
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There are different phone models for different regions of the world, even if all marketed under the same name. Most obvious is recent iPhones where US models no longer have a physical SIM card slots but the rest of the world does.
Phones from different regions may have different firmware versions and then some firmware versions will get the VoLTE settings for a particular provider, others may not. This tends to affect Android phones more often than iPhones.
The above statement from Fizz most likely means, while Fizz will not actively provide settings for phones not on their certification list, they also won't actively block other phones if you somehow manage to coax the correct settings into them. Typically, by some variant of rooting the phone and editing the configuration profile files yourself.
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If you don't provisioning the phone is not a way to block it?
Rooting the phone is something that I will not suggest
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Guess it depends on how you define "blocking", I guess. To me that means putting active measures in place to prevent something from working that otherwise would. A missing provisioning profile is not an active measure, it's not doing anything. So, I'd call that "not supporting".
I agree with the rooting though. It has many disadvantages, risk of malware, streaming apps not working, etc. Definitely not something to recommend to an average user.
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That's why I asked if they send the provisioning to everyone. If the provisioning includes your personal identification for authentication with the IMS, it will be difficult to reproduce. It's similar to needing to authenticate with a VoIP system without having the credentials (which the IMS use the same idea, if I am not mistaking uses SIP)
After for sure you can try to authenticate and get the provisioning (using a certificate phone or similar), copying in a phone not supported ….
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Yes, the provisioning profiles apply to everyone. They don't include any individual authentication data.
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Thank you for the information.
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Fizz dropped the ball on this matter tho… a lot of volte compatible phones have not been certified because they are older gen phones. The list is honestly too short. I'm fully convinced this is to try and have more people move towards new gen phones which translates in purchasing some of them directly from Fizz… I didn't completely like this approach honestly
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I'm fully convinced this is to try and have more people move towards new gen phones which translates in purchasing some of them directly from Fizz.
This doesn't necessarily have to be true. You keep forgetting Fizz is a low cost provider. I mean, we all value the flexibility and corresponding price points that Fizz has to offer. Can you really expect all the bells and whistles you get from premium providers? At the end, something has to give. I get it is frustrating if the phone you own is not supported, but it may just be down to lack of resources to cater for a wider variety of phones, rather than malice or greed to sell more merchandise.
And if you accept that the list is limited, I don't think, it is particularly unfair. Apple, Samsung, Google, these alone account for 90% of the market share in Canada. In addition to that, they have two low-cost alternatives, one line of feature phones and one low-cost smartphones. So, I don't feel like they haven't given this any thought.
That being said, looks like there may be light at the end of tunnel, another thread just claimed VoLTE support for the first OnePlus phone with the latest firmware upgrade. Let's hope for more to come.
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The OnePlus story seems to be lacking transparency as well. Fizz makes no efforts to actively block anything, yet a magic update makes it work? What changed?
This process is too vague to understand - my current phone gets no more updates, so given that circumstances, am I SOL and forced to get a new phone?
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Hi, attention, a model that we currently know is the One Plus 13R but it dates from January 2025. In other words, a new model. The ancients, we don't know.
Read this:
Enhanced Connectivity and Interconnection Features
OnePlus 13R Gets Android 15 Stable Update with OxygenOS 15.0 and March 2025 Security Patch
An unsupported phone that no longer has an update is not really lucky because as they said, there has to be a colloration between the manufacturer and Fizz and this is done before the market.
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Thank you for the technical information. Going further down the technical rabbit hole, what exactly are we talking about here? I see mention about IMS, but I don't know what that is, when I check my phone it says I am unregistered for IMS?
A software update (that adds what? a "Fizz VoLTE" profile?) allows me to authenticate to Fizz? For those of us that are tech savvy, willing to maybe root the phone, etc, where should we be looking to see if something supports Fizz or not?
You link to a OnePlus update which doesn't exactly explain what changed, but lets assume support was added - support in the form of what? My main concern here is basically I have no idea if my next phone will work, do I buy one and gamble it will work with Fizz?
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When a software update adds support for a carrier like Fizz, it typically includes a "VoLTE profile." This profile contains the necessary configuration settings (like IMS APN, SIP settings, and codecs) that allow your phone to authenticate and communicate with the carrier's IMS network. Without this profile, even a VoLTE-capable phone might not work with a specific carrier.
To buy a next phone, look if it's on Fizz's list before or not, yes it's a deed party.
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I get your point but when you receive a urgent mail from Fizz saying that your current phone will not work since it's not certified and in the same email you've got a big button linking to their shop for new and preloved phones, while emphasizing that all phones sold by Fizz are certified… I mean you can see the pattern right? Especially for less tech savvy and less technology-aware people, you can see how that could be misleading? Or is it just me?
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Thank you for these additional details, it allows me to deep dive further.
On the point of IMS APN, I am getting this error when I try and add an APN of type IMS.
In case screenshot is not available, I am on the APN screen of my phone, and when adding a APN of name/type IMS, I get error ""Carrier does not allow adding APNs of type dun, ims""
The IMS APN is visible in Fizz' APN setup video (see ~24sec mark):
I see some other Canadian providers have a dedicated IMS APN in the Android source code:
Am I missing something here? Is that carrier restriction accurate in my screenshot?0 -
Just a quick suggestion… try to upload screenshots as bmp files instead of png/jpg. They should result in better resolution images
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Hi, I got a March update on OP13, I have tested VOLTE call and it is successfully going through, but my signal drops from 4G to 3G. Can somebody confirm I have to do anything else.0
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Do you have the SIM card with the lightning?
Hum, #8378 yes to volte but the phone change to 3g when you call ? Have-you reboot phone for test ?
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