Wi-Fi Calling stopped working upon switch to Nest Wi-fi Pro

[JohnN999]

Problem:  Our cell phones will not make / receive Wi-Fi calls over our Nest Pro Wi-Fi network.  Both phones successfully make Wi-Fi calls over Spectrum's Wi-Fi router.

Background:   We have Google Pixel phones running on Spectrum Mobile.  We also have Spectrum home internet and until recently, we used Spectrum's Wi-Fi router. Under this arrangement, our phones defaulted to Wi-Fi calling at home, as we wanted them to.  All settings within the phones remain in the same configuration, with Wi-Fi Calling on, and the preference toward Wi-Fi Calling instead of using the mobile network.

I purchased and installed a Nest Pro system with 2 access points in our house. The setup was easy and all devices connected and continue to run as expected.  No issues there. This system replaced our Spectrum router, which we are currently not using in this home.

However, I can't get either of our cell phones (Pixel 6a and Pixel 5a) to use Wi-Fi Calling over the Nest Pro routers. 

When we visited another property that is still using Spectrum's Wi-Fi router, the phones again successfully used Wi-Fi Calling. The problem does not appear to be in the phone settings, but instead in a setting or permission within the Nest Pro.  

Any suggestions are much appreciated!

[LovelyM]

Hello JohnN999,

Thanks for reaching out. We'd love to help.

You can create a port forwarding rule so your cellphones can use Wi-Fi calling over Google Nest Wifi Pro routers. Note that you need to set a static IP address for your devices first before you can enable port forwarding. Follow the step-by-step instructions in the article provided below:

• DHCP IP reservation or Set a Static IP address for a device
• Port forwarding or port opening

Keep me posted.

Sincerely,
Lovely

[mschwartz613]

I am having the same issue. What ports need to be opened.? 

[Dan_A]

Hi mschwartz613,

Apologies for the delay. For confirmation — have you had the chance to follow the steps provided by Lovely_M28? If so, how was it?

Looking forward to your response.

Best,

Dan

[JohnN999]

Hi LovelyM,

  I have read through the instructions you provided and generally understand them. I have set up the static IP for my Pixel phone and am now ready to do the port forward / port opening step.  As someone else asked, what port do I need to open?  I have searched the internet extensively and have called my mobile provider, however I have not found the answer.

Thank you for the additional information.

John

[Dan_A]

Hi JohnN999,

We appreciate your effort and patience. Just to confirm, have you already tried the steps below to set up port forwarding or port opening? 

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Favorites Wifi Settings Advanced Networking.
3. Tap Port management Add .
4. Select the tab for the type of IP address you're forwarding. 
5. Select a device.
6. Add your internal and external ports.
   • For IPv4: Choose an internal port used by the device on the local network and an external port on the WAN. You can enter a single port number (#) or a port range (####-####). 
     • Note: When entering a port range internal and external ranges need to be the same. This is not the case for single port forwarding.
   • For IPv6: Enter the port range.
     • Note: Some devices will suggest what ports to use, while others let you choose. If you don’t know which ports to forward, contact the device manufacturer or check the device's manual.
7. Choose either Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), or TCP/UDP. These are different protocols used to send data over the internet.
8. Tap Save .

By the way, as stated from the link, port forwarding tells a router that when a connection request comes through a specific port (that you specify), send that connection to a specific device (of your choosing). Your other devices will remain unaffected by this rule.

Let us know how it goes.

Kind regards,

Dan

[JohnN999]

Hi Dan,

   I have followed the steps as I understand them and I've watched a few YouTube videos on the topic.  But in the examples I watched, they knew which ports (4500 or 5000 etc) needed to be opened for the device they were trying to allow to communicate.  The directions and the YouTube videos all talked about looking up the required ports in the instruction manual or on the device's website.

That's where I'm stuck.  If I understand correctly, Spectrum Mobile should be able to provide me the ports that their Wifi Calling system needs opened on my Nest router for this to all work.  Spectrum Mobile's help desk tells me "it's a Google Router, so call Google for help".  

Dan - Please confirm for me if my understanding is correct.  Where should I be getting the needed port information so that I can open the correct ports?

Thanks,

John

[Dan_A]

Hello again,

Thank you for the confirmation. One more important thing that we need to know is: Is Wi-Fi calling included in the Spectrum Mobile plan? When you’re on a different Wi-Fi network, does Wi-Fi calling still work as you’ve mentioned before? 

How about if we try the steps to use a mobile operator’s Wi-Fi calling

1. Open the Phone app .
2. Tap More More And then Settings.
3. Tap Calls.
4. Tap Wi-Fi calling. If you can't see this option, it will be because your operator doesn’t support this feature.
   1. You can use Wi-Fi calling without a service on some operators.
   2. If your operator doesn't offer Wi-Fi calling, you can still use this feature through a voice-over IP service.

Note: Some of these steps only work on Android 6.0 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

Once you’ve set up Wi-Fi calling, you can make a call over Wi-Fi just as you would any other call. When you’re connected to the Internet, you’ll see 'Internet call' or 'Wi-Fi calling' on the notification screen.

When you're not connected to Wi-Fi, your calls will use your mobile operator, if you have one.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Dan

[JohnN999]

Hi Dan,

  It might be worth re-looking the original question and background information from a couple months ago, as I think I addressed those items.  My mobile package does include wifi calling and wifi calling works perfectly fine on other wifi networks to include another house I was at earlier today.  I am extremely confident that wifi calling will again work in my house if I unplug the Nest routers and go back to the Spectrum supplied router.  However, the Nest Mesh network provides better wifi coverage, hence the swap of routers.

The mesh network works great with all our other devices, and our phones work great (including wifi calling) on all other routers.  So the question is down to, "how do we get the wifi calling to work over this mesh network?" 

The original answer of opening up the correct ports makes sense to me to as the fix.  But if that's the case, I'd need to know what port to open.

[Dan_A]

Hey there JohnN999,

We appreciate all your efforts. We'd like to take a deeper look into this for you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information, and then let us know once you're done.

Cheers,

Dan

[Dan_A]

Hello again,

We haven't received your form. Have you had a chance to fill it out?

Thanks,

Dan

[JohnN999 · Accepted solution]

Hi Dan,

A couple updates that may help those with similar questions.

1)  When researching Spectrum Mobile for port information, it's important to realize that Spectrum uses Verizon's cell network.  Although Spectrum Mobile's customer support wasn't knowledgeable on any of this, ultimately searches for Verizon port information yielded better results.  Here's a link to a site with information on which ports to open on different networks:  https://www.johndball.com/update-configuring-untangle-for-att-verizon-t-mobile-wifi-calling/

2) I followed the instructions for the static IP and for the port forwarding y'all provided and used the port information in the link above.  I am now seeing wifi calling available on my phone when I place it into airplane mode to take away the cellular option.  That was not happening previously.  

3)  At some point I'll go back and undo some of the changes I made so that I can confirm exactly which change fixed the problem.  But for now, I'll just be appreciative that Wifi calling is working.

[Dan_A]

Hello there JohnN999,

You’re the man! This would be a great help to our Community members. We appreciate you taking the time to give the resolution. Hats off to you! 

Cheers,

Dan