T-Mobile Says It Will Support Wi-Fi Calling for iPhones Running iOS 8

Monday June 2, 2014 5:37 PM PDT by Husain Sumra
Earlier today at its Worldwide Developer Conference keynote address, Apple displayed a slide from its presentation listing many under-the-radar features and improvements the company has made to iOS 8. One of them was Wi-Fi calling, which allows users to make regular phone calls over Wi-Fi rather than a cellular network.
tmobile_logoSoon after the event, T-Mobile took to its corporate blog to announce that it would support Wi-Fi calling on its network.
One of the best things about T-Mobile Wi-Fi Calling is that it’s so simple to use. You don’t need to activate anything or download a special app. Just connect to any available Wi-Fi network, check that Wi-Fi Calling is turned on on your capable smartphone, and make a call (or send a text, email, etc.) as you normally would. That’s it.
Wi-Fi calling allows networks to ease strain on bandwidth and potentially speed up the network for other things. It also allows users to experience higher quality calls when carrier signal is low and may drain less battery life during calls.

iOS 8 is available to developers now and launches for the public in the fall.

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Jimbo47
62 months ago

Have You really watched keynote ???
There is no WiFi calling in iOS8 !!!

IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO ANSWER OR MAKE REGULAR CALL ON IPAD OR MAC.
OF COURSE MAIN CALL WILL BE REDIRECTED FROM IPHONE SO IT WILL WORK LIKE ADVANCED HEADSET.

Telecom is not involved into this operation.

You can answer or make call using for ex iMac when iphone is in the same wifi network laying somwhere else....but it will be regular call from iphone..


So you're saying that T-Mobile Corporate, who obviously has inside information directly from Apple on this exact subject, is making the whole thing up? Okay. They didn't vocally mention it anywhere in the keynote, it was on one of the "More Feature" slides at the end.
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
proline
62 months ago

Have You really watched keynote ???
There is no WiFi calling in iOS8 !!!

IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO ANSWER OR MAKE REGULAR CALL ON IPAD OR MAC.
OF COURSE MAIN CALL WILL BE REDIRECTED FROM IPHONE SO IT WILL WORK LIKE ADVANCED HEADSET.

Telecom is not involved into this operation.

You can answer or make call using for ex iMac when iphone is in the same wifi network laying somwhere else....but it will be regular call from iphone..

Let me know when you are ready to wipe the egg off your face.
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
squirrelist
62 months ago

Have You really watched keynote ???
There is no WiFi calling in iOS8 !!!

IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO ANSWER OR MAKE REGULAR CALL ON IPAD OR MAC.
OF COURSE MAIN CALL WILL BE REDIRECTED FROM IPHONE SO IT WILL WORK LIKE ADVANCED HEADSET.

Telecom is not involved into this operation.

You can answer or make call using for ex iMac when iphone is in the same wifi network laying somwhere else....but it will be regular call from iphone..


That's not what the article is referring to. It's referring to "WiFi Calling" being listed on a slide from todays keynote that showed other features that they didn't get to discuss.
Rating: 9 Votes
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boshii
62 months ago
T-Mobile has had this feature for a while now and was just waiting on Apple to catch up.

Glad I'm on their network. I have a feeling others will implement the feature now that Apple's on board.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
eagandale4114
62 months ago

Have You really watched keynote ???
There is no WiFi calling in iOS8 !!!

IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO ANSWER OR MAKE REGULAR CALL ON IPAD OR MAC.
OF COURSE MAIN CALL WILL BE REDIRECTED FROM IPHONE SO IT WILL WORK LIKE ADVANCED HEADSET.

Telecom is not involved into this operation.

You can answer or make call using for ex iMac when iphone is in the same wifi network laying somwhere else....but it will be regular call from iphone..


So you're saying that T-Mobile Corporate, who obviously has inside information directly from Apple on this exact subject, is making the whole thing up? Okay. They didn't vocally mention it anywhere in the keynote, it was on one of the "More Feature" slides at the end.


On the iOS 8 feature slide wifi calling was mentioned.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
arian19
62 months ago
Does a carrier have to agree to support Wifi calling? I guess I was naive enough to think that carriers would allow this for free and that it didn't require any action from the carrier.

AT&T will probably make it an additional fee, that they won't allow on the older grandfathered unlimited data plans.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
pika2000
62 months ago

Does a carrier have to agree to support Wifi calling? I guess I was naive enough to think that carriers would allow this for free and that it didn't require any action from the carrier.


Why would a carrier not want this? The user already paid them money, and now the user is using his/her own internet connection for the call. That's a triple win for the carrier (gets money from user, user don't use the network, user thinks coverage is great).
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Chatter
62 months ago

It sounds like a minor development / renaming of current Facetime audio available on iOS and OSX.


This is actually huge. I have used this feature on Android and BB and its much more than FT audio. Someone calls your cell phone number and in poor reception areas (ex: basement), the call is automatically routed through your wifi and you answer on your phone as usual. Call quality has been great for me but some have complained. It does NOT use minutes (except on prepaid I think) and during Intl travels, you call your home country for free, as long as there is wifi. This works cross platform (unlike FT audio) and you really just turn it on/off as you desire.
Its amazing if you are in an area with no cell coverage. You can connect to WiFi and its like having full signal for calls,SMS, and MMS .
Rating: 3 Votes
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SeaFox
62 months ago

Others are commenting that it still counts against your minutes... I wasn't aware there were plans with minutes still, I've been on unlimited for such a long time now.


Not sure why I'd want wi-fi calling either. I have unlimited minutes, too (at $20/mo). So why would I be wanting to not just make calls as I normally have on the cell network, instead using my internet service and potentially having issues with it clashing with other network services on the router.

The biggest problem with VoIP phone service (which is what this essentially is) is that nobody is accountable for quality of service. If the calls get dropped or have weird audio delays, your wireless carrier with say "well we don't own the network since it's going over your Internet service so we can't do anything about it" and refer you to your Internet provider. The Internet provider will do their usual speed and latency tests, and when things come out fine by their own QoS standards say "you're getting the service you're paying for" and refer you back to your wireless carrier.
Rating: 3 Votes
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osofast240sx
62 months ago

iOS 8 has been one huge "Jeez, iPhones couldn't do that before??" moment for me. Glad to see you guys are finally getting caught up.

Yep without the malware.#
Rating: 3 Votes
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