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

MacRumors · Jun 2, 2014

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.

Soon 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.

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

richwoodrocket · Jun 2, 2014

Wow. I'm jealous

arian19 · Jun 2, 2014

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.

boshii · Jun 2, 2014

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.

mathcolo · Jun 2, 2014

arian19 said:
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.

Indeed, either the carrier has to develop their own Wi-Fi calling software for devices (in the case of T-Mobile Android + Windows phones), or there has to be some sort of partnership like in the case here with Apple and T-Mobile.

pika2000 · Jun 2, 2014

arian19 said:
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).

knemonic · Jun 2, 2014

Too little, too late. I'll already be switched back to VW by then.

Still doesn't address that basically once you leave any major city, you drop calls non stop with tmobile and have no data (super important for maps). I can't take them seriously when you basically can't use them outside of the city, no matter how much unlimited data you get.

remserwis · Jun 2, 2014

misunderstanding....?

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..

mathcolo · Jun 2, 2014

knemonic said:
Too little, too late. I'll already be switched back to VW by then.

Still doesn't address that basically once you leave any major city, you drop calls non stop with tmobile and have no data (super important for maps). I can't take them seriously when you basically can't use them outside of the city, no matter how much unlimited data you get.

Chances are, Verizon is going to be allowing Wi-Fi Calling on iOS 8 to happen as well. There is no reason for them not to, especially because Wi-Fi Calling still charges against plan minutes. If anything it just takes burden off of the cell network. Win for carriers and consumers.

Parasprite · Jun 2, 2014

So the telecom needs to approve it's use?

Welp, I'm definitely not getting this until I can leave Sprint then...

Jimbo47 · Jun 2, 2014

remserwis said:
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.

squirrelist · Jun 2, 2014

remserwis said:
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.

eagandale4114 · Jun 2, 2014

remserwis said:
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..

Jimbo47 said:
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.

kuwxman · Jun 2, 2014

Guess this seals it; I'm coming back to iOS. Love my Nexus 5 to death (which also lacked WiFi calling mind you), but it is time now to get fully integrated back into my Apple kingdom at home.

macslayer118 · Jun 2, 2014

Whenever my friend (who has an Android on T-Mobile) uses her phone to call me as she's leaving or arriving at her house, the call drops because of wifi calling... so, I'm not a fan

garylapointe · Jun 2, 2014

Small Print

The small print at the bottom says:
Wi-Fi Calling may decrement plan minutes. See T-Mobile.com for details.

If it uses my minutes, the only benefit is if you are some places with great WiFi and bad cellular, right?

If internationally it'd just connect to WiFi, that'd be nice too.

If it works like that, lets get an integrated "Phone" app for the iPad that just works over WiFi and counts against my minutes too. Yes, I've got Skype etc, but if they are going to integrate into the phone, lets do it for the other iOS devices too (pretend it's a phone with airplane mode on and WiFi on).

Gary

OtherJesus · Jun 2, 2014

Isn't this just FaceTime Audio without the words "FaceTime"?

Am I going to have FaceTime audio call, wifi call and cellular call now?

sjwr · Jun 2, 2014

Facetime audio

Jimbo47 said:
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.

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

mattopotamus · Jun 2, 2014

So important. I seem to always be in places with wifi and no service

2457282 · Jun 2, 2014

I wonder what the difference is between apples implementation and any other VoIP implementation. Like the idea and hopefully they can cleanly transfer between wifi and cellular.

jimbob500 · Jun 2, 2014

Frankly for me this is one of the best features to come out of the keynote today, whatever uk carrier is first to implement this I will be switching to when my contract finishes. Coverage in my house is terrible and trying to make a phone call is like trying to speak through a tin can and string,

All thats needed now is for carriers to sort out cross network hd voice and VOLTE so my phone stops switching to 3g every time it makes a call and it would be a dream. Honestly the most frustrating part of having any smartphone is the terrible audio quality and reliability of voice calls.

----------

Cuban Missles said:
I wonder what the difference is between apples implementation and any other VoIP implementation. Like the idea and hopefully they can cleanly transfer between wifi and cellular.

I imagine most likely it will work like visual voicemail and require some sort of software being implemented on the carriers backend to allow it.

arvacker · Jun 2, 2014

I don't think it's like FaceTime or Skype. I think it's meant to be like a regular phone call for the recipient. So you know, you can also wifi-call those friends who still don't have a smartphone. (Or like Tim put it: the green bubble people in messages)

Chatter · Jun 2, 2014

sjwr said:
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 .

boshii · Jun 2, 2014

remserwis said:
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..

What you're referring to is not wifi calling and is not what T-Mobile is talking about.

djtech42 · Jun 2, 2014

What does using a feature over Wi-fi have anything to do with these greedy telecom companies? They shouldn't have any say over that.

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

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