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superstrikertwo

macrumors 65816
Jun 9, 2008
1,094
100
California
Neat. Thanks for the tip!

For anyone wondering I'm in Orange County in Southern California on an AT&T Unlimited Data plan.
 
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jetsam

macrumors 6502a
Jul 28, 2015
885
622
Just started working in Boston. As recently as this morning, it wasn't available.

I'm on a grandfathered unlimited data plan with a fixed number of minutes. Plans like mine weren't being activated during the beta, and people were speculating that grandfathered plans would be excluded from Wi-Fi calling. Fortunately, I was able to activate (and successfully made a test call from airplane mode).
 
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nburwell

macrumors 603
May 6, 2008
5,491
2,397
DE
Just activated it on my iPhone. Looks like it's up and running in my area.

Thanks for the tip, OP!
 

JT2002TJ

macrumors 68000
Nov 7, 2013
1,922
1,223
Yes it is... Verified with my sister in the Maryland Area. I had it since the first 9 GM.
 

cnick6

macrumors regular
Sep 14, 2014
175
56
Bellevue, WA
Well, it's kind of disappointing though in that Wi-Fi calling only works when "cellular connectivity is poor" -- which means what exactly? 1 bar? 2 bars?

Also, on the UI, how do we know if we're on a Wi-Fi call versus LTE?
 

cmeisenzahl

macrumors 6502
Oct 7, 2005
332
27
So how do you initiate a WiFi call? Do you get to choose whether you want the cell network or Wifi?
 

CosmoPilot

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 8, 2010
1,537
373
South Carolina
For those with issues, the SIM card that is in your phone had to come with a iPhone 6 or 6s because of voice over LTE. My daughter iPhone 6 isn't working because I put her old iPhone 5 SIM card in it when she upgraded. So off to AT&T to get her a new SIM card.
 

ZolakJHS

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2008
58
11
Wake Forest, NC
For those with issues, the SIM card that is in your phone had to come with a iPhone 6 or 6s because of voice over LTE. My daughter iPhone 6 isn't working because I put her old iPhone 5 SIM card in it when she upgraded. So off to AT&T to get her a new SIM card.

Hmmm... I could have sworn I got a new SIM card with my 5S. I moved to it from a 4S which had the old style Micro SIM. But what you are saying does make sense for the authorization error my wife is seeing. Her SIM card in her 6 came from her 5. So one phone issue down, but I can't figure out why the option is not appearing for my phone at all.

EDIT: evidently AT&T has restricted it to the iPhone 6 models. Because... money? Not sure. Looks like the Microcell gets to stick around for another year.
 
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cnick6

macrumors regular
Sep 14, 2014
175
56
Bellevue, WA
So how do you initiate a WiFi call? Do you get to choose whether you want the cell network or Wifi?

You don't get to choose. Apple says that "when cellular connectivity is poor" but they don't define that. AFAIK, there's no UI icon that shows this either.
 

jonbauer

macrumors member
Jan 28, 2011
72
10
Just turned off cellular completely and was able to still make and receive calls with "Wi-Fi" showing at the top of my screen, in between the "AT&T" and WiFi symbol. Woohoo!

- Jon
 

Mirrorlure7m

macrumors member
Jul 12, 2008
43
2
Southwest Fl
Remember wifi calling/text does not mean you can call/text anywhere for free since your using wifi. This is just to help with making calls when the at&t network does not have a good signal in your home or office and there is wifi near by. Wifi calling does count against your minutes/texts.. So you can not call Australia from the USA unless you want to pay the call rates.
 

gwhizkids

macrumors G5
Jun 21, 2013
12,329
19,665
I am very disappointed in AT&T's decision not to include the 5s in this feature. It is technically capable of making/receiving wifi calls. As a matter of fact, I make them frequently using Google Hangouts or Microsoft Lync 2013. One reason I had 2 of my children get iPhone 5s' last year (rather than the more costly iPhone 6) was because my understanding was that the 5s would have this feature (as Apple advertised that it would). Now I regret that decision, especially for my daughter who gets very poor cellular reception in her dorm room. At the very least, I would like AT&T to explain why they made this choice.

But they probably won't.
 

cnick6

macrumors regular
Sep 14, 2014
175
56
Bellevue, WA
Just turned off cellular completely and was able to still make and receive calls with "Wi-Fi" showing at the top of my screen, in between the "AT&T" and WiFi symbol. Woohoo!

Thanks Jon. Yeah I don't know why I didn't think of doing that. It works for me too. Call quality sounded close to the LTE quality but there was a slight difference.

I see the AT&T Wi-Fi text as well as the Wi-Fi icon too. Cool beans.
 
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