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

The waiting will soon be over!

I joined T-Mobile years ago (pre-release of first iPhone) so that I could get cell coverage while visiting my now deceased Dad's house, up in the hills. He lived in a dead cell zone, but we installed Wifi, so I always had full T-Mobile coverage (calls and text) while visiting him.

This feature was hardwired in my original Blackberry and later Blackberry Curve 6920.

I was delighted to discover in my two annual visits to London that the feature not only works under WiFi there, too; but if the calls/texts are to/from USA they are included in regular plan with no roaming charges. I just turn off my local cell coverage and leave WiFi on just to be sure they were routed to WiFi.

With the move to an iPhone and still needing this feature bi-monthly as I visit my girlfriend in the hills above Santa Cruz (another T-Mobile dead zone), I would swap my original iPhone 3G SIM with the Blackberry to gain coverage there.

Later with the micro-SIM in my new iPhone 5, I had to use a micro-SIM converter to swap the SIM, but otherwise, I would regain UMA WiFI calling features as I needed by using my Blackberry (as I will do when I travel there on Thursday).

Soon, I will be able to retire my BB and use my iPhone 5 100% of the time without the hassle and muss and fuss of SIM swapping!

Very convenient and VERY cool! :cool:
 
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alphaod said:
As long as I don't have to pay extra for this feature, it would great if AT&T will support this so I can get rid of the piece of crap known as the microcell.
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YES: This is as if a femtocell was built into the iPhone by way of WiFi for use on T-Mobile only. No other domestic USA cellphone company has implemented the UMA Wifi Calling standard.
 
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RobNYC said:
Does this mean you'd also be able to get and send SMS text messages if you were just on Wifi?
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Yes!

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macslayer118 said:
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
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That was a problem with the implementation of UMA in the Android app. This did not happen on the earlier hardwired UMA implementation in Blackberry phone and other phones.

Hopefully the iPhone will have this ability to "hand-off" but even if it doesn't it is a minor inconvenience. Once you realize that problem exists, use the phone accordingly!

I personally always used WiFi Calling in a static situation.
 
80sGuy said:
Some people are still with the older plans. But they should switch because the Simple Choice Plan cost almost the same - with unlimited talk/text and unlimited data (slows down over 1GB).
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I think john himself said on twitter if you currently on older plan with limited minutes/calls then it's unlimited now
 
alphaod said:
As long as I don't have to pay extra for this feature, it would great if AT&T will support this so I can get rid of the piece of crap known as the microcell.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%!

Constant loss of connection between the iPhone and microcell and unbelievably poor audio quality, frequent reboots to get it to connect to either cell tower (and/or GPS?) or phone, make the microcell experience unpleasant.

I'm hooked on Facetime audio and whenever I speak with anyone who has an iPhone we wind up on FTA because the audio is so damn clear. Cell calls sound like garbage by comparison.

If only we could leave voice mail in FT... Apple are you listening? And while I'm asking video mail in FT too.
 
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Security Issues?

Could there be security issues if you are making phone calls over wifi? Are cellular connections more secure?
 
NY Guitarist said:
I agree 100%!

Constant loss of connection between the iPhone and microcell and unbelievably poor audio quality, frequent reboots to get it to connect to either cell tower (and/or GPS?) or phone, make the microcell experience unpleasant.

I'm hooked on Facetime audio and whenever I speak with anyone who has an iPhone we wind up on FTA because the audio is so damn clear. Cell calls sound like garbage by comparison.

If only we could leave voice mail in FT... Apple are you listening? And while I'm asking video mail in FT too.
Click to expand...


Yeah fta is great cuz of the quality. Even on calls though to my family, hd voice sounds great. But I talk to my daughter in her iPod touch 5th gen, and fta works great every time
 
Wondering how this could play out with international roaming. As long as you can connect via WiFi back to -- in this case -- T-Mobile, you should be able to call back to the US from anywhere for just the cost of the minutes (assuming a plan without unlimited minutes). Or does T-Mobile already have a free int'l roaming plan?

jazz1 said:
Could there be security issues if you are making phone calls over wifi? Are cellular connections more secure?
Click to expand...

Good question, I wish I knew the answer.
 
John.B said:
Wondering how this could play out with international roaming. As long as you can connect via WiFi back to -- in this case -- T-Mobile, you should be able to call back to the US from anywhere for just the cost of the minutes (assuming a plan without unlimited minutes). Or does T-Mobile already have a free int'l roaming plan?

Calls and texts to/from back to USA count as regular minutes on your plan. Since my plan is unlimited on both, I pay no attention to how long I call from London or how many texts I send from there back to the USA.

jazz1 said:
Could there be security issues if you are making phone calls over wifi? Are cellular connections more secure?
Click to expand...

Good question, I wish I knew the answer.
Click to expand...
What makes you think that normal cell calls are secure?
 
I really hope networks in the UK support this. I live in an area with good reception, but one of my friend's I barely get a signal. I've been able to respond to iMessages through his WiFi network, but having SMS, MMS and phone calls too is brilliant!

I am curious though, if there is a delay between you receiving SMS/MMS if you've had no signal for a while and managed to get on some WiFi. For example, if you are abroad and haven't been roaming but manage to get some WiFi at some point in your trip. Will those SMS/MMS be sent out to my device via WiFi almost right away, or will I have to wait a long time to finally receive all of them? I've noticed when I've been abroad with roaming off and land back home, I receive all the missed SMS's but sometimes it takes over an hour or so to receive all of them.
 
liavman said:
FTA works only within the Apple ecosystem whereas this is for calling any phone number in the world.
Click to expand...

So will this work when one is out of the country? For example, if I am in Mexico, can I put my phone in airplane mode, turn on wifi and make calls back to the States - assuming, of course, that I am on a wifi network?
 
I suspect that WiFi calling needs the carrier involved because the carrier needs to support the hand-off protocols. When the phone is transitioning from WiFi->LTE, or LTE->WiFi the phone needs to coordinate the hand-off with with carrier.

How the carrier chooses to monetize the hand-off service is an open question.
 
mrichmon said:
I suspect that WiFi calling needs the carrier involved because the carrier needs to support the hand-off protocols. When the phone is transitioning from WiFi->LTE, or LTE->WiFi the phone needs to coordinate the hand-off with with carrier.

How the carrier chooses to monetize the hand-off service is an open question.
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That is the beauty of the UMA protocol! All that is needed is WiFi. Only T-Mobile implements it in the United States.

UMA WiFi Calling
 
Solomani said:
Awesome T-Mo.

Now AT&T and Verizon will look bad if they refuse to follow T-Mo's lead. LOL
Click to expand...

I wish that were true, however, even T-Mobile hardly promotes the fact that they support WiFi Calling anymore. I am not sure why; as to those of us who need it, it is a great feature!

Maybe once it is implemented in iOS 8, T-Mobile will recommence promoting it again.
 
WiFi, Continuity and Hand Off is confusing

I am on Verizon but I can still place calls originating from or receiving on iPod 5's, iPad 3's, iPad 4, iPad Mini and iPhone 5's but not on an iPhone 4. Everything but the iPhone 4 has iOS 8.0.2.

The iPad 3s do not have Hand Off but apparently do have Continuity.

It must be Continuity that is enabling the devices to make and receive the phone calls through the iPhone because it only works when they all have access to the same Wi-Fi router.

I have a another Wi-Fi router in a steel building on the same DSL line but I am unable to make or receive calls on the iOS devices out there. The steel building blocks any cellular signal (and also the main Wi-Fi signal).

Apparently I need to wait for Verizon to offer support for Wi-Fi calling. Am I correct in this?

Thanks for any advice and/or clarification.
 
T-Mobile has now commenced a national campaign promoting WiFi Calling.

I have no seen anything that would indicate that Verizon will implement it!
 
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