Why is Wi-Fi Calling still inconsistent after 10 years?

[zorinlynx]

It's entirely up to the carrier when your phone uses Wi-Fi calling.

For example, in my experience AT&T bases it on signal strength and whether the nearby tower is heavily loaded. It seems that in good signal conditions, AT&T would rather carry calls on its own network. This is understandable because AT&T has no control over whatever Wi-Fi your phone happens to be on, so there's a good bet that people with a strong cellular signal will have a better call experience on cellular.

In my office at work, which only has 1-2 bars of slow and unreliable cellular, my phone stays on Wi-Fi calling 100% of the time. At home where I have a huge cellular tower only a couple blocks away with full bars all the time and 600mbps speedtests, Wi-Fi calling is off a good 95% of the time. There are exceptions, and I suspect that it's when the tower is heavily loaded.

 

[papbot]

It's entirely up to the carrier when your phone uses Wi-Fi calling.

For example, in my experience AT&T bases it on signal strength and whether the nearby tower is heavily loaded. It seems that in good signal conditions, AT&T would rather carry calls on its own network. This is understandable because AT&T has no control over whatever Wi-Fi your phone happens to be on, so there's a good bet that people with a strong cellular signal will have a better call experience on cellular.

In my office at work, which only has 1-2 bars of slow and unreliable cellular, my phone stays on Wi-Fi calling 100% of the time. At home where I have a huge cellular tower only a couple blocks away with full bars all the time and 600mbps speedtests, Wi-Fi calling is off a good 95% of the time. There are exceptions, and I suspect that it's when the tower is heavily loaded.

We’ve used WiFi calling with no issues in our home for over 7 years. Just within the last 8 months or so, a new tower was activated for AT&T less than a quarter mile from our home, with a very strong cell signal and actually faster download speeds than our Fios internet service. However, our devices remain 100% of the time on WiFi. The AT&T cell network has no impact on that function. The only time ours reverts to the cell network is when we’re a distance away from our home. Until 8 months ago, we had very poor service in our community on AT&T; now it’s terrific, but we still always use WiFi at home.

 

[francoc02o]

It's 2025 and wifi calling is still unreliable. Every time I get a new device, or there is a new update its a matter of luck if it will be enabled or not.
Somehow I got luck and all my devices (iPhone 16 pro, MacBook Pro m3 pro, iPad Pro m4) are working fine AFTER I removed the esim completely frommy phone and re enable it again. That fixed the wifi calling in my iPad but not the MacBook.But after I completely reseted the MacBook to factory, it was solved.
Yesterday there was un update: 15.6 on Mac and 18.6 on iPhone and iPad.
The iPhone and iPad work with the wife calling, the the MacBook doesn't work, again..... it says waiting for Wi-Fi call activation.... and there the button of "Enable WI-FI calling" appears again.
I am tired of this...