Wi-Fi Calling Now Available for AT&T Users

[Carlanga]

Just finished using wifi calling on AT&T the voice quality was great and my phone was bought from apple

there should be no difference where you bought it.

 

[avanpelt]

This is a really good question.

I enabled it a while ago but don't see the "AT&T Wi-Fi" status, then I realized I am at work. We cannot access personal Mail because the port is blocked, and now this likely isn't working for the same reason.

So much for getting phone coverage at work deep inside a building. Sucks.

If your employer allows you to have desk phones in your office that can call out, they should open the port(s) necessary on the firewall to allow Wi-Fi calling. Of course, just because they should doesn't mean they will. There are likely enough higher ups in your company who would benefit from being able to use AT&T's Wi-Fi calling that perhaps they can get your IT department to make it happen. I hope AT&T publishes a help document soon that details exactly which ports need to be opened in order for Wi-Fi calling to work.

 

[Rigby]

That has nothing (or very little) to do with TMo and everything to do with the continuity features introduced in iOS 8 and Mac OS X Mavericks.

Multi-device Wifi calling is a carrier technology (see e.g. this announcement). It is technically also available for non-Apple devices (although to my knowledge there aren't any Android devices on the market yet that support it). Note that calls are not routed through a nearby phone as in Apple's Continuity feature.

 

[GoodWheaties]

Phone is further down the list, not at the top with the other services.

Aha apparently I am blind in one eye and can't see out of the other. Thank you sir.

 

[avanpelt]

Yeah... does WiFi calling completely obsolete the M-Cell tower? Can we get rid of those? Is there any reason to keep using one?

I wouldn't think so. Wi-Fi calling should make the microcell obsolete so long as all the handsets being used in your home are capable of using Wi-Fi calling. My guess is that we'll be seeing more AT&T microcells on eBay in the coming weeks.

 

[fmalloy]

If your employer allows you to have desk phones in your office that can call out, they should open the port(s) necessary on the firewall to allow Wi-Fi calling. Of course, just because they should doesn't mean they will. There are likely enough higher ups in your company who would benefit from being able to use AT&T's Wi-Fi calling that perhaps they can get your IT department to make it happen. I hope AT&T publishes a help document soon that details exactly which ports need to be opened in order for Wi-Fi calling to work.

Our desk phones are IP phones...does that matter?

Our higher ups don't need wi-fi calling because all the big shots have window offices and therefore cellular coverage

 

[tivoboy]

when connected to the microcell, it won't fall over to wifi calling, the signal isn't perceived as being weak. I had to turn my mCell off to get the wifi calling to work.

 

[Bacco]

Talked to AT&T Tier 2 and Tier 3 support. According to them, if you purchased a 6s, 6s+ from Apple directly (didn't mentioned 6, 6+), those are not yet currently capable of Wifi Calling on AT&T. Something about there needed to be an agreement attached to the account when you purchase the phone, and Apple was not doing that.

I have a 6s+ from Apple Day one, purchased full price, and i get the error about your account not currently setup for wifi calling.

You do need a new sim Card, so if you have an old one, you will need to change it out. But they say they are working with apple on this. Now no idea if this is true, but they are not able to hit the switch and apply the agreement on the backend on my account, as they get an error.

Not 100% accurate. I purchased my phone directly from Apple for full retail price. Got it unlocked from AT&T, because I can since it I'm out of contract, and I'm setup for and have used WiFi calling today.

 

[kingpushup]

Nope. I'm on the UDP and it works great.

Mine said must contact carrier. Ok thanks for this cause to actually call AT&T

 

[Trebuin]

I've been trying to get it working:
iPhone 6, 8.4
iPhone 5s, 9.0.2
neither show "wifi calling" in the phone settings at all. Both phones bought directly from apple. Any ideas? Also, has anyone found anything out about ipv6? I don't have that enabled due to stability issues.

 

[Mac 128]

I have a iPhone 5s, running 9.0.2, but the option doesn't even show up in Settings / Phone
Any ideas?

For some stupid reason it's only avail on the 6 and newer. I'm not happy about this either.

This is outrageous. So I have an iPhone 5S which supports the Watch, which can make wifi calls without the iPhone, but if I can't enable it on the iPhone itself! That's nuts.

 

[kingpushup]

AT&T Unlimited Data Plan (UDP) works here now too, after initially instructing me to contact carrier. I did not contact carrier, but did try again on phone after peers here said it worked on their UDP. Btw do not need to be on Wi-Fi to enable.

 

[joelmcintosh]

Seriously though, this will be amazing for me at home since cell signal is very weak there.

If you haven't already done so, take a look at the AT&T MicroCell (most AT&T stores sell them). The cell signal in our house fluctuated between one and two bars before I added the MicroCell. Now we get 5 bars and fantastic voice reception.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I've been trying to get it working:
iPhone 6, 8.4
iPhone 5s, 9.0.2
neither show "wifi calling" in the phone settings at all. Both phones bought directly from apple. Any ideas? Also, has anyone found anything out about ipv6? I don't have that enabled due to stability issues.

It requires iOS 9 and an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus or higher. The device must support VoLTE.

 

[enrincon89]

It doesn't work for me because I have an unlocked iPhone that I bought on the Apple store. I need to have an AT&T iPhone in order to work.

 

[avanpelt]

Our desk phones are IP phones...does that matter?

Our higher ups don't need wi-fi calling because all the big shots have window offices and therefore cellular coverage

If your desk phones are VoIP, that's all the more reason your company's IT department should open up the ports necessary for AT&T's Wi-Fi calling to work -- it's also VoIP. But, there's any number of excuses some IT admins will make in order to keep from opening up the required ports. Probably the lamest excuse will be that the "influx" of voice traffic could negatively impact network performance so they're going to leave Wi-Fi calling blocked. I hope your IT department isn't one of those IT departments.

 

[avanpelt]

It doesn't work for me because I have an unlocked iPhone that I bought on the Apple store. I need to have an AT&T iPhone in order to work.

That's incorrect. I have an unlocked iPhone 6 that I bought from Verizon that has an AT&T SIM in it currently and Wi-Fi calling works fine. Where you bought the phone doesn't matter.

 

[Mr Buckets]

If you are on a plan with metered minutes you will most likely get moved to unlimited soon. Many, many people here have. So, in the end, no minutes billed.

What makes you say this? I just recently reduced my monthly minutes to save cash, and they had ridiculous price jumps just to add a few hundred minutes..

 

[vartanarsen]

Can this work on Cricket?

 

[Rafagon]

I'm confused with the calling piece. "Domestic calls made/received within U.S., Puerto Rico, and U.S.V.I. have no additional charge and won’t count against plan usage limits." I have 450 call minutes, so when they say "won't count against plan usage limits", I interpret that as not counting against the 450 minutes. Am I reading it wrong?

I say you're reading it right, but I would call 611 and do online chat with a representative to be sure!

 

[DempaX]

Worked for me over VPN in Germany. My subscription does otherwise not work abroad.

 

[MJedi]

Unfortunately, we still need to keep the Microcell because the kids have iPhone 4S's. And it seems that even a 5S won't work with Wi-Fi Calling.

 

[zudy]

I could always make phone calls over WIFI, so why is this special?

Tool

 

[fmalloy]

If your desk phones are VoIP, that's all the more reason your company's IT department should open up the ports necessary for AT&T's Wi-Fi calling to work -- it's also VoIP. But, there's any number of excuses some IT admins will make in order to keep from opening up the required ports. Probably the lamest excuse will be that the "influx" of voice traffic could negatively impact network performance so they're going to leave Wi-Fi calling blocked. I hope your IT department isn't one of those IT departments.

Thanks. I've got an email into an IT guy asking about it.

I have a feeling that my IT dept. IS one of those IT departments. The old "impacts network performance" argument is a catch-all for anything. Also the old "compromises security" works too.

 

[rigormortis]

That has nothing (or very little) to do with TMo and everything to do with the continuity features introduced in iOS 8 and Mac OS X Mavericks.

mavericks and later Yosemite and iOS 8 requires the iPhone to be on the same wifi network and powered on to place and receive calls and to send and receive regular text messages.

with yosemite and iOS 8 and watch os 1.01 , you could only answer a call on your watch if you were in range in bluetooth range of the paired phone.

t-mobile (and soon sprint), El Capitan and IOS 9 no longer requires the phone to on the same wifi network. it does not even require the phone to be on. and it does not even need the iPhone to be within range of any of your devices.

with yosemite, iOS 9, and watch os 2, your apple watch no longer needs to be in bluetooth range of your paired iPhone, it does not need your iPhone to be powered on. you are free to use it to make and receive calls. and you can receive and send texts, however, dictation does not work. this is what t-mobile offers that AT&T does not


hopefully , continuity including "calls on other devices" over cellular will come to AT&T as well