Well that sure SUCKS!
Looks like AT&T is getting back at Apple for starting their own plan.
YIKES!
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Wi-Fi Calling Now Available for AT&T Users
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Looks like AT&T is getting back at Apple for starting their own plan.
YIKES!
OMG...SO MUCH MISINFORMATION!!!!
1. The status bar will CLEARLY show AT&T Wi-Fi when it's enabled, and only show AT&T when it's not. Somewhere between 1 and 2 dots of signal is the threshold where it enables automatically.
2. AT&T documentation CLEARLY shows that calls placed over WiFi DO NOT count towards liminted minutes.
Seriously...don't post here if you have no idea what you are talking about.
AT&T has flipped the switch on Wi-Fi calling, making it available to customers with eligible plans that are running iOS 9. MacRumors has received tips from customers who were able to activate Wi-Fi calling and we were able to activate the feature on our own iPhones. A number of readers in our forums are also having success activating Wi-Fi calling.
Wi-Fi calling is a feature that lets calls be placed over a wireless connection when cellular connectivity is poor, functioning much like an AT&T M-Cell does now. It's similar to Apple's own FaceTime Audio feature, which also routes calls over a Wi-Fi connection.
AT&T customers can turn on Wi-Fi calling by going to the Phone section of the Settings app and toggling on the Wi-Fi calling feature. From there, there are a set of steps to walk through, including entering an emergency 911 address. Wi-Fi calling is available on the iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, and 6s Plus running iOS 9.
Customers who want to use Wi-Fi calling need to have AT&T HD voice features enabled, along with an Internet connection. Wi-Fi calling can be used for voice calls within the United States, Puerto Rico, and United States Virgin Islands at no charge. Long distance global voice calls will be charged standard long distance rates.
Once the setup process is complete, customers are receiving notifications letting them know the Wi-Fi calling feature will be available after a short activation period.
AT&T promised to launch Wi-Fi calling alongside iOS 9, but last week announced the feature was delayed due to its inability to get an FCC waiver that would temporarily allow the carrier to forgo offering support options for deaf and hard-of-hearing customers. On Tuesday of this week, AT&T finally received the waiver that it needed to move forward with Wi-Fi calling.
Article Link: Wi-Fi Calling Now Available for AT&T Users
Does not work. Keep getting error: Oops! That wasn't supposed to happed. Give us a minute and we'll get it fixed so you can try again.
But can resolve it.
That's actually not true. This is an AT&T decision. I have a 5S working just peachy with Wifi calling on T-Mobile. The 5s is more than capable of this and support it just fine.
And it doesn't hand off from WiFi to HSPA, right? It drops the call, unlike if you had VoLTE support
Yes with android devices you can make a wifi call this is all new for apple and att now
The cellular company cannot in any realistic way expect my bill to be paid flawlessly in all financial conditions. This is a juvenile and idiotic demand.
Funny how they're really good at extracting money from the customers, no glitches or issue there, huh?
So, you're saying, hey, let's cut AT&T a break here, and give them an easy "out" of providing quality service. Because, you know, physics and weather and what-not.
These are the exact conditions that are ripe for a Google or an Apple to jump in and be a service provider and smack AT&T. You know, like Apple did with cell phones, Tesla with electric cars, Google with maps, email, ...
In the mean time, you can continue shilling for cellular providers and enjoying your crappy service.
I can only tell you my personal experience. I have been on calls started in my home on wifi calling left, driven miles down the road obviously outside of wifi range and the call never failed. There is no VoLTE in my area according to ATT. So the call did definitely have to hand off. I use an Apple Airport Extreme router and the range is awesome but it's not a over a mile down the road. So I have to argue that you are incorrect in your statements about it handing off.
Unplugging a router and moving out of range are to very different situations. One is sudden with zero time for the phone/network to adapt the other is more gradual. Perhaps as the phone sees the wifi getting weaker as you move away it transitions the call so that it's not dropped. Where as with a sudden interruption there is no chance to transfer so the call simply failed?
Again I can only speak for my own experiences I live in Starke, Florida you can look at the ATT coverage maps for yourself and see there is no VoLTE anywhere near me. The closest is South Florida or up around Atlanta.
*EDIT* I just checked the coverage maps myself out of curiosity to see if they had changed from when I checked them a couple of weeks ago. To my utter astonishment they now so HDVoice in my area. In fact it's gone from being just a small area of south Florida to nearly the entire state. So perhaps you were right after all. Maybe the VoLTE, which is what HDVoice requires, was already here but not showing on the map because it was only in that trial/beta phase. We shall probably never really know.
I'm only glad that my calls do hand off cleanly and flawlessly and that I can now enjoy HDVoice. I've been using FaceTime audio calls to call other friends and family with iPhones because of the massive difference in call quality already.
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Doesn't work at my place of business either. Corporate IT departments are real paranoid and stuffy about opening up ports, and will complain that calls will degrade their network performance and compromise security.
Basically, if there's technology to make things run more smoothly and conveniently for employees, IT is guaranteed to shut it down.
And again you prove your lack of intellectual ability. The number of ways the two situations are different are almost beyond number. One has to do with the physical ability to build towers, obtain limited spectrum, and the laws of physics regarding penetration of structures by said spectrum. The other is about money.
In the area where I live there is a main highway that has a dead spot. It's a dead spot for every carrier out there. It's not a dead spot because none of these carriers care. It's not a dead spot because they think no one notices. It's a dead spot because they can't build a tower anywhere near it. literally all of the land around that particular area is unavailable or unsuitable for a tower. Either for environmental or economic reasons.
So in your mind it's blame ATT Verizon and all the other carriers for this and damn them all for a dead spot? Or maybe we look on this change in technology and the ability to have a new way around such inconveniences as a good thing and the fact that they don't have to offer this. They don't have to support this. So they are in fact working to improve our service. They may not do it in the way you would approve of, but then given your afore mentioned lack of intellectual ability I don't think it matters all that much that you don't like it. You don't understand it.
And as for them expecting your bill to be paid in any financial conditions. Yes they do. But you also have the flexibility of chasing another carrier if your financial situation changes, or indeed not having any carrier at all. So again, options.
Wish it did ... Can't beat the three lines for $75 we'd get today if it were available! Unfortunately we're stuck with ATT due to my wife's 5s and two year contract. We'd ETF it but not without WiFi calling.
Works fine here on my 6 With grandfathered unlimited and nation 450 plan.
I enabled this feature this morning (Austin TX) on my iPhone 6 and gave it a try. I encountered no such requirement that both parties needed to have AT&T HD Voice. I turned on airplane mode and then enabled Wi-Fi, then placed a call to a friend's phone who is NOT even on AT&T at all, but instead Verizon. Worked just fine.
Except not everyone uses Skype for calls. And others don't have iPhones.
Yes, I know that. I was replying to the suggestion to use FaceTime Audio.
Even AT&T's web-site states that voice-calling (and RECEIVING) and texts work over this new Wi-Fi feature with compatible phones (iphone6, iphone6 plus, iphone 6s, iphone 6s plus):
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/features/wifi-calling.html
That is not the case. I successfully test called someone today over Wi-Fi who is not even an AT&T subscriber, but instead with a competitor (Verizon).
Glad to see you are one of the lucky ones in a VoLTE area now. You should also notice while you are on the phone, the status bar will continue to display LTE instead of 4G now, and yes, with VoLTE working, handoff should be seamless. AFIAK, VoLTE to WiFi handoff was not supposed to be a supported feature, only WiFi to VoLTE...but it does appear AT&T has it set to attempt both (thus causing my audio to drop when passing the threshold for WiFi calling to enable).
My wife was in Orlando at the beginning of the week, and said VoLTE worked flawlessly in that market. Previously when we were down, we experienced quite a few dropped calls around the I Drive area, and just to the north, but I was able to hold a conversation with her all over the south end of town this time.
Yes I am very glad. I'm very surprised by how much of the state is suddenly showing the coverage. Literally only a couple of weeks ago I checked and the only HDVoice coverage in the state was down around Miami and Ft. Lauderdale with a little around palm beach. No surprise the largest markets would get it first. Then look today and boom nearly the entire state. And the areas that are not covered are very rural very isolated where there has been no coverage at all or very limited coverage.
Looks like att are really working to push this out. I know moving as much voice traffic as possible over from the older 3G and 4G networks will help free up spectrum so there is incentive. Now if the major carriers can work together to make it HDVoice between them all it will be even more beneficial to their customers.
It's certainly plausible as AT&T rolls this out some bugs or unexpected resource constraints could surface. I'd keep trying it for a few days and if it continues to fail then call in the troops ;-).
Weird about the speakerphone though...