Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Wi-Fi Calling Now Available for AT&T Users
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Oh yeah, I have one of those too. Hmmm I wonder what we do about those?
You can only call other folks with Apple devices for FaceTime Audio. This is using WiFi to route cell phone calls so you can call anyone and receive phone calls from anyone.
Texting works fine with WiFi calling. I actually tested this by sending and receiving texts (yes, GREEN messages, with a non-iPhone user) with airplane mode and Wifi on.
Umm, no. It only requires that your device be HD voice *CAPABLE*.
You can make a WiFi call just fine to any other phone number, even land lines. You won't have HD voice quality because the other end doesn't support it, but the path from YOU to the PHONE SWITCH is HD voice.
Think of it as listening to AM radio with a $15,000 Hi-Fi audiophile stereo system. You're still using the technology, but you're listening to an AM radio signal so the quality won't be very good.
I spent a couple weeks in Europe this summer and used a T-Mobile account for wifi calling the entire time, no extra charges for the calls from Europe back to the US or even within Europe.
I have the same plan, it activated just fine. I believe the "HD Voice" is the voice and data option in the cellular LTE areas of settings.
Just keep trying. That happened to me as well. Their servers are probably slammed.I keep getting this oops message when I try to activate it...
Gary
Make a call. If you're still on LTE (and it hasn't fallen back to 4G or 3G), then you're on HD Voice (or VoLTE).
There is no charge for it!
Yeah, you don't have to do anything to set up HD Voice/VoLTE. You DO need to have a SIM card less than about a year old, though. If you moved your SIM card to an iPhone 6 from an iPhone 5S or older, you may not have a new enough SIM card to use VoLTE and WiFi calling.
See http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB425890&cv=820
Isn't Apple routing those calls (like iMessages)? So Apple is basically setting up an ad hoc peer to peer connection. Which is different than what I imagine the cell service providers are doing which is actually receiving your call and patching it into the nationwide phone service. So you can reach grandma on her old rotary phone or your favorite techno dweeb who is calling from behind seven proxies.
I wouldn't get too excited about this. I've been Wi-Fi calling with T-Mobile for a while and I get dropped calls all the time and just keep it turned off most of the time
bah thats nothing , i left my iPhone at home and used my mac at mcdonalds and i was able to send green texts, t-mo allows ' calls on other devices ' heh
I travel to Toronto a few times a year, and I was hopping this would allow me to make calls over Wi-Fi, but judging by the comments here, I guess that is not possible. Bummer.
I get great cell signal at home and work. So unless traveling (in the US) and on Wi-Fi, it's not super useful for me.
Well then, AT&T needs to just do away with this service then since it's not useful to TomTomTuning.
I work at schools and sometimes coverage in those buildings is really really poor, I'd use Skype a lot to call others (I used to have the unlimited plan). The downside is this uses minutes and the Skype was pretty cheap when you purchased unlimited for the year (I think if you pay yearly it's a about $2.51 a month for unlimited US calling to phones).
Not suggesting you switch, just thinking out loud about how I was using it then. In the one district I didn't have phone in the computer lab, so Skype was necessary and useful at the time.
If you're ever coming close to using all your minutes on your cell phone plan, it's a cheap way to free up some minutes on your cell plan. Just a few of those longer calls a month (when you know you're going to be on hold) could free up a lot of minutes (and not drag down your cell phone battery).
Gary
Not suggesting you switch, just thinking out loud about how I was using it then. In the one district I didn't have phone in the computer lab, so Skype was necessary and useful at the time.
If you're ever coming close to using all your minutes on your cell phone plan, it's a cheap way to free up some minutes on your cell plan. Just a few of those longer calls a month (when you know you're going to be on hold) could free up a lot of minutes (and not drag down your cell phone battery).
Gary
I'm excited because we get calls on other devices and not just regular wifi calling like you had.
i dont even need my phone to be on at all. and i can still make a regular wifi to cellular call on my watch
Just used AT&T Wi-Fi calling to make a call to a landline. The quality sounded on par with FaceTime Audio (i.e. better than traditional cellular).
Anyone care to travel across the Canada or Mexico border and see what happens when you try to place a Wi-Fi call? I know AT&T says it won't work. I wonder if connecting to a VPN in the U.S. would circumvent Wi-Fi calling not working outside the U.S. and its territories?
Anyone care to travel across the Canada or Mexico border and see what happens when you try to place a Wi-Fi call? I know AT&T says it won't work. I wonder if connecting to a VPN in the U.S. would circumvent Wi-Fi calling not working outside the U.S. and its territories?
I have a iPhone 5s, running 9.0.2, but the option doesn't even show up in Settings / Phone
Any ideas?
Any ideas?
After turning wifi calling on , text messages on my iPad no longer works
Non iMessages
Anybody else ?
Non iMessages
Anybody else ?
For some stupid reason it's only avail on the 6 and newer. I'm not happy about this either.
wifi calling requires the iPhone to have VoLTE. thats the stock answer. if your 5s has VoLTE then
i have no idea.