Our friends from Bloggersideas.com shared their knowledge about Wi-Fi calling to help you better understand what it is, why it’s important and how to use it. Even though Tello does not have this feature available yet, we recommend that you take a look below at this great guest post!
Almost all of us have spent some time in more than a few places where our phone just won’t work. It may be a room at home, a basement cafeteria or any other location with blocked signals. This is where you can save your day using WI-FI calling. Wi-Fi calling and texting use a connected Wi-Fi network instead of the usual phone network. Wi-Fi calling places your call over the internet, even if your cellular signal is spotty or absent. This is just one reason to use Wi-Fi calling, more, coming-up!
🤙 So, what is Wi-Fi calling?
Wi-Fi calling for smartphones is an excellent service which allows the user to make calls with the help of any available Wi-Fi. This service is provided by using SIP/IMS. It’s a technology that replaces a cellular tower with the internet while tunnelling your call. Hence you no longer require a cellular network for making a call. You don’t require to login or use an app, thus it is as simple as you make regular calls from your phone. Your phone and your carrier are the keys to determine whether you can use the Wi-Fi to call or not.
📲 How To turn on Wi-Fi calling on Smartphones
Even in the happy case in which you’re using a phone and carrier combo that supports Wi-Fi Calling, it’s probably not enabled by default. You need to visit your carriers’ website and find the step-by-step instructions to set it up. This probably would require you to switch on some option in Settings. Simply use your phone as you regularly do, once you are all set up. Now you will see a new symbol on the top implying Wi-Fi calling. The person you are calling doesn’t need to to have Wi-Fi calling or even a device that supports it.
How to enable Wi-Fi calling on Android
There are varying Android devices available requiring a change or two in these instructions.
- Go to Settings
- Select Network and Internet
- Then tap Wi-Fi calling under Wi-Fi – you might need to visit Advanced
If you don’t have any clue, you can simply search by tapping on the search icon at the top. Slide the toggle, it will turn the Wi-Fi calling on.
Source: MakeUsOf
How to enable Wi-Fi calling on iOS
- Go to Settings > General > Software Update
- If a software update shows up, download and install, else proceed further.
- Go to Settings > Phone
- Click on Wi-Fi calling.
- Toggle to turn Wi-Fi calling on. Confirm the activation.
On activation of Wi-Fi calling, if you are connected to an available Wi-Fi the status bar should show something similar to you’ll see Wi-Fi after your carrier name in the status bar. Whenever you see this message in the status bar, your calls will tunnel via the internet and you will get better quality.
Source: Apple
💰 How much does WiFi calling cost?
Wi-Fi calling won’t cost you anything extra. Your Wi-Fi calls are treated by the carrier as regular calls from the U.S. Any rate applying to your regular call would apply to a call over a Wi-Fi network. In the absence of an unlimited plan, the usual call minute deduction is carried out. There is no international call charge or roaming charge for overseas calls. This makes Wi-Fi calling a perfect way of keeping in touch with your loved ones overseas. Some carriers include free calling to Mexico and Canada in their plans. Though, the rate applying to an international call as per your international calling plan is charged on making an international call with your U.S. based network. Wi-Fi calling is not supported in a number of countries, including India, Cuba, China and Australia.
📶 How Wi-Fi calling compares to cellular?
Free public Wi-Fi hotspots are in growing popularity. People rely on it, making it a solid alternative to regular phone networks and allowing people to save extra on their phone plans. Cisco VNI predicted the growth of global hotspots to twice the present number of hotspots, resulting in 254 million hotspots worldwide. A cheap price doesn’t necessarily imply high quality. Finding an available network to make a Wi-Fi call may often be a challenging task. Also, there is never a reassurance of a high-quality call as it requires a proper bandwidth. Public networks are used by many people at once which may lead to decreased signal strength. Another complaint people may have is delayed conversation, similar to what we often experience with different TVs turned on to the same channel simultaneously at our home. Delayed responses or disruptions can be frustrating. Still, Wi-Fi calling might be a game-changer for anyone with limited calling minutes, poor reception, or travel plans.
🙋 FAQ about Wi-Fi calling
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Does Wi-Fi calling drain or save your battery?
In areas with low or no network, you might want to turn it off to increase your battery life. When not connected to a Wi-Fi network, leaving it on can eat up your battery.
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Will I be using my data while calling over a Wi-Fi network?
Yes, you will be using your normal data plan in order to make calls. Your carriers may also charge some access fee.
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How much data should I expect to be used over a Wi-Fi call?
Although it varies, it’s safe to assume usage of 1 MB data/minute for a voice call and about 7-8 MB of data per minute while making video calls.
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What are the requirements for my phone to support Wi-Fi calling, also do all phones support it?
No, not all phones do support Wi-Fi Calling. You need to have a device that has the HD Voice feature activated.
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What is the process to activate HD Voice?
The default setting in most phones is “data only”. You need to change your settings to enable data and voice sharing using the 4G LTE Network. This requires you manually enabling VoLTE.If you are an iPhone user, go to Settings, click on Cellular, then give access to LTE and click on ‘Voice and Data’.
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What happens if the phone I am using isn’t supportive of Wi-Fi calling?
In case your current phone or the network carrier doesn’t support Wi-Fi calling, you can always use any app to call and text using a Wi-Fi network. The most commonly used are Viber, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Google Hangout, and Skype.
🔎 A note – read curiosity – from Tello
At the moment, Tello Mobile does not offer Wi-Fi calling, but since our friends brought the topic up, we though it was best to share the info with all of our readers. Plus, this goes on a list of surprises we think about adding to Tello, in the future. Our curious nature and desire to constantly improve the service made us wonder what do you think about having this type of feature added to our service? Don’t be shy, leave your comment below and let’s start chatting!
Wait, Tello has WiFi calling?!?
Hi, Zach,
No, not yet at least:).
But we are considering it, in the future, but first, we want to know how you guys feel about it? What do you think?
I love everything about Tello, but no WiFi calling was literally the one thing I found out after I switched that made me sigh. Would love to see WiFi calling come to Tello. I believe it would be a huge draw to the service as well, since all the data savers love WiFi calling. I also live in a rural region of the Appalachian Mountains. Service in towns and highways is excellent, but WiFi calling would be a huge plus when you’re at a friend’s house without service that is off the beaten path.
Thanks for sharing, Shawn. I totally get it :). As I said, gathering info about what customers want is really important for us when making future decisions on what to add to the service. Have a great day!
Interestingly, despite publishing this blog post, Tello Mobile does NOT support Wi-Fi calling.
Sure, you can use the Tello mobile app to place VoIP calls over Wi-Fi, but that is not the same as Wi-Fi calling as described above.
We love it when our customers have all the info needed and are one step ahead :). Spot on, Pawel, thanks for reaching out!
I consider WiFi calling to be fairly essential for making phone calls indoors where the signal strength tends to be lower. It’s odd that Tello, a Sprint MVNO, doesn’t offer WiFi calling since Sprint most certainly has that capability. In fact, I cannot transfer two of my lines from Sprint to Tello because the users rely on WiFi calling in their homes. So, there’s a good chance you are missing out on countless new users who rely on WiFi calling but cannot switch because of lack of WiFi calling. Does Sprint charge MVNO’s extra for that service?
Thanks for the message and your input, really appreciate it!
We can’t spill all the beans, but we can say that Wi-Fi calling is on the list of improvements and we’re considering it for the future, but with the T-mobile & Sprint merger, we have a lot of new things to look forward to. We’ll keep you posted, no worries :).
WiFi calling is one feature I wish Tello had. Sprint coverage can be spotty in my house (even though it’s generally good in my area). When I’m in my basement, it will occasionally even drop out completely! Having WiFi calling would definitely give me piece of mind knowing that I can make/receive calls reliably, even while downstairs.
Just noticed in my previous comment that I used a wrong spelling: ‘piece’ should be ‘peace’.
Please correct! :)
I think it would be a really good idea for Tello to support both Wifi calling and VoLTE, considering that as carriers sunset the 2G/3G voice networks and are all beginning to require all devices to support VoLTE. This includes Sprint/T-Mobile, which seems to be Tello’s parent carrier.
According to PhoneArena, T-Mobile will no longer allow any new device activation for devices that do not support VoLTE as of the 6th of August, and all devices that do not support VoLTE will be kicked off T-Mobile’s network as of January of 2021.
Since Sprint is no more, and T-Mobile has taken over what was Sprint, this means all Sprint MVNOs will need to be up to speed before the end of this year. Especially considering that T-Mobile has not clarified if their 3G shutdown includes Sprint CDMA, though the ultimate plan is to shut down Sprint CDMA, just like they did with MetroPCS.
It’s actually on several sites, including this one:
https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/07/25/t-mobile-will-soon-require-volte-on-all-phones-incomopatible-devices-kicked-off-january/
I would like to make a correction:
“Will I be using my data while calling over a Wi-Fi network?”
The correct answer here is no, Wifi calling does not actually use your mobile data plan if you make a call while connected to wifi network. Many carriers also do not charge any additional access fees for this feature anymore. The only time wifi calling would use your data plan is if you make a call and continue the call after leaving the wifi network and connecting to cellular data, this is especially true if VoLTE is turned off. (if VoLTE is turned on, then wifi calls will automatically redirect to VoLTE and not use your data plan.) VoLTE does not count against data usage and is considered a voice call.
However, wifi calling, just like volte, will use your plan talk minutes.
Also, if Tello were to update the provisioning for all customers to get WiFi calling, they could make the My Tello app a more streamlined account dashboard similar to what’s on the site and remove the in app calling features.