“After publicly calling out the FCC last week, AT&T received a regulatory waiver on Tuesday that will allow it to begin rolling out Wi-Fi Calling services on Apple’s iPhone,” Kevin Tofel reports for ZDNet. “”
“The carrier had planned to offer calls over Wi-Fi last month in conjunction with iOS 9 but those plans were held up,” Tofel reports. “The FCC requires that call services provide support for the hard of hearing under TTY rules so AT&T requested a waiver for tose rules back in June. A 45-day comment cycle came and went with no negative comments, yet the FCC didn’t grant the waiver until now.”
Tofel reports, “AT&T last week said that it didn’t understand why or how rivals Sprint and T-Mobile could offer Wi-Fi calling since they don’t have such waivers.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Government efficiency.
SEE ALSO:
AT&T Wi-Fi Calling now rolling out to some iOS 9 beta users – August 11, 2015
Mossberg: Apple’s iPhone 6/Plus offer seamless, integrated Wi-Fi calling – September 30, 2014
AT&T to deploy Wi-Fi calling for iPhone in 2015 – September 12, 2014
T-Mobile: Wi-Fi Calling will be enabled with iOS 8 – June 3, 2014
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
another justified hammer blow to the telecom service providers
How’s that? It’s AT&T providing the service through WiFi and unless you have unlimited calling, the minutes are still deducted from your plan.
we’ll probably see it by early 2017
Wifi – Can I use my iPad?
You can already make FaceTime voice only calls. If your iPad has a sim from AT&T, it’s data only. I believe you need an actual phone number to call an actual phone (land line, old-school cell).
If the iPad has a SIM, it has a phone number. You could stick this SIM in a phone, if necessary. (and if it fits)
I use MagicJack to make calls from my iPad and iPod. WiFi calling doesn’t require AT&T. I don’t receive calls.