AT&T, Verizon switch on free international Wi-Fi calling via iOS 9.3 update

[cruza]

Good news for iPhone owners who upgrade to 9.3 Update.

With the latest software update for your phone you can use Wi-Fi Calling when traveling outside the U.S. This means you can call back to the U.S. or receive incoming calls, with no airtime charges

See link below for details:

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/att-verizon-switch-free-international-wi-fi-calling-ios-93-update/2016-03-23

[Lovely_Star]

Thanks for sharing

[markluke]

Good news for iPhone owners who upgrade to 9.3 Update.

With the latest software update for your phone you can use Wi-Fi Calling when traveling outside the U.S. This means you can call back to the U.S. or receive incoming calls, with no airtime charges

See link below for details:

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/att-verizon-switch-free-international-wi-fi-calling-ios-93-update/2016-03-23

Great feature but I have the feeling that the experience on a cruise ship will be poor unless the internet speed, latency and jitter numbers improve significantly.

 

I tried a VoIP call (essentially the same as WiFi calling) on the Reflection a couple of weeks ago and it was full of pops, clicks, echoing and delays. The call also disconnected after around 10 seconds.

 

The reason the carriers like WiFi calling is that they don't have to supply the infrastructure - in this case the carrier is the cruise ship WiFi, and it is not up to snuff yet.

 

However, when in port, and if you have strong WiFi access off the ship, this could be very useful.

Edited March 26, 2016 by markluke

[az_tchr]

Certainly would be good in port but wifi calling on board generally either is awful or does not work at all. Celebrity has a system that does not support any VOIP calling. NONE. Hope in the future it will happen. Of course when it does you will still need to pay to connect to the ship's wifi.

[jagoffee]

Can someone explain how this work on an IPhone? What do I turn off when traveling and turn on for this to work when hooked up to WiFi? Thanks

[CathyCruises]

Thank you so much for posting this, I had no idea. We are leaving in two weeks on the reflection, it will be really interesting to see if it works on their Wi-Fi network, but then we're going to spend some time in Europe and it sounds like we might be able to make international calls without any charge. I'm going to check with AT&T to make sure, but it certainly sounds that way from the article. I found the Wi-Fi enable button on my phone already. Many thanks.

[cruza]

Can someone explain how this work on an IPhone? What do I turn off when traveling and turn on for this to work when hooked up to WiFi? Thanks

 

Check how to change IPhone settings:

http://www.imore.com/how-enable-wi-fi-calling-your-iphone-6s-or-6s-plus

[Mr. Click]

Do not count on it working with the ship's wifi. Plain and simple they do not have the bandwidth to support VOIP, Skype, FaceTime or any other streaming services. I had to spend 45 minutes in the iLounge on a recent cruise waiting to talk to the one attendant about how to print something. All of the time I spent waiting she was working to explain to two other passengers that none of those services work on the ship's wifi. She also had to tell one passenger that the new iPhone he bought on board could not be set up to work properly using the ship's wifi and he would have to wait until he was off the ship to be able to really use the phone.....Not a happy camper since they had started the process and his old phone was already disabled.