Free WiFi Calling On Major Carriers

I'm on Verizon and it would be fantastic to have WiFi calling. The signal is pretty bad at home and need to use the house phone to have any sort of confidence that my conversation will have no issues.

I'm not paying $250 for a network extender that enables better signal at home. I've called and complained and they offer that router as the only solution, but not free.

I hope Verizon will add WiFi calling and mirror how T-Mobile's works.

I've been enjoying Republic Wireless' WiFi calling, text, and data since June 2015. I buy the basic $10 plan, which includes unlimited talk, text, and data via WiFi. I then add on 500MB of data for $7.50, since I sometimes travel away from home and may need cellular, but often can get WiFi. Most of the time my $7.50 for data is refunded to me, leaving my bill only $10.00 plus $2.30 in taxes, for a total of $12.30/month. I'm always on WiFi unless it's not available, and then it automatically switches to cellular. And it can switch mid-call, either way, cellular to WiFi or the reverse. That makes Republic Wireless a good plan for me.

Bob, I wonder if Apple could institute wifi calling just as they do iMessage. It would be wonderful to be able to bypass our carriers altogether and be able to make free wifi calls internationally if we leave the country or have international friends we like to talk to. Verizon charges a lot for international calling! I have tried to use Viber on my iPhone with limited success, and enjoyed using the free toll numbers with ads, but they are thing of the past.

I think Apple device users should blanket http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
with requests for Apple-sponsored wifi calling. Please join me!

Thanks!

Hi Bob. I've been reading your articles for about 5 years now and thought I ought to contribute something. I'm from the U.K. and recently purchased a Blackberry Passport (which I love) and am using EE (ee.com) as a service provider. They have been providing a WiFi Calling service since April 2015. However, they seem to only support iPhone, and Samsung Galaxy S5 a far as I can see. Why is this service restricted by the hardware (handset) you have? Apparently, it is not "controlled" by the Sim card they have provided so why only these phones? Also, this method of calling is only possible IF you have access to a WiFi system AND have the password to access it; assuming most sensible people will have put some protection on their system.

I'm confused by all of this "yes/no" Wi-Fi on my cell-phone. I have a Droid Ultra (Kit-Kat 4.4.4), through Verizon, WITH Wi-Fi. I just go to "Settings", and turn it on or off!

I turn it on when at home, and off when I'm not using it. Just like Blu-Tooth, it continually "searches", and drains the battery.

According to Verizon, I am NOT charged for connection minutes when using Wi-Fi.

RE: Seamless Handoff? Not So Much...

Pasted from https://fi.google.com/about/faq/#wifi-connection-and-calls-6

What happens if I start a call over Wi-Fi and then lose my Wi-Fi connection?
On your Project Fi device, if you start a call over Wi-Fi and then your connection weakens or drops (such as when you leave your home or office), Project Fi seamlessly transitions your call to a cellular network (if one is available) so you can keep talking.

I do free WIFI calling all the time using Gmail and a Google Voice number. Google Hangouts does the same thing. Saves me tons of money (since the calls are free over WIFI) compared to my prepaid phone charges to use the carrier's wireless phone network.

However, there is no switchover to/from phone network. You have to stay on wireless the whole call. This works great at home or wherever else you have constant WIFI access.

Get a Google Voice number and install Google Hangouts on your phone or tablet. Or you can use the Gmail calling feature on your PC or laptop.

Works great and it's free to US and Canada!

WiFi calling and texting would be a big help to me. Our plans are unlimited talk and text, so it wouldn't make a difference in price (US calls anyway), but being inside a building, or just in an area that our carrier (AT&T)doesn't cover well would be great. It would allow us to compare other carriers' plans. Right now, I can't sit in my house and use Verizon or T-mobile. I can look out the window and see an AT&T tower. I can be in a metal building and get coverage. I go to a friend's house, and she doesn't have any coverage from AT&T. How nice to be able to use WiFi. But not available with Android? Hopefully this will become a universal feature with all carriers and phones soon! Thanks for the article, Bob!

Well congrats for Sprint on this one, but sorry I will not use them still. Had Sprint for years back to when it was Nextel. But after my wife would get text messages or voice mail later that same day (hours later) or even days after it was sent became tiring. So we left them!
WI-FI may be OK as stated inside buildings or places where a data signal is LOW or not even there, but I would not want it when I am driving using my bluetooth in the car! Thanks for the research.

Why would anyone would pay $100+ for their smartphone these days? We've had Republic Wireless for two years now - would never go back to a traditional carrier. Bills average $14 a month with their Republic Refund plans. We take the phone overseas on vacation and never worry about international long distance and roaming.

As a friend on Fi discovered, Fi is not Wi-Fi first ... call quality on Wi-Fi can be sketchy which is why I think Fi mostly rides on T-Mo's circuit switched cellular network.

Sounds like Republic will be adding a GSM carrier soon - assume T-Mobile. They also say they are working to move their technology out of phone into the software layers which will let them offer phones other than Motorola - hopefully Samsung.

I believe TMo is only seamless to their 4G cellular network.

Whenever you are on a WI-FI call your call will be dropped whenever the net service has a blip.

I've been with Republic for two years now. My wife switched over recently. Being retired we are often in range of wi-fi. Our combined monthly bill is usually around $25.00. The wi-fi to cell network is seamless when needed.
Why would anyone go with a major carrier?

Great article Bob. Regarding T-Mobile, I have been using T-Mobile since June. I leave WiFi calling turned on continuously, and when I am on my wifi network at home it sounds and works very well. If I am on a wifi call and walk out of the house, if the wifi signal falls below a minimum threshold, the iPhone 6 plus I use seamlessly hands off to T-Mobile's LTE network. It's true that T-Mobile does not handoff to their 4G network because 4G doesn't support Voice over IP.

While T-Mobile WiFi calling minutes do count against the monthly allocation of minutes in their plans, most of their plans that support WiFi calling include unlimited minutes.

I traveled to Europe and Mexico over the summer. T-Mobile WiFi calling worked well when I was on a wifi network that met minimum wifi calling standards. The calls I placed to the USA using WiFi calling were free since I get unlimited minutes in my plan.

T-Mobile even supports text messaging at no charge while traveling on an airline with GOGO wireless.

Thanks Bob

Jan, I read your response to the article. "I wonder if Apple could institute wifi calling just as they do iMessage".

Apple does offer such a service, and its standard on all iPhones running IOS 7 and above. However, the service is limited to placing/receiving calls to users within the Apple "ecosystem". This includes iPhones, iPads, iMac, MacBooks, It works on any data network, including WiFi and Cellular data (as long as your carrier doesn't restrict it). You can make calls to other iPhone users directly from your iPhone contacts app. Open the contact app and look for the "FaceTime" section under the phone numbers listed for the contact. At this point you will see a "camera" and "handset" icon to the right of the FaceTime section. Simply press the "handset" icon, and if the person you are calling has FaceTime Audio enabled you'll see the native dialer app pop open and the call will initiate. The easiest way to make these calls is by simply telling Siri "place a FaceTime Audio call to ____________. Try it out.

Bob, I love the article and the comments! Many places I go have wifi, and for calls Republic seems like the direction I want to go in the future. Some one mentioned calls and texts and messages arriving hours later... We have this happen where we live in Utah, a lot. I'll receive a voice mail, with never getting a notice, a call record, nothing! It just arrives; same can happen with text messages, or you try and call and no answer. This is with Verizon! Very disappointed. Its time for some change, and maybe time for people to gripe to carriers, or show there opinion by switching? Great article