My new iPhone 6s on T-Mobile has 'Wi-Fi Calling'. I gather it's VOIP. Should I leave it on, or turn it off? Does it mean the iPhone will always use wireless Internet when available, or will it use the cellular system? How does it decide?

Most of the time, we're home with good wireless.

Apple says we can use Wi-Fi Calling on our iPhones to also enable calling on other devices. Like my wife's iPad? It has no phone capability (no phone icon, even).

Our account, T-M One, has 'unlimited' data, so maybe it doesn't matter if I turn Wi-Fi Calling off, or if I leave it on. I'm just curious.

Per previous iPhone 5 custom, I turned off 'Cellular Data', which was supposed to conserve data usage (we had 2GB, but never used more than a small fraction of that). No real need now, I guess. I guess there is an advantage if I leave it on, for areas with no or weak wireless.

What do you all recommend?

/Mr Lynn

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....wi-fi calling is when you have no cell service but there is a wi-fi network available.....you can then make cell calls using the wi-fi connection......

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Leave it on. The primary reason for it is that you can still make calls in locations where the cell signal is poor but you have wifi. For example, where I live none of the carriers have a usable cell signal so wifi calling allows me to use a cell phone at home. T-Mobile was one of the first to include free wifi calling because their cell coverage used to be horrible, though it has improved substantially.

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NewtonMP2100
....wi-fi calling is when you have no cell service but there is a wi-fi network available.....you can then make cell calls using the wi-fi connection......

Will the iPhone decide, or do I? Should I leave it off unless needed?

/Mr Lynn

when I am home, my iPhone uses WiFi calling most of the time, since the ATT signal is so-so. What I liked a lot was that when I travelled to Romania, I turned the phone in Airplane more and then turned WiFi back on, and all calls (incoming/outgoing) were via WiFi and I did not pay any roaming charges.

I just switched to Xfinity and they prefer to use WiFi and only use Verizon when there is no WiFi.

Yes, leave it ON, but make sure you update the 911 address.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2018 09:44AM by space-time.

......you should be able to set it to automatically check for wi-fi when there is no cell service available and it will let you wi-fi call automatically.....or you can leave it off and turn it on manually.......

.....prefer to leave it on to check automatically.....

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_____________________________________

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Will the iPhone decide, or do I? Should I leave it off unless needed?

The 'Phone will make the call.

You can leave it on with no negative affects. If you leave it off, you may not realize or remember what it is, what it does, and that it will help, should you need it.

And the audio quality of WiFi calling is usually noticeably better than cellular.

You might check to see if WiFi Assist is Off. This uses your cellular radio for data if your WiFi signal is weak. Not a big deal if you're on unlimited, un-throttled data. But if you're not, you could be using data without realizing it, thinking your WiFi is handling it.

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Skype is probably the oldest wi-fi calling app

When Apple introduced native wi-fi calling in the iPhone 6 all the major carriers immediately supported it.

Please note you can still incur "long distance " charges making international calls

VOiP is not wifi calling although they are very similar in many ways and could be considered more similar than not.

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I've an Android on T-Mo. There is an auto-switch in Call settings that helps the turn over when cellular is strong enough again.
I'd think the same sort of setting is on an iPho.
It won't cost you more or less in any case.
T-Mos HD connect with their customers is much better sounding than WiFi.
But good for me at work where no cellular penetrates reliably enough.

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I've found it to be fantastic.. and especially beneficial when traveling abroad or in USA when local cellular is either poor reception or not reliable for calls.

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At least on the Android, there is a preference setting to favor WiFi or cellular when both are available. It all works automatically, using whatever is available, and if both are, then according to that preference. Considering my frequent international travel, I always have WiFi as preferential (which is also the default setting).

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dk62
At least on the Android, there is a preference setting to favor WiFi or cellular when both are available. It all works automatically, using whatever is available, and if both are, then according to that preference. Considering my frequent international travel, I always have WiFi as preferential (which is also the default setting).

Don't see that setting on the iPhone.

/Mr Lynn

[support.apple.com]

WiFi Assist

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!#$@@$#!

all I need to know I learnt from Bugs Bunny on Saturday mornings.

I am finding very few open wifi networks anymore. Even stores are often still requiring to go through some approval page. So the benefits of wifi calling are dwindling.

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.....not to be confused with Wife calling.......that is when your wife calls you....and you better answer.....

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_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

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Ombligo
I am finding very few open wifi networks anymore. Even stores are often still requiring to go through some approval page. So the benefits of wifi calling are dwindling.

I would think that the biggest benefit is for people that live or work in a location that has poor cell coverage.

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Fritz
[support.apple.com]

WiFi Assist

Ah-ha! Had to scroll all the way down to see it. Thanks!

Guess I'll turn it on. Why not?

/Mr Lynn

WiFi Assist and WiFi Calling are two very different features. They solve opposite problems.

WiFi Calling allows you to make/receive calls when you have poor cell reception but a good WiFi connection. It provides the benefit of seamlessly providing your Voice/Text services even when you have no cell signal.

WiFi Assist allows you to use Cellular Data in situations where you have a weak WiFi signal but strong Cell signal. It is considered somewhat dangerous/costly because it can use large amounts of cellular data from your plan without you realizing it.

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mrlynn

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Fritz
[support.apple.com]

WiFi Assist

Ah-ha! Had to scroll all the way down to see it. Thanks!

Guess I'll turn it on. Why not?

/Mr Lynn

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GGD
WiFi Assist and WiFi Calling are two very different features. They solve opposite problems.

WiFi Calling allows you to make/receive calls when you have poor cell reception but a good WiFi connection. It provides the benefit of seamlessly providing your Voice/Text services even when you have no cell signal.

WiFi Assist allows you to use Cellular Data in situations where you have a weak WiFi signal but strong Cell signal. It is considered somewhat dangerous/costly because it can use large amounts of cellular data from your plan without you realizing it.

Understood. However, the T-Mobile One plan we have allows 'Unlimited' data, so it shouldn't be a problem—unless I'm misunderstanding something (which wouldn't be surprising, considering what a novice I am in the 'smart phone' world).

/Mr Lynn

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ztirffritz
It's essentially facetime without the face.

It's FaceTime wiithout the face, but to/from the universal set of phone numbers, not to/from other users of the FaceTime app.

In other words, it's calling. Over WiFi. It's WiFi Calling.

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mrlynn

Understood. However, the T-Mobile One plan we have allows 'Unlimited' data, so it shouldn't be a problem—unless I'm misunderstanding something (which wouldn't be surprising, considering what a novice I am in the 'smart phone' world).

/Mr Lynn

no, you're correct. T-Mobile One is unltd talk, text, data. Period.
Go nuts. You can watch all 5 hours 21 minutes of Andy Warholes "Sleep" without fear of fi$cal retribution. Though you may find it boring rather quickly. I would suggest streaming to the Milli Vanilli hits package instead. BYOV.

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Fritz

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mrlynn

Understood. However, the T-Mobile One plan we have allows 'Unlimited' data, so it shouldn't be a problem—unless I'm misunderstanding something (which wouldn't be surprising, considering what a novice I am in the 'smart phone' world).

/Mr Lynn

no, you're correct. T-Mobile One is unltd talk, text, data. Period.
Go nuts. You can watch all 5 hours 21 minutes of Andy Warholes "Sleep" without fear of fi$cal retribution. Though you may find it boring rather quickly. I would suggest streaming to the Milli Vanilli hits package instead. BYOV.

Valium? or maybe vanilla extract?

/Mr Lynn



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2018 02:12PM by mrlynn.