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If you’re one of those people who still use their cell phone to make phone calls, then cell phone reception is probably very important to you. If you live or work in a place where your phone struggles to connect to the cellular network, then you probably are familiar with the frustration of dropped or missed calls.
T-Mobile US has a solution for you. Wi-Fi Calling is a free feature on certain T-Mobile smartphones that allows you to make calls using a Wi-Fi network. If you’re a T-Mobile customer with a smartphone, you may already have Wi-Fi Calling and not even know it. If you don’t have it, you may want it.
Advantages of Wi-Fi Calling
Being able to call using a Wi-Fi network has many advantages, including improved reception and saving money.
International Calling
If you’re traveling internationally, you can use Wi-Fi calling to call back to the US for free. Connect to a Wi-Fi network wherever you are and use Wi-Fi calling to place calls as if you were in the US. You won’t be charged international roaming fees or international calling rates. Stay in touch with people back home without having to worry about getting a large cell phone bill after you return from your trip.
Improved Reception
If you live or work in an area with little or no cell phone reception, you can stay connected with your smartphone using Wi-Fi calling. People who live in a basement apartment or work in a high-rise building where cell phone signals are blocked can get reception by connecting to Wi-Fi. If you live in a remote area or there’s an area of your house where you don’t get a cell phone signal, you can connect to Wi-Fi for cell phone reception.
Cancel Your Landline
If you’ve been reluctant to cancel your landline phone because your cell phone reception was weak at your house, Wi-Fi Calling can save you money. Wi-Fi Calling can give you the confidence that your signal will be strong when you ‘re connected to Wi-Fi, so you may not need that landline phone any more.
What You Need to Know
It’s Free!
There are no added charges for using this feature. You don’t have to pay a monthly charge or a fee per call.
Only Certain Smartphones Can Use Wi-Fi Calling
To search for which phones have the Wi-Fi Calling feature, go to the T-Mobile website and click the option for Wi-Fi Calling under Features in the left column. You’ll find dozens of phones listed, including BlackBerry and Android models.
You Must Activate the Wi-Fi Calling Feature
Although this feature is free, you must activate it on your phone in Settings. The instructions for activation are different for each phone, but specific instructions for each model are on the T-Mobile website. More information can be found on the T-Mobile Support page.
Preferences
You should set your Wi-Fi Calling preferences when you activate the feature. You have three choices:
- Wi-Fi Preferred – Your phone will use a Wi-Fi network when available to send and receive calls.
- Wi-Fi Only – Connection to a Wi-Fi network is required to send and receive calls. This setting is best when traveling internationally.
- Cellular Preferred – Wi-Fi Calling will only be used when the cell phone signal is weak.
[tip]After you have activated Wi-Fi Calling and set your preferences, your settings will be saved. You don’t have to activate the feature each time you want to use it. [/tip]
Your Plan Minutes
You use your plan minutes when you use Wi-Fi calling, according to the T-Mobile website.
From reports online and from speaking with a T-Mobile customer, I learned that with some T-Mobile customers’ plan minutes aren’t used with Wi-Fi Calling if they call customer service and ask for Free Wi-Fi Calling. If you have unlimited calling with your plan you may not care, but if you want your Wi-Fi calls not to count against your plan minutes, call T-Mobile Customer Service to see if you qualify for Free Wi-Fi Calling.
I contacted T-Mobile to find out which plans qualify for Free Wi-Fi Calling so that your Wi-Fi calls won’t count against your plan minutes. This was their response: “In certain customer care situations, our representatives have the ability to provide a variety of solutions to meet the customers’ needs which may include offering Wi-Fi Calling that doesn’t decrement from the customers minutes.”
My Testing
I tested Wi-Fi Calling on the HTC One S that T-Mobile provided me for my review of the phone. I tested calling using Wi-Fi and using the cellular network. The calls were equally clear so the receiver of the calls couldn’t tell the difference between the two connection methods.
Bottom Line
To save money and stay connected, check out T-Mobile’s free Wi-Fi Calling feature.
Have you heard about T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling? Have you ever used the feature? Do you struggle with cellular reception issues? Are you looking for a way to make free calls home when you’re traveling internationally? Let us know in the Comments section below!
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Hi Carolyn,
We haven’t got this yet in the UK. I chat to China using my laptop over wifi. One of the students I talk to is preparing to come to England. Lots to do, visa, accommodation, rice cooker, bed linen; it’s not as easy as it looks. I thought the university would help more; I was wrong!
Hi Mike, Yes, when my daughters were in China I was able to video chat using Skype to stay in touch with them. I even got a tour of a flat where one of them was staying.
Yes, universities have different levels of assistance for foreign students. I’m hoping that their adjustment goes well. They are lucky to have you help them! :-bd
Does wi fi calling is supported in Nokia Smartphones?? i am using lumia 710 and sometimes I get so frustrated because of my network problems. I attend atleast 30 calls per day so it kinda pinches me..I think this technique is the solution for my prob..
Hi Lokesh, Unfortunately, T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling isn’t available on Windows phones. Perhaps when Windows Phone 8 is launched, this technology will be available for those phones! I think it’s great technology so I hope its use expands to other phones.
Wi-fi calling is great, however in UK we cannot call in our country online for free. I’ve seen applications such as Google Voice allowing USA Residents to call each other for free. However, it’s like 1p a minute for us anyway. Once WiMax is installed all over the world, wi-fi will be everywhere. 🙂 Great post Carolyn, I just installed the wp-tweetbox plugin no my blog too.
Hi Ash, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, the UK has very different calling pricing than in the US. I lived there for nearly four years before I moved back to the US two years ago. I hope a mobile phone company brings this technology to the UK for free as T-Mobile has done here in the US.
hmmm….thatz interesting now. I have verizon 4G LTE phone but it is limited in most of the areas. I see that it is always connected to 3G network.
Tmobile is making some headway with this option, and I am sure others will catch up soon. I am still uncertain of the minutes usage while calling using Wi-Fi, am sure it will be consumed, but still who cares as long as you can call or have no dropped calls.
Hi Praveen, yes you’re right. I don’t think you can count of getting free minutes when you sign up for this, but it’s such a great, free feature that it’s worth it even if you use your minutes, in my opinion. Getting free minutes would be a nice bonus though. 🙂
I don’t live in the US, but I just discovered a similar solution a few days ago here in Norway. I always use either my mobile phone or my home phone to make phone calls. And the phone we have at home is an ip-phone. And what I discovered is that this Norwegian company also have a solution / an app for smart phones so you can use the home phone to call via your mobile phone.
I had no idea that was even possible. That means that when I’m in Italy and have access to wifi, I can actually call all my friends via my home phone and pay nothing (I pay a flat monthly fee). That’s just awesome 🙂
Hi Jens, Yes, that’s a great service that you have. It’s so handy to be able to call back to your home country using a Wi-Fi feature. I think what you have is what we call VOIP in the US. I have that at home too and need to write about it here.
Hi Carolyn,
T-mobile has brought up an amazing feature.I guess now the landline phones there will be treated as extinct.Connecting through WiFi and do calls ……Wow!!
I have never thought that it can also be possible.Technology has made future a better place to live in.But at the same time i am upset that this feature is not present here in India.May be they are thinking to implement this in feature soon,if they are aware of it.
Hi Aditya, Yes, I hope a similar service comes to India. It’s very useful for people who want to drop their landline phone but don’t get goos cell phone reception at home.
Hi Carolyn
That is an interesting feature. I guess that it is kind of the same way Skype works. The only problem as I see it is that wherever the cellular network is poor is often the same places where there is now Wi-Fi. I guess that it is only a matter of time before all calls are using IP over the data network.
Hi Thomas, Actually this T-Mobile service is a bit different than Skype. Skype service is completely over the Internet but T-Mobile’s service connects to the cellular network using Wi-Fi.
I hope more carriers around the world offer this feature because it’s useful and can save people a lot of money! :-bd
The Best feature of WiFi calling is it’s free of cost I used HTC one V and it’s extremely free of Cost.
Hi Rizwan, Great point! When I first heard about this feature, I thought there might be an added fee for it, but it’s free. It can really save you money if you travel internationally! :-bd
I keep mulling over killing my landline but haven’t done it yet because I want it for emergency purposes. I like things like WiFi calling but I am not sure that I am convinced yet that cells have reached a point where they are as reliable as the old Ma Bell service.
Hi Josh, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Great point, you have to be able to rely on your phone service for essential calls such as emergency calls. But so long as your Wi-Fi service is reliable, you should be able to use your T-Mobile cell phone with Wi-Fi calling. This past week my landline phone wasn’t working but my Wi-Fi was.