AT&T granted FCC waiver to activate Wi-Fi calling amid tiff with T-Mobile, Sprint

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2015
After decrying T-Mobile and Sprint's decision to roll out Wi-Fi calling without approval from the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T on Tuesday was granted a waiver to enable such features in the near future.




Last year AT&T initially announced its iteration of Wi-Fi calling would debut on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sometime in 2015, but the carrier has yet to make good on that promise. A limited segment of iOS 9 beta testers saw the feature go live in August only to find it deactivated with the public version of iOS 9 and the release of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.

As noted by AT&T, the reason for Wi-Fi calling's delayed launch was incompatibility with the FCC's requirements regarding teletypewriter, or teletype, services (TTY). In lieu of full TTY support, AT&T requested, and today received (PDF link), an exemption to deploy real-time text (RTT) services.

In a statement posted to AT&T's website, Senior Executive Vice President of External and Legislative Affairs Jim Cicconi offered his gratitude to the FCC, but questions the agency's handling of T-Mobile and Sprint.
We're grateful the FCC has granted AT&T's waiver request so we can begin providing Wi-Fi calling. At the same time we are left scratching our heads as to why the FCC still seems intent on excusing the behavior of T-Mobile and Sprint, who have been offering these services without a waiver for quite some time. Instead of initiating enforcement action against them, or at least opening an investigation, the agency has effectively invited them to now apply for similar waivers and implied that their prior flaunting of FCC rules will be ignored. This is exactly what we meant when our letter spoke of concerns about asymmetric regulation.
AT&T has yet to narrow down a prospective launch window for Wi-Fi calling, though initial iOS 9 beta testing proved the feature as viable on the carrier's network.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member

    I wonder when Verizon will join the Wi-Fi calling party? They said it was coming this year. 

  • Reply 2 of 14
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,201member

    Bring it on Big T!

  • Reply 3 of 14
    iosfangirl6001iosfangirl6001 Posts: 23member
    To be fair NOT ALL of us Beta Testers had our access or ability to use WiFi Calling disabled I've been doing it since iOS 9 Beta 3 with little to no issues

    Although I for 1 stayed to Beta iOS versions only and never modified or deactivated settings or info associated with AT&T WiFi Calling
  • Reply 4 of 14
    johnhjohnh Posts: 4member
    I was on the beta but it never worked for me. The error message has changed, though. I've been looking forward to being able to use my phone in the basement.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    whatabandwhataband Posts: 1member

    *flouting

  • Reply 6 of 14
    libertyforalllibertyforall Posts: 1,418member

    Who cares?!  Just TURN ON WIFI CALLING AT&T!

  • Reply 7 of 14
    latifbplatifbp Posts: 544member
    libertyforall wrote: »
    Who cares?!  Just TURN ON WIFI CALLING AT&T!
    They won't. They suck. They hate you and only want your money.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    dsparildsparil Posts: 2member
    I just made a Wi-Fi call from a place with no cell phone reception, so Wi-Fi calling being totally disabled is definitely wrong. I wasn't able to set it up the day of the official release of iOS 9, but I could a day or two later.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,056member
    latifbp wrote: »
    They won't. They suck. They hate you and only want your money.
    that means you can move to Tmo or such... No long term contract now with any carrier.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,056member
    libertyforall wrote: »
    Who cares?!  Just TURN ON WIFI CALLING AT&T!
    and I can sell their microcell on eBay
  • Reply 11 of 14
    kylegkyleg Posts: 2member
    It seems to be working on my 6s+ on AT&T even though I can't turn it on (it gives the not available yet error message). You can clearly hear the difference in call sound quality when the phone is connected to a wifi network. It sounds like the person is standing next to you talking.
  • Reply 12 of 14
    taintedtainted Posts: 6member
    I just went to try to turn this on again and it actually let me so it looks like AT&T might be turning this on now...
  • Reply 13 of 14
    alpheraxalpherax Posts: 2member
    It all boils down to the PATHETIC quality of the Microsoft products compared to the Apple, Android or open source solutions.

    LibreOffice or OpenOffice are basically the same if not BETTER solutions tan the very expensive, BLOATED Office365 and there is NO EXCUSE for that when youre are PAYING TOP DOLLARS for these MS solutions that most times are just the Nth re-re-releaee of a THIRTY years old product !!!

    Lets not get into virtualization or databasaes where Proxmox or Postgres RUN CIRCLES AROUND MS software...as they are FREE, or ust buy Oracle or VMWare to get industrial grade, expensive but very very solid solutions...

    Lets not get into the CRAP that the Windows franchise has developed into, just BARELY usable as Windows 10 , except you get just TOO MUCH REMOTE CONTROL ON YOUR HARDWARE FROM MICROSOFT , which is NOT to provide the same QUALITY OF SERVICE that Apple manages to do...

    Talking about the HORRIBLE MESS the MOBILE DISASTERS Microsoft has managed to pile up and INVESTORS SHOULD BE STORMING THE DOORS OF MICROSOFT HEADQUARTERS....

    What HAS TO BE DONE IMMEDIATELY is a RESET ... a ELIMINATION of the OLD GUARD which was basically a bunch of yes men trying to just get their pet projects to prevail ...

    MICROSOFT OWNERS, the SHAREHOLDERS should DEMAND A BREAK UP NOW , while the company STILL HAS GREAT VALUE as it is OBVIOUS TO ANYONE IN THE BUSINESS MICROSOFT IS NOW DOOMED TO DWINDLE ... so for investrs IT WOULD BE MUCH BETTER TO DO A FULL BREAKUP, CAHING IN WHILE THEY STILL CAN !!!
  • Reply 14 of 14
    latifbplatifbp Posts: 544member

    Already moved to TMo... I love them. Better network in the Boston area than both Verizon and AT&T!

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