WiFi Calling lets you phone without a cell signal

Our house has never had the best cellular reception. It can be hit and miss. Sometimes mobile calls drop out, other times the audio quality is poor. It’s variable. There are days when the back deck is a dead spot on other days there’s no signal in the home office on the other side of the house.

This sporadic coverage has meant missed calls, misheard calls and dropouts at awkward moments.

That’s all in the past now we have WiFi calling. In effect WiFi Calling turns the home WiFi router into a tiny, local cell site.

What are the benefits of WiFi Calling?

It costs nothing, doesn’t require a new phone number and works seamlessly to the point that you don’t even need to think about using it. The only indication might be a small icon on your phone's screen telling you a call is going through your home WiFi.

The practical results are fewer missed calls or dropouts and better call quality. Engineers say it can extend your phone’s battery life as they no longer need to crank up the antenna power to track down a weak cell signal.

Calls are safe when using a home or workplace WiFi connection. Mobile calls are encrypted end-to-end which means no-one can listen in although if security is important to you it is worth remembering that public WiFi sites are potentially risky.

What do I need to get WiFi Calling?

While you don’t need to do much to get WiFi calling, there are a few basic requirements.

First, you need to have a suitable phone. Almost every phone sold in the last two or three years should be able to handle WiFi calling. It even works on an eight year old Apple iPhone 5S.

Your phone operating system needs to be up-to-date. There shouldn’t be a problem with this although some Android users may find their phone brand has not updated the software recently. Apple tends to update phone software at least once a year. Often much more frequently.

Second, you need to have a phone account with either 2degrees or Vodafone. Spark does not offer WiFi calling at the time of writing although the company says it is on the way.

Third, you need to be near a suitable WiFi router. You probably have one at home. Not every router supports WiFi Calling, this is especially the case with open access WiFi hotspots.

What does WiFi Calling cost?

There’s no extra charge to use WiFi Calling in New Zealand. It’s almost free.

If you use it on a capped broadband connection, the data will count towards the cap. Mind you, voice calls sip data sparingly. Otherwise, the calls you make and the txts you send will count as part of your mobile plan. This means if you call overseas, you’ll pay for a toll call.

If you travel overseas you will find a call made using WiFi Calling is charged as a domestic New Zealand call. You may get hit with other charges, but you can turn mobile reception off and leave WiFi on to save money.