WiFi calling lets you take advantage of being connected to a hotspot to talk to any phone number. No extras in the tariff, with greater stability and it does not matter that there is no mobile coverage. Of course, you need a compatible mobile and operator.
It’s not a hugely popular feature as it’s also not overly widespread, but there are opportunities to test WiFi calling on quite a few smartphones. said calls are established via wireless home networks, as indicated by his name. They work without mobile network coverage, they offer very good audio quality and most of the major Spanish operators offer them free of charge to their customers. They are very simple to use if the mobile is compatible.
Call even if you don’t have mobile coverage
Icon indicating that calls are made over WiFi
As with communications via messaging apps, Wi-Fi calling (o VoWiFI, voice over WiFi) use local wireless networks to establish contact between devices and transmit the voice of the interlocutors converted into digital data at both ends. The biggest difference with “normal” calls is that with WiFi calls, operator towers are not usedsince the user’s wireless network is served.
WiFi calls offer several advantages over traditional calls thanks to the characteristics of the infrastructure:
- No mobile coverage required. That you are far from an area covered by your operator and still want to make calls? If you have active WiFi calls and have a local network connection, you can call any number as if you were using carrier coverage.
- Communication is stable and of good quality. In the house there is usually better WiFi coverage than the mobile network (as long as the distance to the router is not excessive). Thanks to this, calls via WiFi often offer fewer outages than calls via mobile.
- You can call any phone number using WiFi. Since only the infrastructure changes (from transport towers to WiFi hotspot), it is still possible to call anyone just by dialing their phone number. Also, the called contact does not need to be using WiFi calling as well.
- They can save battery. As the mobile does not permanently connect to the relay antennas, the smartphone requires less energy to process communications, at least on paper.
- There are no additional costs and you don’t have to modify the application either.. Carriers do not overcharge Wi-Fi calls, although you may not include them in your rate (usually in all contract calls). In addition, the process is carried out transparently since it is the phone application that takes care of the task (the icon of a phone appears with WiFi waves).
Although the WiFi network is used, all calls using this network cost the same as “normal” calls. In terms of prices there are no differences
The fundamental difference in operation is that the telephone changes the sending and receiving of data (voice only) from the telephone network to the WiFi network: The rest of the process is identical for both types of calls. There are hardly any changes to the phone’s interface either.
This is how WiFi calling is enabled on mobile
Configuration via connection settings
Generally, phones that support WiFi calling offer the possibility of activating them when a SIM card that supports them is inserted. In Europe, Movistar, Orange, Jazztel and O2 offer this type of communication. In terms of mobile phones, Samsung is the manufacturer that offers the best compatibility: its more expensive phones, and a good part of the Galaxy A family, include WiFI calling among their options. Also the iPhone of the 5S; in addition to other brands, such as Huawei, LG and even Alcatel. And it’s not just about the phone, WiFi calling support is also carrier dependent (Orange is the one that supports more devices).
To activate WiFi calls, and provided that your mobile and your operator are compatible (the SIM must be in the phone), you must proceed as follows:
- Go to mobile settings and enter connection options.
- You will see the option “WiFi Calls”. Activate them and from this moment all voice communications will go through the home network (as long as you have a WiFi connection).
- Another way to enable calls is through the phone app. Open it.
- Enter the three menu points and go to settings.
- The available “WiFi Calling” option should appear.
- If the activation does not appear, your mobile is not compatible with WiFi calls. It may also be that the operator does not offer this service (or does not support your phone).
- You do not need to activate WiFi calling with your operatorthey must be active by default: it only executes the process on the mobile.
Enabling WiFi calling from the phone app
Just because your mobile doesn’t have WiFi calling doesn’t mean you won’t have it forever: operators are constantly adding new compatible mobiles.
The experience is similar to “normal” calls
Call in progress via the WiFi network
We have tested WiFi calls on a Samsung with the operator Movistar and the truth is that the experience has been satisfactory: after the activation process, the phone has exchanged the mobile infrastructure for the WiFi network without losing audio quality and gain remarkable stability in telecommunications (at the test address there are usually communication cuts due to lack of coverage). The phone icon with WiFi waves is the only noticeable difference to the naked eye.
