Wi-Fi calling is a feature that allows you to make or receive a call using home or office Wi-Fi by ‘tunnelling’ the call from or to your network provider. Yes, you can make and receive calls over Wi-Fi. Voice does not take much bandwidth – 100-120 kbps or 45MB/hr.
In essence, any phone post-2024 will have it.
In Android, look under Settings>Mobile Network>Sim1> Enable Wi-Fi calling. If you are having issues, search for your phone’s make and model and Wi-Fi calling.
On iPhone, go to Settings>Phone>Wi-Fi Calling.
If you move out of Wi-Fi range, the phone automatically switches to mobile data with no dropped calls.
How do you know you are using Wi-Fi calling?
You should see a VoLTE icon in your phone’s status bar. VoLTE simply means making a digital call. It is sometimes called VoWiFi (voice over Wi-Fi). Some phones have a dedicated Wi-Fi calling icon.
Wi-Fi calling only kicks in when the Mobile signal strength is too low. If you live in a good reception area, by all means, enable it, but you may never use it.
Any ups or downsides?
The upsides include
- Making and receiving free calls/text/video calls in mobile blackspots.
- Should work over Satellite broadband services (like StarLink).
- Can have perceptibly better voice quality.
- Should not use your Mobile Data – it uses IMS APN for data that carries signalling and voice.
- Should work with pre- and post-paid plans
- Saves battery.
- Can use Public Wi-Fi if the signal is strong enough.
- Supports 000 emergency calls (but your location may not be precise).
- International roaming is generally supported (depending on the carrier), but you can use VoIP Apps like Google Duo, WhatsApp, etc., over Wi-Fi anyway.
The downsides – more caveats are
- At least a 12/1Mbps NBN internet connection (via an NBN reseller – it does not have to be with Telstra, Vodafone, or Optus)
- Reliable internet (and it is most of the time)
- There should be decent whole-of-home Wi-Fi coverage, preferably using Wi-Fi 6 AX or later
- You may have to enter the area code if it cannot find a number.
- You may have to change router settings to allow IPsec passthrough and Certificate Fragmentation support. Most modern routers default to this.
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