My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Apple iOS 9 Wi-Fi Calling on AT&T Network - Why AT&T Wi-Fi Calling Ambush of Google Fi may go either way

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Apple iOS 9 Wi-Fi Calling on AT&T Network - Why AT&T Wi-Fi Calling Ambush of Google Fi may go either way

Apple's product launch unveiled a boatload of new products on Tuesday September 9th 2015.

The Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are still stars of the show, by the revamped Apple iPad Pro with Apple Pencil (not a stylus!), the new and improved Apple TV and the Apple Watch new Hermes wristbands pretty much sums it all up as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Why Apple iPhone 6S, Apple TV,Apple iPad Pro with Pencil spells Success”.

Core to all of these products is Apple iOS 9, which rolls out to customers and developers on Wednesday September 16th 2015 as reported in the article “iOS 9 to be released Sept. 16”, published September 9, 2015 by Kent German, CNET News



This is long before the Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus go on sale on Friday, September 25th, 2015 around the world, with pre-orders starting Saturday, September 12th 2015 at 12:01 AM Pacific. 

Apple had promised a lot of new and exciting features for Apple iOS 9 at WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Apple WWDC 2015 debuts OS X 10.11, Watch OS 2.0 and Apple Music”.

iOS 9 will work on iPhone 4S and all iPads back to the iPad 2, the iPad Air and the original iPad Mini. All iPod Touch devices back to the 5th-Gen model will also benefit from the Apple iOS 9 goodness.

So a quick check of all your apps and a backup before making that leap to Apple iOS 9 is highly recommended as pointed out in the article “How to prepare your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch for iOS 9”, published September 12, 2015 by Jason Cipriani, CNET News.  

Apple iOS 9 promises almost AI-like features as it get to know you better and a Siri Voice Assistant that'll soon be able to answer your Voicemail come iOS 10 as predicted in my blog article entitled “Apple's Siri Voice Assistant to answer Calls in 2016 - How @IBM's Watson may power Siri AI in Corporate and Enterprise Cloud Heaven”.

But it also has another hidden feature; Wi-Fi Calling!

Apple iOS 9 to introduce Wi-Fi Calling on AT&T Network - New York and customers on Roger and Fido will get Wi-Fi Calling

Customer who purchase the Apple iPhone 6S and Apple iPhone 6S Plus or update to iOS 9 will be able to make Wi-Fi Calls over AT&T Network as reported in August 2015 in the article “AT&T Wi-Fi Calling begins rolling out to some iOS 9 beta users”, published August 11 2015 by Mike Beasley, 9 to 5 Mac.

Wi-Fi Calling Feature, allow you to place regular Voice Calls over a Wi-Fi Network in cases where your Cellular Network isn't available. Similar to Wi-Fi Calling on Vodafone as explained in my blog article entitled “Vodafone's Wi-Fi Calling in UK - How being Red means Nexus Google Fi coming”, no app is required, as this comes baked into iOS 9.





To activate Wi-Fi Calling, simply follow the following instructions as laid out in the article “How to enable AT&T Wi-Fi calling on iOS 9”, published August 20, 2015 by Jason Cipriani, CNET News:

1.      Go to the Phone panel in Settings
2.      Select the Wi-Fi Calling option
3.      Turn on the Wi-Fi Calling Toggle to begin the setup process.
4.      Select continue after being shown the basic privacy information
5.      Start making Wi-Fi Calls if the service is available in your area

Please note that this is on AT&T only and it's not available to all areas of the US of A where AT&T has coverage.  


For example, some AT&T Customers in NYC (New York City) might be able to make Wi-Fi Calls according to an iOS 9 Beta tester back in August 2015 as reported in the article “AT&T Activates Wi-Fi Calling in iOS 9 Beta in New York”, published Aug 17th, 2015 by John Martellaro, Mac Observer.

Canadian are also going to be lucky, as iOS 9 beta testers on Rogers Wireless and Fido also report being able to place Wi-Fi Calls as reported in the article “Wi-Fi calling coming to certain Apple iPhone models running iOS 9 on Rogers and Fido”, published 19 Aug 2015, 21:55, by Alan F., Phone Arena.

Google Fi is coming Wednesday September 30th 2015 - Telecom Providers Wi-Fi Calling Ambush may go either way


AT&T is merely taking precautions against the coming onslaught from Google Fi that's coming with the launch of the Google Nexus and Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow on Wednesday September 30th 2015 as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Google Event on September 29th 2015 to launch Nexus running Marshmallow” service as Telecom Provider EE, O2, Three and now Vodafone in the UK have done.

What's of interest to many Americans though is this; will Wi-Fi Calling be coming to other Telecom Providers?

Also, with the coming of Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow on the Google Nexus, will other OEM follow Google and also make their smartphone compatible with Google Fi or will they side with the Telecom Provider and their Wi-Fi Calling Service.

A battle royale is shaping up as Google is basically going to be ambushed by Telecom Providers in the coming few months by Wi-Fi Calling on the Apple iPhone......unless they also have Google Fi baked into Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow.



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