AT&T Fires Up Wi-Fi Calling Support

AT&T announced on Wednesday that the FCC had granted a waiver allowing the cell service provider to enable Wi-Fi calling, and on Thursday the company followed up by actually turning on the feature. Wi-Fi calling lets iPhone owners use broadband connections via wireless networks for phone calls when their cell signal is too weak.

AT&T enables Wi-Fi calling for iPhones and other smartphonesAT&T enables Wi-Fi calling for iPhones and other smartphones

The company said it would offer Wi-Fi calling support when the feature was first unveiled as part of iOS 8, but it didn't start showing up on iPhones until the beta for iOS 9 was released. Some beta testers were able to use Wi-Fi calling, but everyone else had to wait until it was officially turned on.

AT&T needed the FCC waiver before officially supporting Wi-Fi calling because of regulations related to the TTY systems hearing impaired people use for phone conversations. With the waiver in place, AT&T was free to activate the feature, which is exactly what the company did today.

Enabling Wi-Fi calling on your iPhone takes a couple steps. Be sure to check out The Mac Observer's tip on getting Wi-Fi calling up and running.