Wi-Fi Calling on supported iCloud-connected devices

[jbourne]

So it seems that EE now supports this feature which they call EE Smart Number, do we know if this is coming to O2?

This is different to normal Wi-Fi Calling in that it allows calls and texts from any iCloud connected device to work without the presence of an iPhone.

It seems O2 are starting to fall behind in offering iOS features, Apple Watch support and now this?

Cheers! 

[MI5]

@Martin-O2 ?

[Martin-O2]

Hey @MI5, @jbourne I'll see what I can find out for you! I'll drop you a mention once I have something. 

[Anonymous]

I did notice that I could receive calls on my iPad, I’m just not sure why I’d want to. It certainly wouldn’t be a dealbreaker for me, that’s for sure 

I think O2 compares quite favourably with their competitors as far as features are concerned, and I say that as a happy EE customer. The following link from Apple explains what features are available to each carrier, and O2 is doing better than most it seems:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204040

There’s a lot of scrolling involved, but here are the relevant details for O2:

O2

• FaceTime over Cellular
• LTE
• Personal Hotspot
• Unlocking
• Visual Voicemail
• VoLTE
• Wi-Fi Calling
• Advanced Mobile Location (AML)

[jbourne]

True is it not a deal breaker but nice to have and EE offer all O2 do and this additional feature as well as supporting the LTE Apple Watch too.

EE

• FaceTime over Cellular
• LTE
• Personal Hotspot
• Unlocking
• Visual Voicemail
• VoLTE
• Wi-Fi Calling
• Wi-Fi Calling on supported iCloud-connected devices
• Advanced Mobile Location (AML)

Wi-Fi Calling works on my iPad and MacBook but requires the iPhone is swicthed on and nearby (need to be in Bluetooth range for handoff to work), this feature could be handy if you happen to leave the iPhone in the car, battery dies, down the garden out of range of the iPhone but on Wi-Fi with an Apple Watch / iPad or even if you lose your phone you can receive and make calls on another device.

It is more I like my iPhone on O2 to be feature complete and not missing something that is available even if I would get little use from it.

[Anonymous]

According to that link from Apple, most UK networks don’t even have Visual Voicemail, so it’s encouraging to see the level of supported features that O2 currently benefits from, and I daresay this latest feature will also be introduced at some stage. 

EE may be leading the way at the moment, but their tariffs are generally more expensive. O2 aren’t too far behind in terms of technology it seems, and if they could just up their game in terms of data speeds, then I think that would see them making more of a challenge.  

[Martin-O2 · Accepted solution]

Hey @jbourne I have received a reply on this one. Please see below. 

We’re always looking into and working on adding more iOS and Android network features that will benefit our customers, but we don’t currently support WifiCalling for iCloud connected devices. If or when there’s any updates to this, we’ll keep you posted.