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AT&T to support WiFi calling from iPhone 6 starting next year, should help with network congestion

Published Sep 12th, 2014 1:10PM EDT
iPhone 6 WiFi Calling

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T-Mobile made a splash earlier this week when CEO John Legere revealed that the “Un-carrier” would be the first U.S. carrier to support WiFi Calling and texting on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. WiFi Calling support for iOS 8 was one of the biggest surprises during Apple’s media event on Tuesday, but other than the T-Mobile partnership, we didn’t hear much more about the potentially exciting new feature.

Now that the excitement of the event has passed, LightReading reports that AT&T is going to bring WiFi Calling to its customers as well beginning in 2015. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference on Friday, AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega announced that WiFi Calling was on its way, but as a complementary feature for LTE users.

“We’re very focused on making sure it’s a great experience for customers, but we see it as a complement, not a replacement,” he said. “We feel good about a great nationwide network with unlimited talk and text.”

de la Vega acknowledged that T-Mobile would be the first out of the gate with WiFi Calling, but says that AT&T doesn’t have the same coverage issues. The carrier would rather focus on ensuring its own WiFi Calling service is up to snuff before launching it.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.