What are Wi-Fi calling?

Surely many of you have heard of the famous Wi-Fi Calling or "calls via Wi-Fi", especially after WhatsApp included the VoIP service in its application recently.

Today I come to talk to you about what the future of the operators will be, the Wi-Fi calls that are already beginning to be offered in the United States and differences from these to calls from WhatsApp, Skype or similar services.

What are Wi-Fi calling?

All the calls via Wi-Fi They are precisely what their name indicates, calls (either audio or audio and video) that instead of using telephone networks to establish a connection, they use the Wi-Fi network to which you are connected. This has certain advantages, and that is that we not only enjoy bandwidths greater than those of traditional networks, which allows us a higher quality voice transfer, but also enables us to make calls in places where perhaps traditional coverage it does not arrive or it is of low intensity, such as the interior of a building, being between walls it is possible that the coverage of your smartphone is poor, however if we are connected to a Wi-Fi network the coverage ceases to matter since this network will be used to make the call.

How are Wi-Fi calls different from WhatsApp or Skype calls?

The most noticeable difference lies in the use and requirements of both options, to make a call to a person through WhatsApp you must meet the following requirements:

1. Have the WhatsApp application installed on both the calling device and the one receiving the call.

2. Be registered in that service, both you and the user you call.

3. Have an Internet connection, both you and the user who receives the call (some operators such as Telstra They restrict certain rates and do not allow making use of this type of calls through their data network).

However, these 3 requirements are eliminated when we refer to the call via Wi-Fi offered by an operator; We do not need any application since this function is included in the phone, we do not need to be registered since our phone number is used as username and call identification, and finally, it is not necessary that both users have a connection to the internet, or to make it better understood, you can call someone over Wi-Fi and have this person answer you using the telephone network, without having an internet connection.

Everything looks luxurious, what is the downside?

It turns out that as we already know, operators do not like to give away absolutely nothing, we recently learned how they complained about WhatsApp calls and asked that they be regulated in the same way as traditional ones. Today, native Wi-Fi calls, those offered by operators, make use of your minute plan, that is, they cost the same as a normal call (generally), something that in applications like WhatsApp or Skype is totally free ( except if we use our data as the costs of our data rate will apply).

This implies that despite using a free network (cost 0 for the operator) to make the call and download their telephony networks from the weight of our call, they take their share of the pie anyway, claiming that the receiver makes use of the traditional network (and even if it doesn't) and that the telephone number is being used as a means to carry it out, something in my opinion shameful, and that takes a lot of the fun out of these services.

Thus, calls via Wi-Fi are like a mixture of calls via Skype and traditional calls, they allow better voice quality and greater coverage, although without getting rid of the cost per minute.

Can I make calls via Wi-Fi?

If you have a relatively new phone, it is most likely that it is qualified to do so, unfortunately this function is only offered by certain operators such as T-Mobile o Sprint, and in countries like the United States and some more. Perhaps in the coming years (I am not saying months because they have not spoken about it) Spanish operators or those from other countries will be encouraged to use these methods and allow us to enjoy the advantages they entail.

Conclusion

Calls via Wi-Fi can be a strong point for operators for the future, and more if we combine them with VoLTE calls, which is the same but via LTE connection, offering rates even more promising than Wi-Fi. -Fi, the problem is that we are talking about telephone operators, and we already know very well that the more profit they can get the better, and that everything can wait, it is only necessary to see how in Spain 4G is the novelty and the claim of the operators while in the United States LTE is used (much faster than 4G) and even 5G is already being developed.

The opinion of this editor is that calls via Wi-Fi should entail a zero or reduced cost in case of calling users of another operator, in addition to that they should hurry to implement these functions or their piece of the cake will be taken by Facetime, WhatsApp, Skype and the rest.

(By the way, is it me or is the girl in the T-Mobile video a little uptight?)