Question on wi-fi phone calls.

There are no internet phone calls. All calls are made through AT&T cellular network.

What you are looking for exists from a couple of other US carriers, notably T-Mobile and Cincinnati Bell, but it is NOT available from at&t, and likely never will be.

As it is presently constructed—despite its 802.11 capabilities—the iPhone could not participate in such services, because it is not a UMA—or, unlicensed mobile access—capable device. Only a very few mobile handsets are. In addition, it requires carrier routing of wireless calls over IP, and at&t appears to have no interest at all in this technology. Support for UMA, now referred to in the industry as GAN—or, generic access network—technology, has been slow and stumbling at best, as many carriers have sought to protect their installed set of services from encroachment by others using GAN as an access method.

Your DSL provider may offer a VOIP option, but is again typically not interested in diverting long distance call revenues to other parties. Unlike cable and wireless providers, however, incumbent telephone companies are required to allow qualified competitive carriers to lease segments of a network to provide competitive services.

IF—and that is a big IF—you could find a VoIP provider with an iPhone client that offered services on your DLS provider's network with the consent of that provider, it is possible that you could make VoIP calls from your home via an 802.11 link only when you were within range of your home base station. This too seems unlikely, however, given the business and politics of carrier provisioning. And, VoIP is not UMA/GAN technology, where calls are handed off seamlessly to and from carrier and IP networks.

T-Mobile's HotSpot™ @Home service and the ability to tether on demand is so important to me, that I will never switch carriers, nor use a device like the iPhone which cannot provide such services.

I wanted an iPhone so badly (and love the device so much) that I stupidly(?) switch from T-Mobile where I had HotSpot@Home with a UMA Blackberry Curve. The service was excellent. A few glitches every now and then, but overall awesome. Able to make and receive calls seamlessly over WIFI, most of the time great voice quality, and no minute usage.

I made the jump because I assumed iCall's release was imminent, but I still don't know whether receiving calls via WIFI is going to be possible with that. I was done with my T-Mobile contract, but may end up going back to them within my 30 day window from Apple/ATT.

I'm still disappointed and shocked that Apple would deal with a company that has such bad coverage and customer service as ATT. T-Mobile has been completely awesome customer service-wise in every way.

I'll wait a couple more weeks to see if iCall, seemingly the best hope for WIFI calling on the iPhone is released. If not, I'm gone.

Wasabi1264 wrote:.

I'm still disappointed and shocked that Apple would deal with a company that has such bad coverage and customer service as ATT. T-Mobile has been completely awesome customer service-wise in every way.

Coverage really depends where you are. Where I am, T-Mobile has poor coverage and where I used to live T-Mobile had virtually no coverage whereas ATT has very strong coverage.

Don't get me wrong...T-Mobile cell coverage ***** at my house. This is why their Hotspot@Home solution is so good. But their customer service has been amazing every time I have called them...whether a billing issue, service issue, or whatever. Very friendly and helpful. If ATT is going to have so many dropped calls or poor service (especially when their detailed coverage map states otherwise), they should be looking to provide innovative solutions like T-Mobile has done.

It's coming --

http://www.icall.com/iphone

Message was edited by: shakydrums

There will be voip capability through wifi. Be patient.

you can also check out a dedicated wi-fi phone. I travel extensively for a living and rely on this for most of my international calling via wifi....it's either $.02/minute or free, depending on if you have a plan or go a-la-carte. Worth looking into.

http://www.belkin.com/skype/howitworks/

you can usually get it a lot cheaper than the msrp.

It's certainly NOT an iPhone, and ONLY works via wifi, but it's a great tool.

Good luck!

Well, unfortunately, I can't wait. I tried using TruPhone, and the person I was calling could barely hear me through the breakups and static. I have the No Service indicator most of the time at home, and even when I get two bars, the call either fails completely, or if I can complete a call, nobody can hear me. My cell is my business phone, so this is a dealbreaker for me. I wish I could wait longer, but it's costing me lots of money. I know iCall is coming "soon" but they aren't updating their site with any new info, so I don't know what "soon" is. I bought the iPhone assuming its release was imminent. I already set the wheels in motion to port my number back to T-Mobile. The bummer is that I'll be locked into a contract, but a year will allow them to come out with yet a newer version, and maybe by then VOIP will be well-established.