Verizon announced on Friday that it will begin rolling out support for Wi-Fi Calling starting today. The service will roll out first for customers using Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge handsets. iPhone users will have to wait until early 2016 to get the feature.
Wi-Fi Calling will initially be available on the Samsung Galaxy S 6 and Samsung Galaxy S 6 Edge and will be rolled out as a software update in phases. Additional Android and iOS devices will receive Wi-Fi Calling capabilities via future software updates expected early next year.
Wi-Fi Calling allows compatible devices to automatically place phone calls using a local Wi-Fi connection, whenever cellular service is poor or not available. The feature will seamlessly transfer between cellular and Wi-Fi as needed.
T-Mobile was the first to offer the service, alongside the debut of iOS 8 Beta 3 last year. Sprint began offering the service earlier this year. AT&T launched its own support in October, after receiving a waiver from the FCC to deploy real-time text (RTT) services in the place of TTY to serve deaf callers. Verizon’s own waiver was approved several weeks ago. Sprint and T-Mobile had not applied for a waiver, stating they believe no waiver is required to offer the service.
