Verizon has officially rolled out Wi-Fi calling to their subscribers who are using the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, and people are starting to get everybody else’s opinion on whether it’s as good as it’s being hyped up to be.
Not that Wi-Fi Calling is actually a new technology. This has actually been around for some time now, and a lot of people have been talking to friends, family, and other contacts from all over the world using this feature.
What is Wi-Fi Calling?
Wi-Fi calling is basically a huge cost saver. Traditionally, people used their regular phone or mobile service to call people. The costs would depend on whether they’re calling a local number, a nationwide number, or an international number.
When data services came in, people with mobile devices started paying for their data in case they use it to make outside calls.
But with the dawn of the growing Wi-Fi spots all over, you can finally cut back on costs. In fact, there are some services that offer to use purely Wi-Fi as a primary means of sending messages and making calls, only switching to data once the Wi-Fi signal is out of range. Of course, there are a number of different ways for you to actually do Wi-Fi calling, but if you’re a Verizon user who has the right mobile device, it wouldn’t hurt to try it out, right?
Advanced Calling through Verizon
Verizon officially dubs it “Advanced Calling”. Basically, you can make calls to anybody within the US for free, but international calls would still be billed using the standard long distance rates.
How do you activate it?
1. Go to Settings.
2. Go to Advanced Calling and activate it.
3. On the same menu, look for HD Voice and Wi-Fi Calling and activate them as well.
From here, you can start using the Wi-Fi Calling app using your Verizon subscription. But what about non-Verizon users?
Wi-Fi Calling through Android Apps
If you have an Android phone and a Google Voice account, then this would be the perfect combination to start experiencing Wi-Fi calling.
To turn on Wi-Fi calling on your Android device, just follow these steps:
1. Go to Settings.
2. Go to Phone.
3. Activate Wi-Fi Calling.
Once Wi-Fi Calling has been activated, you can easily make calls using your Wi-Fi connection through these third party apps:
- Talkatone
- GrooVeIP Lite
- Phone for Google Voice and GTalk
You can also search for other similar apps through the Playstore. Seeing how Wi-Fi calling is fast becoming a trend once again, it wouldn’t be surprising to find a few new apps that allow you to use this feature to pop out.
Simply install any of these apps and link them to your Google Voice account through the app’s Settings. From here, you can start calling friends and family everywhere at lower costs. Truly, the wonders of mobile devices would never cease for as long as relevant features like Wi-Fi calling are being developed. There’s no doubt about it that stores that sell electronics will continue seeing a lot of sales coming in from mobile devices for a long, long time.
