The long awaited rollout of the Nougat update for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge has kickstarted a new service for Telstra, with the ability to make and receive calls over Wi-Fi.
VoWiFi on Telstra first showed up back in November, but has officially now launched with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, as well as Samsung S6 and S6 Edge which are just the first phones to support the service.
Telstra Director for Device Management, Andrew Volard says that it will extend to more handsets in the future
Within the year we’re going to see native Wi-Fi calling extend to even more Australians, as it becomes a standard feature for new smartphone devices and as the technology is rolled-out with smartphone operating software updates.
Wi-Fi calling allows customers to transfer calls without interruption from the Telstra 4G network to Wi-Fi seamlessly. The calls can even use the Telstra Air Wi-Fi hotspots around Australia if required, a handy feature for anyone in poor reception areas. Telstra has said on their FAQ that ‘Data consumed over your Telstra Home Broadband Wi-Fi connection is unmetered’ – though if you use another provider this will affect your monthly download limit.
Calls are made in HD quality and are secured using SHA2 encryption so there’s good news there, however sending SMS/MMS is unfortunately not supported whilst Wi-Fi Calling.
The Nougat update is heading out to Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge owners over the next week, while Galaxy S6 and S6 edge owners are able to use it with the latest update on Marshmallow according to the Telstra update site.
If you’ve been in a relatively poor reception area you can now use your WiFi to help you out of a jam, and best of all that data isn’t metered…at least on a Telstra broadband connection.
I had been waiting so long for this feature. But I am not at all happy with it. Calls most of the time are poor quality, fail to connect at all or drop out. I have an S7 and new telstra NBN and wifi modem……. this is happening even if I am in the same room as the wifi with full signal. Not impressed at all!!!
It’s a bunch of crap.. no setting to turn on anywhere…story is bullshit
is this similar to Optus VoLTE. I have been using it for just over 1 1/2 months. the quality of calls are good and as mentioned doesn’t support SMS, MMS. as yet. I to using S6 edge +
No. VoLTE is different to VoWIFi. VoLTE means you make calls over 4G and the phone remains in 4G mode for data during the call. Without it, when you make a call, your phone will drop to 3G mode.
VoWiFi allows you to make and receive voice calls over a wifi connection. Handy if you’re in an area with low cell reception.
They do use the same underlying technology, though.
thanks David,, Then it must be similar to what Optus had called Home Zone. which I connected to my Wi-Fi and when it worked it was very good. I’d say with Telstra one its built into the phone and use Wi-Fi and hotspot Wi-Fi. I have very good Wi-Fi were I live, although my mobile reception is pretty bad and that also includes all the major suppliers
Has anyone worked out if this is for Telstra Branded Galaxy S7/S7E (TEL) on the Telstra network or will it be enabled for unbranded (XSA) S7/S7E devices that use a Telstra SIM/Network as well?
It wasn’t clear on their site.
I’ve spent the last 15mins on a chat support with Telstra and they said quote “Since this is an international phone we cannot guarantee that it is eligible for Voice over WiFi.”
VoWiFi will only work on the Telstra firmware. If you flash a non-Telstra S7/S7E with official Telstra ROM, it will work.
Any phone purchased in Australia regardless of which carrier it was purchased from SHOULD work on VoWi-Fi with a Telstra SIM, however theres no guarantee that other carriers dont have software in place to stop that from happening. In short it should work as long as you’re using a Telstra Wi-Fi connection and as long as your phone was bought through an Australian first party.