[scrannel]

Two friends came by with their AT&T iPhones and we checked out their WFC. It appears to be completely passive. In other words, you activate it and it will then only kick in if your cell reception is lousy or nothing. I believe with iPhone the only way to kill cell radio is by going into airplane mode. Then, WFC kicks in when you turn on wifi. But it seems to lack any other kind of user interface. Just FWIW...

[raino]

I think AT&T's take on it is designed to do just that--provided supplementary coverage on the primary (domestic) network.

I remember reading that it's supposed to work only in the US and PR. It literally stops working outside the fence.

[scrannel]

Half the benefit of WFC is overseas use, at least for me.

[raino]

Half the benefit of WFC is overseas use, at least for me.

Same here. But for TMO, it is/was a selling feature, plus somewhat necessary for supplementary domestic coverage. AT&T has chosen to not forego the international roaming revenue they pull in, plus have enough confidence in their nationwide networks (two reasons why I would think TMO bought into/invested in WFC.)

The roaming revenue must not be that significant for TMO, given all they're doing on the international coverage front. Cheaper than building an AT&T/Verizon comparable network, anyways.

[scrannel]

So, why are they even bothering to offer it?

[AnimalPak200]

So, why are they even bothering to offer it?

Indoor coverage I'm guessing?

Posted via CB10

[raino]

So, why are they even bothering to offer it?

You mean aside from "we're expanding our network so that our customers have a signal in more places" PR spin? I believe it's because of the IMS tie-in with voLTE. It may help shed traffic off of the cellular network (although how burdensome voice traffic is nowadays is debatable, but I guess every offload helps,) and more importantly test the IMS implementation with a smaller test group, in a less stressful situation (WFC vs. voLTE.)

Fun factoid: "AT&T models" of the iPhone 6 and 6s come with WCS LTE (band 30,) which is a relatively obscure and inconsequential band at the moment...except it's the line in the sand which determines if your iPhone gets IMS (WFC and voLTE) on AT&T or not. So unless you have the same model of the 6/s, you're getting shafted by AT&T on IMS Mind you, there are two GSM variants of the 6/s for the US--the other one (missing band 30) being common for Sprint, Verizon and TMO. TMO, I believe allows IMS on any iPhone model (provided IMS is supported on that phone.)

FWIW, both NA variants of the Priv have band 30.

[modifier]

For AT&T today it looks like they'll continue to spin it as a marketing tool. Later, after they suffer from their own predictions of tower saturation in dense markets, it will be a tested platform that they can quietly rely on for offload. Beta testing it with iPhone users is perfect since they'll call it a "feature" rather than a "crutch", despite the latter being demonstrably untrue on any carrier.

If AT&T were to give full control over WFC today then it would be an admission of cell signal not working everywhere they claim, regardless of the true utility. It likely won't get spun as a positive until it's forced on them by virtue of saturation.

[CB10 / Q10]

[Mr4aces]

RE: WIFI Calling

I "assume" that since TMO uses the same STV100-1 as ATT, it is a carrier elective to have or not have WIFI calling on the Priv.

If that is the case I'm just puzzled why it is not available on the Priv when it is available on iPhones.

Just called ATT and confirmed no WIFI calling.

[raino]

I "assume" that since TMO uses the same STV100-1 as ATT, it is a carrier elective to have or not have WIFI calling on the Priv.

Correct. AT&T's implementation also seems to be IMS based, so it can't be that different from TMO's IMS.

If that is the case I'm just puzzled why it is not available on the Priv when it is available on iPhones.

Beats me. My information may be incorrect or outdated, but isn't the iPhone the only phone on AT&T that can do WFC? If so, it's ironic--from what I read, iPhones are some of the ****tiest WFC and voLTE handlers on TMO.

Enabling via software update is not unheard of. That's how TMO brought WFC to all BB10 phones.

[Mr4aces]

Correct. AT&T's implementation also seems to be IMS based, so it can't be that different from TMO's IMS.



Beats me. My information may be incorrect or outdated, but isn't the iPhone the only phone on AT&T that can do WFC? If so, it's ironic--from what I read, iPhones are some of the ****tiest WFC and voLTE handlers on TMO.

Enabling via software update is not unheard of. That's how TMO brought WFC to all BB10 phones.

When I talked to ATT they said yes only iPhone 6

Maybe they will open it up after the iPhone has been out a while

[modifier]

It's an iPhone feature to sell iPhones. There aren't multiple versions of IMS here. It's all the same nuts and bolts. AT&T can use it on any LTE phone they want, just like any carrier. It's a choice to allow it only on Apple products.

[CB10 / Q10]