Overland Park, Kan. — Sprint joined T-Mobile in offering Wi-Fi calling from iPhones.
With the feature, iPhone subscribers can initiate and receive calls over Wi-Fi networks in buildings with weak cellular coverage or in other areas with Wi-Fi networks, including basements in homes. Wi-Fi usage doesn’t count against subscribers’ voice and data limits.
With the launch of iOS 8 last fall, Apple enabled Wi-Fi calling on T-Mobile iPhones. T-Mobile also offers Wi-Fi calling on the vast majority of its smartphones.
At Sprint, Wi-Fi calling is now available to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s beginning today. With the addition of these devices, Sprint offers more than 25 smartphones with Wi-Fi calling.
Over the next week or so, iPhone customers will receive a software update enabling the feature on the iPhones.
Customers traveling internationally with Wi-Fi access can also use Wi-Fi calling to make and receive free calls from more than 200 countries back to the U.S., U.S. Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico.
“Wi-F calling is like a major expansion of our network, allowing Sprint customers to get coverage anywhere they have Wi-Fi connectivity,” said David Owens, Sprint’s product development senior VP.