AT&T is seeking the latter option while requesting a temporary waiver for TTY support from the FCC. “This past Friday, September 25, was the date on which AT&T meant to introduce Wi-Fi calling services in competition with other competitors in the market, namely T-Mobile and Sprint”, wrote Cicconi in the letter to FCC chairman Wheeler.
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While Sprint and T-Mobile have already flipped the switch on WiFi calling for the iPhone, AT&T continues to wait it out on the sidelines. If the FCC agrees to the waiver, it would seem to give AT&T the clearance it needs to provide Wi-Fi calling to its customers. Now we’ll see if the FCC blows its whistle or gets back to applying sun lotion.
AT&T planned to roll out its Wi-Fi calling feature with the launch of iOS 9, and indeed still works for a few users who were able to activate it in their area during the beta, but the service remains limited to only a handful of testers right now until the carrier can secure the proper paperwork. Protocol aside, they’ve got Wi-Fi calling up and running, and now AT&T just wants to be in the same position – sooner than later. Thus, the letter, which points out that Sprint and T-Mobile don’t have waivers, but have gone on to offer the service anyway. So far, the stall has come from the FCC’s requirements for teletypewriter (TTY) services to operate properly on Wi-Fi networks.
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As you might’ve guessed, the FCC didn’t grant AT&T’s waiver in time. However, T-Mobile did recently say that it “supports the growth of services that include letter-by-letter transcription, but does not believe real time text (RTT) is required for Wi-Fi Calling, which we have offered since 2007”. The groups praised AT&T’s efforts to advance RTT technology, saying that it will maintain the ability to transmit text character by character, “allowing for conversational, real-time communication”, but without suffering “the reliability and transmission issues that impact TTY when operating on an IP network”. Well, as AT&T is putting it, their rivals have implemented WiFi calling without the approval of the FCC. Both TTY and RTT are accessibility features to enable deaf and hard of hearing people to conduct non-voice conversations. TTY also allows direct access to 911 emergency services.
