Though AT&T had Wi-Fi calling enabled through much of the iOS 9 beta program this summer, those who upgraded to the final versionfound that the feature was missing. AT&T’s been lobbying for that to change by requesting that either they be granted a waiver to launch WiFi calling without TTY or enforce the rules which Sprint and T-Mobile were seemingly free to break.
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AT&T has welcomed the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) decision to grant it a temporary waiver that paves the way for the telco to roll out WiFi calling.
However, it seems as though AT&T is still upset that T-Mobile and Sprint have been offering Wi-Fi calling for a few time now without the need of a waiver.
AT&T’s TTY waiver expires at the end of 2017, or when the FCC formally adopts an alternative technology that works properly over IP, whichever comes first.
That said, Cicconi still took issue with the fact that Sprint and T-Mobile have been offering the service for a few time but haven’t filed for the waiver before doing so. Cicconi believes that this action “implies” that the FCC is letting the two companies off after blatantly disobeying the rules.
Earlier this week, AT&T announced that it had delayed its promised Wi-Fi calling feature as it had not been able to obtain an FCC waiver that would allow it to temporarily forgo offering support options for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. TTY services under FCC rules must be provided for telecommunications networks.
The sole reason that AT&T was sitting in the waiting room on this is that it uses real time text (RTT) instead of teletype services (TTY).
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After publicly calling out the FCC last week, AT&T received a regulatory waiver on Tuesday that will allow it to begin rolling out Wi-Fi Calling services on Apple’s iPhone.
