Verizon asked the Federal Communications Commission on Friday for the same rules waiver the agency granted AT&T so that it can offer Wi-Fi calling and other services without a risk of running afoul of 911 rules for people with disabilities. The waiver grants a conditional release for that requirement so that carriers can implement an IP-based solution. Because the technology is so old, it does not work well with Wi-Fi.
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The service is already offered by Sprint and T-Mobile but they were apparently doing so in violation of federal law.
FCC may not be opposed to the idea, rather when it granted AT&T said waiver it invited requests from carriers that seeked a similar waiver, Verizon says that it has submitted this petition “out of an abundance of caution” to ensure that it’s case is properly presented before the regulatory body. Verizon will also inform the Commission and customers of its progress toward the deployment of RTT as described in the AT&T Waiver Order.
According to Android Headlines, Verizon released a statement about the current issue saying, “Comparable waivers may be granted to other similarly situated applicants that meet the necessary criteria for waiver relief and commit to complying with the conditions stated herein”. Using your iPhone’s native dialer will just route the call through Verizon’s cellular network, not your Wi-Fi connection. It’s important to note, however, that AT&T is developing its own TTY replacement that is scheduled to be ready for consumer use by the end of 2016.
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The submission of the waiver request by Verizon comes after AT&T recently announced the launch of its Wi-Fi calling functionality, after a waiver from the FCC, this month. Like AT&T, they plan to transition from TTY to a different standard known as real-time text (RTT).
