Verizon seeks WiFi calling waiver

Once it’s available on Verizon, you’ll be able to follow our instructions for switching on the service.

Earlier this month, AT&T applied to the FCC for permission to offer native WiFi calling and now just a few weeks later, Verizon is following suit. Since the waiver sought by Verizon would have the same terms as the one granted to AT&T, the carrier argued the approval process should be duly expedited and come without the need for public comment.

Under FCC rules, voice services are required to support text telephony (TTY), which enables speech-and-hearing impaired customers to type and send messages instantly over the phone network. The FCC has not seen fit to punish the two operators, while it has given AT&T until December 31st 2017 to offer Wi-Fi calling while a replacement for TTY (called RTT) is being tested. According to The Verge, Verizon’s waiver request stated, “it is Verizon’s position that neither the existing rules nor the AT&T Waiver Order require such a waiver”, and that it applied for the waiver “out of an abundance of caution”.

Given Verizon’s well-developed RTT plan, they are certain to be granted a waiver.

Even though a few of its rivals have long offered their customers the ability to make calls over Wi-Fi, Verizon has not yet enabled the feature on its network, it’s easier said than done because first the FCC needs to sign off on it before the carrier can actually flip the switch on Wi-Fi calling.

Verizon is taking a different approach from AT&T.

Verizon pledged to meet the same conditions established in AT&T’s waiver, namely to inform affected customers that VoIP and WiFi calling do not support TTY calls to emergency services, and to provide them with alternative means of reaching them. AT&T, simultaneously unwilling to risk upsetting the federal government and let its competitors get away with such an advantage, petitioned the FCC for waiver to the regulation.

“As the commission and others have recognized, however, wireless IP networks do not reliably transmit TTY signals”.