Bharti Airtel is planning to launch VoWi-Fi or Voice over Wi-Fi service in India next month. With the VoWi-Fi service launch in December, Airtel will be the first operator in India to come up with the new voice calling technology beating Reliance Jio which was the first operator in the country to launch VoLTE service. Airtel is aiming to step up the indoor network coverage with the help of VoWi-Fi service. As we reported earlier, Airtel has been testing VoWi-Fi service in various cities with its employees and select customers as part of the beta programme. Next month, it will launch the VoWi-Fi service to the public, according to a report by ET Telecom. However, we are not sure whether Airtel will launch the service on a pan-India basis on in select circles for now.
Airtel Finishes Beta Testing of VoWi-Fi Service
In several countries, telecom operators already launched VoWi-Fi service and India is late to get the technology, as always. The report says Airtel has finished the beta testing of VoWi-Fi with its employees and select customers. "The results and calling experience feedback has been fairly good as per our sources," says the report.
In general, VoWi-Fi service will be beneficial for the users in indoor conditions as it allows users to attend voice calls using the Wi-Fi network. And yes, Airtel VoWi-Fi software support is required on the smartphone to make use of the upcoming technology. Similar to Airtel VoLTE service, users will not be burdened with additional charges for Airtel VoWi-Fi and the service will be entirely free to use.
If your smartphone supports Airtel VoWi-Fi, it will automatically display the VoWi-Fi icon in the status bar indicating that your voice calls are routed through your Wi-Fi network. "The service also does not need a separate app or any log-in or new number and customers will be able to use it on any Wi-Fi connection inside their homes," a person aware of the matter added.
There will be no additional packs required to use Airtel VoWi-Fi service.
Bharti Airtel lost to Reliance Jio in the VoLTE service department as the telco recently became pan-India VoLTE operator. In the case of Reliance Jio, it launched VoLTE services across all the 22 telecom circles back in 2016 itself. That said, we don't have any information regarding Jio VoWi-Fi service launch at the moment. BSNL is also said to be testing VoWi-Fi service in some circles at the moment, but the commercial launch will only happen once the telco rolls out 4G services in the country.
OnePlus, Xiaomi, Apple and Samsung Phones Already Supports Airtel VoWi-Fi Service
With the latest MIUI 11 update, Xiaomi's Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro smartphones received the support for Airtel VoWi-Fi (some of our readers spotted the service availability in Bengaluru city recently). With iOS 12, Apple also added VoWi-Fi support to several smartphones and the OnePlus 7T, OnePlus 7 series also supports VoWi-Fi in India now. According to our sources, Samsung smartphones also received Airtel VoWi-Fi software support in the country.
So when Airtel commercially launches VoWi-Fi, these handset users will be able to use the service from the very first day. VoLTE made a huge difference in terms of call quality and call connect time and VoWi-Fi is expected to change the indoor calling experience altogether.
