A few days ago, Bharti Airtel became the first telecom operator in India to launch VoWi-Fi service and Reliance Jio shortly followed it. Airtel Wi-Fi Calling or Airtel VoWi-Fi service is now spotted working on other broadband operators as well. For the unaware, Bharti Airtel said the Wi-Fi Calling feature could be availed on supported smartphones only through Airtel Broadband or Airtel Xstream Fibre Wi-Fi network. However, we can now confirm that the Airtel Wi-Fi Calling is working on other ISPs as well. Additionally, Airtel users in multiple cities- Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are noticing Airtel Wi-Fi symbol on their handset. Starting today, Airtel Wi-Fi Calling is available in Mumbai circle on all the supported smartphones, and yes, there are few more smartphones added to Airtel Wi-Fi Calling supported list as well.
Airtel Wi-Fi Calling Now Working With Other ISPs as Well
Firstly, let's address the elephant in the room. When Airtel announced the Wi-Fi Calling feature last week, it firmly said that the service works only with Airtel Broadband, meaning Airtel Xstream Fibre plans only. However, a lot of users are now observing that the Airtel Wi-Fi Calling is even working on other ISPs. For example, one of our reader, Anoop Jain from Chennai is now using Airtel Wi-Fi Calling on BSNL FTTH, and the smartphone is Apple iPhone SE. Besides, several other readers of TelecomTalk also shared that they are using Airtel Wi-Fi Calling on OnePlus 7 Pro and Apple iPhone 11 on JioFiber network. Even in Delhi, users of Airtel confirmed to TelecomTalk that the feature is being available on other ISPs like ACT Fibernet, Spectra and JioFiber.
Everyone expected that this could be a major limitation for Airtel Wi-Fi Calling, but the company has solved it quickly. We have also reported Jio VoWi-Fi service earlier this week and it works on any ISP like Airtel Wi-Fi Calling.
Airtel Wi-Fi Calling Spotted in Mumbai and Other Circles
In separate news, Airtel Wi-Fi Calling now seems to go official in Mumbai telecom circle as several users from the city are noticing the Airtel Wi-Fi symbol on top of their status bar. While the Airtel Wi-Fi Calling website is yet to be updated, Airtel customer care confirmed that the service could go official in Mumbai as soon as next week. So for now, Airtel Wi-Fi Calling is officially available only in Delhi NCR circle. Bharti Airtel users in other cities like Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are also getting Airtel Wi-Fi signal on the supported smartphones, but only during late-night hours, so it seems like Airtel is testing the service in these cities.
Airtel Wi-Fi Calling Supported Devices List is Growing Already
Similar to Airtel VoLTE, Airtel Wi-Fi Calling support is also being added to smartphones via OTA updates. When the service went official, it had support on 25 smartphones, but now, the compatible list has been increased to 29 with the newest additions are Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10e and the Galaxy M20. Notably, Samsung is rolling out OneUI 2.0 based on Android 10 to a handful of phones including Galaxy M30, Galaxy M20, Samsung Galaxy S10 series and the Galaxy Note 10 series. The Galaxy Note 10 and the Galaxy Note 10+ also has support for Airtel Wi-Fi Calling, but the list is yet to be updated.
Older OnePlus phones like the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T also supports Airtel Wi-Fi Calling.
