While not mentioned by name during Apple's WWDC keynote on Monday, the company is rolling out a Wi-Fi voice calling feature in iOS 8 when the operating system launches this fall. T-Mobile has confirmed the iPhone function will work on its network.
In a post to its official blog shortly after the WWDC 2014 keynote ended, T-Mobile confirmed that it will support iOS 8's Wi-Fi calling feature when it rolls out to iPhones later this year.
T-Mobile's chief marketing officer Mike Sievert noted that the telecom was the first U.S. provider to introduce Wi-Fi calling for certain Android and Windows devices in 2007. Sievert said that when iOS 8 debuts, over 90 percent of T-Mobile's smartphones will support the function.
As with other carriers' Wi-Fi calling implementations, T-Mobile's solution allows users to connect to and make calls from Wi-Fi networks for free. Advantages on the subscriber side include a more reliable and stable connection as well as enhanced audio quality and better battery performance. For the carrier, Wi-Fi calling takes load off the cellular backbone and can help ease bandwidth issues in congested areas.
Apple listed Wi-Fi calling in a single slide that lumped together new iOS features too small to mention or spend significant time explaining during the keynote.