Today, Sprint’s latest service goes live. That is WiFi calling. Which for some of us seems like something that’s kind of old. That is because T-Mobile has been offering it since 2007. Now Sprint becomes only the second carrier – in the US at least – to use WiFi calling. Sprint says that their WiFi calling is completely free and it allows Sprint customers to make calls and send texts over a WiFi connection instead of needing to be connected to Sprint’s network. Now much like T-Mobile, Sprint doesn’t have the best network either. This feature is to help customers in areas where they may not have a good signal, or any signal at all. But as long as they have WiFi, they can still make a call.
It’s a really good service, and I’ve used it on T-Mobile for a couple of years now. But if Sprint’s WiFi calling is anything like T-Mobile’s, it’s not going to work on devices such as the Nexus 5. Because Sprint will need to install their own software on there, or as most of us call it, ‘Bloat’, which is why the T-Mobile Moto X and Nexus 5. However, the good thing for Sprint is that most unlocked devices won’t work on Sprint, so technically only one smartphone shouldn’t have Sprint’s WiFi calling and that’s the Nexus 5.
At launch, Sprint’s WiFi calling is only available on the Samsung Galaxy Mega and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. Which is kind of sad, as neither one is a particularly big seller for Sprint. But Sprint does state that WiFi calling will be rolling out to more devices throughout 2014. I’d expect every device they release from here on out will support their WiFi calling, and they’ll probably update some of their current devices to support WiFi calling when they get their KitKat update.
So if you’re a Sprint user and don’t have great signal at home or even at work. You can be rest assured that Sprint is somewhat helping you out. However, if you don’t have the Galaxy Mega or Galaxy S4 Mini, you’re kind of out of luck for now.