topic Re: Wi-Fi calling charges in Mobile Services

Wi-Fi calling charges

Rob62 — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 12:24:45 GMT

Why do EE charge a call rate abroad when it uses Wi-Fi when you have also paid for Wi-Fi in your hotel. I pay an extortionate amount of money for my all inclusive minutes and data package and you are using some other companies Wi-Fi for data and not EE. Seems very unfair in this present climate. Is there such a thing as a Wi-Fi only phone handset

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

Schockwave — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 12:30:40 GMT

@Rob62 , making calls over wifi is not free, you still get charged, not sure why you think that making calls is free over wifi, it is not, whether in the UK or abroad, it is just that in the UK you have inclusive minutes, might have been useful to check the terms and conditions before going abroad. It is the same when calling a number whilst in the UK to a foreign country, you have to pay, wifi has nothing to do with it, it is not unfair, and no there is no such thing as a wifi only handset, sorry.

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

bristolian — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 13:02:55 GMT

WiFi-calling is only officially supported in the UK, and is intended as a coverage-expansion service not a means to avoid call charges - hence the premise that VoWiFi-calls are charged the same as VoLTE-originated or any other call.

Calls dialled using your phone's dialler function abroad are classed as roaming calls and charged accordingly. If you want to avoid all roaming charges, then you can enable flight mode and only use WiFi for internet-based functions.

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

Northerner — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 13:50:40 GMT

Hi @Rob62

You're getting charged as your call isn't over WiFi. That simple.

Thanks

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

Beano4 — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 21:55:47 GMT

Hi Rob Ik it’s **bleep**ing **bleep** I’m fuming it’s happened to me as well I was in Turkey last week as soon as I landed I had no signal throughout the whole holiday so I put aeroplane mode on to stop it from searching for a signal (wasting my battery) I had Wi-Fi in the hotel and thought that FaceTime is free as I did my research and on every website I saw it said it was so I trusted it I’ve been charged 150+ quid I’ve been waiting for EE support to respond it’s been 50 mins and it is now closed for today so I’ve got to wait till tomorrow whilst waiting I did my research on why I could have been charged and it’s face time there is somebody on a question and answer thing like this saying it’s free I’ll put the link at the bottom this link led me to believe it was actually free apparently not I don’t get why this comment is still on EE when apparently it’s not free I don’t understand why it’s not free it’s a Wi-Fi call I had no signal It doesn’t make sense I will update after I’ve had a response from EE themselves but 150 quid charge from FaceTiming?? **bleep** I hope other people manage to find this page before they do what I’ve done I’ll also add photos of other websites saying it’s free to show the fact me and Rob aren’t idiots who made it up https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/Android-Devices/Free-wifi-abroad/td-p/1157029

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

Beano4 — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 21:58:17 GMT

To me personally EE doesn’t make it obvious I’ve had to do thorough research in finding answers I also did not get the message that I will be charged abroad for messages and calls and of my response above I never got any signal

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

EssexBoyEE — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 23:06:41 GMT

Using your Phone or Device Abroad is always going to be challenging to avoid those unknown or awkward International Charges.

If you are not prepared to accept your Networks T&Cs on International Roaming on Calls, SMS, WiFi Usage etc, then the only safe bet is before you leave the UK is to set your Voice Calls to Imediate Divert to Voice Mail then physicality remove your UK Sim from the Phone untill you return to the UK, that way you Phone just becomes a simple WiFi Device for you to choose how to manage your WiFi Connections.

This is how I do my Overseas Phone Comms, simply because I don't want any unexpected Costs on my return.

Unless it's a really short Trip I normally buy a Local Sim Card with some sort of a Bundle and or an International Calling Card or method to call back to the UK to pick up my Voice Mails and or return Calls.

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

Sipod — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 11:49:16 GMT

Well that’s a very patronising reply if ever there was.

i work in Holland on a vessel with unlimited data and calls yet still cannot access WiFi calling when connected to the ships WiFi. There’s not a scribble in the t&cs with reference to this smart Ar5*

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

bristolian — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 14:47:34 GMT

@Sipod wrote:

Well that’s a very patronising reply if ever there was....There’s not a scribble in the t&cs with reference to this smart Ar5*

You've picked up a thread from 2023, which contains numerous factually correct answers.

Nowhere to my knowledge, have EE ever advertised "free calls over WiFi", you may have a case if you can find evidence to the contrary.

If your commercial vessel offers free calls, then I'd recommend using that setup rather than EE's roaming services.

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

profbray — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 18:39:53 GMT

T-Mobile and many other US companies offer free wi-fi calling. This was a big part of iPhone marketing. Your reply was not only snide and rude, but ignorant. EE is just cheap.

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

bristolian — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 19:50:04 GMT

@profbray wrote:
T-Mobile and many other US companies offer free wi-fi calling. .... Your reply was not only snide and rude, but ignorant.

T-Mobile US charge for WiFi-calling on the exact same basis EE does in the UK - see https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/wi-fi-calling-from-t-mobile and scroll down to...

This is entirely consistent with the principle that, whilst you are not using the MNO's radio network, you are still using the core network for routing. Hence your reply (to this very old thread) is factually incorrect.

Re: Wi-Fi calling charges

Chris_B — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 09:37:11 GMT

@profbray WiFi calling is just to get a usable signal on your phone if there is no cellular coverage, WiFi calling uses your call allowance as it would if you was making a call via the cellular network. WiFi calling is not a means to get out of paying chargeable calls, using WiFi calling uses your allowance your not charged for the service. A international call be it via cellular or WiFi calling is still an international call and as such are charged accordingly. WiFi calling is also only supported within the UK but if it should work abroad you’ll be charged as if you was using a cellular network as I stated it’s only a means to have a working connection on the device.