How’s that 5G rollout going in your area? Even in 2025, there’s no guarantee you’re going to be able to get reliable cell service everywhere you go, especially if you happen to live somewhere that’s especially crowded or remote â or if you work in your company’s basement.
That’s where Wi-Fi calling comes in, which routes your phone’s calls and texts over Wi-Fi rather than the connection to your local cell tower. Obviously, it won’t work when you’re in the middle of nowhere, but there are going to be times when you find reliable Wi-Fi is more readily available than cellular coverage.
How Wi-Fi calling works
Phones are configured to use Wi-Fi first to get online, if it’s available. It’s usually faster and offers more capacity than a cellular network (or, at least, that was the case before LTE and 5G became widely available). It also means you’re not using up your data plan on web browsing and streaming.
However, calls and texts continue to be treated separately and are going to be routed through a cell network even if you’re hooked up to a fast Wi-Fi network by default. This is partly because telephone calls have been around a lot longer than the internet and actually use a d …
Read the full story at The Verge.