Calling over Surf WIFI

[sbcs5390]

9 minutes ago, goodoldan said:

The term "WiFi calling" takes in a lot of different and dissimilar technologies, and the differences may determine whether calls would be successful on the "Surf" WiFi plan.

 

The "WiFi calling" offered by some cellular providers in the US (that allows you to access your cellular service using WiFi from your mobile phone when cellular signal is not available) utilizes some specific internet ports (as in TCP-IP ports, not places where the ship parks) and I expect is a service that is easily blocked and not available on the "Surf" plans. Actual VoIP (Voice over IP) calling (services like Vonage, VoIPo, CallCentric, Ooma, 8x8 and others) uses a simpler interface protocol and many different TCP-IP ports, and is used much less frequently than the cellular "WiFi calling. I would expect this would be much more likely to work on the "Surf" plan (although I'll find out on my trip on the Edge this November).  Google Voice is another service with a still different protocol and using different ports... again, this would have to be actively blocked and they may not have bothered doing this. Again, I'll find out on my trip on the Edge this November.

Yes - for instance before upgrading to Stream, I was able to use my Microsoft Teams app to make calls via my work number even when I could not use "Wifi Calling" on my iPhone with Verizon. This is over the course of one voyage on Silhouette in February/March this year.