Wi-Fi Calling on Campus
Wi-Fi Calling is a service provided by all major cellular phone carriers that allows subscribers to place calls or send texts over an available wi-fi network that their smartphone is connected to in the absence of a strong cellular signal. The University would like as many on-campus cellular subscribers as possible to use this feature.
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Why Wi-Fi Calling?
Cellular phone service is considered to be essential to the daily operation of the UT campus, as well as for public safety and emergency services. In spaces where cellular service can be less reliable - such as the insides of buildings - enabling wi-fi calling can greatly improve the availability of mobile phone service. Students, faculty, and staff can use it on the "utexas" wi-fi network, and visitors are able to use it on the "utguest" network.
How to Activate Wi-Fi Calling
Here is a high-level description of the steps for activating Wi-Fi calling on Android and iOS devices:
Android
- Go to Settings to look for the Wi-Fi Calling toggle.
- Turn the service on and follow the prompts.
iOS
- Go to Settings > Phone > WiFi Calling.
- Turn the service on and follow the prompts.
Additional settings and requirements can be carrier-specific; each of the major carriers has a page with more information on Wi-Fi calling:
E9-11 on Wi-Fi Calling
E9-11 (which stands for "Enhanced 9-11") is the modern emergency calling system used in the United States. When it is called from a mobile phone number over the cellular network, location data is transmitted to the answering operator. In the case of older mobile phones, this information is gathered by a location database via radiolocation; newer mobile phones transmit GPS data to the same database.
As the above location methods are not available when a call is made over Wi-Fi, the FCC requires that mobile phone carriers gather a 9-11 address from their subscribers before they can use Wi-Fi calling. The carrier links in the previous section all provide their customers instructions on how to set this address. As it is a static street address - instead of dynamic location information - E9-11 service is considered to be limited over Wi-Fi calling.
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