If – like me – you live in area where your BT Mobile signal can be knocked out by a cat farting two streets away, then you might want to set up BT Mobile Wi-Fi calling. This routes all incoming and outgoing calls through your Wi-Fi router, eliminating the problem of calls dropping because of poor signal (at least, in theory).
Setting it up isn’t as simple as it could be, however. On Android, the setting to switch it on is tucked away in the phone’s menus – and the list of supported handsets isn’t exactly exhaustive…
Which handsets support BT Mobile Wi-Fi calling?
The bad news is Wi-Fi calling is only supported on certain handsets. Even if you’ve got a handset with the Wi-Fi calling feature, it may not work unless it’s on the list.
Here, at the time of writing, is the list of supported handsets.
Apple iPhones
Phone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X.
Android phones
Samsung S9 and the Samsung S9+ bought from BT Mobile.
Yes, that list of Android handsets is pretty pathetic, but don’t let that put you off: this list of supported handsets on BT’s website mentions that Wi-Fi calling does work unofficially on a whole host of other Android handsets.
There’s no guarantee this will work – I tried it on my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge a couple of months ago without success, even though that’s on BT’s list – but it’s still worth running through the steps below.
How to set up BT Mobile Wi-Fi calling on Android
The instructions below will show you how to set up Wi-Fi calling on a Samsung Galaxy S9, although most Android handsets should have similar menus.
First, open the phone app on your phone – the one you use to make calls.
Then click the three-dots menu button in the top right of the screen and choose Settings.
Scroll down until you see the Wi-Fi calling option and switch it on.
You’ll know Wi-Fi calling is enabled because you’ll see a little phone with a Wi-Fi signal in the notifications area at the top of the screen. And when you go to make calls, the green dial button will also show the Wi-Fi signal, as shown above.
How to set up BT Wi-Fi calling on an iPhone
If you have one of the supported iPhones, here’s how to switch on Wi-Fi calling.
Open the Settings app, then click on Phone. Toggle Wi-Fi Calling to on and you’re done!
Are there any downsides to BT Wi-Fi calling?
There are a couple of potential gotchas. Firstly, if you wander out of the range of your Wi-Fi network, your call will drop unless your phone supports 4G calling. You can find out more about 4G calling and supported handsets here.
If you use an app to record your phone calls on an Android handset, like I do, then the app may not record calls made over Wi-Fi.
Also, when I set up Wi-Fi calling on my Samsung Galaxy S9, the callers on the other end couldn’t hear me! It seems that might be an isolated fault and I can’t see lots of complaints from other people with the same problem, so I’m hoping that’s just a weird glitch (and one that BT’s support bods are trying to solve for me).
Update: So, I discovered why my callers couldn’t hear me… the Call Recorder app was hijacking the microphone. Once that app was disabled, Wi-Fi calling worked perfectly. So, forget about recording calls if you want to use Wi-Fi calling.
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