After public spat with T-Mobile, AT&T gets FCC waiver to offer Wi-Fi calling

Though AT&T had Wi-Fi calling enabled through much of the iOS 9 beta program earlier this year, those who upgraded to the final version found that the feature was missing. The reason? It doesn't support teletype services (TTY) for the deaf and hard of hearing very well, which the Federal Communications Commission generally requires of wireless networks.

In its place, AT&T wants to deploy real-time text (RTT), which it says is faster, richer, and generally better than TTY — a decades-old technology. That roadblock has been cleared now with a waiver granted by the FCC that lets AT&T get around the RTT rule until the end of 2017. Chief AT&T lobbyist Jim Cicconi said: “We're grateful the FCC has granted AT&T's waiver request so we can begin providing Wi-Fi calling. At the same time we are left scratching our heads as to why the FCC still seems intent on excusing the behavior of T-Mobile and Sprint, who have been offering these services without a waiver for quite some time. Instead of initiating enforcement action against them, or at least opening an investigation, the agency has effectively invited them to now apply for similar waivers and implied that their prior flaunting of FCC rules will be ignored. This is exactly what we meant when our letter spoke of concerns about asymmetric regulation.”