Competition in the telecom industry is heating up. While the competition is well reflected with the introduction of new plans, and constant offers to woo customers, Airtel and Reliance Jio seem to be battling it out over a new feature, VoWiFi. Airtel first rolled out the Voice over WiFi service for its consumers and Jio soon followed suit. The option enables a user to place calls over WiFi instead of the cellular network but Airtel’s VoWiFi calling was restricted to Airtel Xstream Fiber broadband connection. Now, the telco has updated its website to reflect that the service works on every broadband WiFi.
Airtel has also updated its website and included some new cities where VoWiFi calling will now be available. Airtel users residing in Delhi NCR, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, UP(West), Maharashtra, Mumbai, Kolkata, UP (East), Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh can now avail calling over WiFi. This announcement by Airtel came soon after Jio officially announced that it has enabled VoWiFi calling for its consumers. Unlike Airtel, Jio’s VoWiFi calling service debuted without any broadband WiFi restrictions. In addition, Jio users can also place video calls, along with voice calls, when connected to a WiFi network.
It should be noted that their balance will be deducted since VoWiFi call is also counted as a regular call. The new option will most likely be useful for consumers who can’t get decent cell signals but can access a good WiFi connection. For availing VoWiFi calling, one simply needs a compatible handset and an active plan on their SIM connection. Some handsets also receive VoWiFi calling functionality after a software update and we suggest you update your handset and then search for the feature in settings.
As mentioned above, Jio recently enabled VoWiFi service for its users. The feature is currently available for 155 handsets and is said to soon be made available for more devices. The company will also enable the WiFi calling service internationally in the coming weeks.