AT&T has finally started rolling out its Wi-Fi Calling feature after having received the waiver from the FCC. Unfortunately some users get an error message saying:
We can’t turn on Wi-Fi Calling for your account. Think this message is a mistake? Ask the person who can make account changes to call us. The number is 800.331.0500.
I also got this error message and called AT&T Customer Care. They told me that I needed a new SIM card as I still had the original one that I got with the iPhone 5. I never changed SIM cards when I upgraded to the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 and now the iPhone 6S Plus.
So I went to the AT&T store to get a new SIM card. Unfortunately that didn’t solve the problem and my suspicion was that it had to do with my grandfathered unlimited national and international data plan. That’s also what the AT&T rep in the store said. Wi-Fi Calling works on my wife’s iPhone 6 and she doesn’t have an unlimited international data plan. So we put her SIM card into my iPhone and I could enable Wi-Fi Calling.
Back home, I called AT&T again and they told me that it had nothing to do with my data plan but rather with the fact that I had an international unlocked iPhone and they’re having some issues pushing Wi-Fi Calling through to those devices.
The Customer Care agent confirmed that their network engineers will provision my iPhone for Wi-Fi Calling no later than October 19th, once they have ironed out their issues.
So if you have an unlocked iPhone and Wi-Fi Calling doesn’t work, call AT&T and have them create a ticket to provision your iPhone.
Update #1
After several calls with AT&T Customer Care agents and finally a supervisor I found out that AT&T will not support Wi-Fi Calling on non-AT&T iPhone models. So if you bought an unlocked T-Mobile model you won’t be able to use Wi-Fi Calling.
Unsupported iPhone Models:
- iPhone 6s – A1688
- iPhone 6s Plus – A1687
- iPhone 6s – A1700
- iPhone 6s Plus – A1699
Supported iPhone Models:
- iPhone 6s – A1633
- iPhone 6s Plus – A1634
I have an A1687 and that’s why Wi-Fi Calling won’t work on my device. My only option is to swap out the iPhone for a supported model. What a pain, thanks AT&T.
Update #2
The Verge just posted an update relating the problem to VoLTE.
Update #3
I got my iPhone swapped out today for an AT&T model and after calling into AT&T to update my IMEI number, I could finally enable Wi-Fi Calling. Thanks to the Business Team at the Northpoint Apple Store for making this a very painless process!
Update #4
According to readers, this issue appears to be resolved. AT&T seems to have certified non-AT&T models and now allow them for Wi-Fi Calling on their network.
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Weak cellular signal in my home, so I needed WiFi calling. I called at&t and was told my phone model would support WiFi calling, but since I bought it unlocked from third party they would Not provision it. Unlike other patient users, I changed to Google FI. Super easy to set up WiFi calling.
I have non ATT Galaxy s10e. After last firmware upgrade to android 11, I got working wifi calling on my prepaid.
There’s a skeeter on my peter, whack it off!!! ATT sucks not allowing wifi calling on non-ATT phones
Thank you for sharing this information that is good to know. I have the same problem swapping phone from Sprint to AT&T
Darren says: 2) when you enable wifi calling you have to have wifi disabled! (This one is very counter intuitive but she asked me to disable wifi then try again and it worked!)
I say: A few weeks back my wife tried to turn on Wi-Fi calling on her iPhone 6, Model A1549. No joy – at the end it says to call AT&T customer support. Which we did. Talked for over 90 minutes. Turned the phone to airplane mode, installed an update that took 30 minutes, tried everything the girl said and finally gave up. She sent a “ticket” “upstairs” and said “someone” would call or fix the problem in a day or two. Silly me, I should have addressed this issue a week prior, as we were leaving the next morning.
However, after reading here, I told her to turn of the Wi-Fi (as opposed to turning on Airplane Mode). She did, and in 30 seconds it was installed. But that was two hours of our lives wasted when we had intended to be packing!
After reading this, I turned Airplane Mode On with the WiFi Calling Off. Then I turned WiFi Calling On. The WiFi Calling feature finished its setup / installation, and it worked! This was on a brand new AT&T Samsung Galaxy A01. At first, the WiFi calling feature would not activate, saying to try again later. It looks like I can now turn this feature on/off without having to mess with airplane mode. I had to buy this AT&T Samsung phone because I could not get the WiFi Calling feature to work on an unlocked phone with better hardware specs. I wish AT&T would get an agreement worked out with companies like Motorola etc. and not just Apple. It’s ridiculous that in 2020 people should have so much trouble getting this feature to work on a phone that is used to make calls.
ok i know this is old and done with but how did no one pick up on this statement
“Wi-Fi Calling works on my wife’s iPhone 6 and she doesn’t have an unlimited international data plan. So we put her SIM card into my iPhone and I could enable Wi-Fi Calling.”
that right there just disqualified anything anyone told you otherwise. and you should have told the agent that when they said there was a problem with pushing the update. your phone worked with wifi calling with another sim card with another plan. it’s your plan that’s the problem not the phone.
I just want to confirm that the way Ricky mentioned worked for me! Many thanks to Ricky!
Just want to elaborate what my situation is and how I did. Hopefully this can help others.
So, I have an iPhone 8(A1905) with a corp SIM card(the sim card I got from my company for work), and I can just enable wifi calling without any problem. Then, I tried to enable it for my wife’s iPhone 6S(A1700) with a normal SIM card joined a family plan, and no surprise I got the EDS0008 error. Then, I inserted my corp SIM card into the 6S and enabled the wifi calling successfully. Lastly, I inserted the normal SIM card back and this time I can enable the wifi calling without any problem.
The whole thing made me feel AT&T’s technology is just magical, you have to use some imagination :)
What about the same problem on an ATT Apple X phone?
i bought an unlocked samsung s7 from swappa, it was originally Verizon network, i’m an ATT customer, I can not get wi fi calling enabled b/c it’s a Verizon, even though everything else works perfectly. I have a microcell because coverage in my area is weak (all carriers), so i’m not sure update 4 is correct, if it was I would have wi fi calling…
Hi WMAC,
My article, including Update #4 was related to an iPhone. Support for other phone models may be different.
my brother got fed up with the whole thing and is trying Google project fi.
he seems to think it’s a better way to go for him
I just went through this with an unlocked verizon iPhone 7 on AT&T. After jumping through many hoops the 2 key things that came out of it were:
1) make sure they have the correct IMEI number for your account on the AT&T side (they still had my 5S number listed)
2) when you enable wifi calling you have to have wifi disabled! (This one is very counter intuitive but she asked me to disable wifi then try again and it worked!)
I have an iPhone 6 and bought it at an Apple Store. I went to att and they put in a new SIM card and said I would now have HD voice. I can’t enable wifi calling and I don’t have Voice over LTE. When I am on a call it switches to 4g.
I have the unlocked att version of the 6s and I am still unable to turn on wifi calling. I have an att dealer plan. Has anyone else had an issue with their dealer plan?
Hey Brian: I asked around and could not find anyone with a dealer plan. Im sure you tried calling AT&T? For my Verizon Unlocked Phone on AT&T Network just worked after they deployed the fix.
I did call AT&T and was bounced around. Eventually I landed on their specialized tech support team who said that a few of their grandfathered plans and dealer plans were still not set up to do wifi calling and that they were having issues getting wifi calling activated on them. They said they were working on it, but here I am– still no wifi calling and no VoLTE now… sad panda.
The issue is resolved now I think.
I live in the North West area and have a iPhone 6s – A1688. I brought it to At&T and the technical guy helped enable Wifi calling for me!
HI Michael, thanks for the updates! I have a Verizon unlocked iPhone 6s Plus purchased from Best Buy and AT&T is standing firm that they will support these bring your own devices in about two weeks…. However, I am looking at my other options just incase they do not.
My question to you is, did you purchase your phone through Apple or another retailer and the folks at Northpoint Apple swapped it out? I am past the 15 day return policy at Best Buy. Best buy was willing to swap it out but they didn’t have the model in AT&T that I needed. So I am wondering if I go to Apple and they will swap it out for a new phone?
Thank you!
Hi Shawn,
I purchased mine at the Apple Online store and I was lucky that they had an AT&T model come in just when I called to get it swapped out. I don’t know for sure but I doubt they’ll swap the phone if it wasn’t purchased at Apple.
Good luck and good to hear that AT&T will support those phones in the future.
Thanks Michael! Here is an update from AT&T… They do plan on fixing the issue and will need about 2 weeks. They did however mention that Apple will also issue a patch to the phones. Not sure if this is going to be via carrier update or IOS software update. Once this is in place, the “bring your own” devices users will be able to do WIFI Calling and HD Voice. Stay tuned!
awesome, thanks for the update!
Also! The only hardware feature I am going to lose having a Verizon iPhone (A1687) on AT&T is that I will lose the use of LTE Band 30. So it’s great you swapped yours out. LTE Band 30 still being deployed and I doubt it will be in the area of NJ I am in.
OK, wow! Great news. I came home today and on a whim I tried to turn on Wifi Calling. Guess what!!!?? It worked and activated! Was able to make a receive a phone call over wifi (put the phone in airplane mode). Finally could put this issue to bed. So for your readers, this is now working for Verizon iPhone (A1687) on AT&T in the Northern NJ area.