Optus has launched a new app called WiFi Talk that lets customers make and receive calls and text messages over any Wi-Fi connection. The goal is to provide an alternative for when mobile coverage is limited but a Wi-Fi connection may be readily available such as in shopping centres, in the office or at home.
What differentiates WiFi Talk from other phone apps like Skype, WhatsApp and Viber is that customers can use their existing number. Recipients of the calls and texts do not need to have WiFi Talk themselves.
However, while the other apps don’t incur charges when used on a Wi-Fi network, WiFi Talk will charge calls and text as normal on a user’s Optus mobile bill.
WiFi Talk is a free download on the Apple App Store and Google Play for Optus prepaid and postpaid customers. It is recommended that the app be used on iPhone’s with at iOS 6 and above and Android handsets with at least version 4.0 of the OS.
Comments
10 responses to “Optus Lets You Make Wi-Fi Calls During Flakey Mobile Coverage”
and… no windows phone…. bastards!
As a windows phone user, you should be pretty used to this.
Google Fi, please.
Will this work with MVNO’s like Vaya? I’m assuming no…
This would be great when travelling OS and needing to call back to Oz; of course that’s presuming they don’t monitor IP addresses and charge for global roaming?
Just got it and it says clearly at the start it does not work outside Australia.
Ummmm..why wouldn’t I want to use a free option like What’s App or Viber???
All my friends have one or the other…(even my parents)
So if someone doesn’t. Tell them to get it 🙂
That’s how I would do it 🙂
Disappointed Optus used a app instead of the baked in feature available in iOS and Android.
I’m guessing that this is the software that Optus promised me would be available last November when my HomeZone failed. They seriously suggested that I should hold out until it was released, rather than switch to another provider. Actually, it was more than a suggestion – they refused to release me from my contract even though they could not supply my home address with a signal. Their coverage map shows my location as having optimal signal when the reality is I have no signal. I had to file a complaint with the TIO to get released. Unbelievable!
I’m glad I didn’t stick around waiting for this app. I would have starved to death by now.