eir has announced the arrival of Wifi Calling to its mobile networks, eir and Meteor. 

The free service offers a solution to those living in homes or working in offices that do not have mobile coverage. It works by allowing users to connect to any Wifi connection. It deducts the call minutes and texts from a customer's plan, as normal. 

At present, the service is only available to eir and Meteor customers with the following devices: 

·     Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, S7 and S7 Edge and S8 and S8 Plus.

·     Apple iPhone SE, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus.

eir’s WiFi Calling is built into the customer’s handset, meaning it's possible to access all existing contacts without requiring an app. The service requires no extra effort once the phone settings are up to date - the only setting relating to WiFi Calling is to simply turn it on or off.

Sinead Morrissey, Head of Mobile Product, eir, said, “This service brings a greatly improved customer experience, enabling the peace of mind to make calls from wherever it suits.  eir has invested substantially in our network and today, our customers can reap the positive benefits of the strength of our network.”

eir lists the following benefits of WiFi Calling:

•     Use WiFi Calling through any WiFi connection at home or abroad

•     Make calls and send texts anywhere in the world for the same price you pay at home

•     A range of WiFi Calling enabled phones available from eir and Meteor with more being added all the time

•     No additional app needed for this service

•     All covered by your existing plan with no additional charges

How to load WiFi Calling to your handset:

Samsung: In order to activate the service for Samsung, users will need to update their firmware to Android N and also be on one of the currently advertised eir or Meteor mobile plans or have signed up post-March 2016.

Apple: Customers with an Apple iPhone 5C and above should ensure they have updated to iOS 10.3 and carrier bundle 28.3. Carrier settings will update for customers over the course of a few days. If customers want to do this immediately, they need to first update to the latest version of iOS, then tap Settings > General > About and follow the prompt to complete the update. WiFi Calling is turned off by default, enable under Settings>Phone>WiFi calling

Customers must be on one of the following postpay plans:

Meteor

•     SIM Only Lite

•     SIM Only Regular 4G

•     SIM Only Super 4G

•     Smartphone Lite

•     Smartphone Regular 4G

•     Smartphone Super 4G

•     Smartphone Super Deluxe 4G

•     SIMO Regular Extra 10GB 4G

•     SIMO Super Deluxe Extra 30GB 4G

•     SIMO Super Extra 15GB 4G

•     SIM Only Regular Extra 4G

•     SIM Only Super Deluxe Extra 4G

•     SIM Only Super Extra 4G

•     Smartphone Regular Extra 4G

•     Smartphone Super Deluxe Extra 4G

•     Smartphone Super Extra 4G

Eir Consumer

•     eir Mobile 100 1GB + Roaming SIM Only

•     eir Mobile 400 10GB + Roaming SIM Only

•     eir Mobile Unlimited 15GB + Roaming SIM Only

•     eir Mobile Unlimited 30GB + Roaming SIM Only

•     eir Mobile 100 1GB + Roaming

•     eir Mobile 400 10GB + Roaming

•     eir Mobile Unlimited 15GB + Roaming

•     eir Mobile Unlimited 30GB + Roaming

•     eir Mobile 400 4GB + Roaming SIM Only

•     eir Mobile Unlimited 10GB + Roaming SIM Only

•     eir Small Business Plans

•     All eir Mobile Small Business tariff plans