WiFi Calling — Another Option For Nomads

This article was written by NZMCA Member, Ernie Newman. 

NZMCA Board Member Marilyn Taylor lives in a ditch – in the nicest possible way. She became well known within Wireless Nation as they sorted out her connectivity challenge.

Marilyn lives in the Manawatu area of Waituna West, not far from Highway 54, the popular diversion between Hunterville and Feilding.  Her property can more correctly be described as a “gully.” Life’s not always easy there – when I phone her to talk about her story she’s frantically cleaning up her flooded house after a torrential downpour. The geography isn’t an issue, but the topography has given her longstanding problems using her mobile phone, even though she can see the nearest cell tower. 

So bad was the service that Marilyn couldn’t get voicemail or text messages. She had to go into town. The big phone companies were unable to offer practical help. “They made me feel like a dumb blonde,” she recalls. One of them tried to sell her a massive specialist tower on her roof.

Then, at an NZMCA event, Marilyn met enthusiastic problem-solver Tom Linn from Wireless Nation. Tom immediately suggested WiFi calling as a solution.

So what’s WiFi calling? In a nutshell it means connecting your mobile handset to the Internet modem in your home, or campground or café, instead of directly to a cell tower. It’s the perfect solution for locations where there is a satisfactory Internet signal but poor cellphone connectivity. That’s a situation that often confronts compulsive travellers off the beaten track. Instead of searching in vain for a distant cell tower, your handset connects to your modem, so you can make and receive voice calls, text and data, exactly as though you had a tower nearby. 

Technically, WiFi calling has been available for years. But you were only likely to hear about it when dealing through a customer experience-focused service provider like Wireless Nation who can advise you of a range of options accordingly.

So Wireless Nation, as specialists in helping motor caravanners and other customers with challenging needs, are now heavily advocating WiFi calling, including for some of their large contingent of NZMCA members. And Marilyn is very happy that she can stay connected in her ditch! Like so many she has one modem – and one bill – delivering data, voice and text connectivity whether at home or on the road. 

So if you’re a current Wireless Nation customer, how can you get the advantages of WiFi calling? Easy peasy. Just go onto wirelessnation.co.nz and search for “WiFi calling.” That will bring you to a simple video explanation, by WN’s own team who double as video stars. The whole process takes just 90 seconds with usually only one switch to flick. Sometimes your phone will offer the choice between “WiFi preferred” or “Mobile Network preferred” – WN generally recommends the latter.

Not every cellphone handset will do the job, but the great majority do. I connected my five-year-old, $300 basic Samsung for WiFi calling in less than a minute. 

If you’re a WN customer, watch the video and give it a go. If not – here’s yet another reason to join this very customer-focused business reaching out ahead to meet customer needs.