T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold 9900 gets Wi-Fi calling in November
updated 12:55 pm EDT, Tue October 4, 2011
Update may include Wi-Fi calling but not UMA
When T-Mobile launched the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9900 in August, It irked its customers because the new smartphone was being shipped without any Internet calling support. The carrier acknowledged the deficiency and promised to fix the situation with a future software update. A new maintenance release, with at least a partial solution, is expected in November.
Historically, RIM has supported Internet calling in two ways, through UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) calling, or through Wi-Fi calling. T-Mobile's PR representative has confirmed that a maintenance release with Wi-Fi Calling functionality is expected from RIM in November. The Wi-Fi functionality will be "similar" to other BlackBerry devices.
There have been rumors that in the 9900 implementation, calls are dropped when moving from Wi-Fi to cell or vis-a-versa. This is an indication that the update does not include UMA support, which handles the transfer from GSM to Wi-Fi seamlessly.
The 9900 is considered RIM's flagship smartphone. It offers both a 2.8-inch, 640x480 touchscreen and a physical QWERTY keyboard. It is powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon and runs BlackBerry 7. [via CIO]
