Making Voice over Wi-Fi really work

Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) is growing as a service that mobile operators offer to customers. That’s because it helps you solve issues with poor coverage and takes some strain off your cellular network, customer support and technical services. But in order to achieve a first-class VoWi-Fi service that will really help your business and satisfy your customers, you need to know two things: how it works, and how to make it work well.

Always use the best available network

When a user is indoors in a home environment, VoWi-Fi handles their calling needs if their mobile reception is sufficiently poor to warrant it. But if they move outdoors and into an area of better coverage, the cellular network kicks in again. The aim is to always select the best available network to connect the smartphone user, and that’s the smart part of VoWi-Fi: always knowing which to use.

And that’s where you come in. As the service provider, you decide when the voice service needs to switch from 3G or 4G (LTE) to Wi-Fi. Only you know where the user is located and which services they have subscribed to, as well as what kind of experience they expect, so you choose the triggers that make the switch from cellular to Wi-Fi or vice versa. It’s not only a case of tailoring the service for your customers, but also to meet your own needs and resources.

Deploying VoWi-Fi in the right way

There are a few things mobile operators need to sort out before Wi-Fi calling can really work well. Eventually, your objective is to have the solution working on any kind of Wi-Fi. But initially it should be a phased approach, starting with what you know best: your own existing network. And when setting up VoWi-Fi, it’s crucial to define exactly the right triggers to switch users between your mobile network and your Wi-Fi.

As well as consumers, there’s also a demand from enterprise. These organisations mostly don’t have Wi-Fi networks suitable for voice calls at present, but the opportunity here is in extending hi-grade wireless into enterprises via small cells, fully integrated with the cellular network.

Here’s where we come in. Cisco and our partners have extensive experience in Voice over Wi-Fi. We have all the expertise needed to help you design and build the right VoWi-Fi solution to match you and your customers’ needs, as well as the specifications of your existing network. And those things are key if VoWi-Fi is really going to make your customers happy and reduce your operating expenses.

Watch Video interview from Cisco Expert in VoWi-Fi here:

https://youtu.be/7AKO96-ZWoU

Learn more about what Cisco can do for mobile network operators here.