Wifi calling, free calls to US while abroad? cs rep does not seem to understand and I think Im getting bad info.

Yeah unfortunately AT&T customer support gives out wrong information all the time. I really don't think they understand how anything works.

What do you mean by there's no way of adding the feature without having AT&T customer support at it? That is absolutely false. Wi-Fi calling is built into your phone and is a service provided by AT&T if you have a compatible phone. 

You should be able to turn it on in settings. If you have a non AT&T phone, and cannot turn on Wi-Fi calling in the settings on your phone then you wouldn't be able to use Wi-Fi calling anyway. Which makes this entirely a non-issue. All iPhones have Wi-Fi calling built-in, it is a feature of the phone and it will work on AT&T no matter where your iPhone came from.  All other phones sold by AT&T, have Wi-Fi calling built in.

Just to keep it simple...

When you use Wi-Fi calling, it is as if you were still in the United States.

   That's it.  Period.

It's no more complicated than that. 

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Calls to a US number using Wi-Fi calling would be a local call.  

Calls to a non-US number using Wi-Fi calling, would be  long distance. 

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In order to force your phone to use Wi-Fi calling, you should put your phone in airplane mode, connect to Wi-Fi, your phone should indicate a t t - Wi-Fi in the upper notification bar which indicates you are using AT&T Wi-Fi calling for calls and texts. 

Thanks much, WIFI calling now working and enabled on my wifes phone.

About the wifi calling feature my line had shown a feature but my wifes had not.   Based on your info I turned it on in the cellular settings and now the ATT website shows the "badge" for wifi calling.   Online rep I called this time did confirm the calls I had placed were free.  Thats a real load off my back.  I had an hour or so of international WIFI calls, was a bit panicked.

So with international call block and roaming block enabled, am I safe to assume Im protected for any calls to a us number that I wont be charged? 

Im thinking that if I didnt land on a WIFI calling connection the international roaming block should kick in and prevent the call?   Im afraid to try as it might cost me alot to try.

Also Im curious if WIFI calling actually requires WIFI or if I was using another local country specific data only sim with radio on it might work or does it actually have to go through the WIFI radio?

Im glad to hear that I can use the WIFI calling abroad.  I had gotten the same bad info from a rep last year and had problems logging in to US sites for dual factor authentication and wish I had known it was possible.   TMO has much better international options and I was about ready to change over my lines. The base rates on international calling without the day plan are almost criminal, Im guessing they make a ton of money on folks that accidently roam while overseas.

So with international call block and roaming block enabled, am I safe to assume Im protected for any calls to a us number that I wont be charged? 

Um... 😦  

Okay you're scaring me a little. Partly because you're making this way more complicated than it is. 

And partly because that particular sentence does not make sense in the previous context.  

Also partly because international call blocking would block calls from the US to non-US numbers, but I have yet to see it actually function as it's supposed to function. People managed to place long distance calls all the time and get charged for them.  

And if you really want to block roaming, you would have to turn off the travel at pay-per use option on every phone line that is traveling.  And hope that your phone doesn't leak data, or that neither you or the wife make a mistake.

Also Im curious if WIFI calling actually requires WIFI or if I was using another local country specific data only sim with radio on it might work or does it actually have to go through the WIFI radio?

😦.  Yes

Wi-Fi calling requires some kind of Wi-Fi connection.  Whether the source is a home internet, a business internet, a dedicated hotspot device rented in a foreign country, or a hotspot device provided on another phone.  It's still Wi-Fi 

I would really like to use the WIFI calling but I dont want to get home and see some huge suprise bill for 1$ hour or whatever charge it is these days.

The international day pass (IDP) only activates if you use it, so turn it on. I've had it on for years.

If you accidentally use data or calls, it adds up quick.  Data is $2.05 a MB, that's $2,000 per GB. IDP is a bargain.

Or if you intentionally want to use data (emergency or whatever): If you're lost and need to pull up a map, it's going to cost you more than $10 in data to enable data and pull up the maps (the map might not use much more than 5MB, but all your other apps that update in the background probably will).   

If people didn't use it at all, then there would be no charge at all (which is how it already works). The issue is when people use it and don't have a plan added.

TL;DR - My 2¢ is that IDP should be on by default.

And I 100% agree with @Gary L 

IDP is a safety net.

1 gig of data is $2000.

You don't want to be that guy