Last week, Telecom Niue was happy to announce that Apple users are now able to make phone calls and send Short Message Services (SMS) text messages on their iPhones.
BCN News spoke with Head of Telecom Niue’s Technical Department Mr Roy Pavihi last Wednesday who was happy to share with BCN the announcement.
“I am proud to announce that we have managed to get the iPhone working on our network, and when I say it’s working, you can actually use the normal dialler and the SMS app that comes with the iPhone.”
Roy says that the team has been working to get this going since 2017-2018.
“It’s been a long time that we’ve been trying to work for this…but we had a few setbacks due to Covid and a lot of people that we usually deal with have been laid off and weren’t available anymore due to Covid.”
“This year we have managed to do a lot of testing and a lot of upgrades on our systems so we can allow iPhones to work.”
Apple iPhones users do not need the Telecom Niue 4G application to make phone calls like Android users, says Roy.
For iPhone users, all that is required is to switch on VoLTE on the phone settings mobile data.
In order to make phone calls elsewhere, you must sign up with the right plan that includes calling as well, says Roy.
“If you want to use iPhones for calling and SMS, you need to have a plan. If you have signed up for a Data only or LTE only plan you won’t be able to make calls. However, our staff in our office in Alofi customer service (centre) can help you out and change your plan so that you can make calls.”
The Telecom Niue customer service phone number 015 is the only number that is free of charge where you can call without any credit.
“At the moment, Android is still unable to use the normal dialler that comes with the phone. But however, majority of our customers know that we use a app for calling and SMS.”
“It’s still a work in progress to try and get it working the same as iPhone and hopefully in the near future we should be able to make normal phone calls and SMS on android phones like how it is with iPhones now,” says Roy.
For more help and information, visit the Telecom Niue customer service center in Commercial Centre, Alofi or visit their website at telecomniue.com