Voice calls in Dubai Airport (WIfi/not carrier respective)
Mar 25, 2024, 10:44 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 45
Voice calls in Dubai Airport (WIfi/not carrier respective)
Hi guys,
I think you've seen that recently and even in a couple of days will be flying Emirates to India. My parents also flew Emirates last month.
There is one question I had about Dubai that is not prevalent in other airports. See, you can connect to the Wifi and surf the web with no problems.
However, in terms of audio calls (FaceTime, Messenger, Whatsapp), that's where the challenge comes. We can make calls but despite the strong internet connection (Again not talking about cell phone carrier as a transit passenger), the audio is quite spotty or you hear absolutely nothing. This was evident when I was flying back to SFO (from Chennai) in November during my transit halt, my dad tried to call from Dubai but no luck.
Is there a reason why that is the case? I've never had this problem in Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul-Incheon or any European airports to my experience. Could it be UAE government related or some other reason? I don't believe the high volume of folks using the Wifi system has anything to do with it, though I could be wrong.
Anybody else experience this problem?
I think you've seen that recently and even in a couple of days will be flying Emirates to India. My parents also flew Emirates last month.
There is one question I had about Dubai that is not prevalent in other airports. See, you can connect to the Wifi and surf the web with no problems.
However, in terms of audio calls (FaceTime, Messenger, Whatsapp), that's where the challenge comes. We can make calls but despite the strong internet connection (Again not talking about cell phone carrier as a transit passenger), the audio is quite spotty or you hear absolutely nothing. This was evident when I was flying back to SFO (from Chennai) in November during my transit halt, my dad tried to call from Dubai but no luck.
Is there a reason why that is the case? I've never had this problem in Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul-Incheon or any European airports to my experience. Could it be UAE government related or some other reason? I don't believe the high volume of folks using the Wifi system has anything to do with it, though I could be wrong.
Anybody else experience this problem?
Mar 25, 2024, 12:14 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: UK
Programs: EK skywards Gold, BA, VS silver
Posts: 195
It's quite simple - Dubai blocks Messenger, WhatsApp and Facetime calls - text messages are allowed though. I believe that there are some VOIP apps that do work but I do not know which ones and have never used one.
Mar 25, 2024, 12:17 pm
#3
Ambassador: Emirates Airlines
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 18,619
WhatsApp calls are blocked :-
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/indu...u-need-to-know
Skype seems to work for me though.
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/indu...u-need-to-know
Skype seems to work for me though.
Mar 25, 2024, 1:57 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 45
Cool, thanks, I'll check it out. Still it'll be useful even if on a layover and as long as it works.