AT&T and T-Mobile have already announced their plans for VoLTE, which should enable much higher quality calls over data instead of traditional phone calling.
Today Big Red finally detailed their plans for a similar service, and they’re adding video calling to boot.
Video Calling is simplified when using VoLTE technology. The contact list in the phone clearly shows, with a video camera icon next to the name, who can receive a Video Call, and a tap or two on the phone starts the call so you can speak to friends and family face-to-face. Customers control Video Calls, easily switching to a voice-only call from a Video Call and back with a tap on the phone. The audio portion of a Video Call is delivered in HD Voice.
HD Voice and Video Calling work only when both people are in the Verizon 4G LTE coverage area and are using VoLTE-enabled smartphones from Verizon.
We’ll have to see how much support third party Video Calling receives, if services like Facetime, Hangouts, or Skype will also stream easily over LTE. It will be very interesting to see if VZW allows for free video calling over their network, and if third party video calling continues to count against your monthly data cap.
Still it’s good to see America’s first place carrier also start the transition to VoLTE, as this should help simplify networks. With both data and voice traveling over one radio standard, we should see LTE only phones as early as 2016. Full PR below.
HD Voice and Video Calling Coming Soon to Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Network
Advanced Calling 1.0 services enabled by VoLTE Technology
New technology is very often the starting point for change, and it has never been truer for wireless customers.
VoLTE, or Voice over LTE, is the latest emerging wireless technology that will change how you use your smartphone to make calls. In the coming weeks, Verizon Wireless customers can begin to see what Advanced Calling 1.0 — HD Voice and Video Calling — can mean to their wireless experience when tightly integrated with their 4G LTE smartphones.
Video Calling is simplified when using VoLTE technology. The contact list in the phone clearly shows, with a video camera icon next to the name, who can receive a Video Call, and a tap or two on the phone starts the call so you can speak to friends and family face-to-face. Customers control Video Calls, easily switching to a voice-only call from a Video Call and back with a tap on the phone. The audio portion of a Video Call is delivered in HD Voice.
HD Voice and Video Calling work only when both people are in the Verizon 4G LTE coverage area and are using VoLTE-enabled smartphones from Verizon. The calling experience customers know today remains the same if one Verizon customer uses a VoLTE-enabled phone and the other doesn’t, or if a customer with a Verizon smartphone calls a customer of another carrier or a landline phone.
VoLTE is a standards-based solution that fundamentally changes the way Verizon will carry voice traffic on its network. It is an emerging technology that will work best with scale. Advanced Calling will be available across the nation’s largest 4G LTE network on a number of devices that will become VoLTE-capable with a simple software update.