VOLTE – SomeGadgetGuy

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.

Continue reading “HD Voice and Video Calling on Verizon Wireless “In Coming Weeks””

When you start or answer a call, you might notice that your phone drops from LTE to “4G”, 3G, or 2G (EDGE/1XRTT). Carriers are looking to improve call quality, and that means needing more “room” for a higher quality signal. The hottest area for growth right now is LTE, so it only makes sense to eventually push all communication over that single pipe.

Starting May 23rd, in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin AT&T will be rolling out their “HD Voice” service on the Galaxy S4 Mini. Similar to how Skype works, a digital signal will carrier voice communications over data instead of traditional voice channels.

The long term goal being a reduction in the various radios and frequencies built into each phone to support text and audio communication, and the ability for carriers to consolidate the number of towers supporting 2G, 3G, and LTE communications equipment. When all of the spectrum a carrier supports can be dedicated to one wireless standard, it should help improve connectivity for consumers.