Verizon has just announced their plans to start rolling out voice over LTE, also known as HD Voice and VoLTE. The system should be rolling out over the next couple of months, and enable high-quality audio calling provided both users are in an area with a VoLTE network and are using supporting handsets. They'll be using AMR-wideband to deploy HD Voice. Verizon promises this upgrade will also include the ability to instantly hand off to a video call, and will eventually lead to improved file transfer size, group messaging, and location sharing.
AT&T is already dipping their toe in the VoLTE pool, so this is bound to be an interesting race. No specific timing was mentioned for Verizon's VoLTE rollout, but they said we can expect some markets to be getting the upgrade in the next couple of months.
How do you find the quality of your voice calls? Could they use a bump? Do you expect to switch off between audio and video calls regularly?
Source: Verizon
Reader comments
Verizon to flip the switch on nationwide HD Voice VoLTE in a few months
Will this give Verizon customers the ability to have simultaneous voice/data?
I was wondering exactly the same thing. Anyone have any ideas/clarifications?
Yes, as long as you have the hardware to support it (i.e. iPhone 6) and the bands are active in your region.
Simultaneous voice/data works fine already. I use it all the time when the wife calls me all flustered needing directions or information when she's driving around completely lost and clueless...
I can only do voice and data when on wifi.
Maybe it's your phone? Or a region thing? I don't know - just to make sure I'm not crazy I turned off wifi, called my desk, verified the phone call was working, launched Chrome, opened several new tabs and went to pages I know are not cached. Phone call never dropped and internet worked fine. Maybe check with Verizon and see why yours doesn't work? Samsung GS3 on Verizon 4G service in Portland(ish), OR here. Good luck!
galaxy phones have dual radios to handle that - iPhones do not, so they cannot handle simultaneous voice and cellular data on Verizon.
Sent from the iMore App
Ahhh - makes sense. So it's not a Verizon problem at all... Thanks!
Does this mean phone calls will use data now instead of minutes?
I've already been using VoLTE via FaceTime :-) The difference in quality is astonishing! When using FaceTime on a good connection, the person sounds like they are right next to me and they are so much easier to understand. It made me realize how bad regular phone calls actually are. I hope that VoLTE is as good as FaceTime!
Groan... Even more drain on my data...
I don't expect to switch between audio and video calling at all. My main concern is how this will be packaged for bilking, er, I mean billing, the customer. Will VoLTE still be billed by the minute? Or will it be data? And if data, will it be part of the overall bucket of data quota, or a separate bucket?
'Cause right now, I've got unlimited voice and txt on my plan, but only 1GB of data.