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As long as Verizon has been talking about the HD Voice and VoLTE network enhancements we have yet to see any of it launch in any official capacity. Thankfully it appears to be right around the corner as the carrier has just announced that they will begin rolling the service out within weeks.
What’s VoLTE, you ask? Simple: voice calling over LTE. It’s a more reliable way to transmit audio data and affords more bandwidth for the call. This means call quality is improved thanks to higher bitrate and other factors. Most in the industry have taken a liking to the term “HD Voice” for these enhancements. Unfortunately this won’t kick in unless both you and the person you’re calling are on a Verizon VoLTE phone and are both within LTE coverage. Otherwise, it reverts back to Verizon’s legacy network.
Verizon’s VoLTE won’t only bring improved voice calls, though — the carrier also anticipates video calls between two VoLTE customers. They haven’t gone into grave detail about the functionality just yet, though we’re crossing our fingers in hopes that video calls won’t count toward your monthly data allotment. We’ll be reaching out to Verizon to see if they can shed any light on that ahead of launch.
Thankfully Verizon already has a sizable roster of LTE phones that should be compatible with VoLTE, though the carrier says you’ll need to standby for a software upgrade to get in on the fun. Let’s hope it doesn’t take Verizon too long to announce the full details ahead of next month’s rollout. Any Big Red customers out there excited for its arrival?
[via Verizon]
I’d love to get better voice quality (should have and could have happened years ago), and video calling should be a native app on Android like FaceTime.
native facetime app for android=google hangouts
Yes, but it isn’t integrated into the dialer. I know that is not a huge deal, but it would be nice if that ends up a reality.
Oh i am sure knowing Big Red they will count the video call towards our data, and probably change their plans to include some fee to be able to use it
Two years ago …. we have a spectrum problem, we have to take away unlimited access to our networks. Here is a 1GB plan for the same price.
Today … as long as you are on our network, all video and music streams (from us) is free and unlimited.
WTF. what a bait and switch. What do we even pay the FCC to do?
You guys use the funniest expressions: “They haven’t gone into grave detail.” What do you even mean to be saying there? “Great detail?”
“Grave detail” is a thing — it may not be widespread but it is a thing.
Yes, it’s a military term. It’s when you’re given the responsibility for digging the graves, “Grave Detail.” Like responsibility for working in the kitchen is “Kitchen Detail.” Next you’ll try to tell me that, “the point is mute,” is a thing and not a mistaken interpretation of, “the point is moot.”
A couple months ago an article on Phandroid said a phone had, “goudy specs.” I still don’t know what that meant. I couldn’t tell if later references to the phone being “powerful” were sarcastic or sincere.
“The point is mute” thing drives me nuts — it is blatantly wrong. I find that people who use that also tend to say “for all intensive purposes.” ‘Grave detail’ has expanded beyond just military use but perhaps it is a regional thing? (My area is heavily influenced by military bases — I’ve often heard / used the term for details that are ‘heavy, bad, or all-encompassing.”
I’m with you on the whole ‘goudy thing’ — no clue on that one.
I’ve seen ‘grave detail’ used, but it’s usually used in place of ‘great detail’ when describing something deadly or at least dangerous. It’s certainly not applicable in this article. As for ‘goudy thing’, I assume they meant ‘gaudy thing’.
Meh, more crap that won’t work right and cost the user in the end. Thanks Verizon for nothing!
Whomever keeps asking for this junk stop it.
More ways to get you to race to the end of your data limit. Can’t wait for 5G service with 30 second data limits. Uh I meant 1GB.
I wonder if Google Voice/Hangouts will try to emulate that functionality so if you make a call with Google Voice or Hangouts you will get that quality bump?
They still haven’t matched the 3g footprint with 4glte like they said they would by 2013. I work in rural areas and I’m constantly seeing 3g instead of 4g, how is this supposed to be more reliable?