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What is VoLTE?

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  What is VoLTE? RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-24 19:56 +0000
    Re: What is VoLTE? Randy Westlund <Vorzakir@invalid.invalid> - 2014-05-25 06:42 +0000
      Re: What is VoLTE? RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-25 09:04 +0000
        Re: What is VoLTE? Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-05-25 14:06 +0000

#3103 — What is VoLTE?

From the «Very offensive Limited Twerking Environment» department:
Title: Why Your Phone Is Suddenly Making Clearer Calls
Author: Matt Peckham
Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 13:26:29 -0400
Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/timeblogs/nerd_world/~3/7i5x8SI8fjc/
Podcast Download URL: http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/13c760ad52f626fd6e40138d4c10e567?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96

VoLTE: It sounds like “volt,” and it stands for “Voice over LTE.” T-Mobile
just announced[1] it was rolling out VoLTE technology out in Seattle, and
AT&T’s set to follow with a similar rollout today[2] for areas in Illinois,
Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Verizon’s due to roll the technology out
“later this year.”[3] And MetroPCS launched the technology way back in 2012.
MoreSamsung Reportedly Making Its Own Virtual Reality Headset[4]Tom Steyer:
Green Giant[5]Suspected Gunman in California Rampage Identified as Elliot
Rodger NBC News[6]Men Charged With Toppling Ancient Rock Formation Avoid Jail
Time Huffington Post[7]Comet Outlives Predictions Weather.com[8]

But what exactly is VoLTE?

Today’s LTE networks use something called packet-switching, as opposed to the
circuit-switching used by older, slower networks. Think of circuit-switching
as a highway reserved for a single vehicle from start to endpoint, whereas
packet-switching’s more like a giant highway shared by all kinds of vehicles.
Without getting into the weeds, LTE networks can’t do voice and data
simultaneously: LTE conveys data no problem, but your voice calls actually
have to run over the old circuit-switched technology.

VoLTE is thus about bringing voice and data together on the same radio
stratum. That’s important for several reasons, one of the most important
being the ability, belatedly, for LTE users to do voice and data transactions
simultaneously. If you’re an LTE user and you’ve ever tried to talk to
someone while sending or receiving emails (technically impossible, unless the
data portion’s being sent over Wi-Fi), or you finished a lengthy call only to
find dozens of emails simultaneously attacking your mailbox, this probably
matters to you.

But VoLTE’s being touted above all else for its ability to enhance the
quality of voice calls with what the marketing departments have dubbed “HD
Voice.” That’s in part because it’s similar to another acronym you’ve
probably heard for years: VoIP, or “voice over IP.” VoIP is what you’re using
when you make Skype or FaceTime calls. If you’ve ever made a Skype or
FaceTime call and wondered why — when the connection’s solid on both ends,
anyway — the audio quality’s so much more nuanced than in a regular voice
call, you already have a sense for what’s coming with VoLTE.

The difference between VoLTE and VoIP is that VoLTE employs newer technology
designed to guarantee if not infallible voice service, at least better voice
service than any we’ve experienced to date.

The hangup — and this is true anytime you’re facing a costly technology
overhaul that involves upgrades to your core infrastructure as well as the
devices that access it — is that it’s going to take a while before we’re all
enjoying VoLTE’s benefits, because older devices aren’t compatible with it.
At launch, only T-Mobile users with LG’s G Flex, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 or
Samsung’s Galaxy Light can access the service (after a software update). On
AT&T’s side of the fence, only users with Samsung’s Galaxy S4 mini will enjoy
VoLTE for now.

Furthermore, hypothetical VoLTE benefits, like video calls, voicemails and
language translation in real-time, are likely a ways down the road. For all
the buzz around VoLTE, and I agree wholeheartedly with FierceWireless’ Mike
Dano here[9], it’s more in these initial stages about the carriers playing
catchup (while, of course, trying to pass off what they’re doing as more than
that) than revolutionizing voice-data tech.

Don’t confuse VoLTE with XLTE, by the way, another term that’s making
headlines. XLTE is just the marketing buzz-cronym[10] for a speed upgrade
Verizon rolled out a few days ago to several hundred congested markets that
lets newer devices hop between spectrums. The new spectrum’s like a brand new
highway for those new devices. Devices that can’t use the new highway,
meanwhile, enjoy faster speeds by virtue of all those newer devices being
redirected to another road.
[image 11][image 12]

Links:
[1]: http://multimediacapsule.thomsonone.com/t-mobileusa/t-mobile-brings-voice-over-lte-to-seattle (link)
[2]: http://about.att.com/story/att_introduces_high_definition_voice_in_initial_markets.html (link)
[3]: http://www.verizonwireless.com/news/article/2014/05/verizon-wireless-volte-national-rollout-plans.html (link)
[4]: http://time.com/109407/samsung-reportedly-making-its-own-virtual-reality-headset/ (link)
[5]: http://time.com/108706/tom-steyer-green-giant/ (link)
[6]: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/suspected-gunman-california-rampage-identified-elliot-rodger-n113841?cid=par-time_20140524 (link)
[7]: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/19/ancient-rock-formation-glenn-taylor-david-hall_n_4988811.html (link)
[8]: http://v.imwx.com/v/mrss/news/710917.mp4 (link)
[9]: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/us-operators-plan-launch-volte-soon-benefits-users-are-unclear/2013-11-22 (link)
[10]: http://www.verizonwireless.com/news/article/2014/05/verizon-wireless-xlte.html (link)
[11]: http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=time.com&blog=1359921&post=110319&subd=timedotcom&ref=&feed=1 (image)
[12]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/timeblogs/nerd_world/~4/7i5x8SI8fjc (image)

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#3122

On 2014-05-24, RS Wood wrote:
> But VoLTE’s being touted above all else for its ability to enhance the
> quality of voice calls with what the marketing departments have dubbed “HD
> Voice.”

If they can actually fix the voice quality on modern phones, that
would be the greatest thing since... well, phones that actually
worked.

I like talking to family members when I'm walking somewhere, but the
quality is so bad that many times I give up and call them back
later, when I'm indoors in a quiet room.

I'm on Verizon LTE with a Galaxy SIII.  My phone does an excellent
job of google maps, an good job of texting, and it keeps me
entertained on public transit when it's too crowded to pull out a
book.  But when it comes to calls, it's abysmal.

My fiancee has had the same old flip phone for many years (CDMA).
She enjoys three days or more of battery life and much better audio
quality.

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#3128

On 2014-05-25, Randy Westlund <Vorzakir@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 2014-05-24, RS Wood wrote:
>> But VoLTE’s being touted above all else for its ability to enhance the
>> quality of voice calls with what the marketing departments have dubbed “HD
>> Voice.”
>
> If they can actually fix the voice quality on modern phones, that
> would be the greatest thing since... well, phones that actually
> worked.
>
> I like talking to family members when I'm walking somewhere, but the
> quality is so bad that many times I give up and call them back
> later, when I'm indoors in a quiet room.
>
> I'm on Verizon LTE with a Galaxy SIII.  My phone does an excellent
> job of google maps, an good job of texting, and it keeps me
> entertained on public transit when it's too crowded to pull out a
> book.  But when it comes to calls, it's abysmal.
>
> My fiancee has had the same old flip phone for many years (CDMA).
> She enjoys three days or more of battery life and much better audio
> quality.

That's been my experience too on a Galaxy Note 3, and every iphone user
I've ever asked has said the same thing: "great computer/toy/gadget, not
that great a phone."

After a cursory read, this VoLTE thing seems like the logical next step
in converting 'legacy' systems to packet switching.  Ironically, that
will make it easier to monitor that stream of information too, I
suppose, not that it seems the spooks have had a very hard time doing it
already (*every* phone call out of Afghanistan? Jeez, give it a break).

I wonder if deteriorating phone call quality doesn't have something to
do with rotting infrastructure too, in the US at least.

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#3149

RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
> On 2014-05-25, Randy Westlund <Vorzakir@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> > On 2014-05-24, RS Wood wrote:
> >> But VoLTE?s being touted above all else for its ability to enhance the
> >> quality of voice calls with what the marketing departments have dubbed ?HD
> >> Voice.?
> >
> > If they can actually fix the voice quality on modern phones, that
> > would be the greatest thing since... well, phones that actually
> > worked.
> >
> > I like talking to family members when I'm walking somewhere, but the
> > quality is so bad that many times I give up and call them back
> > later, when I'm indoors in a quiet room.
> >
> > I'm on Verizon LTE with a Galaxy SIII.  My phone does an excellent
> > job of google maps, an good job of texting, and it keeps me
> > entertained on public transit when it's too crowded to pull out a
> > book.  But when it comes to calls, it's abysmal.
> >
> > My fiancee has had the same old flip phone for many years (CDMA).
> > She enjoys three days or more of battery life and much better audio
> > quality.

> I wonder if deteriorating phone call quality doesn't have something to
> do with rotting infrastructure too, in the US at least.

That likely has as much to do with everyone using their phones as a
mobile internet terminal (and/or texting terminal) rather than as a
voice phone.  With significantly fewer phone owners making voice calls,
they don't see much need to improve.

Plus, if you are willing to pay the providers $80+ a month for service that
costs them little more than $4-8 per month, and continue to do so when
they produce crap voice calls, then they see this as confirmation that
you don't really care about voice call quality, and so neither should
they.

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