Verizon Wireless has announced its plans to launch support for Voice over LTE service (or VoLTE) on its cellular network later this year, according to FierceWireless. However, the company says it has moved back its plan to release a VoLTE-only phone until 2016, and will continue releasing CDMA-capable phones until that time. Such a device was originally anticipated for the end of 2014.
The carrier originally announced earlier this year that it would support the new voice service, which provides higher-quality phone calls by utilizing high-speed data connections, but declined at the time to say exactly when it would happen. Other U.S. carriers, including T-Mobile and AT&T, have already started rolling the technology out in select markets.
The next-generation iPhone, which is expected to be release in September following a media event on the 9th of that month, will likely support the VoLTE technology, and provides a serious incentive for carriers to roll it out on their own networks as soon as possible.
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It wasn’t long ago I would have gone with Verizon. But now it’s all about T-Mobile. T-Mobile is doing the VoWifi with Apple. And they seperate the phone and the phone bill. And their LTE is really good.
I am with Verizon. Was planning on gone to T-Mobile when my contract is up (9/18/2014, just in time for an iPhone 6 9/19 launch). However, I just moved. Verizon is pretty bad at my new house, and T-Mobile is worse, so I am torn what to do now. May have to try that T-Mobile Test Drive…
VoWifi is working well in the beta too.. love it..
I think Verizon as improved it’s quality products and made more better Innovation and planning to get where they are today. To be honest I haven’t looked at their VoLTE service yet. I will sure be following your blog to find out more..
Verizon has the best network overall, without the question. I used to have AT&T and T-Mobile in the past and both sucked.
The AT&T network used to suck. I switched to them some years ago, for various reasons. Back then, my calls with my boss as I drove from work used to drop out at least a couple of times. I can’t remember the last time a call got dropped anymore. They’ve improved their network enormously.
I don’t understand how these ISP assholes think they’re gonna provide VoLTE if their networks can’t even handle a little “power usage” from 5% of their subscribers.
I lament the slow pace of technology in telecoms :-(
You may want to research this a little more. The top 5% use a HUGE proportion of the total data on the network. It’s a difficult dilemma for anyone with a WiFi router at home, a computing cluster with lots of users, or a county-wide data network — how to balance the throughput and priorities so everyone gets some share and capacity can be used for all.
Note: I am always bothered by providers talking about the “top 5%” because doing something drastic, like canceling all their data lines, still leaves a group in the “top 5%”. It would be better to talk in terms of actual relative usage to avoid misleading people. Even then, if you decided to download a new version of iOS (for example only) in the middle of the night when the network is quiet, who cares. The capacity is fixed, it’s only excess utilization of the network under load that is a concern.
IF this is voice over LTE, isn’t that going to mean voice calls will us more data? Therefore allowing them to charge more for more data usage?
Generally, it will be good news for all of us. With the mobile telecoms folks able to dismantle their voice-only networks, that frees up capital and bandwidth and people to focus on data-only networks. Prices will drop for data over time. Plans will focus more on groups of devices. Life will be good. The sun will shine at all times. You will find true love. And so on. :)