Carrier AT&T VoLTE now active in NYC!!

[Jades]

ios 9.1 and all my calls are going over LTE here in midtown. First time experiencing this on AT&T

Just to update this post. I live in Brooklyn. On my commute back home I was on a lengthy call over LTE. Hung up and called another number and it dropped down to 4G again. The call did stay on LTE the entire ride though.

Looks like this is exclusive to Manhattan only, and I will be able to confirm when I go back tomorrow.

 

[pshifrin]

Not here in Westchester. iPhone 6 on 9.0

 

[cambookpro]

Sorry to sound ignorant, but what are the advantages of VoLTE? I know the UK network Three (which I'm on) are beginning to roll it out at the end of the year, but I've always found call clarity (at least to other Three phones) to be very good anyway. I'm wondering if I'm missing some obvious advantages.

 

[tgi]

If you have VoLTE and you call someone who doesn't have it, will there be a difference in call quality?

 

[Jades]

Sorry to sound ignorant, but what are the advantages of VoLTE? I know the UK network Three (which I'm on) are beginning to roll it out at the end of the year, but I've always found call clarity (at least to other Three phones) to be very good anyway. I'm wondering if I'm missing some obvious advantages.

One "advantage" at least here in America is that the call gets HD audio. I actually don't consider that an advantage because most of the time I just don't even want to talk to certain people. Now I need to hear them even clearer. First world problems lol

The other advantage which is a huge help to me is being able to use LTE data while on a call, instead of being dropped down to 3G/4G and have my speeds dramatically reduced

If you have VoLTE and you call someone who doesn't have it, will there be a difference in call quality?

If one leg of the call is not VoLTE-enabled, there will be no HD voice, thus no change in voice quality other than what you are used to.

 

[ShiggyMiyamoto]

Sorry to sound ignorant, but what are the advantages of VoLTE? I know the UK network Three (which I'm on) are beginning to roll it out at the end of the year, but I've always found call clarity (at least to other Three phones) to be very good anyway. I'm wondering if I'm missing some obvious advantages.

To my knowledge (and anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) and this is off the top of my head, VoLTE allows there to be one less frequency channel to worry about, wherein calls and data are transmitted over LTE, vs a frequency channel for calls and data separately, which is what CDMA carriers have currently. This also means that users can be on a call, and also use their LTE internet connection concurrently, while on that call. I know this has been possible on GSM networks for a long time on 3G (HSPA, HSPA+, HSDPA etc) but now with 4GLTE works around the voice quality is awesome, and you can also multitask. cambookpro, does this make any sense to you? I tried to explain it as simply as I could. I didn't look anything up. This was all just my understanding of it.

EDIT: Jades basically beat me to it with the explanation, sans the mention of HD Audio on my part. haha

EDIT 2:

If you have VoLTE and you call someone who doesn't have it, will there be a difference in call quality?

I wouldn't think so... you're the one calling out to them using your VoLTE service, and when they speak back to you you're receiving their voice data signal etc.......

 

[Jades]

Sorry to sound ignorant, but what are the advantages of VoLTE? I know the UK network Three (which I'm on) are beginning to roll it out at the end of the year, but I've always found call clarity (at least to other Three phones) to be very good anyway. I'm wondering if I'm missing some obvious advantages.

 

[ShiggyMiyamoto]

Uhhh I think you forgot to post your post... and you just quoted cam's post... lol

 

[The Tuck]

One big advantage is that if you're staying on LTE for calls, you'll get LTE speeds while using the Internet when on a call.

Tuck

 

[Jades]

I'm not sure why it didn't post.

I was on a lengthy LTE cal on my way back home from Manhattan to Brooklyn. The call held on LTE. Once I got to Brooklyn I placed another call and it dropped down to 4G. Looks like it's exclusive to Manhattan only right now. Howardforums is confirming the same information

 

[BrentT]

ios 9.1 and all my calls are going over LTE here in midtown. First time experiencing this on AT&T.

Has this been an issue in NYC? It there an indication that the call is VoLTE?

 

[Jades]

Yes. Up until yesterday, all calls would drop down to 4G

The way you know that your call is over LTE is when you see AT&T LTE (as oppose to AT&T 4G) on the top left of your screen while you are on a call.

 

[Nikos]

About time, AT&T. Only three years after iPhones became capable of VoLTE are we seeing the service roll out.

I'm assuming only calls between two VoLTE devices Will see improvements, but what about VoLTE to land lines?

Either way, it's going to be nice having access to LTE data while on a call.

 

[Epyon790]

About time, AT&T. Only three years after iPhones became capable of VoLTE are we seeing the service roll out.

I'm assuming only calls between two VoLTE devices Will see improvements, but what about VoLTE to land lines?

Either way, it's going to be nice having access to LTE data while on a call.

the iPhone 6 was the first iphone capable of VoLTE, the iPhone 5 and 5S couldnt.
As far as I know Atlanta, Dallas, and Chicago I believe have had VoLTE for a while. In South Florida we got it around maybe 2 months ago.
VoLTE to VoLTE or any IP based phone will see improvements.

 

[ok3wire]

Yes. Up until yesterday, all calls would drop down to 4G

The way you know that your call is over LTE is when you see AT&T LTE (as oppose to AT&T 4G) on the top left of your screen while you are on a call.

Is this just a voice issue in the New York area, or does it apply to data as well? I ask only because of my experiences here in Los Angeles over the years. At first the 'Edge' network was a welcome improvement over whatever existed before when it came to using mobile devices to access the internet. Then the 3G network was rolled out and while this was again a major improvement over the Edge network, the more striking change was how utterly useless the Edge network became at accessing data almost immediately. If you were ever in an area where you dropped from 3G back down to Edge, the date transfer rates dropped so drastically that web browsing became effectively impossible. Later, when 4G was introduced, the same thing happened - 3G became all but unusable almost overnight. And now we see the same thing here since LTE became the standard. If you find yourself someplace where the service has dropped to 4G, you'll be waiting for minutes for a simple webpage to load.

 

[Jades]

Is this just a voice issue in the New York area, or does it apply to data as well? I ask only because of my experiences here in Los Angeles over the years. At first the 'Edge' network was a welcome improvement over whatever existed before when it came to using mobile devices to access the internet. Then the 3G network was rolled out and while this was again a major improvement over the Edge network, the more striking change was how utterly useless the Edge network became at accessing data almost immediately. If you were ever in an area where you dropped from 3G back down to Edge, the date transfer rates dropped so drastically that web browsing became effectively impossible. Later, when 4G was introduced, the same thing happened - 3G became all but unusable almost overnight. And now we see the same thing here since LTE became the standard. If you find yourself someplace where the service has dropped to 4G, you'll be waiting for minutes for a simple webpage to load.

The issue isn't everywhere, but definitely noticeable in Manhattan. When you are on a call on 4G, latency goes up and data is slowed down. That's just a limitation of HSPA, or at least it's how it's programmed.

 

[aka777]

Also make sure that this option is active on your iPhone. You need to enable the voice & data option. for LTE

I’ve had VoLTE on T-Mobile for over a year now and the voice quality is phenomenal. It’s basically like a Skype call. Granted, Tmobile is using the Full bitrate VoLTE, whereas Verizon and AT&T have implemented half the bitrate.

The VoLTE voice compression codec is brand new and basically brings CDMA like noise cancellation to GSM customers.

 

[superevangelist1]

The AT&T coverage map shows where HD Voice coverage is available. You have to zoom in fairly close. It's actually much more widely available than I had expected...not here in Phoenix though.

 

[Nikos]

Just made a Brooklyn to Brooklyn call and both iPhones showed LTE.

I noticed the quality difference immediately, checked my phone, and confirmed with the person I was talking to.

 

[Jades]

Just made a Brooklyn to Brooklyn call and both iPhones showed LTE.

I noticed the quality difference immediately, checked my phone, and confirmed with the person I was talking to.

I am noticing the same in my house now (Brooklyn)

 

[ttNB]

I am noticing the same in my house now (Brooklyn)

Yep, now across the other side of the river (North Bergen NJ) its LTE on all calls now.

 

[b1scu1t]

I was able to make VOLTE calls in Philly a few months ago in summer, heck even making the phone call(hand off etc), was so much faster.

 

[ttNB]

We probably had it for a while, but since our area is so big, it might've taken just that much longer to get it together and support it without issues. But honestly, I didn't even check until this post. My Watch or my BT, in the truck picks up the calls, and Siri dials them for me, while running Escort Live.

 

[cousintim]

How does one verify a call is VoLTE? Is it as simple as looking at your phone and seeing LTE during the call?

 

[ttNB]

How does one verify a call is VoLTE? Is it as simple as looking at your phone and seeing LTE during the call?

its under your settings,>Cellular> Enable LTE> Voice & Data