Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HD Calling, wow

dictoresno

dictoresno

macrumors 601
Original poster
Apr 30, 2012
4,532
665
NJ
Made my first HD call today and was actually confused/surprised. Most of our area has VoLTE but not many people I call have a compatible phone. I've browsed the net while on a call (Verizon) with my wife on her 5S but never actually used the calling side of it. Called a friend today with an iPhone 6 and instantly realized we were on an HD call. He didn't even realize it at first until I pointed it out. But wow, what a difference it makes. Good to see the future is finally free of muffled, tinny phone calls.
 
Agreed... HD calling on Verizon is jaw dropping amazing. Always been pretty unhappy with the terrible call quality on cellphones from day 1. Only thing I've noticed is, dropped calls happen noticeably --- to be fair my apt only has 1-2 bars of LTE. Quality is amazing though. Can't wait till we're all on it.
 
Verizon is going to have to improve it's LTE footprint if they want people to use VoLTE. Dropped calls due to weak LTE signal strength will not make customers happy. That's the reason why I turned that capability off.
 
wxman2003 said:
Verizon is going to have to improve it's LTE footprint if they want people to use VoLTE. Dropped calls due to weak LTE signal strength will not make customers happy. That's the reason why I turned that capability off.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends where you are. Here in NJ, we are saturated with LTE. Even in the outskirts of Nebraska on the way to South Dakota in the middle of nowhere, I had LTE. Their footprint is spot on, it's the small pockets they have to work on. But for the most part they are blanketed. But not every market has VoLTE yet. I'm sure the best has yet to come since all carrier have adopted LTE as a whole.
 
I had my first HD call a month or two ago on Verizon and was confused at first since I was expecting something else. But after a moment and my brain adjusted, it was amazing.
 
risk235 said:
How does it compare to FaceTime audio?
Click to expand...

Very similar. As someone who has heavily used VOIP over the last 7 years - it's very high quality audio. Tho, unlike every facetime I've done, it can be used with the earpiece speaker instead of the phone's speaker too.
 
dictoresno said:
But not every market has VoLTE yet.
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm pretty sure Verizon made VoLTE available every place they have LTE. AT&T is the one that's doing a slow rollout of VoLTE.

Verizon just flipped the switch and let everyone with LTE service and a compatible handset try VoLTE at the same time. It happened around the time that the iPhone 6 and 6+ were released.

My experience with Verizon VoLTE in Metro Atlanta has been excellent. I usually get two to three "dots" of LTE coverage depending on where I am in the house and I can count on one hand the number of dropped calls I've had since November.

The biggest advantage to VoLTE, in my opinion, is being able to talk and use data simultaneously when not on Wi-Fi. I've been a Verizon customer for the past five years and have just gotten accustomed to telling people I'd have to call them back if I wasn't on Wi-Fi and needed to look something up online. It's nice that I don't have to do that anymore so long as I'm on LTE -- which I am around 99% of the time.
 
I also have HD calling on sprint. Its very nice and clear, but it only works with people on the same carrier. Is this true with Verizon also?
 
Zaft said:
I also have HD calling on sprint. Its very nice and clear, but it only works with people on the same carrier. Is this true with Verizon also?
Click to expand...


Nope. VZW doesn't half ass their technology like Sprint. They have cross carrier compatibility with AT&T and TMobile. I've been on multiple HD Voice calls on my AT&T iphone 6 to buddies on VZW. Works great!
 
BigMcGuire said:
Agreed... HD calling on Verizon is jaw dropping amazing. Always been pretty unhappy with the terrible call quality on cellphones from day 1. Only thing I've noticed is, dropped calls happen noticeably --- to be fair my apt only has 1-2 bars of LTE. Quality is amazing though. Can't wait till we're all on it.
Click to expand...

"JAW DROPPING"..........hahahahaha
 
  • Like
Reactions: RadioGaGa1984
dictoresno said:
Made my first HD call today and was actually confused/surprised. Most of our area has VoLTE but not many people I call have a compatible phone. I've browsed the net while on a call (Verizon) with my wife on her 5S but never actually used the calling side of it. Called a friend today with an iPhone 6 and instantly realized we were on an HD call. He didn't even realize it at first until I pointed it out. But wow, what a difference it makes. Good to see the future is finally free of muffled, tinny phone calls.
Click to expand...

Don't know if your wife is still on 5s but if she is, strongly recommend "FaceTime Audio" since more people out there are going to be able to use it (they just don't know it's right under their nose). The quality is phenomenal. I'm sure comparable to VoLTE though I have heard FaceTime Audio might be slightly better. Either way, it's nice that technology is reaching the masses.
 
Love it too but we have a long way to go before I deem this as anything worth being excited about. Step one will be to get HD voice working between carriers. I make a lot of calls and I have clients on literally every carrier in the US.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ABC5S
wxman2003 said:
Verizon is going to have to improve it's LTE footprint if they want people to use VoLTE. Dropped calls due to weak LTE signal strength will not make customers happy. That's the reason why I turned that capability off.
Click to expand...
Not sure where you are, but in my area and most areas where I work, play, and travel, VZW's LTE coverage is fairy ubiquitous and definitely better than the other carriers.
 
cableguy84 said:
Surely this is old news we've had facetime audio for ages
Click to expand...

I'm late to the party. I've been using iOS for over 3 years now and I'm just now discovering how much better a FaceTime Audio call is compared to cellular.. almost like you're in the same room. Love it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back