at&t VoLTE deployment

[deeddawg]

If you just moved an existing SIM over to an iphone6/6+ it may not be capable.

I used the SIM that shipped with the iPhone 6. Do I need to replace it?

See the bolded text in my prior post.

Since you didn't move an existing SIM, then what I said likely does not apply.

BTW, what did AT&T say when you called them up to ask what's going on? I'd guess something isn't correctly provisioned on your account since you have this problem and are using the SIM that shipped with the phone.

For what it's worth I hadn't really looked before, but did a couple test calls and noticed my LTE indicator remains when on an active call. I'm using the SIM from my 5S and am in the ATL market.

 

[Applejuiced]

As far as I'm aware, the MDM9615 in the 5/5C/5S is capable of VoLTE.

I wonder if there'll eventually be a jailbreak tweak to enable it on those phones, much like how MMS was enabled on the iPhone 2G

Interesting.
I doubt they will enable it but could be possible with a JB hack.

The iPhone 5S does have a bigger battery, 1570 mAh Vs. 1440 mAh of the iPhone 5. The iPhone 6, 1810 mAh.

About the rest:

http://www.tmonews.com/2014/05/iphone-can-support-volte-but-likely-wont/

"Stats from 2012, showed VoLTE to require almost 2x the power for the same length of call, but my instinct is that was due to the LTE chips available at the time."

http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/2hr3xw/

Wow, thanks for the correction.
Even though very small difference, but Im surprised they increased the capacity without size increase.

----------

I may be wrong but I believe you need a new SIM to enable VoLTE. If you just moved an existing SIM over to an iphone6/6+ it may not be capable.

I had to get a new sim when I got my 6 plus.
The Apple rep told me the same thing you said above.
I got a text from AT&T the second I put my iphone 5 sim inside the new 6 plus to do the upgrade swap. It told me to go to an AT&T store to get a new sim.

 

[nateo200]

I may be wrong but I believe you need a new SIM to enable VoLTE. If you just moved an existing SIM over to an iphone6/6+ it may not be capable.

No you don't need a new SIM card...I'm on Verizon and I just switched cards...the SIM cards that ship with a new phone are simply blank SIM cards from the carriers and they actually have to activate them which is stupid since part of the reason SIM cards were invented was so you could switch phones without going through a bunch of BS with the carrier. If the carrier doesn't know the new SIM card is in a VoLTE capable phone then you'd just have to go online or call and have it provisioned but allot of the time the carrier will sense the change of the phones serial number and IMEI number and identify it as an iPhone 6 or a Note 4 or whatever and know that its VoLTE capable....this is how AT&T was automatically adding data plans to iPhone 3G's when people just wanted to use it for talk and text on a dumb phone plan back in the day. Only time you'd need a new SIM card is if you had a bonafide 2G/3G only SIM card (drawing a blank on the names but UICC and USIM come to mine for GSM and UMTS), those couldn't use LTE at all and had to be upgraded to access the new networks but if you have an LTE phone the SIM card is perfectly capable of VoLTE, its a back end carrier thing. I have a feeling the automatic text messages from AT&T and other providers asking you to switch to a new SIM card are their way of planning for the day the SIM card is "digital"....I pray to God I'm wrong but yeah...

Interesting.
I doubt they will enable it but could be possible with a JB hack.

Eh its more firmware based than software based...theres a difference...not saying its impossible but I would seriously think its considerably more difficult and possibly unstable to do a JB hack for....

 

[mattwallace24]

There was an article on fierce wireless a few weeks ago saying that AT&T and Sprint weren't spending as much towards their networks as Verizon and Tmobile are right now.

I didn't read it that way and when you look at their actual 3rd quarter financials (what they really spent), T-Mobile doesn't come anywhere close in capital expenditures (TMUS $1.1B, Sprint $1.9B, Verizon $4.1B, and AT&T $5.9B). AT&T and Verizon are out spending T-Mobile at a pace of 4-5 to 1. Even if either of them slows down one quarter and pushes some of the expense to the next quarter, they are still spending 4x more on their networks and infrastructure.

 

[nateo200]

I didn't read it that way and when you look at their actual 3rd quarter financials (what they really spent), T-Mobile doesn't come anywhere close in capital expenditures (TMUS $1.1B, Sprint $1.9B, Verizon $4.1B, and AT&T $5.9B). AT&T and Verizon are out spending T-Mobile at a pace of 4-5 to 1. Even if either of them slows down one quarter and pushes some of the expense to the next quarter, they are still spending 4x more on their networks and infrastructure.

Maybe hes referring to how much they spend in relation to what they actually have....no doubt AT&T and Verizon have much larger reserves of cash than T-Mobile....I know Verizon is really pushing VoLTE and more and more LTE though...they are moving at the same pace as T-Mobile if not maybe faster but in many areas I see AT&T leaving their HSPA+ as is and I get the feeling they are sitting on the couch going "Meh...its still 4G...what do consumers know...we'll get to that cell site when we get a chance" especially so in states where cell sites are stupid expensive to build and maintenance (see NY State, New Jersey, Massachusetts!).

 

[2298754]

at&t VoLTE deployment

Maybe hes referring to how much they spend in relation to what they actually have....no doubt AT&T and Verizon have much larger reserves of cash than T-Mobile....I know Verizon is really pushing VoLTE and more and more LTE though...they are moving at the same pace as T-Mobile if not maybe faster but in many areas I see AT&T leaving their HSPA+ as is and I get the feeling they are sitting on the couch going "Meh...its still 4G...what do consumers know...we'll get to that cell site when we get a chance" especially so in states where cell sites are stupid expensive to build and maintenance (see NY State, New Jersey, Massachusetts!).

What are you talking about? I live in the Northeast and travel between these states everyday. AT&T has the densest LTE network in CT, NJ, MA, RI, etc.

Their LTE deployment is near 100% in MA, NJ, CT, and RI. These are the most densely populated states in the nation.

And in rural upstate NY, LTE is everywhere. I had LTE almost 95% of the time from my drive from Boston to Niagara Falls last month. It was HSPA for the other 5%. And the holes up there are supposed to be filled in by year end 2014.

The only carrier that comes close to matching them is VZW. TMO and Sprint aren't even on the same planet. TMobile is too busy filling in coverage that AT&T had LTE up in years ago, so please spare me the "they're just leaving HSPA" BS.

 

[mattwallace24]

What are you talking about? I live in the Northeast and travel between these states everyday. AT&T has the densest LTE network in CT, NJ, MA, RI, etc.

Their LTE deployment is near 100% in MA, NJ, CT, and RI. These are the most densely populated states in the nation.

And in rural upstate NY, LTE is everywhere. I had LTE almost 95% of the time from my drive from Boston to Niagara Falls last month. It was HSPA for the other 5%. And the holes up there are supposed to be filled in by year end 2014.

Wait, you're bringing facts to a MacRumors carrier debate?!? I think that is against the rules

 

[nateo200]

Wait, you're bringing facts to a MacRumors carrier debate?!? I think that is against the rules

I'm just going to walk away from this one....lol

 

[2298754]

Wait, you're bringing facts to a MacRumors carrier debate?!? I think that is against the rules

I guess "facts" only matter when the topic of discussion is about the beloved TMobile.

 

[Stratus Fear]

We have LTE all over Atlanta, but I've yet to find anywhere that has VoLTE enabled. Everytime I make a call it switches to 4G.

I have the same experience. Even more annoying is that according to AT&T's coverage map, it's enabled, but it doesn't seem to work whenever I've made a call.

https://www.att.com/maps/wireless-c...on=-84.26345825195312&zoom=9#fbid=joSWANLZLb2

 

[normanfox]

What are you talking about? I live in the Northeast and travel between these states everyday. AT&T has the densest LTE network in CT, NJ, MA, RI, etc.

Their LTE deployment is near 100% in MA, NJ, CT, and RI. These are the most densely populated states in the nation.

And in rural upstate NY, LTE is everywhere. I had LTE almost 95% of the time from my drive from Boston to Niagara Falls last month. It was HSPA for the other 5%. And the holes up there are supposed to be filled in by year end 2014.

The only carrier that comes close to matching them is VZW. TMO and Sprint aren't even on the same planet. TMobile is too busy filling in coverage that AT&T had LTE up in years ago, so please spare me the "they're just leaving HSPA" BS.

I can't speak for all areas. when I travel between NC, SC, and GA, I got LTE most of places. I rarely got 4G.

my house used to have weak signal that I have to use AT&T Microcell over a year ago. now I got full signal with 63mbps download.

 

[WolfSnap]

Anyone want to try to explain why AT&T's HD Voice website shows only Android phones in the ads, but the only phones capable of using HD Voice are the iPhone 6's? LOL

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/se...pObpQ-dL4WitIEgncZleQ4wML.hw#fbid=vsZsI_JCSsU

Check out the video.. The video has them using Android phones, and the women who offers up her phone to the guy does some very odd things with her fingers on the screen before handing the phone to him...

The whole site is just cheesy and stupid.

 

[goobot]

Interesting.

Wow, thanks for the correction.
Even though very small difference, but Im surprised they increased the capacity without size increase.

Apple said in the keynote that due to making the chipset smaller they were able to use that extra space for battery.

 

[ChubZ]

ATT is behind on spending as most ATT markets have blew past their operating budgets for the year in all embedded areas.

Next year you will more a spike in ATT network upgrades as they start deploying LTE over 1800 and 850 spectrum.

I should know...my company makes all the equipment the big carriers use at their cell sites and switches.

 

[ineel]

ATT is behind on spending as most ATT markets have blew past their operating budgets for the year in all embedded areas.

Next year you will more a spike in ATT network upgrades as they start deploying LTE over 1800 and 850 spectrum.

I should know...my company makes all the equipment the big carriers use at their cell sites and switches.

at&t doesn't own 1800Mhz spectrum anywhere, no carrier in US does for that matter. 1800 is not a north american cellular band, it is more of a european/asian LTE band. 850Mhz is currently used for GSM/UMTS and LTE is only deployed on 850 as a last resort where at&t has no 700B/C licenses.

However, there is the AWS-3 spectrum auction being held later this month and at&t should be buying sizable chunks of that in areas they are low in spectrum and/or do not currently own any AWS licenses. But I doubt they will be deploying this spectrum next year as testing and development of new devices that support AWS-3 will need to be completed. Although LTE band 10 does support AWS-3, it doesn't completely encompass all of its frequencies. So, either band 10 will need to be re-defined, or a completely new LTE band will need to be developed.

 

[2298754]

at&t doesn't own 1800Mhz spectrum anywhere, no carrier in US does for that matter. 1800 is not a north american cellular band, it is more of a european/asian LTE band. 850Mhz is currently used for GSM/UMTS and LTE is only deployed on 850 as a last resort where at&t has no 700B/C licenses.

However, there is the AWS-3 spectrum auction being held later this month and at&t should be buying sizable chunks of that in areas they are low in spectrum and/or do not currently own any AWS licenses. But I doubt they will be deploying this spectrum next year as testing and development of new devices that support AWS-3 will need to be completed. Although LTE band 10 does support AWS-3, it doesn't completely encompass all of its frequencies. So, either band 10 will need to be re-defined, or a completely new LTE band will need to be developed.

Correct. AWS-3 requires new devices and various testing. Deployment on AWS-3 wouldn't be instantaneous.