Conference Calls on iPhone

[matankai]

I was rewatching Steve's greatest keynote - the iPhone introduction.
When he made the first public call (with Ive) and then Schiller called in as well, he demoed the iPhone's ability to manage multiple calls and how simple it was.
Here it is:
http://youtu.be/t4OEsI0Sc_s?t=26m15s

For one, that screen at 27:19 doesn't exist anymore.
And you can't easily switch at the top like at 27:33.
The UI for multiple calls doesn't seem as effective or simple as it was in that demo. What iOS version changed that? Do we know why?


Just curious, thank you!

 

[scaredpoet]

Are you on Sprint, Verizon or some other CDMA carrier?

If so, then you'll need to look at this support document.


In a nuthsell: the call management that you see never went away; it's still there. The problem is, not all carriers support the capability. Native GSM/UMTS carriers (like AT&T, T-Mobile) support conference calling in the way the keynote demonstrates. In fact, you can conference in up to five people.

But native CDMA carriers (Sprint, Verizon, US Cellular) don't support it, because their networks never had the capability. So, if your iPhone is on one of these networks, what you see in the keynote won't be available. These carriers MIGHT support it in the future, but to do that, they'd have to ditch CDMA entirely and migrate over to the GSM model of handling calls over LTE (or, whatever technology comes after LTE).

None of this was a concern back in 2007 when Steve demoed conferencing on the first iPhone, because at the time (and for three more years after that), the iPhone was GSM/UMTS-only.

 

[CEmajr]

The above post is correct. The poor conference calling capabilities of Verizon were one of the things that irked me about their network. Will never use a CDMA carrier again.

 

[Applejuiced]

Another reason to stay away from CDMA carriers.

 

[mainevent3405]

Absolutely does still exist

I'm on Tmo and the ability to conference call the same way in that vid does still exist and I use it everyday on my IP5 (for business calls). Don't know about Verizon, but the OP is incorrect.

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

The only problem with conference calling on an iPhone IMO is the caller's lack of touchtones...it's been this way since the first iPhone and I've tried it on other people's devices as well