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iPhone5 switches on ATT 4G for voice calls! ATT cheating?!!

A

AnalyzeThis

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 8, 2007
443
1
I got my iPhone5 for a while and happen to reside in LTE area. Since yesterday, I have noticed - all my iPhone5 are switching to 4G when making voice calls. I do not recall seeing this flip-flop before. I observed this pattern in PA and DE.

Is ATT are cheating their customers when they advertise LTE availability?

Do you see the same pattern on yours?

So much for LTE, cheap skates @ ATT. U r Busted
 
Would you rather stay on LTE, but not be able to use data while on a call? That's what would happen, as the iPhone 5 does not support voice and data simultaneously on LTE. Just ask Sprint and Verizon customers. Personally, I think it's an acceptable trade off.
 
AnalyzeThis said:
I got my iPhone5 for a while and happen to reside in LTE area. Since yesterday, I have noticed - all my iPhone5 are switching to 4G when making voice calls. I do not recall seeing this flip-flop before. I observed this pattern in PA and DE.

Is ATT are cheating their customers when they advertise LTE availability?

Do you see the same pattern on yours?

So much for LTE, cheap skates @ ATT. U r Busted
Click to expand...

Not Verizon nor att do voice over lte

That's called volte. They'll roll pit this technology in the coking years likely.
 
AnalyzeThis said:
I got my iPhone5 for a while and happen to reside in LTE area. Since yesterday, I have noticed - all my iPhone5 are switching to 4G when making voice calls. I do not recall seeing this flip-flop before. I observed this pattern in PA and DE.

Is ATT are cheating their customers when they advertise LTE availability?

Do you see the same pattern on yours?

So much for LTE, cheap skates @ ATT. U r Busted
Click to expand...

Ummm, because nobody does voice over LTE (VoLTE) yet.
 
It's normal. It does the same thing on other AT&T LTE devices. The phone will drop to HSPA+ in calls.
 
How is that cheating? Does your calls suffer, do they drop more?

FWIW, verizon uses CDMA when making calls on the iPhone 5, not LTE. I don't care what it uses as long as the quality of the calls is high and they don't drop
 
Charadis said:
Unfortunately, the iPhone 5 cannot do simultaneous voice and LTE (SVLTE).
Click to expand...
Is there any advantage to this? I'm not knocking it because its not on the iPhone but rather as a consumer do I really care what technology my phone uses for voice? as I posted as long as the quality of the call and it doesn't drop is there I don't care what it uses.
 
What is the downside of 4g for phone calls? I don't need faster phone calls. LTE is much spottier than 4g here so it seems like 4g would be a better idea anyway for now.
 
AnalyzeThis said:
I got my iPhone5 for a while and happen to reside in LTE area. Since yesterday, I have noticed - all my iPhone5 are switching to 4G when making voice calls. I do not recall seeing this flip-flop before. I observed this pattern in PA and DE.

Is ATT are cheating their customers when they advertise LTE availability?

Do you see the same pattern on yours?

So much for LTE, cheap skates @ ATT. U r Busted
Click to expand...

LOL, you can't really sue them for false advertising, since AT&T/VZW has redefined HSPA+ as "4G". LTE is also "4G". So you are just flip-flopping from 4G to 4G, and there is no difference at all.

We, the consumers, will never win. :D
 
AnalyzeThis said:
I got my iPhone5 for a while and happen to reside in LTE area. Since yesterday, I have noticed - all my iPhone5 are switching to 4G when making voice calls. I do not recall seeing this flip-flop before. I observed this pattern in PA and DE.
Click to expand...

Welcome to three weeks ago.

Most LTE networks aren't capable of voice over LTE. On Verizon, the situation is even worse: on a call, you drop to CDMA, which means voice and no data, unless you're connected to Wifi.

Is ATT are cheating their customers when they advertise LTE availability?
Click to expand...

Nope. LTE is available.

Do you see the same pattern on yours?
Click to expand...

Yep. Completely normal behavior.


So much for LTE, cheap skates @ ATT. U r Busted
Click to expand...

Actually, if you want to blame someone for being "cheap," blame Apple. The way around this situation is to have two modems, so that two connections can be maintained during a voice call. But they only equipped the iPhone 5 with one.

In any case, HSPA isn't exactly a slowpoke network, and is still leagues better than no data at all on a call like Verizon or Sprint.
 
maflynn said:
Is there any advantage to this? I'm not knocking it because its not on the iPhone but rather as a consumer do I really care what technology my phone uses for voice? as I posted as long as the quality of the call and it doesn't drop is there I don't care what it uses.
Click to expand...

I've read that the phones capable of SVLTE have a third antenna built in specifically to handle LTE while voice data can still be received/transmitted with a separate antenna.

From other speculation, I've heard that that it may also have to do with the LTE and CDMA built onto a single chip, a point that was touted in Apple's iPhone 5 announcement for contributing to the thinness of the phone.

-C
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I love how people are to blaming AT&T, it's pathetic. OP needs to do some research because it is Apple, who was lazy. Other LTE phones can do LTE data while calling over HSPA/CDMA, but Apple, in its infinite wisdom, decided not to do it.
 
dchao said:
LOL, you can't really sue them for false advertising, since AT&T/VZW has redefined HSPA+ as "4G". LTE is also "4G". So you are just flip-flopping from 4G to 4G, and there is no difference at all.

We, the consumers, will never win. :D
Click to expand...

T-Mobile is the one who started up the "HSPA+ is 4G" and AT&T was forced to follow suit to remain competitive in it's marketing... against T-Mobile and especially Verizon.

Verizon actually DID have a 4G network in LTE. As a matter of fact, at the VZW iPhone 4 announcement... the Verizon CEO joked about the other carriers "4G" and based upon the speed difference, they have considered calling their LTE network "6G".

----------
AutoUnion39 said:
but Apple, in its infinite wisdom, decided not to do it.
Click to expand...

Apple can't do it if the networks don't yet support it. :rolleyes:
 
maflynn said:
How is that cheating? Does your calls suffer, do they drop more?

FWIW, verizon uses CDMA when making calls on the iPhone 5, not LTE. I don't care what it uses as long as the quality of the calls is high and they don't drop
Click to expand...

Yes, it did suffer. I got my first dropped call on Iphone5. This probably made me check what it shows on the screen. I did not care before as it did not drop any call yet. The consecutive call was full of crackling and other noise. Yes Galaxy S2/3 do the same. The after math of this switch - it degrades both voice and data to 4G during call and for a few minutes after the call. LTE is very fast, but 4G degrade is "unbeara-a-a-a-ble". So LTE seems to be limited to internet only right now. So Iphone6 may offer LTE data during 3G calls, iPhone7 will finally deliver LTE Call+data. Pretty lucrative upgrade path, is it not?
 
Last edited:
AnalyzeThis said:
Yes, it did suffer. I got my first dropped call on Iphone5. This probably made me check what it shows on the screen. I did not care before as it did not drop any call yet. The consecutive call was full of crackling and other noise. Yes Galaxy S2/3 do the same. The after math of this switch - it degrades both voice and data to 4G during call and for a few minutes after the call. LTE is very fast, but 4G degrade is "unbeara-a-a-a-ble".
Click to expand...

Dude. LTE is data only for everyone right now. All networks. I saw the same thing happening, spent 5 minutes reading on up on LTE, and realized this is how it's supposed to work as no one is doing Voice over LTE yet in the US. Move on...
 
Charadis said:
Unfortunately, the iPhone 5 cannot do simultaneous voice and LTE (SVLTE). Verizon, however, does have a list of other phones with that capability, including the HTC Thunderbolt. Samsung Galaxy S 3, HTC Droid Incredible LTE, and HTC Evo 4G.

From PC Mag: http://mobile.pcmag.com/?ref=302692&url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409716,00.asp

-C
Click to expand...

If it gets VoLTE it will be able to. Then it can do voice over LTE and data over CDMA.

maflynn said:
Is there any advantage to this? I'm not knocking it because its not on the iPhone but rather as a consumer do I really care what technology my phone uses for voice? as I posted as long as the quality of the call and it doesn't drop is there I don't care what it uses.
Click to expand...

No. Voice over LTE is no different than voice over 3G in terms of quality, really.

It just opens up another channel for data.

dchao said:
LOL, you can't really sue them for false advertising, since AT&T/VZW has redefined HSPA+ as "4G". LTE is also "4G". So you are just flip-flopping from 4G to 4G, and there is no difference at all.

We, the consumers, will never win. :D
Click to expand...

AT&T clearly tries to screw the average consumer into thinking that their HSPDA network is 4G, the same as LTE, which it definitely isn't.

But again, the FCC is too stupid to step in and regulate.
 
AnalyzeThis said:
I got my iPhone5 for a while and happen to reside in LTE area. Since yesterday, I have noticed - all my iPhone5 are switching to 4G when making voice calls. I do not recall seeing this flip-flop before. I observed this pattern in PA and DE.

Is ATT are cheating their customers when they advertise LTE availability?

Do you see the same pattern on yours?

So much for LTE, cheap skates @ ATT. U r Busted
Click to expand...

Currently, LTE cannot handle voice calls. Only data.
Therefore, you get dropped to 4G when taking a call. It's not because of poor signal.

AT&T advertises simultaneous data and voice, which still works ... on 4G.
 
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