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Right, I meant that Verizon includes mobile hotspot on all current plans. When I signed up with Verizon ~3 years ago, mobile hotspot was included in my plan at no additional charge. I obviously cannot speak to older plans that Verizon is still permitting people to use. But all CURRENT plans include mobile hotspot.

actually this is not totally true.....I just got my iphone6 and switched from att to VZ the plan they set me up with included 2GB of data but would not allow hotspot or tethering....after 3 hours on the phone and web chat I managed to get them to move me to a more everything plan with only 250MB of data then took them up on the extra Gig of data promotion....this left me with less data but I can hotspot in an emergency....and it cost a little less than the att plan...this whole no data while on a call thing may make me move back....sure VoLTE is nice but in practice I am not so sure LTE coverages is marginal...even my old 4a on att could voice and data enough to get by all the time.
 
Having been a Verizon customer even in their GTE days, I made the switch to AT&T when the iphone 3G made its appearance. Even though I have became a really big fan of the iPhone, I immediately noticed the service was nowhere near as good as Verizon. AT&T was constantly dropping calls as they were famous for, and I live in a very good AT&T coverage area.

In the past year or so since AT&T has really spread out their LTE coverage, dropped calls have become few and far between. What I do notice is that the AT&T network cannot switch between towers without dropping a call. Practically everytime and the areas it happens are quite predictable.

I travel weekly pretty much anywhere east of the Mississippi River. AT&Ts coverage is great but still not as well as Verizon when it comes to maintaining a signal for voice calls. I use my phone primarily for business and am constantly using the ability to have internet while having a voice call. This IS the only reason I have not switched back to Verizon since they've had an iphone that'll work on their network. This feature allows me to use one device for everything I need and is much less cumbersome than juggling multiple devices. Anyone that thinks this is not a big deal to iphone users with Verizon are sadly mistaken.

Like many, I've been awaiting a large screen iphone. I was estatic when I learned the 6 will do data and voice at the same time with Verizon. That is until I found out that this is only going to work while in a LTE area. While the data and voice working together is not an issue, the call reliability that Verizon is known for may well be. That is because the call will drop if you are traveling in and out of a LTE area due to not being able to hand over to the old network. Verizon states this publicly. From my experience, LTE signal comes and goes suddenly. The older system that has made Verizon the best in voice coverage is much farther reaching and works inside buildings, etc. Unless they make their LTE as far reaching as the old network, it maybe best to stick it out with AT&T since their system already allows switching from LTE to 3/4G. A fact they may soon find that gives them a trump card.

I'm no expert by any means, but this is what I gather thus far.
 
Apologies if this has been answered already. Will voice over LTE ding my data usage very much? I am on the 2GB/$60 plan so I have to watch myself.
 
Apologies if this has been answered already. Will voice over LTE ding my data usage very much? I am on the 2GB/$60 plan so I have to watch myself.

It won't show in your data used at all. VoLTE does not use your data plan for voice calls.
 
I've had more dropped calls with the 6 Plus than any other phone I've used. "Call failure" is becoming a regular presence on my screen, in areas that have full LTE coverage, and where I've had no issues with other phones. Trading out for the Note 4, I believe.
 
I've had more dropped calls with the 6 Plus than any other phone I've used. "Call failure" is becoming a regular presence on my screen, in areas that have full LTE coverage, and where I've had no issues with other phones. Trading out for the Note 4, I believe.

No way. I'm not calling you out, but there is no way this would be happening unless you had a faulty... something. Call, 'just ask apple' and they will connect and diagnose the problem and solve your mystery. I've had no dropped calls, in years. My connection currently is solid as a rock and the voice quality es great.
If you've experienced this in the past then your working in a weak signal area and need to find a provider that gives good coverage where you use your phone .
 
Simultaneous Voice/Data, HD Voice Now Available to Verizon iPhone 6 and 6 Plu...

No way. I'm not calling you out, but there is no way this would be happening unless you had a faulty... something. Call, 'just ask apple' and they will connect and diagnose the problem and solve your mystery. I've had no dropped calls, in years. My connection currently is solid as a rock and the voice quality es great.

If you've experienced this in the past then your working in a weak signal area and need to find a provider that gives good coverage where you use your phone .


I have full bars (dots.. lol) and strong LTE signal, my previous phones haven't dropped any calls, and I can immediately redial on this one. Very frustrating. Honestly, I miss Android a great deal anyhow, iOS 8 is so boring.
 
I have full bars (dots.. lol) and strong LTE signal, my previous phones haven't dropped any calls, and I can immediately redial on this one. Very frustrating. Honestly, I miss Android a great deal anyhow, iOS 8 is so boring.

Then it's the phone. That particular phone has a problem. "Just Ask Apple" 1-800-692-7753 , is the number to call for AppleCare. Call on that phone and they will run a quick diagnostic. They will ship you a replacement or set you up with a genius bar appointment to get it replaced. Then sell it and get your Android.
Life is short. Get what you want and do it with a great phone in your pocket :D
 
Then it's the phone. That particular phone has a problem. "Just Ask Apple" 1-800-692-7753 , is the number to call for AppleCare. Call on that phone and they will run a quick diagnostic. They will ship you a replacement or set you up with a genius bar appointment to get it replaced. Then sell it and get your Android.

Life is short. Get what you want and do it with a great phone in your pocket :D


Apparently it had a logic board issue, so they swapped it. Hopefully it works properly now.
 
This crap. This crap is getting old. I'm on my second 6 plus, and while the second phone is better, calls drop all the time. I know if I enter areas with low LTE signal that can cause calls to drop but that's not the case here. I always have between 3-5 dots of LTE coverage, no less. Call failure 3 times today. I hate this phone at this point.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1414873156.182636.jpg
 
This crap. This crap is getting old. I'm on my second 6 plus, and while the second phone is better, calls drop all the time. I know if I enter areas with low LTE signal that can cause calls to drop but that's not the case here. I always have between 3-5 dots of LTE coverage, no less. Call failure 3 times today. I hate this phone at this point.

View attachment 510713

What service do you have? I'm on Verizon and I've had about 2 dropped calls in 2 months.
 
This crap. This crap is getting old. I'm on my second 6 plus, and while the second phone is better, calls drop all the time. I know if I enter areas with low LTE signal that can cause calls to drop but that's not the case here. I always have between 3-5 dots of LTE coverage, no less. Call failure 3 times today. I hate this phone at this point.
No offense intended, I've read posts like this for just about every major release going back several years on HoFo...

I have two iPhone 6 handsets on VZW's network, and I had the same issues as you did with one of the two of them. And, in my office, I see 4-7 Mb/s down on the south side and 20-55 down on the north side, and I've learned to move to the north side to make calls now.

But, for my problem iPhone 6 with slow data and call problems, I got a new SIM from a nearby corporate store and had VZW Tech Support reset my line's settings to resolve my call drops. No more problems now, even with 1-2 (meaningless) bars - inside or outside. The problem SIM didn't have a small hole in it (one of the newer SIM cards, my IT guy tells me), but the other SIM - the one that worked great from Day 1 - did have a small hole in it. With the new SIM and reset account, I see fast data speeds and haven't had one dropped call. Try a new SIM card and/or an account reset. Good luck!
 
No offense intended, I've read posts like this for just about every major release going back several years on HoFo...

I have two iPhone 6 handsets on VZW's network, and I had the same issues as you did with one of the two of them. And, in my office, I see 4-7 Mb/s down on the south side and 20-55 down on the north side, and I've learned to move to the north side to make calls now.

But, for my problem iPhone 6 with slow data and call problems, I got a new SIM from a nearby corporate store and had VZW Tech Support reset my line's settings to resolve my call drops. No more problems now, even with 1-2 (meaningless) bars - inside or outside. The problem SIM didn't have a small hole in it (one of the newer SIM cards, my IT guy tells me), but the other SIM - the one that worked great from Day 1 - did have a small hole in it. With the new SIM and reset account, I see fast data speeds and haven't had one dropped call. Try a new SIM card and/or an account reset. Good luck!

I'll take it down to the Verizon store today and see about getting a new SIM. I had 2 more dropped calls yesterday with good signal, and also call quality in general is degrading - voices breaking up, etc.
 
I'll take it down to the Verizon store today and see about getting a new SIM. I had 2 more dropped calls yesterday with good signal, and also call quality in general is degrading - voices breaking up, etc.
One more thing about getting your line reset - when I called in to Tech Support, I was told that my problem handset kept locking into a tower that was much farther away than the nearest one - but I didn't ask or find out if that was a function of the way the old SIM was provisioned. My second iPhone 6 was locking into the nearer tower.

I also couldn't get that SIM/handset to activate VOLTE at all, even after enabling the Advanced Voice option in My Verizon - the new SIM was up and running within 5 minutes after I activated it. My second iPhone 6 was using VOLTE (voice & data) in about 2 minutes.

FWIW I have been on that former-problem handset for about 90 minutes today, with no issues whatsoever - pretty decent voice quality now all of the time, even to non-VZW phones. Again, good luck!
 
One more thing about getting your line reset - when I called in to Tech Support, I was told that my problem handset kept locking into a tower that was much farther away than the nearest one - but I didn't ask or find out if that was a function of the way the old SIM was provisioned. My second iPhone 6 was locking into the nearer tower.

I also couldn't get that SIM/handset to activate VOLTE at all, even after enabling the Advanced Voice option in My Verizon - the new SIM was up and running within 5 minutes after I activated it. My second iPhone 6 was using VOLTE (voice & data) in about 2 minutes.

FWIW I have been on that former-problem handset for about 90 minutes today, with no issues whatsoever - pretty decent voice quality now all of the time, even to non-VZW phones. Again, good luck!


Thanks man. 3 dropped calls yesterday. Today I had the SIM swapped - 15 minutes later it dropped again. 4 bars. Need to call customer service for the line reset, if that doesn't fix my problem, I'm out. This isn't usable.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1415061723.357682.jpg
 
Thanks man. 3 dropped calls yesterday. Today I had the SIM swapped - 15 minutes later it dropped again. 4 bars. Need to call customer service for the line reset, if that doesn't fix my problem, I'm out. This isn't usable.
:(
I talked with Tech Support for a few minutes, we've got a new job site in US Cellular territory and a couple of my calls dropped (on my "good" phone). The confession was that VOLTE is still a work-in-progress in some areas and that if the other party is in a fringe area or 3G area the call will drop. The recommendation was to just revert to Data Only for LTE - I did that, and no more call drops.

FWIW, be sure to do the "Reset Network Settings" command in your iPhone. I also checked the newer SIM cards - the font of the card number on the new SIM is much larger than the older SIMs we have, I can actually read it without squinting. Again, good luck!
 
:(
I talked with Tech Support for a few minutes, we've got a new job site in US Cellular territory and a couple of my calls dropped (on my "good" phone). The confession was that VOLTE is still a work-in-progress in some areas and that if the other party is in a fringe area or 3G area the call will drop. The recommendation was to just revert to Data Only for LTE - I did that, and no more call drops.

FWIW, be sure to do the "Reset Network Settings" command in your iPhone. I also checked the newer SIM cards - the font of the card number on the new SIM is much larger than the older SIMs we have, I can actually read it without squinting. Again, good luck!

VoLTE will drop more calls, it has nothing to do with what the other end is on. It is expected that calls will drop more often with VoLTE than with CDMA, all else equal. Thus why networks are adding sites and using lower frequencies to try and offset this. But in rural areas, VoLTE will likely never be as good. Just as digital is still usually worse than analogue once was in these areas. More complex coding = poorer performance with weak signals but increased capacity.
 
VoLTE will drop more calls, it has nothing to do with what the other end is on. It is expected that calls will drop more often with VoLTE than with CDMA, all else equal. Thus why networks are adding sites and using lower frequencies to try and offset this. But in rural areas, VoLTE will likely never be as good. Just as digital is still usually worse than analogue once was in these areas. More complex coding = poorer performance with weak signals but increased capacity.
Sure.... and you know this how?

So, Tech support tells me one thing, and there's this (http://www.cnet.com/news/6-reasons-why-youll-eventually-want-voice-over-lte/ - see the first item in "downsides" - one of my IT guys emailed this CNET blog post to me) - and there's my empirical experience over two weeks... yeah, you must be the one who's correct. :rolleyes:

My only issues have been with an outdated SIM card and dealing with USCC - a different LTE provider we roam on in one of about 10 counties in the PNW that doesn't have native VZW LTE even though we're seeing VZW LTE in our handsets' provisioned accounts. I disagree with you - 90% of our dropped calls have had issues "on the other end", be it on in fringe VZW LTE coverage another LTE network (USCC - Extended LTE). We haven't dropped a single call that wasn't tied to a fringe area or an old SIM since we connected to VZW's VOLTE "network".

We've had equally the same call drop issues on 1xRTT in those areas. We're getting around this for our business by switching to an ATTWS MVNO.
 
Sure.... and you know this how?

So, Tech support tells me one thing, and there's this (http://www.cnet.com/news/6-reasons-why-youll-eventually-want-voice-over-lte/ - see the first item in "downsides" - one of my IT guys emailed this CNET blog post to me) - and there's my empirical experience over two weeks... yeah, you must be the one who's correct. :rolleyes:

They got their info a little closer. Verizon is deliberately confusing VoLTE with other elements of their so-called "Advanced Calling 1.0" - yes it is true if both ends are on VoLTE, either side can drop. But their claim VoLTE somehow only works if both ends support it is nonsense - you just don't get the audio quality benefit. Test this yourself by calling someone NOT on Verizon or even on LTE, notice that you stay in LTE during the call if VoLTE is enabled.

Thus, drops are drops. Verizon has always loved pseudo-technical excuses when things go wrong. Reality is this. LTE is a ***** technology for coverage. It's darn fast, but it doesn't cover well. Ignore the pseudo-scientific excuses, and look at the reality - LTE just doesn't have good coverage. And, to be honest, I'm betting against it ever having coverage nearly as good as older technologies. It'll take a lot of new network build.

P.P.S. Coverage isn't just "do you have signal" in this case - it is if that signal can sustain the quality of service needed for voice. Speed means nothing in this case, but stability is everything. Under all but ideal conditions, LTE is horridly unstable.
 
They got their info a little closer. Verizon is deliberately confusing VoLTE with other elements of their so-called "Advanced Calling 1.0" - yes it is true if both ends are on VoLTE, either side can drop. But their claim VoLTE somehow only works if both ends support it is nonsense - you just don't get the audio quality benefit. Test this yourself by calling someone NOT on Verizon or even on LTE, notice that you stay in LTE during the call if VoLTE is enabled.

Thus, drops are drops. Verizon has always loved pseudo-technical excuses when things go wrong. Reality is this. LTE is a ***** technology for coverage. It's darn fast, but it doesn't cover well. Ignore the pseudo-scientific excuses, and look at the reality - LTE just doesn't have good coverage. And, to be honest, I'm betting against it ever having coverage nearly as good as older technologies. It'll take a lot of new network build.

P.P.S. Coverage isn't just "do you have signal" in this case - it is if that signal can sustain the quality of service needed for voice. Speed means nothing in this case, but stability is everything. Under all but ideal conditions, LTE is horridly unstable.
I'll give you that explanation, and I get the "excuses" thing - I've fired civil/structural engineers for making up stories to cover their own butts.

As for coverage, that's why we have two sat phones and several 2-way radios in our inventory - not cheap, but I know they work everywhere we need to go. I almost always use the "Nokia" field test app when I scope out a site, and we also carry ATTWS phones with us - the cost for a cell phone is far cheaper to our client than driving an hour each way to make a call, and a contractor standing around can run $2k per hour...
 
I'll give you that explanation, and I get the "excuses" thing - I've fired civil/structural engineers for making up stories to cover their own butts.

As for coverage, that's why we have two sat phones and several 2-way radios in our inventory - not cheap, but I know they work everywhere we need to go. I almost always use the "Nokia" field test app when I scope out a site, and we also carry ATTWS phones with us - the cost for a cell phone is far cheaper to our client than driving an hour each way to make a call, and a contractor standing around can run $2k per hour...

It definitely makes sense to have both Verizon and AT&T phones in that case. It's a sad but true by the laws of physics case that for a given power level, frequency, and site location coverage will get worse as spectral efficiency gets better.

In many ways, inferior technology has been Verizon's claim to fame for years now - Qualcomm CDMA is painfully dated compared to AT&T's UMTS network, but it is also much more stable for the same reasons. Likewise, in the 2G days, Verizon supported analogue long after AT&T had gone GSM-only. By sticking with inferior technologies with better coverage, Verizon has been able to set themselves apart, in a way.

Their rapid move to LTE was a necessary leap on the data front, but seems silly for voice. They're throwing away their key selling point (ancient technology that lacks features but is very stable). I wish them the best, I really do.
 
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