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U.S. Carriers Unlikely to Support iPhone 5's Wideband Audio, European Support More Likely

Dr McKay said:
So because American carriers are less likely to adopt something Apple releases that undoes all the things Apple has done purely for the US Market? Such as way overcharging other Nations, Siri still gimped outside the US, not supporting 4G outside the US.
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The iPhone 5 very much does support 4G outside the US. The flap over the iPad was the result of Apple experimenting with LTE using older chips. It's exactly why they skipped LTE with the 4S, or else they'd have had the same issues (bigger battery required, less support for overseas markets).

Apple introduced DC-HSDPA for the new iPad, which again was for European markets, not American markets, as our carriers don't support it. Siri was in beta all last year, and didn't work very well. That, more than anything, is why Apple didn't expand support. As for "overcharging," lots of things cost more in Europe (look at cars). It's the price of a social safety net and additional statutory protections for consumers. And I hate it when people compare prices in the EU with VAT to prices in the US before sales taxes.
 
Normally I wouldn't care, but having experienced wideband audio in day-to-day communications...it makes a big difference. Think of how clear Skype sounds next to a standard crummy cell call and you'll be close.
 
I want the carriers to support this feature on all capable phones. If they just focus on the latest iPhone then only iPhone 5 to iPhone 5 calls will be "crystal clear."

I'm sure the 3GS, i4, i4S, and most of the newer Android and Windows Mobile phone can use higher quality voice encoding if the carriers decide to allow it.
 
Boomhowler said:
Hmm, pretty sure Sweden was first:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/26/ericsson-and-teliasonera-reveals-worlds-first-commercial-lte-si/
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OK, so one carrier in a tiny country in Europe was first. Verizon's network covers 30 times as many people. By and large, European carriers were slower to adopt LTE, partly because it was less necessary, and partly because EU governments were slower to allocate sufficient spectrum.

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Therbo said:
not to mention them telecom companies own T-Mobile and 45% of Verizon, and one has more customers then the entire population of the US.
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Yes, and Deutsche Telekom has done nothing but mismanage T-Mobile USA since it bought VoiceStream. Vodafone has long tried to get out of its minority stake in Verizon Wireless, but Verizon won't buy them out. Verizon calls most of the shots in that partnership.
 
Dr McKay said:
So because American carriers are less likely to adopt something Apple releases that undoes all the things Apple has done purely for the US Market? Such as way overcharging other Nations,
Click to expand...

Apple overcharges everyone.

Siri still gimped outside the US, not supporting 4G outside the US.
Click to expand...

Siri is gimped everywhere.
 
MrCrowbar said:
USA is very spread out except in big cities.
In cities like New York, the networks can barely handle regular calls. Too many people, too few cell towers, too many obstacles (steel and concrete buildings).
In rural areas, there's lots of space between houses. Not enough people to justify more and newer cell towers.

In places like Germany (Deutsche Telekom) and France (Orange), there's not that kind of mega cities and there's more dense population in rural areas. So it's much cheaper to reach most of the population with relatively few cell phone towers. And the fewer towers you have, the easier it is to upgrade them all with the newest technology.
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What about Sweden then, we have a less dense population then america yet we still have alot better infrastructure including mobile networks. We were the first country to get real 4G mobile networks (LTE), and we are also one of the cheapest countries for getting data. For example 5GB of data can be had for 15$ a month, and that often includes unlimited calling and texting. Real unlimited data is somewhere around 20-30$ a month. We have 3G coverage almost everywhere, and when i say 3G i mean real 3G, 20Mbit/s, not the 4Mbit/s etc you have in USA. Our 4G networks have speeds around 40-80Mbit/s but ofcourse they're not really all over the country yet.
 
mex4eric said:
Germany and France are small countries?
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I wouldn't say small, but the population of France is equivalent to that of California and Texas. (approx 60 million people)
Germany has roughly 80 million.

High population density is why many EU countries can roll out tech to the masses faster.

US has approx. 31 people per sq km where as France is 113 per sq km.
Germany is 231 people per sq km.

Marcus-k said:
What about Sweden then, we have a less dense population then america yet we still have alot better infrastructure including mobile networks. We were the first country to get real 4G mobile networks (LTE), and we are also one of the cheapest countries for getting data. For example 5GB of data can be had for 15$ a month, and that often includes unlimited calling and texting. Real unlimited data is somewhere around 20-30$ a month. We have 3G coverage almost everywhere, and when i say 3G i mean real 3G, 20Mbit/s, not the 4Mbit/s etc you have in USA. Our 4G networks have speeds around 40-80Mbit/s but ofcourse they're not really all over the country yet.
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Ahh yes. Sweden. 9 million people in country the size of California.
 
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Marcus-k said:
What about Sweden then, we have a less dense population then america yet we still have alot better infrastructure including mobile networks. We were the first country to get real 4G mobile networks (LTE), and we are also one of the cheapest countries for getting data. For example 5GB of data can be had for 15$ a month, and that often includes unlimited calling and texting. Real unlimited data is somewhere around 20-30$ a month. We have 3G coverage almost everywhere, and when i say 3G i mean real 3G, 20Mbit/s, not the 4Mbit/s etc you have in USA. Our 4G networks have speeds around 40-80Mbit/s but ofcourse they're not really all over the country yet.
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isn't most of the population in one or two cities?

in the US we have LOTS of people living away from cities. like 30km and farther. spread out too
 
pandamonia said:
In the UK i get a whole SKY subscription with TV broadband and Phone package included for less than you pay for mobile data.
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What happens if you go to a neighboring country? I don't have to pay extra or deal with the hassle of buying new SIM cards, comparing rates and all that even when I travel from one coast to the other and everywhere in between. Besides, 3G coverage turned out quite lousy in the UK. Paying a few pounds a month more would definitely be worth it to get better coverage.
 
PeterQVenkman said:
Apple overcharges everyone.



Siri is gimped everywhere.
Click to expand...

But it's especially gimped outside the USA, cannot even look up stores with Siri etc.

KPOM said:
The iPhone 5 very much does support 4G outside the US. The flap over the iPad was the result of Apple experimenting with LTE using older chips. It's exactly why they skipped LTE with the 4S, or else they'd have had the same issues (bigger battery required, less support for overseas markets).

statutory protections for consumers. And I hate it when people compare prices in the EU with VAT to prices in the US before sales taxes.
Click to expand...


Still even with VAT into account Apple products are wayyy more expensive outside the US.
 
rjohnstone said:
High population density is why many EU countries can roll out tech to the masses faster.

US has approx. 31 people per sq km where as France is 113 per sq km.
Germany is 231 people per sq km.
Click to expand...
Population density may be a reason, but the statistics overstate the case. Much of the US is completely devoid of people and carriers do not provide any cell phone coverage in those areas. We should compare the population density in places with cell phone coverage.
 
In this case, couldn't you all use Google Voice?
I'm pretty sure that the real problem is not whatever spectrum excuse, but the service just plainly sucking.

I'm with Sprint and have a Nexus S 4G. Even in an important city, the service it's just ridiculous. Most of the time with bar or none and at most probably two bars. It's not my phone, I've got similar feedback from other people on Sprint and AT&T.
 
So basically the U.S. carriers are saying, for HD audio, just speak louder into the phone.
 
Canadian Carriers?

Does anyone know if there are Canadian carries supporting wideband audio?
 
MacRumors said:
The report goes on to discuss the other two mechanisms for providing HD Voice support, which include a CDMA-related codec being used by Sprint and voice-over-LTE technology being pursued by both AT&T and Verizon, but the iPhone 5 does not support either of those mechanisms.
Click to expand...

Does anyone know why Apple wouldn't support these codecs/techs being pursued by the big 3 carriers? I don't know too much about HD voice support, but it before I begin venting at AT&T and the likes, I'm wondering if Apple is more at fault here for not supporting/working with the big 3.

UPDATE: Actually, after reading up more, I'd say neither side is that guilty. The HD Voice tech AT&T would like to use, VoLTE, seems very promising and the future, but there are still hurdles to work out right now. In the meantime, Apple has adopted the Wideband codec, AMR-WB, since at least it's supported in some European countries. Anyone, please feel free to elaborate or fix any of my misreads, but it just sounds like our carriers in the US are not 100% ready while Apple decides to help those carriers who already are.
 
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