Verizon VoLTE = Dropped Calls

This is going to happen if you have less than excellent LTE coverage. Verizon does not have any fallback system for handing off a VoLTE call to the older CDMA network. If you lose LTE, even for a second, you lose the call. And even now, their LTE coverage is not 100% mirroring the older CDMA coverage.

The situation will (hopefully) get better as they beef up LTE coverage density, but for now there's going to be some growing pains in a lot of places.

By the way, Verizon COULD have enabled a fallback system if they chose to invest the money on it. Or even if they don't want to do that, they COULD support Wifi calling and permit VoLTE to Wifi handoffs. T-Mobile already does this. If this isn't an argument for Verizon supporting Wifi calling, I don't know what is.

 

Haven't had one dropped call. Most of mine are made from home where LTE is weak. Usually around -110 dBm and I still do not drop calls.

 

Yeah, that's unfortunate however Verizon does state on their website YMMV so it's just not totally ready for prime time. Instead of that LTE calling nonsense I wish they worked with Apple to implement the Wifi calling feature like T-mo.

 

Some of the dropped calls may also be related to how congested the LTE tower you are using.

 

Only dropped one call so far..but I've had a few instances where person on other line stopped hearing me for 30 seconds or so, and then I have to repeat.

I turned mine off over the weekend..never used the feature in the past and can't really see where I'd need it now. If I do need it, I'll just switch it on.

Hopefully it improves over time

 

It explicitly states in the FAQ that if you lose LTE coverage, calls will be dropped: http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/faqs/WirelessService/AdvancedCalling.html

They also call it a 1.0 service and haven't really advertised or touted it, so I'd basically treat it as a Beta stage product at the moment. Set expectations appropriately.

 

So basically no talk + data. VOLTE not ready for prime time.

 

What does YMMV stand for

 

Your Mileage May Vary

 

Why wouldn't they allow the call to fall back to regular cdma when coverage is poor instead of dropping the call completely?
Seems like they really rushed out this feature just to be able to say they can also now do calls and data.

 

Hey ladies and gentlemen,

Remember that VoLTE is being 'tested' now. I think it went live only a week or so before the launch of the iPhone 6/6+. Hell, only 4 devices support it (S5/ LG G3/ 6/6+). You can't expect perfection in new technology.

 

From what I have read only newer versions of LTE can do this.

T-Mobile supports the fall back as their LTE network was built using the latest.
AT&T is releasing VOLTE on a per market basis as they are upgrading LTE to support fallback.

Verizon seems to think that their LTE network is good enough to support VOLTE without any fallback.

 

We are their test subjects. Most people do not have VoLTE phones yet. They will make adjustments to the network based on how it works for us.

 

Yes but both T-Mobile and AT&T can fall back to hspa+ Or 3G without dropping the call and while still being able to use data while on call.
There should always be a fallback option just like before from 3G to 2G.
Verizon users will start experiencing more and more call reliability issues. They won't be able to hear us now

 

Slightly incorrect. When u make a call on att. The LTE signal is disabled and u are actually making wcdma digital call with 2g as fall back. You are never making LTE calls with att.

As a side note. One of criticism of att during 2008-2011 was numerous dropped calls. It's because their wcdma voice/data was being too congested and calls would dropped.

Verizon bragged about the least amount of dropped calls because CDMA calling automatically disabled data service.

Now verixon gets a taste of their own medicine with voice over LTE. If their network gets overloaded or poor reception. You will start noticing drop call complaints with verixon with LTE calling.

 

No problems, but I live in a bigger city with pretty full lte coverage.

 

It is the way you explained it above now but at&t is rolling out volte.
It's available in Chicago and some smaller areas for now.
And it doesn't go back down to hspa+, it just uses lte and also has hspa+ Fallback without dropping the call.

 

I posted about this last week.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19918661#post19918661

If you are mobile while on a call you have a good chance of dropping the call if you move between LTE and 3G coverage areas. If stationary and you start the call in LTE coverage area you'll get crystal clear fidelity.

Note this applies to BOTH participants on the call. Which means if you initiate a call to someone and they also have a VoLTE enabled phone then you both handshake into VoLTE mode until/unless one of you goes into 3G signal range and then the call will drop. But if only one of you has a VoLTE enabled phone then the call will handshake as normal CDMA and the dropped call effect shouldn't apply.

In other words....yes consider it a Beta with some "drop prevention" kicking in at call initiation to weed out drops except for total VoLTE to VoLTE connections.

Will say when it works....sounds fantastic. Except over BT headset as most don't support it yet.

 

I am pretty sure this information is incorrect.

With advanced calling 1.0 all calls are routed over the LTE network regardless of who you are connecting with. Verizon will compress audio to the least common denominator based on who you connect with e.g. Lan Line, CDMA, VOLTE etc.. This is no different than VOIP.

The point is that once you establish the connection over the LTE network there is no method to fall back to if the LTE signal diminishes.

The key difference here between AT&T/T-Mobile and Verizon is that the call itself has the ability to switch from LTE seamlessly onto HPSA with a reduced codec rather than drop your call. Verizon has absolutely no way to hand off the call from LTE to CDMA.

 

The difference with Verizon, is that either your phone makes calls via VoLTE if enabled, or 1x if not. It does not use 3G for any voice calls at all. Thus the problem with getting out of range of LTE towers. They have plenty of towers. All can handle 3G, but not all can handle LTE. There are fewer LTE towers than their are stand alone 3G towers.

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

At my office the LTE coverage is spotty, so I have to turn voice+data off in settings, or else calls drop often as the network switches back from LTE to 3G. Everywhere else I've been, VoLTE has been great.