By 
AT&T has announced that they’ve started working on out HD Voice in initial markets, with work to begin as early as May 23rd. Said markets include select areas of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin. It’s interesting that the company is beginning their rollout in these mid-western markets. It’s not these are small markets by any means, but we’re used to seeing the likes of New York City and LA getting the red carpet treatment ahead of anyone else.
So what is HD Voice? Simple — it’s voice over LTE, giving you a more clear and reliable medium for calling than typical cellular technologies of yesteryear. VoLTE can deliver data for internet browsing and allow you to speak over the improved network at the same time. That’s not necessarily taboo tech anymore as simultaneous voice and data has been possible on older technologies, but it’s worth noting anyway.
Unfortunately the roster of devices which can take advantage will be small to start, both figuratively and literally. The only device that will be equipped with HD Voice capabilities to start is the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. Of course, you can expect more devices and more markets to be added in the weeks, months and most likely years to come.
[via AT&T]
Your article is very misleading.
HD voice is branding for wide band voice calls. VoLTE includes this feature in some or all implementations but only means Voice over LTE.
For AT&T they are both being combined but T-Mobile does HD voice without LTE.
Correct. HD voice is not voice over LTE. T-Mobile has been using HD voice for awhile now. It’s simply a higher quality audio codec.
You’re right. The bigger picture is here is that AT&T is rolling out VoLTE.
Correct. I just checked some new outlets, and it seems that AT&T is rolling out voice over LTE as well as the so-called HD Voice codec. I didn’t see if LTE is required for their implementation of HD Voice. T-Mobile requires an HSPA+ connection for HD Voice.
All that is needed is for this article writer to amend the error starting that voice over LTE = HD Voice.
This is great news. Now the two and a half voice minutes I use every month will sound crystal clear.
I wonder if unofficially the Nexus 5 will work on VoLTE? Anyone know?
Silly marketing idea. “HD VOICE”. people have been dealing with shitty call quality for 10 years because of its convenience. This is an answer to a question nobody asked. Voice over IP will not be close to landline quality any time soon. People dont care because of cell phone’s convenience.
Another way for them to jack up prices.
For Verizon and AT&T, how can they determine how much data you use each month if voice and data are both over LTE? I’m asking about them in particular because they no longer offer unlimited data plans and I am afraid of data overages if voice is misinterpreted as data.
The same way they’ve been doing it. Voice is already data and has been for a long time.