By 
If you thought Verizon Wireless was going to take it easy after blanketing the nation in super high-speed 4G LTE, you’d be wrong. According to inside sources, the #1 wireless provider in the US is currently getting ready to introduce Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) nationwide to customers early next year. Catharine Trebnick, VP at Northland Capital Markets, revealed “VZW has two cities now trialing [VoLTE] and plans for national rollout in early 2013.”
This timeline is actually later than previously projected back during MWC of last year where Verizon said they’d hope to launch VoLTE services in 2012 — although it’s still possible the new service could trickle out to limited markets this year, with a broader nationwide rollout early next.
[Via VZBuzz | LightReading]
So now when 4g dies we can lose voice too? Awesome! How much more will we pay for the honor?
Wow, could not have said that better!
You still have current networks to go back to in case of another LTE blackout. You would still have data and voice, it just wouldn’t be as fast :
There have been times when Verizon’s LTE dies and I get dropped to no data of any kind, not even the 1x network. I really hope voice doesn’t wind up doing the same. All these outages in the past few weeks have really killed my positive feelings for them – especially after they admitted in their presser that the entire 4g network sits on one flat national network – sections of the country aren’t segmented from each other, which just helps a local outage spiral out of control into a national one so much more easily.
My cynicism just sees some new VoLTE plan for the VoLTE network at some new VoLTE price, and when it goes down you’re SoL just like you are now with LTE data.
We already have voice over LTE and 3G my Thunderbolt and Rezound both work on both LOL wtf.
no they don’t, i hate to inform you but you are not voiping over data service.
Unless he’s using a service like google voice, but I doubt it.
Google Voice is not VOIP. It goes over the Verizon 1X network, same as regular calls.
What does the “Use Google Voice to make all calls” option on my smartphone do?
It uses your cell phone account and basically forwards the call through Google Voice. You are still using your cell minutes but your caller ID is displayed as your GV number.
It uses your Google Voice number to route your calls. It still goes through the Verizon voice network, and uses your minutes the same. Mobile to mobile does not apply, since it is being routed through Google.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Nope, just data over 4G. When VoLTE rolls out you should notice a pretty big upgrade in voice quality, not to mention being able to talk and surf at the same time.
You can talk and surf at the same time without VoLTE. I do it all the time on my Thunderbolt, and that’s an almost year-old phone.
That’s not what he’s saying. The Thunderbolt can’t do VoLTE. It can do simultaneous voice and data when on 3G and 4G connections but it’s not using the 4G for voice.
Funny story about the Thunderbolt and it’s ability to surf and talk at the same time while using 3G services.. Verizon doesn’t actually know why this feature works. The phone was designed to do data at 4G and take calls over CDMA. However during testing it was discovered that it would take calls over CDMA and data over the 3G network simultaneously which was a first for Verizon. There is never been anything officially stated by Verizon that the simultaneous voice/data capabilities over 3G work. Hence if an OTA were to ever break this feature, Verizon nor HTC would be held responsible since technically it is not a feature of the phone.
They advertised it as a feature. I believe the reason it works is because it has 3g and 3g/4g radios instead of a 3g and a 4g radio.
I understand that, and I wasn’t disagreeing with jeston, I was just pointing out that VoLTE isn’t necessary for talking and surfing, and as Michael Radcliffe noted, the TBolts can do it over 3G as well, which I do remember reading somewhere(not sure if it was an official report or a blog, or in a forum) before the Tbolt was released that it was capable of talking and surfing while on 3G as well as LTE – which none of their other 3G phones did up until that point.
You are confused. VoLTE is VOIP phone calls. That means phone calls will be carried over LTE, rather than the current CDMA. They tested it last year on the LG Revolution.
Well, NOW I’m confused because I wasn’t aware I ever *was* confused lol. I know what VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) are. All I was trying to say to jeston was that a device that can talk and surf at the same time doesn’t need to be capable of VOIP or VoLTE as well – like the Thunderbolt.
Yeap. The Thunderbolt and Rezound can do simultaneous voice/data over 3G and 4G. It’s weird on my Nexus when I go into a 3G area to see the 3G disappear during calls. Not sure why HTC is the only manufacturer including eHRPD support. That is one of the things I miss from my Thunderbolt.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
You are confused. This has nothing to do with simultaneous voice/data. VoLTE means VOIP voice calls, over LTE, rather than over CDMA. This was tested on the LG Revolution last year. The Thunderbilt does not have that capability.
can talk and surf at the same time now on TBolt and GN.
Does LTE have a messaging standard? One would think messaging would be easier than voice!
It’s incredible how fast Verizon is deploying their new network. Not only that, but I hear stunning reviews about its performance. I guess that’s what you can do when you have a ton of money and an opportunity.
Side note: I love a lot of the phones on Verizon’s network, but sadly it just costs to much to be on Verizon. I switched to Sprint, and I am happy, but I really wish I had some idea of when LTE is coming to my area and I also wish I could have a bit better phone selection.
It’s one of those things where granted it’s one of the most expensive networks but you get what you pay for, especially with the 4G rollout now.
It’s incredible as in incredibly sad. There should be no reason to have a nationwide LTE outage. What they are doing is brand new technology to them, and they are learning as they go. Which is a good thing. Except, they are approaching it the wrong way.
Verizon is using centralized LTE service. Which means, they pick a main spot (think the top of a family tree) and create the heart and soul of LTE around it. When that spot fails, EVEYRTHING fails.
Sprint is doing it the correct way… perhaps by learning from VZW’s mistakes. Instead of a central hub, they are creating metro-spots. So, instead of a single point of failure, they have multiple points of failure. Such as, a Boston hub, a Las Vegas hub, a Tampa hub, a Denver hub, etc. If Tampa fails, Boston/Las Vegas/Denver still have service.
So, when it’s being deployed at such a fast pace, it’s because they want to be the fastest and largest. They are not thinking about smart design. They may de-centralize it once they reach a certain goal… but until then, we can all expect nationwide outages to happen from time to time. As they find the root cause and address the issue so it doesn’t happen again, the outages will be less frequent, but they will happen… guaranteed.
Verizon is already breaking it down into hubs so there shouldn’t be another “nationwide” outage…
Yup
For you techies out there the way Verizon is going to implement this is IMS based. Which means it’s the same tech t-mobile is using on the NEW wifi calling for the GSII and the HTC Amaze. Which goes to show Verizon COULD implement WiFi Calling if they wanted to. I think one of the reasons we’ll never see WiFi calling on at&t or Verizon is because those companies have land line businesses to protect. If you think about it, calls over WiFi would make the reliability of a land line pointless.
I doubt it, landlines as of now is the way 911 tracks people when calls are discovered connected, 911 calls can’t even be made on VoIP services. Will it treat wifi the same or VoLTE?
You can call 911 on a VoIP, but they don’t necessarily have the ability to let the operator know where you are without telling him/her, like E911 calls do.
http://www.fcc.gov/guides/voip-and-911-service
Considering that VoLTE is effectively the same thing as VoIP (since LTE networks are fully IP-based) calling 911 via a VoLTE phone is the same as calling via a VoIP phone.
All vzw 4G phones can talk & surf @ the same time as long as 4G is available. Delay is good. LVoLTE
Delay VoLTE however long is needed. No rush. I don’t need 4g outages effecting my calls. Driod Charge in Tampa
I wish this would come sooner since they said 2012 last year. FYI one of the biggest implications of this switch is improved 4g battery life, since the CDMA radio does not need to be kept powered on for voice service.
It’d be nice if they said what current devices, aside from the revolution, are compatible with VoLTE.
I’ve been able to talk and surf the web for years on att. I’m not saying att is better than verizon but it’s something they should have done long ago. It’s one of the reasons att waited to roll out their lte. They wanted to make sure they didn’t lose any of their 3g functions our fake 4g functions.
With verizon’s 4G you can surf and talk at the same time, you just can’t over 3G due to the nature of CDMA. Verizon is planning to shut down its 3G and CDMA networks (for the most part) and go to strictly LTE, with VOLTE being used for voice which will move them towards Advance-LTE and “true 4G”.
Technically talking and surfing is possible with VZW if you turn WiFi on before making a call :P
Technically you can do both on CDMA 3G. The Thunderbolt had it.
The thunderbolt was the only one that I am aware of having that capabilities. All other verizon phones cannot use 3G while talking.
With every provider coming out with REAL 4g now, LTE Advanced would be the thing to set them apart. LTE advanced is true speed and would set any network apart from the other by far, if Verizon was smart they would start building the infostructure for that, who really care about VoLte, not really a big deal or anything impressive. I would rather talk over cellular to be honest.
Actually no provider has true 4G and won’t until deployments of LTE Advanced start.
My question is: Will all current LTE phones be VoLTE capable (like through a software update or something)?
If the Revolution was able to do it in a test, I would assume that all LTE phones have this capability.
It should seems to me everyone is missing the REAL reason Verizon is doing this. Its not for their customers! Its for them! They want to free up spectrum. Best way to do that is get voice off cdma and start migrating and repurposing that spectrum to LTE.