Verizon rolling out VoLTE HD Voice and Video Calling 1.0 “in the coming weeks”
As long as Verizon has been talking about the HD Voice and VoLTE network enhancements we have yet to see any of it launch in any official capacity. Thankfully it appears to be right around the corner as the carrier has just announced that they will begin rolling the service out within weeks.
What’s VoLTE, you ask? Simple: voice calling over LTE. It’s a more reliable way to transmit audio data and affords more bandwidth for the call. This means call quality is improved thanks to higher bitrate and other factors. Most in the industry have taken a liking to the term “HD Voice” for these enhancements. Unfortunately this won’t kick in unless both you and the person you’re calling are on a Verizon VoLTE phone and are both within LTE coverage. Otherwise, it reverts back to Verizon’s legacy network.
Verizon’s VoLTE won’t only bring improved voice calls, though — the carrier also anticipates video calls between two VoLTE customers. They haven’t gone into grave detail about the functionality just yet, though we’re crossing our fingers in hopes that video calls won’t count toward your monthly data allotment. We’ll be reaching out to Verizon to see if they can shed any light on that ahead of launch.
Thankfully Verizon already has a sizable roster of LTE phones that should be compatible with VoLTE, though the carrier says you’ll need to standby for a software upgrade to get in on the fun. Let’s hope it doesn’t take Verizon too long to announce the full details ahead of next month’s rollout. Any Big Red customers out there excited for its arrival?
[via Verizon]