VoLTE calls are 4-5 times less stable than 2G and 3G calls

benster · 05-02-2016, 20:29

From

http://www.4g.co.uk/4g-news/operators/volte-calls-are-4-5-times-less-stable_300115642.html

VoLTE (or Voice Over LTE) is the next big thing in mobile. It’s the act of making calls over 4G. In the UK Three already offers it through 4G Super-Voice, while the other networks are bound to launch it soon.

But while it promises faster call connections and higher voice quality it’s been found to be far less stable than calls over 2G or 3G.

New research from Amdocs has revealed that VoLTE call drops can be four or five times more likely than calls on 2G or 3G. That’s a massive gulf in quality and one which suggests VoLTE might not be quite so desirable yet after all.

It’s not hopeless though, as the report simply points out that it requires aggressive tuning by network operators to get it ship shape.

It also doesn’t necessarily reflect Three’s VoLTE performance, as the findings are based on analysis of more than 25 million voice and data connections from 80 different networks across the world.

Still, it’s a concern, especially as VoLTE is predicted to grow at a massive rate over the next few years.

The Amdocs report also found that mobile data usage is growing across the world at a rate of around 60 percent year-on-year. This massive growth could be a problem though, as networks are only offloading between 5 and 15 percent of it onto Wi-Fi, which isn’t enough to properly deal with the growing traffic.

Other findings include the perhaps unsurprising discovery that mobile networks need to be especially strong in cities, where 75 percent of mobile traffic is indoors, which is always trickier to reliably cover than outdoor areas.

It also found that when roaming, customers receive up to a 25 percent worse network experience than locally-based customers, despite the fact that roamers can offer networks greater revenues.

It’s mostly bad news then, but with this information in hand hopefully mobile networks across the world can and will do more to fix things.

D_S7 · 05-02-2016, 20:39

Yeah, but the whole world knows what a balls up Three made, it's unfair to even try and compare what EE or Vodafone might do with LTE Calling when compared to the monkey business that is Three have done. Three are just a bunch of loser muppets

It's like saying driving a F1 car is impossible because a chimpanzee couldn't do it, and then along comes Seb Vettel and shows how it is actually done.

Cloudane · 05-02-2016, 21:06

Shh, don't tell EE, they're dragging their feet enough already. Far as I'm concerned (since I ditched the iPhone for a Nexus and so don't have Wifi Calling any more) any signal at home is better than the current status of "nothing unless I position the phone just so"

jchamier · 05-02-2016, 21:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by benster

It’s mostly bad news then, but with this information in hand hopefully mobile networks across the world can and will do more to fix things.

Someone should ask Verizon - their LTE VoLTE network seems to give my family in the USA no hassles. (Using iPhones).

lightspeed2398 · 05-02-2016, 21:22

I presume that this is because the 4G networks aren't as dense and "built out" as the equivalent 2G or 3G ones plus they haven't had the years of improvement and tweaking that the 2 and 3G ones have had.

moox · 05-02-2016, 21:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchamier

Someone should ask Verizon - their LTE VoLTE network seems to give my family in the USA no hassles. (Using iPhones).

Verizon has probably spent megabucks on the network and on tweaking VoLTE. They want to shut down CDMA at some point, so VoLTE and deep LTE coverage is critical in achieving that

Thine Wonk · 05-02-2016, 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightspeed2398

I presume that this is because the 4G networks aren't as dense and "built out" as the equivalent 2G or 3G ones plus they haven't had the years of improvement and tweaking that the 2 and 3G ones have had.

I think so, 3G evolved so much from it's original early 2000s when it was 384k to the dc-hspa we saw deployed in recent years at 42.2Mb/s theoretical. I'm sure LTE will advance over time as well as more spectrum is allocated, wider coverage and when networks get to the infill stage.

jonmorris · 05-02-2016, 21:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchamier

Someone should ask Verizon - their LTE VoLTE network seems to give my family in the USA no hassles. (Using iPhones).

Call drop rates are pretty low on most networks, so five times more likely doesn't necessarily mean that big a chance of a failed/dropped call.

But EE clearly wants to wait until its own testing proves reliable enough. There seems to be no desire to rush things as you might argue Three did (and had to, as it had decided to switch from rolling out 1800 in some locations in favour of 800).

D_S7 · 05-02-2016, 22:10

I was told that 3 is just half assed and only 1 or 2 sites in a whole town for SuperVoice Calling, no wonder it's so bad. It's what you get from a network with a muppet as boss.

Gigabit · 06-02-2016, 07:28

Wavejock?

jonmorris · 06-02-2016, 09:34

Wavejock was a little bit more subtle with his insults I think!

I think Three has done wrong on a lot of things but I wouldn't go anywhere near as far to attack them, or any other business. Businesses make good and bad decisions all the time.

You call them out on the bad and give credit for the good.

binary · 06-02-2016, 09:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

Wavejock?

Tiresome and adding little to the conversation, that's for sure.

binary · 06-02-2016, 10:01

The fact that the 4G spec was released into the wild without proper voice calling functionality from the get go just seems more and more ridiculous the more I think about it.

Mobile industry - you have done yourselves few favours here. I suspect this is going to go down as one of the big technological faux pas in years to come.

jonmorris · 06-02-2016, 10:12

VoLTE taking too long obviously played a part, but it didn't help that some operators were keen (read: desperate) to be first. It was just as mad when some networks were calling faster 3G technologies 4G.

jchamier · 06-02-2016, 10:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

It was just as mad when some networks were calling faster 3G technologies 4G.

AT&T and quickly after T-mobile US - I guess they felt they had to do something to market why their HSPA+ and DC-HSPA was better than Verizon and Sprint's CDMA - all officially called 3G but dramatically different in speeds.

3.75 G would have been good

Aye Up · 06-02-2016, 11:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

But EE clearly wants to wait until its own testing proves reliable enough. There seems to be no desire to rush things as you might argue Three did (and had to, as it had decided to switch from rolling out 1800 in some locations in favour of 800).

Now see thats why I think there isn't any clamour or rush to VoLTE. EE and Vodafone are currently working on said features, but they are in no rush to bring it to market. As I have said a few times there isn't any immediate need for VoLTE, not while WiFi Calling is being rolled on some networks. We are at a nice half way point, network upgrades continue at a pace, cost of price plans is starting to settle and even phone costs are stabilising.

At the moment when a user picks up their phone they don't really care about what technology is used allowing them to send messages on WhatsApp et al. Most folk are blissfully ignorant of it all, save those of us on here who get our knickers in a twist occasionally

The next 12-18 months will offer a grace period for the networks, so they can get their house in order, rollout upgrades as fast as possible and finally launch much vaunted services like VoLTE.

As I say no immediate need for VoLTE, customers for now are happy the way they are.

Thine Wonk · 06-02-2016, 11:15

I wouldn't say VoLTE isn't needed because wifi calling is available... (on some networks). There are many times when wifi isn't actually very good or even available where VoLTE would do the job very well.

EG: in a supermarket, hotel (hotel wifi is terrible) and many other places. Wireless calling is only really beneficial when you're at home or not really moving at all as going out of the wifi quality area will cause issues.

I also doubt customers will suddenly become unhappy in 12-24 months in the grace period you've given them. I'd say 99.9% of people wouldn't even know what VoLTE was, even in 2 years and won't benchmark call drops or really consider that a big deciding factor at time of purchase.

hammy_y · 06-02-2016, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

I wouldn't say VoLTE isn't needed because wifi calling is available... (on some networks). There are many times when wifi isn't actually very good or even available where VoLTE would do the job very well.

EG: in a supermarket, hotel (hotel wifi is terrible) and many other places. Wireless calling is only really beneficial when you're at home or not really moving at all as going out of the wifi quality area will cause issues.

Yeah I think in a supermarket low MHz VoLTE will work well - in Tesco on EE I switch between No Service, 2G, 3G, and 4G randomly but if there is service it's always very weak. When EE roll out 800MHz and VoLTE that should hopefully change.

I know Vodafone gets 3G in there, and O2 at least 2G, and probably they both get 2G, 3G and 4G. Three assuming their coverage checker is correct will get 800MHz 4G in there. Which means it's a pretty major blackspot for EE until VoLTE & 800 is rolled out.

Aye Up · 06-02-2016, 17:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

I wouldn't say VoLTE isn't needed because wifi calling is available... (on some networks). There are many times when wifi isn't actually very good or even available where VoLTE would do the job very well.

EG: in a supermarket, hotel (hotel wifi is terrible) and many other places. Wireless calling is only really beneficial when you're at home or not really moving at all as going out of the wifi quality area will cause issues.

I also doubt customers will suddenly become unhappy in 12-24 months in the grace period you've given them. I'd say 99.9% of people wouldn't even know what VoLTE was, even in 2 years and won't benchmark call drops or really consider that a big deciding factor at time of purchase.

I agree WiFi Calling in public settings like a supermarket may produce lower quality. To be fair when I have made my way around Tesco/Asda (only ones I know who do wifi?), its been pretty well spread, funny in fact I just accepted a WhatsApp call today from my Mam, worked flawlessly. Granted this doesn't quite work the same way as WiFi Calling, however its an indication.

What I do find rather silly is networks not rolling out WiFi calling faster, it would offload a lot of the data and congestion to an IP backbone that could handle the traffic. Granted its only beneficial in the short term, however given the way they can sample customers information it could be used in a way in which to target investment. Its not a holy grail of course, but its a useful feature O2 and Three would do well to implement fully.

Thine Wonk · 06-02-2016, 18:23

I've personally never wanted to join wifi in the supermarket as there's usually a captive portal and a heck of a lot of fuss, you'd have to keep connecting to wifi in every pub, mcdonalds, airport etc you go, whereas VoLTE would just automatically work.

The Lord Lucan · 06-02-2016, 22:41

Coverage and user experience has little to do with why networks want to roll out VOLTE and it is also the reason they won't delay much longer.. It saves bandwidth and provides more capacity, several times more in some cases.

Hence why Three was so desperate to launch, they are the most congested in main cities.

Wifi Calling has little to do with when a network will launch VOLTE, ie having it won't delay it.

Thine Wonk · 06-02-2016, 22:46

Yeah, I see wifi calling at an easier way of getting short-term home coverage and not needing additional boxes to make calls. VoLTE as the longer term voice solution for everywhere. As the name suggests Long-term evolution...

natbike · 07-02-2016, 12:05

My apartment, although in London zone 2, is a mobile low spot. Bad signal from all networks.

Before I started using Three VoLTE I could only get a (3G) signal at the window side of my building.

Now I get usable voice service throughout. This usually displays as being either 0 or 1 bars (-110 to -118dBm at the back). Voice calls work and I don't notice any particularly obvious drop outs. It seems on par with my work phone (EE). It's much better than 3G was.

So I'm quite happy with my experience of VoLTE as I no longer have to use the TIT app (which was a pain when it double dialed occasionally).

Those slating the service always seem much louder than those enjoying it.

It's not perfect, but if you happen to be on the fringe it can be a real benefit, as I can testify to.

It hasn't been jumping to 3G since Xmas, so maybe they have tweaked the handover priorities on my mast to avoid latching an unusable 3G signal (problem before Xmas).

bookey_uk · 07-02-2016, 14:29

I'd love to know who Amdocs surveyed for this and more detail behind the report if the VoLTE users were in a mature market or early adopters.

VoLTE is a more stable calling layer than 2G and 3G combined, you can see better performance on VoLTE with sub 0.2% DCR which is great, Vodafone's latest results for the UK listed a 0.70% DCR rate, EE's currently stands at 0.4% which is still too high but deploying VoLTE will improve the DCR.

jchamier · 07-02-2016, 14:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aye Up

To be fair when I have made my way around Tesco/Asda (only ones I know who do wifi?), its been pretty well spread, funny in fact I just accepted a WhatsApp call today from my Mam, worked flawlessly. Granted this doesn't quite work the same way as WiFi Calling, however its an indication.

EE's real WiFi Calling does not activate on Sainsburys WiFi. I assume Sainsburys don't permit the VPN type traffic.

In hotels I've found WiFi calling a pain, you can have glorious 3G or 4G signal through the window, and because you are on WiFi for data (to save allowance) the phone call defaults to going via WiFi Calling. I've turned it off now, and only turn it on at my mates house where EE, 3 and O2 signal is awful. (Vodafone was awful but improved dramatically just after Christmas).

WhatsApp, iMessage, Facebook Messenger and other "Over the top" type tools don't need the VPN.

05-02-2016, 20:29	#1
benster Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Blackburn Posts: 396	VoLTE calls are 4-5 times less stable than 2G and 3G calls From http://www.4g.co.uk/4g-news/operators/volte-calls-are-4-5-times-less-stable_300115642.html VoLTE (or Voice Over LTE) is the next big thing in mobile. It’s the act of making calls over 4G. In the UK Three already offers it through 4G Super-Voice, while the other networks are bound to launch it soon. But while it promises faster call connections and higher voice quality it’s been found to be far less stable than calls over 2G or 3G. New research from Amdocs has revealed that VoLTE call drops can be four or five times more likely than calls on 2G or 3G. That’s a massive gulf in quality and one which suggests VoLTE might not be quite so desirable yet after all. It’s not hopeless though, as the report simply points out that it requires aggressive tuning by network operators to get it ship shape. It also doesn’t necessarily reflect Three’s VoLTE performance, as the findings are based on analysis of more than 25 million voice and data connections from 80 different networks across the world. Still, it’s a concern, especially as VoLTE is predicted to grow at a massive rate over the next few years. The Amdocs report also found that mobile data usage is growing across the world at a rate of around 60 percent year-on-year. This massive growth could be a problem though, as networks are only offloading between 5 and 15 percent of it onto Wi-Fi, which isn’t enough to properly deal with the growing traffic. Other findings include the perhaps unsurprising discovery that mobile networks need to be especially strong in cities, where 75 percent of mobile traffic is indoors, which is always trickier to reliably cover than outdoor areas. It also found that when roaming, customers receive up to a 25 percent worse network experience than locally-based customers, despite the fact that roamers can offer networks greater revenues. It’s mostly bad news then, but with this information in hand hopefully mobile networks across the world can and will do more to fix things.

05-02-2016, 20:39	#2
D_S7 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 130	Yeah, but the whole world knows what a balls up Three made, it's unfair to even try and compare what EE or Vodafone might do with LTE Calling when compared to the monkey business that is Three have done. Three are just a bunch of loser muppets It's like saying driving a F1 car is impossible because a chimpanzee couldn't do it, and then along comes Seb Vettel and shows how it is actually done.

05-02-2016, 21:06	#3
Cloudane Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 870	Shh, don't tell EE, they're dragging their feet enough already. Far as I'm concerned (since I ditched the iPhone for a Nexus and so don't have Wifi Calling any more) any signal at home is better than the current status of "nothing unless I position the phone just so"

05-02-2016, 21:21	#4
jchamier Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: This forum Posts: 3,392	Quote: Originally Posted by benster It’s mostly bad news then, but with this information in hand hopefully mobile networks across the world can and will do more to fix things. Someone should ask Verizon - their LTE VoLTE network seems to give my family in the USA no hassles. (Using iPhones).

05-02-2016, 21:22	#5
lightspeed2398 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 1,325	I presume that this is because the 4G networks aren't as dense and "built out" as the equivalent 2G or 3G ones plus they haven't had the years of improvement and tweaking that the 2 and 3G ones have had.

05-02-2016, 21:24	#6
moox Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 14,645	Quote: Originally Posted by jchamier Someone should ask Verizon - their LTE VoLTE network seems to give my family in the USA no hassles. (Using iPhones). Verizon has probably spent megabucks on the network and on tweaking VoLTE. They want to shut down CDMA at some point, so VoLTE and deep LTE coverage is critical in achieving that

05-02-2016, 21:56	#7
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Quote: Originally Posted by lightspeed2398 I presume that this is because the 4G networks aren't as dense and "built out" as the equivalent 2G or 3G ones plus they haven't had the years of improvement and tweaking that the 2 and 3G ones have had. I think so, 3G evolved so much from it's original early 2000s when it was 384k to the dc-hspa we saw deployed in recent years at 42.2Mb/s theoretical. I'm sure LTE will advance over time as well as more spectrum is allocated, wider coverage and when networks get to the infill stage.

05-02-2016, 21:58	#8
jonmorris Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: a land filled with trolls Posts: 12,018	Quote: Originally Posted by jchamier Someone should ask Verizon - their LTE VoLTE network seems to give my family in the USA no hassles. (Using iPhones). Call drop rates are pretty low on most networks, so five times more likely doesn't necessarily mean that big a chance of a failed/dropped call. But EE clearly wants to wait until its own testing proves reliable enough. There seems to be no desire to rush things as you might argue Three did (and had to, as it had decided to switch from rolling out 1800 in some locations in favour of 800).

05-02-2016, 22:10	#9
D_S7 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 130	I was told that 3 is just half assed and only 1 or 2 sites in a whole town for SuperVoice Calling, no wonder it's so bad. It's what you get from a network with a muppet as boss.

06-02-2016, 07:28	#10
Gigabit Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 2,887	Wavejock?

06-02-2016, 09:34	#11
jonmorris Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: a land filled with trolls Posts: 12,018	Wavejock was a little bit more subtle with his insults I think! I think Three has done wrong on a lot of things but I wouldn't go anywhere near as far to attack them, or any other business. Businesses make good and bad decisions all the time. You call them out on the bad and give credit for the good.

06-02-2016, 09:58	#12
binary Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 636	Quote: Originally Posted by Gigabit Wavejock? Tiresome and adding little to the conversation, that's for sure.

06-02-2016, 10:01	#13
binary Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 636	The fact that the 4G spec was released into the wild without proper voice calling functionality from the get go just seems more and more ridiculous the more I think about it. Mobile industry - you have done yourselves few favours here. I suspect this is going to go down as one of the big technological faux pas in years to come.

06-02-2016, 10:12	#14
jonmorris Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: a land filled with trolls Posts: 12,018	VoLTE taking too long obviously played a part, but it didn't help that some operators were keen (read: desperate) to be first. It was just as mad when some networks were calling faster 3G technologies 4G.

06-02-2016, 10:31	#15
jchamier Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: This forum Posts: 3,392	Quote: Originally Posted by jonmorris It was just as mad when some networks were calling faster 3G technologies 4G. AT&T and quickly after T-mobile US - I guess they felt they had to do something to market why their HSPA+ and DC-HSPA was better than Verizon and Sprint's CDMA - all officially called 3G but dramatically different in speeds. 3.75 G would have been good

06-02-2016, 11:03	#16
Aye Up Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: North West Posts: 4,885	Quote: Originally Posted by jonmorris But EE clearly wants to wait until its own testing proves reliable enough. There seems to be no desire to rush things as you might argue Three did (and had to, as it had decided to switch from rolling out 1800 in some locations in favour of 800). Now see thats why I think there isn't any clamour or rush to VoLTE. EE and Vodafone are currently working on said features, but they are in no rush to bring it to market. As I have said a few times there isn't any immediate need for VoLTE, not while WiFi Calling is being rolled on some networks. We are at a nice half way point, network upgrades continue at a pace, cost of price plans is starting to settle and even phone costs are stabilising. At the moment when a user picks up their phone they don't really care about what technology is used allowing them to send messages on WhatsApp et al. Most folk are blissfully ignorant of it all, save those of us on here who get our knickers in a twist occasionally The next 12-18 months will offer a grace period for the networks, so they can get their house in order, rollout upgrades as fast as possible and finally launch much vaunted services like VoLTE. As I say no immediate need for VoLTE, customers for now are happy the way they are.

06-02-2016, 11:15	#17
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	I wouldn't say VoLTE isn't needed because wifi calling is available... (on some networks). There are many times when wifi isn't actually very good or even available where VoLTE would do the job very well. EG: in a supermarket, hotel (hotel wifi is terrible) and many other places. Wireless calling is only really beneficial when you're at home or not really moving at all as going out of the wifi quality area will cause issues. I also doubt customers will suddenly become unhappy in 12-24 months in the grace period you've given them. I'd say 99.9% of people wouldn't even know what VoLTE was, even in 2 years and won't benchmark call drops or really consider that a big deciding factor at time of purchase.

06-02-2016, 15:59	#18
hammy_y Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Leicester Posts: 203	Quote: Originally Posted by Thine Wonk I wouldn't say VoLTE isn't needed because wifi calling is available... (on some networks). There are many times when wifi isn't actually very good or even available where VoLTE would do the job very well. EG: in a supermarket, hotel (hotel wifi is terrible) and many other places. Wireless calling is only really beneficial when you're at home or not really moving at all as going out of the wifi quality area will cause issues. Yeah I think in a supermarket low MHz VoLTE will work well - in Tesco on EE I switch between No Service, 2G, 3G, and 4G randomly but if there is service it's always very weak. When EE roll out 800MHz and VoLTE that should hopefully change. I know Vodafone gets 3G in there, and O2 at least 2G, and probably they both get 2G, 3G and 4G. Three assuming their coverage checker is correct will get 800MHz 4G in there. Which means it's a pretty major blackspot for EE until VoLTE & 800 is rolled out.

06-02-2016, 17:49	#19
Aye Up Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: North West Posts: 4,885	Quote: Originally Posted by Thine Wonk I wouldn't say VoLTE isn't needed because wifi calling is available... (on some networks). There are many times when wifi isn't actually very good or even available where VoLTE would do the job very well. EG: in a supermarket, hotel (hotel wifi is terrible) and many other places. Wireless calling is only really beneficial when you're at home or not really moving at all as going out of the wifi quality area will cause issues. I also doubt customers will suddenly become unhappy in 12-24 months in the grace period you've given them. I'd say 99.9% of people wouldn't even know what VoLTE was, even in 2 years and won't benchmark call drops or really consider that a big deciding factor at time of purchase. I agree WiFi Calling in public settings like a supermarket may produce lower quality. To be fair when I have made my way around Tesco/Asda (only ones I know who do wifi?), its been pretty well spread, funny in fact I just accepted a WhatsApp call today from my Mam, worked flawlessly. Granted this doesn't quite work the same way as WiFi Calling, however its an indication. What I do find rather silly is networks not rolling out WiFi calling faster, it would offload a lot of the data and congestion to an IP backbone that could handle the traffic. Granted its only beneficial in the short term, however given the way they can sample customers information it could be used in a way in which to target investment. Its not a holy grail of course, but its a useful feature O2 and Three would do well to implement fully.

06-02-2016, 18:23	#20
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	I've personally never wanted to join wifi in the supermarket as there's usually a captive portal and a heck of a lot of fuss, you'd have to keep connecting to wifi in every pub, mcdonalds, airport etc you go, whereas VoLTE would just automatically work.

06-02-2016, 22:41	#21
The Lord Lucan Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Scotland Posts: 4,966	Coverage and user experience has little to do with why networks want to roll out VOLTE and it is also the reason they won't delay much longer.. It saves bandwidth and provides more capacity, several times more in some cases. Hence why Three was so desperate to launch, they are the most congested in main cities. Wifi Calling has little to do with when a network will launch VOLTE, ie having it won't delay it.

DS Forums

VoLTE calls are 4-5 times less stable than 2G and 3G calls

06-02-2016, 22:46	#22
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Yeah, I see wifi calling at an easier way of getting short-term home coverage and not needing additional boxes to make calls. VoLTE as the longer term voice solution for everywhere. As the name suggests Long-term evolution...

07-02-2016, 12:05	#23
natbike Forum Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 475	My apartment, although in London zone 2, is a mobile low spot. Bad signal from all networks. Before I started using Three VoLTE I could only get a (3G) signal at the window side of my building. Now I get usable voice service throughout. This usually displays as being either 0 or 1 bars (-110 to -118dBm at the back). Voice calls work and I don't notice any particularly obvious drop outs. It seems on par with my work phone (EE). It's much better than 3G was. So I'm quite happy with my experience of VoLTE as I no longer have to use the TIT app (which was a pain when it double dialed occasionally). Those slating the service always seem much louder than those enjoying it. It's not perfect, but if you happen to be on the fringe it can be a real benefit, as I can testify to. It hasn't been jumping to 3G since Xmas, so maybe they have tweaked the handover priorities on my mast to avoid latching an unusable 3G signal (problem before Xmas).

07-02-2016, 14:29	#24
bookey_uk Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Posts: 282	I'd love to know who Amdocs surveyed for this and more detail behind the report if the VoLTE users were in a mature market or early adopters. VoLTE is a more stable calling layer than 2G and 3G combined, you can see better performance on VoLTE with sub 0.2% DCR which is great, Vodafone's latest results for the UK listed a 0.70% DCR rate, EE's currently stands at 0.4% which is still too high but deploying VoLTE will improve the DCR.

07-02-2016, 14:58	#25
jchamier Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: This forum Posts: 3,392	Quote: Originally Posted by Aye Up To be fair when I have made my way around Tesco/Asda (only ones I know who do wifi?), its been pretty well spread, funny in fact I just accepted a WhatsApp call today from my Mam, worked flawlessly. Granted this doesn't quite work the same way as WiFi Calling, however its an indication. EE's real WiFi Calling does not activate on Sainsburys WiFi. I assume Sainsburys don't permit the VPN type traffic. In hotels I've found WiFi calling a pain, you can have glorious 3G or 4G signal through the window, and because you are on WiFi for data (to save allowance) the phone call defaults to going via WiFi Calling. I've turned it off now, and only turn it on at my mates house where EE, 3 and O2 signal is awful. (Vodafone was awful but improved dramatically just after Christmas). WhatsApp, iMessage, Facebook Messenger and other "Over the top" type tools don't need the VPN.