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Do O2 and Vodafone have any interest in VoLTE?


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Old 23-10-2016, 22:13
Gigabit
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O2 and Vodafone seem to not give a flying toss about VoLTE and in O2's case, WiFi Calling (except via their app).

It's only EE that are really trying and Three at least support it on some handsets (although not expanding very quickly).

This is looking eerily similar to when O2/VF got left behind in the 3G race and Three are going that way too...
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Old 23-10-2016, 22:18
Everything Goes
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Jonmorris said recently that they are testing it but appears to internal only. Given that VoLTE especially on Android is nothing short of a car crash its little wonder they haven't rushed it out. Plus they main frequency they both use 4G on is 800MHz so I guess they have to be careful.
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Old 23-10-2016, 22:20
Thine Wonk
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They didn't have any interest in 3G between 2003 and 2013 so give them chance.
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Old 23-10-2016, 22:43
Gigabit
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They didn't have any interest in 3G between 2003 and 2013 so give them chance.
2026: Vodafone launch revolutionary, game-changing 4G Calling. 6G also launching, with voice support.
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Old 24-10-2016, 11:28
mobilecentre
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VF got it wrong on how fast the 4G rollout would take and made announcements based upon forecasts rather than real time progress. I really hope that this is the case and they decided to delay by a year or so in order to make it a better service. Around me there seems to be an effort to achieve contiguous of a number of main roads at the expense of population which I can only put down to the VoLTE rollout.

Do not get me wrong VF as said dropped the ball big time for the last ten years which is causing the problem now due to planning issues (we had an existing relay MW site refused planning for an additional dish which went to appeal and a year or so later they won. That process delay would of cost the best part of two years from start to finish. Also I agree with the lack of Fibre backhaul as again I have seen a number of upgrades have following major Openreach roadworks around the countryside.

You never know when it launches it might work!
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Old 24-10-2016, 16:24
clewsy
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Cornerstone are deffo in that EE phase mid rollout where everything went slower. People were moaning about EE when they were in the mid phase, however I guess it's easy to switch on what they have done, now it's the more complex sites they have to address and these take a lot longer.
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Old 24-10-2016, 20:42
Jon_111
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Jonmorris said recently that they are testing it but appears to internal only. Given that VoLTE especially on Android is nothing short of a car crash its little wonder they haven't rushed it out. Plus they main frequency they both use 4G on is 800MHz so I guess they have to be careful.
I'm on Vodafone and use an android phone. EE have improved in my area and a little tempted to switch to them. Does EE VoLTE not work very well?

I have a strong 4g signal but 3g and below for voice calls is variable in our farm yard (I'm rural!) . Sometimes it takes ages to switch down from 4g to make a call and can often fail. Voice over lte looks like a good idea if it worked. In our house I have a good 4g signal, well reasonable anyway, but have a suresignal for voice calls as incoming calls always go straight to voicemail and out going calls fail. Is this normal for Vodafone. Data over 4g is great here on voda and a lot better than EE hence I've remained with Vodafone.
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Old 24-10-2016, 21:18
d123
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I'm on Vodafone and use an android phone. EE have improved in my area and a little tempted to switch to them. Does EE VoLTE not work very well?
EE VoLTE has been working perfectly for me since they launched it.
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Old 24-10-2016, 22:13
Everything Goes
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I'm on Vodafone and use an android phone. EE have improved in my area and a little tempted to switch to them. Does EE VoLTE not work very well?

I have a strong 4g signal but 3g and below for voice calls is variable in our farm yard (I'm rural!) . Sometimes it takes ages to switch down from 4g to make a call and can often fail. Voice over lte looks like a good idea if it worked. In our house I have a good 4g signal, well reasonable anyway, but have a suresignal for voice calls as incoming calls always go straight to voicemail and out going calls fail. Is this normal for Vodafone. Data over 4g is great here on voda and a lot better than EE hence I've remained with Vodafone.
VoLTE works fine if you have a phone that supports it. Any iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7 or 7 Plus will work fine. Android is a mine field and should be avoided as most phones wont work with it. It can be firmware specific.

Vodafone are well know for having the highest call failure rates. This is normal for Vodafone im afraid. Other networks are much better.


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02...twork_survey_/

http://ee.co.uk/help/phones-and-device/4g-calling
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Old 24-10-2016, 22:21
Gigabit
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If you buy a Pixel or an iPhone you're set with VoLTE.
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Old 24-10-2016, 22:23
Everything Goes
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If you buy a Pixel or an iPhone you're set with VoLTE.
If and when Vodafone and O2 launch VoLTE I would expect the iPhone's will work. As for the Pixel or any Android phone for that matter then all bets are off.
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Old 25-10-2016, 01:13
jonmorris
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O2 and Vodafone seem to not give a flying toss about VoLTE and in O2's case, WiFi Calling (except via their app).

It's only EE that are really trying and Three at least support it on some handsets (although not expanding very quickly).

This is looking eerily similar to when O2/VF got left behind in the 3G race and Three are going that way too...
As the second post said, I saw Vodafone testing VoLTE last year (yes, almost a year ago now) and you can read about it here: https://jmcomms.com/2015/11/27/vodaf...to-the-future/

I guess VoLTE isn't as big a priority but I'd hope that the network is still making sure the network can switch it on quickly when it IS ready. After all, at some point, Vodafone (and O2) will want voice carried over 4G, especially if Vodafone as a group wants to turn off 3G in 4 years or so.

VoLTE isn't so important when both VF and O2 use 800 for all, and as such the coverage has to be controlled. It means it can't do what EE and Three does, which is ramp up the power (which might work better indoors, but with a lot less capacity and speed).

Vodafone would appear to be refarming more 2G 900 to 3G 900, which I guess does mean users may at least lose 2G before they get 4G everywhere. Not absolutely ideal, but certainly a lot better.

I am seeing Vodafone again on the 9th November, although not a visit to the HQ this time, and will be asking how the last year has gone and where things now are. I've found that while 4G coverage has massively improved, overall speeds are down. Not a problem for streaming or social networking, but more of an issue for file transfers.
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Old 25-10-2016, 08:39
Gigabit
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In my area at least, the coverage from O2 and Vodafone has got worse as my phone will now not normally connect to the quite strong 2G signal but will favour an incredibly weak 3G or 4G one, which sometimes works but in the case of 4G I miss calls constantly.
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Old 25-10-2016, 10:09
Jon_111
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EE VoLTE has been working perfectly for me since they launched it.
What phone do you use? I did read a user comment that the Samsung GS7 would work regardless of if you got it off EE or elsewhere?
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Old 25-10-2016, 10:22
jonmorris
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What phone do you use? I did read a user comment that the Samsung GS7 would work regardless of if you got it off EE or elsewhere?
Doesn't the GS7 work on Three if you have a generic one, but need EE firmware on EE?

I have to say I don't keep up to speed on this, but wonder if this is because of compatibility issues? That is, Three's set up works with the IMS stack in the phone. EE's doesn't, and has different underlying code in its firmware.

That's obviously a problem as the phone could never support both? It will become incredibly messy and the only way forward is for every phone to support all VoLTE setups, and just have individual network configurations added like data APNs.

You do then begin to wonder if EE has issues at its end, and the phones are being modified to cope - rather the other way around.
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Old 25-10-2016, 10:32
Jon_111
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VoLTE works fine if you have a phone that supports it. Any iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7 or 7 Plus will work fine. Android is a mine field and should be avoided as most phones wont work with it. It can be firmware specific.

Vodafone are well know for having the highest call failure rates. This is normal for Vodafone im afraid. Other networks are much better.
I read that report before. Doesn't make good reading for Voda and O2.

Regarding switching down from 4g to make a voice call I have noticed that calling voice mail switches down instantly. Any other call and depending where I am can take an age or fail altogether.

To be fair Vodaphone haven't been too bad considering I'm very much rural. EE have just upgraded our local mast to 4G. I've a payg sim giving it a test but finding data very 'laggy' in doors on 3G with no 4G penetration into the house (not so much an issue as I'd just use wifi anyway). Calls seems fine, though with the right phone and on contract with them I suppose I'd have the option of wifi calling?

I don't have the right phone in a moto x style I'm on a 12 month sim only with Voda until the end of the year. If Vodafone roll out voice over lte then assuming I had the right phone it would solve my voice issues indoors here. That said the suresignal works most of the time but sometimes the phone just ignores it!

If you buy a Pixel or an iPhone you're set with VoLTE.
OK, I'll start saving up I've never used an iPhone but the mrs says I should - she has one.
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Old 25-10-2016, 10:55
jonmorris
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The Pixel has VoLTE set up for EE. It isn't set up for Three, however. That just shows how messed up things still are.
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Old 25-10-2016, 13:47
Stereo Steve
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The Pixel has VoLTE set up for EE. It isn't set up for Three, however. That just shows how messed up things still are.
That is odd isn't it? Considering that 3 probably need VoLTE more than any other network at the moment. Why didn't they sort that? I'm still a 3 fan but it's hard work and EE just works better pretty much everywhere so they get my money at the moment.
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Old 25-10-2016, 16:07
Everything Goes
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The Pixel has VoLTE set up for EE. It isn't set up for Three, however. That just shows how messed up things still are.
When you visit Vodafone on the 9th November can you ask them about why Android is such as mess and what do they intend to do about it?
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Old 25-10-2016, 17:08
d123
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What phone do you use? I did read a user comment that the Samsung GS7 would work regardless of if you got it off EE or elsewhere?
iPhone, it's the only choice if you want to be guaranteed to use all the network features like VoLTE.
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Old 25-10-2016, 17:10
mobilecentre
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In my area at least, the coverage from O2 and Vodafone has got worse as my phone will now not normally connect to the quite strong 2G signal but will favour an incredibly weak 3G or 4G one, which sometimes works but in the case of 4G I miss calls constantly.
Same issue
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Old 25-10-2016, 22:47
sills
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Doesn't the GS7 work on Three if you have a generic one, but need EE firmware on EE?
Yep, EE WiFi calling works on the latest generic firmware, but VoLTE needs the latest EE firmware.

Maybe now it's in the EE firmware it will be added to the next generic one, that's what happened with WiFi Calling.
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Old 26-10-2016, 08:03
georgi_prodanov
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In my area at least, the coverage from O2 and Vodafone has got worse as my phone will now not normally connect to the quite strong 2G signal but will favour an incredibly weak 3G or 4G one, which sometimes works but in the case of 4G I miss calls constantly.
Same problem with me. The mast gives 4G,3G AND EDGE. So when I choose on settings only 2G it goes NO SERVICE. If on 3G or 4G on settings it connects to 3G. Very odd as EDGE and 3G is on 900MHZ
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Old 26-10-2016, 11:22
Aye Up
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The Pixel has VoLTE set up for EE. It isn't set up for Three, however. That just shows how messed up things still are.
Why would Three support it, when its currently an exclusive on EE?

Vodafone at present is testing VoLTE with a large pool of users both internal and external. They are still adding people to the trial as I understand it, but its location specific, which really isn't much change from the beginning of the year. No doubt JonMorris will find out more info when he visits them. I think he is correct in VoLTE not being the priority for now, better to roll out the network further as he says.
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Old 26-10-2016, 12:29
jonmorris
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The Pixel is sold via Google for use on any network. Carphone Warehouse and Currys will also sell it on a contract for any network (bar Three, mind) or SIM-free.

VoLTE is a must for all 4G networks, but Vodafone should (and is) prioritising by switching 2G 900 and some 3G 2100 to 4G. That makes sense and 3G 900 should actually be quite good for a lot of people.

It possibly doesn't help that Vodafone and O2 are doing upgrades slightly different, so how a site is configured seems to vary because of that, which strikes as being less organised than it perhaps could have been.
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