VoLTE technology is a new word in cellular communications. We are testing VoLTE technology, after which regular mobile communications will no longer please. What does the vo lte icon mean?

29.10.2020

05.03.2019 The promotion has expired

In 2018, MTS began actively promoting the new VoLTE communication technology throughout Russia. With its help, you connect with the subscriber almost instantly and at the same time hear the person as clearly as if he were next to you. How VoLTE works and which smartphones support this technology – we’ll tell you in our material.

A few words about LTE

In order to understand what VoLTE is, you must first understand how LTE technology works. Long-Term Evolution is a modern standard for data transmission on the Internet, which is several times faster than a 3G connection. It is with its help that you can watch videos in HD quality without delays, download and upload large files.

Compare: download speeds on LTE networks can reach up to 300 Mbit/s, and upload speeds up to 170 Mbit/s. At the same time, the average wired Internet speed fluctuates around only 100 Mbit/s.

But for a long time, LTE had a significant limitation. This technology is designed only for data transmission, not voice. That is, if you are in LTE networks and you get incoming call, your gadget automatically switches to 2G/3G. This causes connection delay. In addition, the data transfer speed that started on the LTE network is reduced. The solution to such problems was VoLTE technology.

VoLTE in a smartphone

VoLTE (from English Voice over LTE - voice over LTE) converts voice into a data stream, due to which you can make and receive calls over a high-speed IP channel. At the same time, the gadget does not waste time switching between communication systems, so the connection occurs in 1–1.5 seconds. This technology has several significant advantages:

High-quality sound transmission due to support for a set of HD Voice codecs. If during regular telephony the sound is transmitted at a frequency of up to 3400 Hz, then when calling via VoLTE the sound range increases to 7000 Hz or more. That is, you hear human speech without interference or distortion.
Simultaneous calls and data processing. Using VoLTE, you can simultaneously talk on the phone, view Instagram, download a movie, navigate the area using a navigator, and so on.
Increased mobile network capacity. One base station via VoLTE can serve 3 times more subscribers than via 3G. This means that you are not afraid of communication interruptions due to telephone line overload.

Which smartphones support VoLTE?

VoLTE technology works on many modern gadgets from Apple, Samsung, Sony, Huawei and others. Full list you can look at the models.

How to set up VoLTE on a smartphone

VoLTE calling is easy to set up. As a rule, the gadget turns on this mode automatically after updating the software. If this does not happen, you can activate this option in the smartphone settings.

For smartphones running Android OS:

Select the “SIM cards and mobile networks” section, find the “VoLTE HD Call” command and switch it to active mode.

On different models smartphones, this section may differ in name.

For smartphones running iOS:

Go to the “Settings” menu, select the “Cellular” section, then “Data Options”, find the “Enable LTE” command and switch it to active mode. If Voice & Data is disabled, enable it to enable VoLTE.

Important!

If you want to use VoLTE technology and for calls to landline numbers, you need to dial the number in the format: +7-area code-phone number. When dialing a number in short format the advantages of the technology are lost: such a call will be transferred to the 2G/3G network at your location. Additionally, dialing the area code is not very convenient, but in this case you will definitely get through to where you need to be when traveling around Russia and the world.

How much does it cost?

The same amount as regular calls via 2G/3G networks according to the tariff you purchased. MTS does not provide any additional tariffs.

What to do if your smartphone does not support VoLTE?

This does not mean that you need to urgently run to the nearest salon cellular communication for a new mobile phone. All you need to do is download the proprietary MTS Connect application and you can make calls from anywhere in the world, saving on roaming charges. It doesn’t matter whether your interlocutor has a similar application installed.

We also present to your attention a selection of publications about VoLTE technology.

Digital technologies are developing very quickly, and one of the striking examples of such progress is VoLTE, however, few people know what it is in a phone.

In fact, this is a very useful communication standard in our time that works in cellular networks. Notably, it is fully compatible with 3G and .

But this is all theory and dry facts. To understand what we are talking about and why such a standard is needed at all, it is necessary to understand all its features. This is what we'll do!

Designation

VoLTE fully stands for "Voice over Long Term Evolution", which translates to “voice through long-term development.” It consists of two parts - “Vo” and “LTE”.

Nowadays, more and more cities around the world are actively using 3G. We connect the Internet through this standard.

So, there is 4G or 4G LTE. The Internet is also connected through this standard. In more formal terms, it is a method of transmitting data.

Everything is very simple.

Now let's talk about How did this technology come about and what is its purpose?

A little bit of history

The first full-fledged release of VolTE is dated May 2014. Then SingTel, which is based in Singapore, introduced the service in question.

At that time, it only worked in Singapore and did not extend to other countries. Moreover, at first he worked for the only phone – .

SingTel is very popular all over the world. There are 37 offices of this company in Asia, Europe and the USA. It is a sponsor of the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix.

SingTel's main areas of activity are cellular communications, Internet technologies and the so-called Fixed Network.

In addition to the technology under consideration, . This is a little information for your reference.

Let's return to the development of VoLTE.

Already in June 2014, a mobile operator in South Korea began to provide CT using this standard.

After the merger with China Mobile, CT continued to provide the highest quality roaming in the world at that time. Over time, KPN and iBasis began to offer the same service.

November of the same year marked another major event in the history of VoLTE.

Then Verizon and AT&T announced that they would jointly introduce a connection using Voice over LTE between subscribers who are ready to connect to such a service.

And this event really happened in 2015.

After this, more and more countries are introducing the use of the standard in question.

Today, very few countries have full support for voice transmission over LTE networks - as of November 2017, there are only 9 of them.

At the same time, in such technically “advanced” countries as Germany, Canada and France, the implementation of the standard is only being planned.

It is absolutely unclear why other countries and mobile operators are in no hurry to use VoLTE.

Perhaps it has something to do with the cost of the equipment or banal lack specialists who could do this.

Why is VoLTE needed?

There are at least three reasons why specialists from Singapore decided to create new standard data transmission:

Faster call making. The fact is that any device will be able to make a call much faster if it has 4G connected. It does not waste time switching to 3G, which is usually about 2-3 seconds. Previously, it was impossible to make calls with 4G and smartphones and tablets required time to switch to 3G when the user wanted to make a call. But with the advent of the ability to transmit voice using 4G, all operations began to be performed much faster.
Higher quality of communication. The point is that the sound quality has also become much higher with the advent of the technology in question. Users began to hear each other many times better. This is really important in this day and age.
Saving data transfer while making a call. Surely, 4G users have repeatedly encountered the problem when they receive a call and the Internet turns off. Now this won't happen.

In general, there was definitely a point in new developments and the emergence of new technology, by and large, was a matter of time.

It is worth saying that VoLTE has many advantages, but there are also disadvantages. Let's talk about them.

Advantages

Besides more High Quality communications and 4G has the following positive aspects:

1 Increasing network capacity. In simple terms, this means that the number of subscribers for one station is increasing. For those who are “not in the know”, let’s say that all subscribers of cellular operators are served by base stations. So, when 3G is used, the number of subscribers at each base station is less than when using VoLTE, and by as much as 3 times. Usually, due to the overload of such stations, there were interruptions in communication and other problems of the same type.

2 Now you can make calls completely free of charge. This is a unique advantage that is achieved by using this type of network. The fact is that 4G does not provide for a switching connection at all, which means that you do not need to pay for the corresponding communications. Voice is transmitted through the same system through which other types of data are transmitted, roughly speaking, through the Internet. Therefore, if the subscriber uses unlimited Internet, he won’t pay a penny for calls.

Speaking of the latter, it is worth noting that calls will be free even to those subscribers who use 2G and 3G.

In any case, if the Internet is unlimited, you will not pay anything.

It seems impossible, but it's true!

At the same time, in earlier AMR-NB services. Even without understanding these terms, you can easily understand that in 4G everything is much better and the voice is “purer”.

In this world, unfortunately, everything is imperfect, so Voice over LTE also has shortcomings, and for some they will be very significant. Let's move on to the negative.

Flaws

Experts highlight three negative points, namely:

Accordingly, more energy is needed to operate the device, that is, a more capacious battery will be required. Or you will need to charge it more often or. However, today all such gadgets are “famous” for their terrible battery capacity. At best, after six months of using the device, you will have to charge it every day. But if the user also uses VoLTE, over time a full battery charge will last for half a day or even less. You will have to change batteries quite often or use all sorts of ways to achieve lower power consumption (disabling applications and services, cleaning, and so on).

2 The need for a general transition to the new standard by all mobile operators. To provide normal work, it is necessary that each operator decides to use 4G and this standard becomes the main one. The problem is that connecting 4G subscribers with 3G and 2G subscribers is a complex procedure that requires large quantity conditions. For example, it is necessary that the area has appropriate equipment. A third drawback is related to this.

3 In areas where there are no LTE stations, there will be no connection at all unless you manually switch to 3G. Actually, today there are very few such towers, so, unfortunately, people who decide to use new technologies will often have to switch from one standard to another.

In truth, until the moment when the necessary base stations they will be everywhere, still very far away.

As we said above, very few operators in a small number of countries have decided to switch to the new standard.

Let's summarize everything that has been said.

Results

So, VoLTE is a new communication standard, a technology for voice transmission using LTE networks.

In the networks that were used previously, this was not possible.

Among other things, the use of such a standard makes it possible to achieve higher voice quality during transmission, as well as a complete abolition of charges for calls.

The reason for the latter is that there is no switching involved.

The technology also has disadvantages. For example, the load on the device () becomes greater. Accordingly, it will need to be charged more often.

In addition, for the normal application of the standard, it is necessary that all mobile operators begin to switch to it. Today, unfortunately, this is unlikely.

And yet Voice over LTE has excellent development prospects!

In May 2014, Singapore-based SingTel introduced the world's first commercial VoLTE service operating in Singapore. Interestingly, it initially worked with only one smartphone - Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Subsequently, the technology was developed in other countries - Russia was no exception.

Users often ask the question - what is this VoLTE? The term VoLTE itself was formed from several words: Voice over LTE, which can be translated as “voice over LTE”. Yes, this is indeed a voice transmission technology, which, in turn, is based on IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technology.

What does VoLTE provide? This technology makes it possible to provide voice services and deliver them as a data stream over LTE; it has several times greater data and voice capacity than 3G and especially 2G networks. VoLTE also allows you to free up bandwidth.

But these are all lyrics. It is much more important for the user to know what advantages and disadvantages this technology has. We'll tell you about them.

Advantages of VoLTE

First and most importantly, now there is no need to waste time making a call. Don't understand anything? We explain: before, in order to make a call, the system automatically switched the device from 4G mode to 3G mode, which could take about 2 seconds. Now you don’t need to switch anything, the device makes a call right away.

The second advantage, and no less important, is that the quality of the transmitted sound has improved, in some cases significantly.

Third: when making a call, you can transfer data over a 4G network. Previously this was not possible because, as mentioned above, the device switched to 3G mode.

The fourth advantage will not be noticed by most users: the number of subscribers who can maintain simultaneous communication with one base station increases.

Disadvantages of VoLTE

The following problem is possible: when leaving a city where there are no LTE towers, the connection may be lost. You need to switch to 3G mode yourself.

The second is a higher load on the device itself, that is, it can discharge faster. True, the load is small, so there is no need to worry about the smartphone suddenly starting to discharge quickly.

Addition

On VoLTE smartphones is turned on by default, and a corresponding icon appears in the status bar, which may be called VoLTE or, for example, HD, as in our example:

You can disable this function at any time or, conversely, enable it. We don’t see the point in turning it off, but if you want to do it, here are simple instructions for you.

Open the Settings app from the desktop icon.

Click on the "More" button.

Select "Mobile Network".

If you have a different layout of subsections in the “Settings” section, it doesn’t matter - use the search using the phrases “mobile network” or “mobile networks” (without quotes).

Find the line “VoLTE calls” and enable or disable the specified functionality.

Not that hard, right?

VoLTE support is one of the characteristics of a smartphone that is increasingly being talked about at presentations. Today we will tell you what this function is and why it is needed.

VoLTE is a technology that allows voice transmission over 4G networks. This is one of the standards that emerged as a result of improving communication channels. Remember, initially Cell phones were designed for calls only. Even the SMS messaging function appeared a little later.

Over time, phones began to support new data transfer standards, including GPRS. However, voice calls remained the priority format for communicating via telephone. Now everything has changed.

Users are increasingly turning to high-speed communication standards that allow data to be transferred as quickly as possible. Commercial fourth-generation (LTE) networks are focused on traffic, while voice transmission has so far been carried out over 2G or 3G. Until recently there were no other options. But then VoLTE came along.

Now our smartphones constantly switch between different communication standards, moving either to the Internet traffic transmission channel or to the voice communication zone. These manipulations significantly affect the performance and battery level. discharges quickly. And VoLTE will solve the problem, since you can communicate and transfer data through one communication channel.

Support for VoLTE technology does not require the smartphone to constantly switch between old networks. Purely theoretically, new technology will allow in the future to completely abandon 2G and 3G equipment.

Main advantages of VoLTE:

Instant connection. No need to switch to another standard speeds up the connection with the subscriber. Sometimes the speed gain reaches 30 seconds.
Free communication. Since calling via VoLTE involves the use of Internet traffic, you only need to pay for the Internet. By activating an unlimited package, you can communicate by phone around the clock. And all this will be free.
Improving the quality of communication. The 3G connection significantly spoils the sound quality and does not allow it to be transmitted perfectly. The new standard will eliminate extraneous noise and will make the sound more spacious.
Increasing Capacity cellular networks. 3G bases are designed for a limited number of subscribers. Exceeding this indicator leads to deterioration in signal quality. The capacity of LTE equipment is three times higher than that of third-generation networks and six times higher than that of second-generation networks.
Possibility of simultaneous transmission of traffic and voice. Currently, when talking on the phone, the Internet connection is disconnected. Receiving traffic will resume only after the subscriber hangs up. VoLTE doesn't have this problem. Therefore, data exchange will continue even during a telephone conversation.

Unfortunately, fourth-generation networks are still not widespread in Russia, although voice transmission technology over LTE is actively developing in other countries of the world. Progress is imperceptible and slow. Providers and cellular operators are gradually launching fourth generation networks, but more often this happens only within Moscow.

If you bought a smartphone with VoLTE support, but this technology is not available in your region, you should not deactivate the module. The function does not consume battery battery and does not require additional resources from the device.

On this moment when choosing a smartphone this option is not a priority. It’s worth paying attention to VoLTE support if you travel often or live in Moscow. Thanks to the new standard, you will experience a completely different quality of communication, and also appreciate the increased autonomy of your phone due to economical battery consumption.

Studying specifications In modern phones and smartphones you can come across the term VoLTE. Obviously, the meaning of this term is somehow connected with 4G and LTE networks, but most users do not understand the specific purpose of VoLTE (VOL LTE). IN this material we will try to close this knowledge gap and tell you what VoLTE is in a phone or smartphone, what it is for and how it works.

In order to understand what VoLTE is, you must first explain the meaning of the term LTE. The abbreviation stands for Long-Term Evolution, which can be translated as long-term development.

In fact this means a new standard wireless transmission information for phones, smartphones and others mobile devices. This standard provides the user Mobile Internet at a much higher speed than 3G, this allows you to download large files, watch video high definition, organize online broadcasts and much more.

Theoretically, LTE communication can provide the user with an Internet connection with download speeds of up to 326.4 Mbit/s and upload speeds of up to 172.8 Mbit/s. In comparison, typical internet speeds over a wired connection are 100 Mbps.

What is VoLTE in a smartphone

The abbreviation VoLTE (VOL LTE) stands for Voice over LTE, which can be translated into Russian as “voice over LTE”. This is a technology designed to transmit voice over mobile network LTE.

The fact is that LTE networks are designed exclusively for data transmission. Voice transmission in LTE, as it was in 2G and 3G networks, is simply not provided for. Therefore, when you need to make a call, the phone is forced to switch from LTE to 3G, which creates some delay when calling the subscriber. Also, with such a switch, the process of transmitting and receiving data via LTE stopped.

VoLTE technology was developed to solve these problems. This technology allows you to transmit voice over the LTE network, turning it into a data stream.

Better sound transmission. When calling via VoLTE, the interlocutor's voice sounds clear and natural, without distortion, which is typical for 2G and 3G networks.
Simultaneous data and voice transmission. During a VoLTE call, you can continue to send and receive data. This can be useful if you use your phone as a GPS navigator or broadcast online.
Fast connection. VoLTE support allows you to avoid switching from LTE to 3G and back, which significantly speeds up the time to reach the subscriber.

As for tariffs, calls using Voice over LTE are usually paid in the same way as regular calls over a 3G network. In this case, the transmitted data is not taken into account in the user’s Internet traffic. But it’s better to check with your mobile operator.

Which smartphones support VoLTE

Now almost everything is modern flagship smartphones support LTE. For example, such support is available in the following models:

iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X;
Sony Xperia XZ1, Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact, Sony Xperia XA1, Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra, Sony Xperia XA1 Plus, Sony Xperia XA2, Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra, Sony Xperia X, Sony Xperia X Performance, Sony Xperia XZ, Sony Xperia X Compact, Sony Xperia XZs, Sony Xperia XZ Premium, Sony Xperia L2, Sony Xperia XZ, Sony Xperia X, Sony Xperia XZ2, Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact;
Huawei Honor 9 lite, Huawei Nova 2i, Huawei P smart;
Samsung Note 8, Galaxy J7 Neo, Galaxy J2 2018, Galaxy J3, Galaxy J5, Galaxy J5 Prime, Galaxy J5 2016, Galaxy J7, Galaxy J7 2016, Galaxy J7 2017, Galaxy Neo J7, Galaxy A3, Galaxy A5, Galaxy A7, Galaxy A8, Galaxy A8+, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+;
LG K10 2017, LG X Power 2, LG Stylus 3, LG Q6α, LG G6, LG Venture;

It should be noted that VoLTE technology must be supported by both the phone and mobile operator. Otherwise, the call will be made through a 3G network with all the ensuing disadvantages.