Korea launching worlds first voice over LTE, US carriers to follow suit Later

You all know what voice calls are right? The times when you have no other choice but to pick up your phone and call someone, or answer a call. How about LTE? The super fast data connection that AT&tT and Verizon brag about and that Sprint is starting to activate across the nation. Well, did you know that your voice calls only transmit through 3G or 2G and not 4G LTE? I sure didn’t. Tomorrow a South Korean Telecom provider will be making the world first voice over LTE service available tomorrow. They will embed the technology inside the Samsung Galaxy S III LTE and most of their future LTE sporting devices.

So what’s the big deal about making calls over 4G LTE. A few key things will make this next step in voice calls great. Voice over LTE will make connections in less than 0.25 to 2.5 seconds. That is roughly two to twenty times shorter than the average connection on a 3G call which takes roughly five seconds. By using a wider spectrum, (50-7000 Hz instead of 300-2400 Hz) means call quality will increase by 40%.

When will the U.S. see voice over LTE? According to Infonetics Research, the first VoLTE services to land in the states are planned for late 2012 by Verizon and Metro PCS. With AT&T and Clearwire holding off till 2013. Does that mean by the end of 2012 Verizon customers will be making calls quicker and even clearer than they do now? Possibly not. Verizon Network VP Hans Leutenegger stated that Verizon is currently satisfied with its current voice network and that VoLTE might not be actually deployed until well into 2013. While Verizon will have the tech to do it, it sounds like they are going to hold it back a little while longer.

It is an interesting new use for LTE. Who wouldn’t like their calls to connect faster and be 40% clearer?

Source: Arstechnica