The nation’s second-largest wireless carrier AT&T today announced it started rolling out a pair of high-definition voice calling technologies. As previously promised, both HD Voice and Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) technologies will become available in select markets beginning next Friday, May 23. VoLTE uses the high-speed Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network to transmit voice calls and HD Audio makes voice clearer…
AT&T writes:
At AT&T, you won’t have to choose between faster data speeds and crystal clear conversations. HD Voice customers can simultaneously talk while surfing the Web at 4G LTE speeds, all on the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network – it’s the best of both worlds.
Initially, AT&T’s HD Voice will be available in select areas in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The carrier will continue to expand HD Voice to new markets on an as-needed basis. HD Voice by AT&T will debut on the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, “with more devices to come” at a latter stage.
According to web reports, iOS 8 will enable support for VoLTE on iPhones.
HD Voice technology, also known as Wideband Audio, uses the extended frequency range for crystal clear conversations. HD Voice must be supported on both the carrier and the device end, although there are hacked carrier updates to enable HD Voice on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.
The iPhone 5/5s/5c supports HD Voice and T-Mobile a year ago became the first major U.S. carrier to support the technology. Verizon is also said to be working on its own VoLTE implementation that should be deployed sooner than later.