Skip to main content

VoLTE may offer better audio and battery life for smartphones

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The CDMA and GSM standard have both been around for a number of years as the standard in wireless communication. If you’ve made a phone call on a cell phone in the last twenty years or so, then GSM or CDMA were the technology that made it possible. However, new tech known as VoLTE – or Voice over LTE – wants to change that, and it may do so while improving your battery life, and giving higher audio quality.

VoLTE is in many ways a lot like VoIP, except that it utilizes a data connection through LTE spectrum to accomplish the task, rather than the IP protocol. It’s already being implemented international markets, but has yet to be injected into the U.S. despite the huge growth of LTE in the last two years. Slowly but surely though the technology is being tested by infrastructure firms as they prepare to bring VoLTE to the United States, as it really is the long term goal for voice communication. VoLTE offers CD-quality audio to customers by utilizing LTE bandwidth to communicate, much like how Skype has higher quality audio than your average telephone. The service, in testing by Metrico Wireless on MetroPCS, could greatly improve battery performance as well as give all the other benefits promised so far.

Not everyone is convinced though. MobileBurn reports that the testing may be over-exaggerated given the lack of scale. It cites incidents in LTE performance like the HTC Thunderbolt, which while it could argue itself as the first LTE phone, was brutal in battery life. Despite this, Verizon Wireless is already jumping on board and promising a launch by the end of the year and into 2014. The cost, for carriers, however, is significant. While simultaneously adding bandwidth load to their LTE networks, VoLTE will also do away with counting minutes, and instead utilize everything over data. Cell phone plans will essentially become 100 percent data-oriented.

It’ll be at least a year until we see VoLTE begin to roll out across the country with Verizon, Metro PCS, or one of several potential carriers. Between its offer of higher audio quality, reduced energy usage, and the end of counting minutes, it certainly is a no-brainer for customers to take advantage of, so long as the price is rig’ht.

Editors' Recommendations

Joshua Sherman
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Joshua Sherman is a contributor for Digital Trends who writes about all things mobile from Apple to Zynga. Josh pulls his…
LinkedIn adding word games so you can procrastinate at work
A LinkedIn mobile app store page displayed on a mobile device.

LinkedIn may exist to help professionals look for new job opportunities and network with others in the same field, but it could soon become the place for a bit of downtime, too.

Why? Because it's planning to introduce games to its platform.

Read more
Do iPhone 14 cases fit the iPhone 15? Sort of, but not quite
The Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro showing the screens.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro (left) and iPhone 15 Pro Max Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 series have identical display sizes, but there are slight variations in their total dimensions due to design changes. This has led to a common question of whether the cases designed for iPhone 14 would fit the iPhone 15 models. While the answer probably won't surprise you, it will likely disappoint you.

Read more
Nothing can stop the Oura Ring
A person holding the Oura Ring 3rd generation Horizon and Heritage model.

Oura Ring Heritage (left) and Oura Ring Horizon Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

If there is one product category that's experiencing a big boon right now, it’s the smart ring. The first smart ring to hit the market and really take off was the Oura Ring. The current Oura Ring Gen 3 has been available since late 2021, and it's quickly become the default smart ring of choice.

Read more