AT&T says HD Voice is coming to its LTE network later this year

By Trevor Mogg April 2, 2013

AT&T customers with friends and family in noisy cities may soon be able to eliminate from their phone chats interjections such as, “What?” and “Eh?” and even “I can’t hear a darn thing you’re saying,” as the carrier has announced it’s making preparations to roll out HD Voice technology on its network later this year.

AT&T senior VP Kris Rinne announced the news at the VentureBeat Mobile Summit in Sausalito, California on Monday, confirming that the technology would be introduced as the company starts routing voice calls over its LTE network.

As its name suggests, HD Voice works to improve the sound quality of calls, offering greater voice clarity while at the same time canceling out unwanted background noise such as traffic. The idea is that HD Voice is more like having a face-to-face conversation. Without the face.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that for HD Voice to function, both handsets on the call, as well as the network, need to support the feature.

The technology has been available to Europe-based mobile users for some time now, with US carriers only recently starting to get their act together regarding the incorporation of the technology into their respective services. Sprint launched HD Voice on its network – albeit in a limited capacity – last year, while last week T-Mobile said its soon-to-arrive iPhone 5 will feature the technology.

It’s obviously going to be some time before the majority of US mobile users are able to enjoy much clearer calls with HD Voice, but with AT&T’s announcement Monday, and recent moves by other carriers, at least things are moving in the right direction.

[via AllThingsD] [Image: Aaron Amat / Shutterstock]

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