T-Mobile EVS platform said to build on VoLTE service, but offers better reliability, clarity and availability, though still limited to a few devices
T-Mobile US may focus most of its marketing efforts on cellular data services, but the carrier is also boosting its voice efforts with the unveiling of its enhanced voice services the carrier claims provides superior call reliability, clarity and availability.
The service, which T-Mobile US said is a patent-pending deployment, takes advantage of the carrier’s LTE data network or a Wi-Fi connection and builds on its previously launched voice-over-LTE service. The service is also said to provide enhanced quality even if just one device in a conversation is enabled with the technology, as opposed to a VoLTE call that requires both devices to be enabled. This also allows for EVS to work on calls to other wireless carriers.
“When a T-Mobile customer using an EVS-capable phone makes a call – even to a non-HD network, they’ll still get enhanced voice quality on the call, but the person on the non-HD network won’t hear it,” explained a T-Mobile US spokesperson. “This is because the EVS codec (the way the audio is stored and transferred) captures a much broader audio frequency range that translates into a richer, more realistic-sounding voice audio.”
T-Mobile US CTO Neville Ray said EVS improves voice call reliability in areas of weaker signals resulting in fewer dropped calls, and provides “higher fidelity” calls than the carrier’s already launched HD Voice product with a “broader audio frequency range” providing more “realistic sounding” audio. The service is currently built into the LG G5 smartphone, with the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices set to be enabled this week through a software update. T-Mobile US claims the service will be on seven smartphones by the end of the year, indicating its likely most current phones will not able to be updated.
Ray noted its current VoLTE service was handling more than half of the carrier’s voice calls, boosted by the availability of 40 VoLTE-equipped smartphones in the hands of 27 million customers. The VoLTE technology is said to connect calls twice as fast as traditional circuit-switch calls and allow customers to access LTE-based data services when in a VoLTE call.
T-Mobile US initially rolled out VoLTE services in mid-2014, and last year added its Video Calling service into the standard dialer on some handsets. AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless have said they were working on cross-carrier VoLTE services, including the recent announcement of “limited” commercial support in some markets. T-Mobile US also said it was working with those carriers to further interoperability.
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