AT&T's Own Voice Over Long-Term Evolution Technology Hits Market

AT&T will release its own high-definition voice over service on May 23.

According to Computer World, the mobile company expects to implement the technology in parts of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

An AT&T spokeswoman told Computer World the addition gives consumers a smooth technology experience.

"As demand for speed, connectivity and enhanced wireless services grows, the introduction of HD Voice on our all-IP 4G LTE network is just another way we're working to provide our customers with the enhanced services they need, while also effectively utilizing our spectrum," the spokeswoman said.

Voiceover users need a high definition handset, and a cellular base station at the bottom of a cell tower - this transmits the HD signal to the device according to Computer World.

Verizon also hopes to foster long-term evolution for voice over, via an interoperation partnership with AT&T's service.

A Verizon Wireless spokeswoman told Computer World the mobile carrier expects to offer the technology this year.

"We have said Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is coming in 2014 and we will have HD Voice using the AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate) wideband codec, which we believe will be the industry norm, as part of VoLTE," Debra Lewis told Computer World.

An analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy told Computer World that HD Voice technology works well when both the sender and receiver properly run it.

"HD Voice is a great feature as long as both ends support it," Patrick Moorhead said. "(HD Voice won't necessarily be a) "huge differentiator, so I don't think it's too big of a deal [to AT&T's success] in the long run."

T-Mobile and Sprint launched voiceover services of their own in 2013 through their 3G mobile networks.

T-Mobile offered the iPhone 5 with this technology the very same year. Sprint installed the service on the company's 3G CDMA network in late April, a company spokeswoman told Computer World. This included 100 United States areas.

Tags
AT&T, Verizon
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