T-Mobile Will Require New Devices To Support VoLTE (cnet.com) 30
T-Mobile is preparing to make support for Voice over LTE a requirement for all new devices, according to a report Thursday. The move was reportedly detailed in internal T-Mobile documents obtained by Android Police. From a report: The requirement won't mean much for users at first, but as of January 2021, "T-Mobile will require all devices connecting to our nationwide 4G LTE and 5G networks to be VoLTE compatible." That means that older-gen devices that don't include support for the IP-based voice network won't be able to use T-Mobile at all. Further reading: AT&T Tells Customers To Upgrade Their Phones To Avoid Losing Voice Calls -- Two Years Early.
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Unfortunately that's doubtful. Shitty VOIP is here to stay.
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No, they won't, when reception is really bad. WiFi calling, also, can be iffy depending on where you are relative to the router. But when things are better they can be much better
Not a big problrm (Score:1)
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You must be new here. Historically any discussion of cell phones here spirals into a bizarre chest thumping about who has the cheapest, oldest Android phone on the lowest cost MVNO plan, and how they only use it as a hot spot for their Nokia Communicator which can't get service anymore.
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Get a phone that's not Apple or Samsung. Realize that the best ROMs are community made from the xda forums. Realize again that while they are awesome, half of them has broken VoLTE support.
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Wow. You really proved the OP's point.
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See?
I mean I think there's a reason for it. One, a high number of younger, hobbyists who aren't dependent on their phones as a form of work/life management. It can be a toy/experiment when you're not dependent on it for managing your hourly livelihood.
The other is that open source/hacker populations tend to trend lower income because free as in beer matters.
20 years ago, people in hacking/open source communities struck me as *generally* more affluent or at least with more disposable income. I might have
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I tend to think that person was a paid Russian / Chinese troll that doesn't have grasp enough on the language to understand your sarcasm.
Parent comment is probably correct. (Score:2)
Mod UP the parent comment.
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My 2014-model Lumia 635 supported it, in Windows 8.1 and 10.
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So does my even older LG G5.
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If I'm not using that feature, why should my device have to support it to use the rest of the network?
Let's hear it (Score:4, Funny)
We heard ATT was bad for giving people too much notice that they were requiring VoLTE. Man, what a bunch of jerks, giving people two years notice.
Now T-Mo is giving people about 6 months. Who wants to complain that T-Mo is giving not enough notice?
Bonus points for complaining about both. Additional bonus point if you claim both actions are a part of a sinister conspiracy to cheat people out of the exact, right amount of notice.
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ATT's press was different. They are requiring that devices connecting to their network must be ATT devices, sold by them, that support their branded version of VoLTE called HD Voice.
Some unlocked phones simply won't make calls over AT&T's 4G network (even some relatively new ones) because AT&T has not whitelisted them to do so — even near identical models of phones AT&T itself sells.
https://www.androidpolice.com/... [androidpolice.com]
TMO is requiring that the devices are VoLTE compatible, wherever they came from, no matter how old they are.
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TMo started this several years ago. Phones had to support VoLTE to be sold in a TMo or Metro store. Not supporting VoLTE meant that TMo's new bands couldn't be used (because they were LTE-only, no 2G or 4G). So anybody actually paying attention knew that TMo would eventually only activate phones with VoLTE. My Nokia 6.1 (2017-18 model) phone has it, and uses it on TMo's network. So is that a vile conspiracy, with at least a few years' lead time? I suspect we could expect a much poorer phase-in setup from AT
Re: Let's hear it (Score:1)
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We heard ATT was bad for giving people too much notice that they were requiring VoLTE. Man, what a bunch of jerks, giving people two years notice.
No we didn't. We heard ATT was bad for locking in ATT phones and at the same time sending consumers incorrect information effectively spreading FUD about their ability to make phone calls. No one ever criticised them for too much notice. They were criticised for an incredibly misleading notice.
In other words (Score:2)
Say goodbye to 2G and 3G networks.
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Good riddance. 5G at 700mhz provides far better coverage than 2G or 3G could ever hope to.
The main issue I see is that 5G modems are still sucking battery life like a Bugatti sucks gas. I hear there are software fixes coming soon but so far that's a very early 1st gen issue. 2nd gen 5G modems I'm sure will work much better but that will still leave an awful lot of people on the hook.
why bother with voice (Score:2)
So my Nokia N900 will quit working? When? (Score:3)
I bought it new in 2009 and, though it does show its age, I use it daily for phone calls and texting.
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I bought it new in 2009 and, though it does show its age, I use it daily for phone calls and texting.
Walled gardens will lose their gate once we're all inside.
Let's start our own mobile carrier. I want to keep using my Symbian phones. Hell if I can't Group MMS with my friends, or use emojis*, but goddamnit, I value my muscle memory. And I value not having to waste my eyestrain and mental capital scanning each and every goddamned icon in every page of iOS and Android home screens every time I want to launch something. Make it stop.
* or two-factor, or use Nokia Maps anymore, or any of the other apps exce
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In preparation for that and to give customers the best experience, those activating new lines at T-Mobile will need a VoLTE capable device
Well, it seems that they are talking of blocking only new activations to the service, and existing customers with these devices will be grandfathered-in. A competent journalist may have clarified this point.
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Dad (Score:2)
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