Verizon will make LTE only phone in 2014

[Kevster1321]

http://www.androidcentral.com/verizon-exec-expects-lte-only-phones-2014-subsidies-decrease-over-time

[Rukin1]

they Expect it.

[WiWavelength]

So, VZW wants to push VoLTE handsets -- in other words, phones that will have highly inconsistent rural voice coverage.

 

Hmm, I think we already have that. It is called T-Mobile.

 

 

AJ

[JeffDTD]

Just remember the source... the CFO. The entire goal of this person speaking was to say rosy things about Verizon's financial future... Verizon is NOT going to sell me an LTE only smartphone in 2014 for less than they would today and odds are interoperability will be the same as it is today.. .each carrier's smartphone is on an island , gotta buy it from them.

[Deval]

That makes no sense though, how are they planning on running a network with >100million subs using VoLTE? I'm assuming they will still have at least a 1x antenna, otherwise I can see their "best network" claim going down the drain

[Deval]

Just remember the source... the CFO. The entire goal of this person speaking was to say rosy things about Verizon's financial future... Verizon is NOT going to sell me an LTE only smartphone in 2014 for less than they would today and odds are interoperability will be the same as it is today.. .each carrier's smartphone is on an island , gotta buy it from them.

 

Reminds me of this commercial from Verizon, since you mentioned islands.

 

[bigsnake49]

Verizon has been saying they will implement VOLTE for a while now. End of 2014, yeah right!

[JeffDTD]

Reminds me of this commercial from Verizon, since you mentioned islands.

 

 

I genuinely miss the 3G advertising wars.. 4G advertising hasn't gotten nearly as snarky as I had hoped it would.

[WiWavelength]

I'm assuming they will still have at least a 1x antenna, otherwise I can see their "best network" claim going down the drain

 

No, if this plan were implemented, these upcoming handsets would be LTE only. They would use 3GPP chipsets that omit CDMA2000 capability altogether.

 

AJ

[Deval]

No, if this plan were implemented, these upcoming handsets would be LTE only. They would use 3GPP chipsets that omit CDMA2000 capability altogether.

 

AJ

 

 

I guess their 1% overrules the 99%

[tybo31316]

Well VZW is going to have a lot of upset customers when they released these phones and notice the coverage and in building penetration decrease because of LTE only.

[WiWavelength]

Guys, to be clear, if VZW pull this off, it is not a switch away from CDMA2000. The CDMA2000 network will continue to run for many years, and VZW will continue to sell CDMA2000/LTE hybrid devices, too.

 

What VZW might do is incentivize users to move to LTE only devices by offering both devices and LTE only plans at lower price points. That might actually work okay for urban dwellers and those who would not use VZW previously because of its premium cost.

 

AJ

[Paynefanbro]

Can you here me now?

 

Nope

[briank86]

Can you here me now?

 

Nope

 

More like. Can you hear me now?.....

 

*crickets*

[WiWavelength]

Can you here me now?

 

Nope

 

How could I here you when you are their and I am hear?

 

AJ

[xenadu]

I'm sorry but I just don't buy the pessimism around VoLTE.

 

LTE, if deployed on the same frequencies and towers should reach about the same coverage area with much better speeds on the margins and the QoS support will ensure voice traffic gets priority.

 

It will work fine, the sooner the better.

[WiWavelength]

I'm sorry but I just don't buy the pessimism around VoLTE.

 

LTE, if deployed on the same frequencies and towers should reach about the same coverage area with much better speeds on the margins and the QoS support will ensure voice traffic gets priority.

 

It will work fine, the sooner the better.

 

What planet are you from where LTE 1900 has the same coverage as does CDMA1X 1900???

 

If you think that VoLTE will "work fine, the sooner the better," then I volunteer you to be the beta tester. Give up your CDMA2000 handset for an LTE only handset. Live by VoLTE, die by VoLTE. Let us know how that goes.

 

AJ

[Paynefanbro]

How could I here you when you are their and I am hear?

 

AJ

 

Woah! I did not notice I did that. And I am usually the one to do that to people. Schucks!

[jefbal99]

I'm sorry but I just don't buy the pessimism around VoLTE.

 

LTE, if deployed on the same frequencies and towers should reach about the same coverage area with much better speeds on the margins and the QoS support will ensure voice traffic gets priority.

 

It will work fine, the sooner the better.

 

It has been well documented here through real world testing that from the same tower, 1x goes further than EVDO and EVDO goes further than LTE. Beyond that, the fragile nature of LTE airlink means it will drop much more quickly than EVDO and the EVDO airlink will drop more quickly than 1x.

[Fraydog]

CDMA is a dying tech, guys. I don't like some aspects of that, but in the global scheme, the rural customers in the US really don't matter.

 

The reason its dying is Qualcomm. CDMA was (note past tense) Qualcomm's baby but now that they're making more money off LTE, they won't push CDMA any more. You may continue to see it on Qualcomm chipsets, but it won't be on chipsets by ST Ericsson, NVidia, Intel, or LTE/3GPP chipset makers.

 

Like all good things, it must come to an end. Please pay your respects to CDMA, but recognize a collaborative standard beats a closed one.

 

Also, it's not as if CDMA is going away altogether. Verizon won't go for final shutdown until 2021. That's plenty of time for future 3GPP releases to deal with the problems in LTE for rural cases.

[bigsnake49]

Verizon will be glad to get rid of CDMA because they will not have to pay Qualcomm a license fee anymore. Their phones will use the same chipsets as the rest of the world and because of competition, those prices will come down. They will have a unified switching architecture. They will tune their network to provide the same coverage. They will fill in their weak spots and holes. Verizon is expensive but they do spend money on their network.

[xenadu]

I live in a city so I don't give a flip about rural coverage, though SMR will solve that problem.

 

VoLTE is coming, it will be fine, get used to it.

[Fraydog]

I live in a city so I don't give a flip about rural coverage, though SMR will solve that problem.

 

VoLTE is coming, it will be fine, get used to it.

 

Yup.

 

Urban customers are the ones driving the bus. Look at the footprint of any mobile carrier NOT named Verizon.

 

If the US really gave a rip about rural service, they'd open up 450 for CDMA and have that be the defacto rural band for emergency use and the like. Heck do W-CDMA at 450. Maybe Qualcomm can do everyone a favor and put the good stuff in the 3GPP patent pool now that they aren't even using it that much.

 

Edit: Brazilian researchers are doing 450 LTE testing in rural Brazil.

 

http://www.rcrwireless.com/americas/20120302/carriers/brazilian-institute-tests-lte-at-450-mhz-eyes-2012-launch/

 

The 3GPP has 450 LTE band support as an open item. I'm hoping there's new technologies coming down the pipe to enable LTE reach other than just the low band spectrum.

[WiWavelength]

I live in a city so I don't give a flip about rural coverage...

 

Ah, the urban dweller who thinks that he is self sufficient. It is an unsupportable, idiotic viewpoint.

 

...though SMR will solve that problem.

 

No, it will not. VZW's Upper 700 MHz does not even solve the problem. You really should stop talking when you do not know what you are talking about.

 

VoLTE is coming, it will be fine, get used to it.

 

Your comeuppance should be that you get in a car accident in a rural area and have your frail VoLTE only voice coverage fail. It will be fine...you hope...

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

If the US really gave a rip about rural service...

 

Guys, this is the last word on the matter. Cellular 850 MHz carriers will not transition to VoLTE only anytime soon because those licensees have always faced FCC mandated geographic build out requirements. If VoLTE were to cause their coverage areas to shrink, they would lose that as Cellular Unserved Area. The FCC would not allow hundreds of thousands of square miles of coverage to just evaporate.

 

So, if Cellular 850 MHz carriers ever want to switch away from CDMA1X and W-CDMA, they will have to wait for greater than Release 10 enhancements, such as CoMP, and/or they will have to build out many additional rural sites. Either way, that requires a lot of time and money. VoLTE only is a mirage for still many years to come.

 

AJ