Is HD Voice now on? Mine appears to be working

[Deval]

Sprint's Saw: 16M customers have access to HD voice

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-cto-16m-customers-have-access-hd-voice/2014-09-09

 

"Just two months since launching nationwide HD voice service, Sprint says that 16 million customers have access to HD voice service."

 

And the best part, no need to buy a new phone.

 

I use HD voice daily calling my wife from my M8 to her iPhone 5S.

[jgore43]

Since its gone live on my local tower its made all of my calls, even non sprint ones very clear and about like talking on a landline. I'm loving it.

[jasonacg]

I have a Galaxy 4 (Tri-Band) on Sprint. I also have Google Voice. I don't think I've heard an HD call yet. Without going into service screens, does the S4 have an indicator when an HD call is occurring?

 

Also, what's the verdict on W-Fi calling? Is that running, or capable of running, in HD?

[EvanA]

 

 

I have a Galaxy 4 (Tri-Band) on Sprint. I also have Google Voice. I don't think I've heard an HD call yet. Without going into service screens, does the S4 have an indicator when an HD call is occurring?

 

Also, what's the verdict on W-Fi calling? Is that running, or capable of running, in HD?

The only way to tell is to hear it or look at the engineering screen for service option.

[Galaxyguy]

I have a Galaxy 4 (Tri-Band) on Sprint. I also have Google Voice. I don't think I've heard an HD call yet. Without going into service screens, does the S4 have an indicator when an HD call is occurring?

 

Also, what's the verdict on W-Fi calling? Is that running, or capable of running, in HD?

The only way to tell is to hear it or look at the engineering screen for service option.

If you have the newest software for the S4T, it does have an HD icon on the call screen when you are in an HD call. No need to go to the engineering screen.

 

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

[tampaflusa]

[aliensporebomb]

All I know is the first call I received with this was so clear it was almost scary.  

[Paynefanbro]

Yeah, when my dad call me from his Note 2 it always surprises me how clear it sounds. He hasn't commented it on it yet but I surely do notice and like you guys I see the HD Voice logo appear.

[darickster09]

I am having great experiences with HD voice as far as clarity goes.  But issue is I keep getting bumped from HD voice down to normal voice.  Guess its still getting all the tweaks worked out.

[Deval]

Usually, that happens when you're connected to a non-NV site (getting bumped from HD voice to non-HD).

[jamisonshaw125]

I wish Apple would let us know when we are making HD voice calls...

[cdk]

I wish Apple would let us know when we are making HD voice calls...

 

You should not question the great Apple. If Apple felt it was important for you to know if you are making a HD call, they would tell you. Apple knows what truely makes you happy.

 

[nexuss4g]

I noticed the HD Icons when I got 4.4.4 on my Moto X connecting to my mom's iPhone 5S. 

 

Seems like HD Voice does not work on the iPhone 4S

 

 

[NGeorge]

Love the HD voice... I know plenty of people on Sprint so have been getting it more and more. Surprised a couple people too who hadn't heard it yet

 

We were one of the original test areas so I've enjoyed it for quite a while... started when both were on LTE, then moved to people in the same region. Now the only time I don't seem to get it is if I'm calling through the Airave or roaming (or if the other person is).

[MacinJosh]

A few months ago I experienced my first HD call, but wasn't 100% sure it was until yesterday, when I experienced it again. It was awesome, so crystal clear.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk

[Trip]

I have yet to have an HD Voice call on my Galaxy S5, though Saturday on my fiancee's Moto X, her sister with a Galaxy S5 called and there was an HD Voice call between them.  First time I'd heard it.  Hope I eventually start having them.

 

- Trip

[EvanA]

Is there a technical reason for Sprint choosing EVRC for HD voice over VMR (the CDMA equivalent to AMR)?

[ingenium]

I apologize if this has been asked before, but why doesn't Sprint default to using the HD Voice codec for all calls instead of only when they determine both ends are HD Voice capable? 

 

I ask because my call quality is typically awful, especially when calling call centers or support centers. It just cuts in and out, despite having a good signal. Calls to Sprint customers in the same location yields good quality (and the phone shows HD Voice was used). When I call the same call centers using Google Voice (via VoIP) the call is crystal clear. So this seems to indicate it's the codec Sprint is using between the tower and the phone that's causing the audio to cut in and out, I'm guessing due to high compression.

 

Couldn't this be fixed by just using the HD Voice codec all the time? Is there some technical reason why this isn't done? I know the quality will be degraded at the transition to POTS, but that still seems like it would be much higher quality than the non-HD voice codec Sprint is currently using.

[ImmerStark]

I apologize if this has been asked before, but why doesn't Sprint default to using the HD Voice codec for all calls instead of only when they determine both ends are HD Voice capable? 

 

I ask because my call quality is typically awful, especially when calling call centers or support centers. It just cuts in and out, despite having a good signal. Calls to Sprint customers in the same location yields good quality (and the phone shows HD Voice was used). When I call the same call centers using Google Voice (via VoIP) the call is crystal clear. So this seems to indicate it's the codec Sprint is using between the tower and the phone that's causing the audio to cut in and out, I'm guessing due to high compression.

 

Couldn't this be fixed by just using the HD Voice codec all the time? Is there some technical reason why this isn't done? I know the quality will be degraded at the transition to POTS, but that still seems like it would be much higher quality than the non-HD voice codec Sprint is currently using.

It wouldn't help, the issue is most likely in the call centers phone system or the pots link. A call to a local landline might be better though.

[ingenium]

It wouldn't help, the issue is most likely in the call centers phone system or the pots link. A call to a local landline might be better though.

This happens with every call center I've called in the past 2 years, and it's crystal clear with Google Voice/Hangouts on the same device, which points to Sprint being the culprit. It also happens when I talk to non-Sprint customers, but it's less noticeable. Even calling Sprint has the same problem.

 

The easy give away is that the call center wait music is silent half the time due to the audio compression, cutting in and out. It's sometimes hard to tell if I'm still on hold or not.

[ImmerStark]

Is the Google voice call being routed over Wi-Fi or CDMA?

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[ingenium]

Is the Google voice call being routed over Wi-Fi or CDMA?

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Wifi. When using CDMA the quality is worse than just using Sprint (and adds noticeable latency), which makes sense, an extra layer is added in.

 

I had just assumed call centers and such just had awful compression until I tried with Google Voice over wifi and was blown away at how much better it sounded and didn't constantly cut out.

[ImmerStark]

This is starting to sound like a case of vocoder mismatch. Most call centers use VoIP as does google voice, if they are both using the same vocoder things will be peachy keen. If however you the calling party(you) and the receiving party(call center) are using different vocoders things get rough. Each vocoder has a unique way of determining what information is acceptable to lose when compressing the voice information. To grossly simplify it we can say a voice frame consists of information A, B, C , and D. Vocoder 1 may drop A to achieve required compression and vocoder 2 may drop C to achieve the same goal. If both parties are using the same vocoder then only either A or C is dropped. However if you have one party using vocoder 1 and the vocoder 2 then both A and C are lost which greatly diminishes the integrity of the information. Since this effect is less noticeable when compression is less lossy newer codecs should theoretically improve it. Since the primary improvement with HD voice is improved frequency range and to a lesser extent improved encoding efficiency it may help. The real question is if network operators are willing to sacrifice the network resources to pass all calls as HD for what may end up being a negligible benefit. My guess is that they have tested it and determining that the gains do not justify the cost.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[NiteSnow]

I've been noticing lately that calls from Sprint to T-Mobile and vice versa sound really clear (not even using HD Voice), but Sprint to Verizon and vice versa sound like crap.

[ImmerStark]

Verizon and at&t are notorious for using low encoding rates on voice calls. Sprint has always sounded better than Verizon and T-Mobile has always sounded better than at&t. A big part of why I left Verizon was because of the voice quality, it was especially bad when calling someone on at&t. Conversions were so muffled and garbled as to be unintelligible. The outrageous price was the other big factor.

 

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