topic Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon? in Get Support

Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Kristowhy — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 22:58:35 GMT

I know there has been a lot of talk/speculation about VoLTE coming to Koodo and PM, but I noticed something odd with PM voice calls and wondering if others are seeing it as well.

The following threads discuss VoLTE coming to PM and even Koodo later this year:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Va-Va-VoLTE/m-p/831930#M559428

https://community.koodomobile.com/prepaid-79951/volte-for-prepaid-7812075

I have an up to date Android 11 Moto G Play 2021 device and experience the following when placing voice calls:

- call is setup on HSPA (with H symbol with X through bars after changing from LTE)

- after about a minute or so it switches to 3G (3G symbol shows up)

- symbol changes again after a short while but to 4G this time (4G symbol shows up but X no longer present on signal bars)

- 4G remains for the duration of the call

- phone returns to LTE symbol after call ended

Anyone else seeing this or perhaps it's just the way the software ROM in this Moto behaves? Or maybe this is the beginnings of the VoLTE becoming available - thoughts?

Note - I see the exact same behaviour on Koodo prepaid with the same model device (different handset)

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

softech — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 23:00:42 GMT

@Kristowhy nice find. I will certainly test it out tonight

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Kristowhy — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 23:24:14 GMT

@softech wrote:
@Kristowhy nice find. I will certainly test it out tonight

Sounds good @softech ! Let us know what you experience.

You have to let the call go atleast a minute or longer before I noticed the symbols changing. I tried it multiple times and the timing wasn't exact but the sequence still happened. I also tried this with VoLTE turned off and on in my device and it seemed to happen the same either way.

I am wondering if maybe the 3G network capacity isn't as broad and good as it used to be and the phone/network is shifting to other bands to keep the call going?

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Kristowhy — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 23:31:49 GMT

UPDATE: I turned wifi off and tried the calls again. When the phone switched to 4G (usually after a minute) I was able to receive and send SMS and also use mobile data while the call was going! 😀

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

JL9 — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 00:42:06 GMT

Oh wow that would be a very nice development and ideal if this can be done as it was sort of a pain when you couldn't do both

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

will13am — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 01:33:06 GMT

@Kristowhy , what part of the country are you in? I am wondering if this is a test. The timeframe for 3G sunset is 2025. Certainly the earlier services are unloaded from 3G, the quicker some of the 3G bandwidth can be repurposed. Anyway, I have a 5G capable phone, I don't even see a VoLTE setting.

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

computergeek541 — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 02:27:38 GMT

@Kristowhy

I have not seen any VoLTE. I believe that you're simply seeing a phone that reports the HSPA network as "4g". Many Canadian model phones do this when a Canadian carrier's SIM card is inserted. This was done as a marketing technique to make the the HSPA network sound better by redfining the defintition of "4g". In the U.S., this "4g" change in definition was also tried. All it did was confuse people.

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Kristowhy — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 03:14:32 GMT

@computergeek541 wrote:
@Kristowhy

I have not seen any VoLTE. I believe that you're simply seeing a phone that reports the HSPA network as "4g". Many Canadian model phones do this when a Canadian carrier's SIM card is inserted. This was done as a marketing technique to make the the HSPA network sound better by redfining the defintition of "4g". In the U.S., this "4g" change in definition was also tried. All it did was confuse people.

@will13am central Toronto area

@computergeek541

I was thinking it was that but I don't believe that's the case here. Whenever the phone mode in the top notification area changes to "4g" during a call, I am able to send/receive SMS and also use mobile data while the call is in progress. Any other time I have an "H", or "3g" with X in bars, SMS and mobile data are not possible.

Why would the notification tray icon keep changing?

I conducted more testing and sometimes the 4G came in under 10 seconds, while other times after a minute. And many other times it either stayed at H the entire time or started H and then went to 3G. It does not seem to be consistent. What is consistent is SMS and mobile data work during calls when 4G is displayed. This is why I was thinking that it may be due to capacity constraints and the phone/network adjusts to maintain the call.

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Kristowhy — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 03:25:57 GMT

@will13am wrote:
@Kristowhy , what part of the country are you in? I am wondering if this is a test. The timeframe for 3G sunset is 2025. Certainly the earlier services are unloaded from 3G, the quicker some of the 3G bandwidth can be repurposed. Anyway, I have a 5G capable phone, I don't even see a VoLTE setting.

This device is only LTE capable and the VoLTE option is in the mobile data settings area. VoLTE requires the carrier side to be setup even if your device is turned on and I tested here with it on and off and didn't seem to make a difference.

I have another device with 5g chipset and same version of Android and it doesn't have the VoLTE option. I leave it set to 4G mode since 5g isn't available on prepaid platforms.

If you read the Koodo community forum URL I pasted above, a Koodo rep replied saying VoLTE estimate now for their prepaid platform is by end of the year.

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

softech — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 03:33:56 GMT

@Kristowhy no luck for me, made a call just now and I see LTE changed immediately to H+ on top 😞

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Kristowhy — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 03:40:39 GMT

@softech wrote:
@Kristowhy no luck for me, made a call just now and I see LTE changed immediately to H+ on top 😞

Try during the day when the network is more heavily in use. Also, let the call go on for at least 1 to 2 mins. After I hit about 10pm EST I was unable to get the "4G" anymore. I am going to keep an eye on things during the day and when in other areas.

What device and OS version are you using?

Maybe my phone is possessed! 😂

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

LeePublic — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 04:57:07 GMT

Hoping VoLTE rollout will be as smooth as possible!

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

jor123 — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 15:45:19 GMT

Happy to see that post from the Koodo rep for prepaid... maybe there is hope lol

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Kristowhy — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 23:32:43 GMT

I just did a couple of test calls around 7pm EST after the phone sat unused all day. The first call setup with H after switching away from LTE and surprisingly switched to 4G in 5 seconds into the call. I was then able to send/receive SMS/MMS and use the data connection.

I hung up and waited 5 mins and tried again. It started the same with H but after 30 seconds went to 3G and then back to H. During this time SMS was possible but MMS was NOT. And the phone could not use a mobile data connection.

The advantage of VoLTE as we know is being able to use the data connection concurrently with a voice call.

*perplexed*

See images below. I cannot figure this out. Either the phone is screwy or there is something going on with the network. It is my understanding that the mobile data connection is switched off during H and 3G voice calls and this is what is happening. Yet my phone switches in 4G at varying times and then the data connections works concurrently.

Phone in 4G mode & data connection working

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

will13am — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 00:43:55 GMT

@Kristowhy wrote:
@computergeek541 wrote:
@Kristowhy

I have not seen any VoLTE. I believe that you're simply seeing a phone that reports the HSPA network as "4g". Many Canadian model phones do this when a Canadian carrier's SIM card is inserted. This was done as a marketing technique to make the the HSPA network sound better by redfining the defintition of "4g". In the U.S., this "4g" change in definition was also tried. All it did was confuse people.
@will13am central Toronto area

@computergeek541

I was thinking it was that but I don't believe that's the case here. Whenever the phone mode in the top notification area changes to "4g" during a call, I am able to send/receive SMS and also use mobile data while the call is in progress. Any other time I have an "H", or "3g" with X in bars, SMS and mobile data are not possible.

Why would the notification tray icon keep changing?

I conducted more testing and sometimes the 4G came in under 10 seconds, while other times after a minute. And many other times it either stayed at H the entire time or started H and then went to 3G. It does not seem to be consistent. What is consistent is SMS and mobile data work during calls when 4G is displayed. This is why I was thinking that it may be due to capacity constraints and the phone/network adjusts to maintain the call.

I am in the same city. This is what I see on my phone. What is interesting is that when the phone is idle, the mobile voice network type is showing LTE. Of course the mobile data network type is also showing LTE. When a call is initiated, the mobile voice network type changes to UMTS. The mobile data network type changes to HSPA. I let the call run for 10 minutes, there was not transition to VoLTE.

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Kristowhy — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 01:39:10 GMT

@will13am

What app are you using to display that info? Or is this buried in the hidden developer options? Please elaborate. I would like to test that with my setup as well.

Also, when you have a call going, can you access and use mobile data? Can you send an MMS or just text SMS? Please confirm.

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

softech — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 01:45:18 GMT

@Kristowhy even on 3G , you can access voice and data at the same time.

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

will13am — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 02:05:10 GMT

@Kristowhy wrote:
@will13am
What app are you using to display that info? Or is this buried in the hidden developer options? Please elaborate. I would like to test that with my setup as well.

Also, when you have a call going, can you access and use mobile data? Can you send an MMS or just text SMS? Please confirm.

The screencap was setting, about phone, SIM status. Mobile data was showing as functional but it did not appear to work. I am not 100% sure, but I thought that GSM standard does allow call and data at the same time, recognizing that data speed could be awful because the call has priority and hogs a lot of the available bandwidth. It is possible that Public Mobile disable other capabilities during a call. @sheytoon , we need your expert input on this one.

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Community_QA — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 02:40:20 GMT

IF PM turning on VoLTE, does that also mean Wifi Calling will be enabled as well?

Re: Voice calls now happening on 4G - VoLTE coming soon?

Kristowhy — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 02:44:42 GMT

@will13am wrote:
@Kristowhy wrote:
@will13am
What app are you using to display that info? Or is this buried in the hidden developer options? Please elaborate. I would like to test that with my setup as well.

Also, when you have a call going, can you access and use mobile data? Can you send an MMS or just text SMS? Please confirm.
The screencap was setting, about phone, SIM status. Mobile data was showing as functional but it did not appear to work. I am not 100% sure, but I thought that GSM standard does allow call and data at the same time, recognizing that data speed could be awful because the call has priority and hogs a lot of the available bandwidth. It is possible that Public Mobile disable other capabilities during a call. @sheytoon , we need your expert input on this one.

Ok, I just went through my tests again and here are the results using the SIM Status page.

See comments below each image.

The long and the short of it is that the SIM status for "mobile data type" must be in HSPA+ mode in order for mobile data and MMS to function during a call. When the SIM status was in HSPA mode, I could only send plain text SMS and NO mobile data during a call. And when the SIM status was "unknown" only the call was possible.

Similar to @will13am my phone switched from LTE to UMTS for "mobile voice network" when a call was setup.

And looks like there was no VoLTE action happening here after all, but it's strange how mobile data only works when in HSPA+ mode. Or perhaps this is functioning as designed?

Call in progress. Indicators shows 4G. SMS, MMS and mobile data is possible!

Phone idle. No call.

Call in progress. Indicator shows 3G. Only SMS possible. NO MMS. NO mobile data possible

Call in progress. Indicator shows H. Only SMS possible. No mobile data.