How to opt out of VOLTE?

[smurfit]

I'm having constant dropped calls on any phone I try that has Telus VOLTE support (not on PM whitelist). If I put my sim in an old hspa flip phone it works fine. How can I opt out of this failed VOLTE experiment so I can use my newer phones without getting constantly disconnected? P.S. I have an older 3G only plan. Could that be the source of the issue?

[smurfit]

Setting to 3G had no noticeable effect on my two volte capable devices. Still experienced dropped calls. Only putting sim into older phone works reliably for me.

[funpig1]

@hTideGnow  The only way to test this theory is to ask each of your friends with the different 5G, LTE or 3G plans to set the preferred network phone setting to LTE (or 3G) and then test call each other to see whether or not there is any reduction in the dropped calls.

[hTideGnow]

hi @funpig1 the issue seems have no relationship with 3G plan or not.  I have friends with 3G and 4G and 5G plans and they all have same voice problem.  The problem also happen on different phones. So, it seems a problem with voice and I thinks  it is 3G or VoLTE related

[funpig1]

@smurfit  I am no tech expert.  When I was on my old 3G plan, my phone would often connect with LTE if it had the stronger signal. It could connect with 5G if I had better coverage, but this was rare because I am in a zero 5G area.

I visualize the network like a three-lane highway, 5G, LTE and 3G. Your phone (car) and the network (traffic control) is always trying to direct you to the fastest lane, best signal. But every time your phone connects with the faster LTE (or 5G), PM steps on the brakes and throttles your speeds down to 3G speed. I see this in my my speed test. If I go to a strong signal 5G area, my speed test may start as as high as 160 mbps, but will decelerate over the course of the eight second test down to the speed which I actually paid for. The system is actually riding the brakes.

The problem is exacerbated if you are in a poor signal area (poor road conditions). Your phone is always trying to use the faster lane. However, when the lane has bad conditions (5G), your phone is forced to a lane with better conditions (LTE or 3G). It is the changing of lanes that contribute to accidents, imo.

Both a PM agent and Telus Tech Support have advised me that setting the preferred network to LTE or 3G should reduced the amount of dropped calls.

You may have an expensive smartphone (a Porsche), but because of lousy coverage or conditions, you manually set your phone to stay in the 3G lane All of the time to improve stability. Using an antiquated 3G flip phone (an old Volkswagen beetle) is probably one way of achieving this goal. 

Improving the network, infrastructure and coverage (road conditions) is what is really needed. I think this is a problem that is common with other providers. If you go to forums for Telus, Rogers, Fido, Freedom etc., there are always complaints about coverage issues dropped calls. If you are in a call with a freedom user and the call drops, how do you really know if the cause was public mobile or Freedom?

I expect that when providers get rid of 3G, thereby reducing the possibility of using that lane, we will all experience a new host of problems.

Forgive me, but that is how I visualize the problem.

[will13am]

I will jump in here with my very experience with dropped calls 20 minutes ago.  I had 4 successive drops calling the same number, no call lasting past 10 seconds.  I did an airplane mode toggle and immediately the dropped call problem stopped.  I was able to make a 10 minute call, not sure if the call would last longer than that.  There is definitely an ongoing issue and nothing to do with VoLTE or device.  

[funpig1]

@smurfit  have you tried changing your preferred Network to 3G to see if you can force your phone to stay on 3G and see if that improves your dropped call problem?

[smurfit]

Well I am open to hear any other explanation for the constantly disconnected calls. I jave been logging my call and signal data and can verify it is not related to signal degradation or tower handoff. The common denominator is that devices that show supported on Telus VOLTE database result in constant call disconnect. Devices not on that database work fine. At least that is what I have found. I simply want this volte support removed from my account to see if the problem is resolved. I have submitted a ticket but it has gone ignored

[softech]

@smurfit your account is enabled  for VoLTE doesnt mean Telus will always try to go VoLTE just because it has an entry in its IMEI db. Every reboot of the phone, your phone will renegotiate the parameters (VoLTE or not) with the network.  

[smurfit]

Hi. Yes I am aware of the overall issues with dropped calls involving VOLTE, that's why I want to opt out. I spoke with a service rep last week who told me that my account is VOLTE provisioned and that even though my devices are not whitelisted, they are supported by Telus VOLTE and it may or may not work. All I know is that my troubles started a couple months ago and have become increasingly worse in the last few weeks.

If I swap sims to older devices with no volte capability, the 3G calls continue uninterrupted. Making a 3G call on devices that telus supports volte on result in constant disconnect, even when I force network mode to 3G. I think the only resolution for the newer devices may be for Telus to delete the IMEI from their volte supported database. It's worth a try don't you think?

[softech]

@smurfit if you locked your network to 3G, I don't think PM will try to force the call to VoLTE especially you said you phone is not even on the whitelist

However, it is true there is some kind of voice issue with PM.  People on VoLTE experience the same problem.  And this is an overall Telus network issue as people on Koodo and Telus had the same problem 

[smurfit]

.@softech

I never claimed that my calls are going over volte. The issue is that the Telus network seems to recognize my phone as volte compatible and therefore seems to try and force the call to volte. My phone is not on PM volte whitelist. If I use an older phone not in Telus volte database it works fine. 

So the issue is not due to bad quality on LTE or volte per se, it is due to a glitch that is trying to force my perfectly acceptable 3G calls onto lte or volte. I don't want that.

[softech]

@smurfit if voice call drops to 3G all the time, then you are NOT using VOLTE.  It will stay on LTE if you are using VoLTE (voice over LTE)

so your voice  problem is a 3G voice problem, not VoLTE.   From what you just said, it is not even using LTE for voice 

[smurfit]

I have selected the 3G only mode and it makes no difference. Even when LTE is enabled, voice calls always drop to 3G anyway (much better signal quality on 3G in my area). It seems like Telus network does some sorta imei check at regular intervals and decides that my device has VOLTE support so drops the 3G call. Using old obsolete 3G only hspa flip phone = no issues. Ever try to do texting on a flip phone though? Not fun!

[softech]

@smurfit you likely cannot if you don't see the VoLTE toggle on your phone 

the only workarounds is to change the network mode to 3G to force the phone to stay on 3G, which of course could affect your data speed if you have a 4G speed plan or 5G speed plan