[LINK] Telstra VoLTE

[Stephen Loosley]

 Mobile voice calls will be progressively routed over the LTE data network in a huge change to calling, Telstra has announced.

In what it described as the most complex change to voice calling in 40 years, the revolutionary change to Voice over LTE or VoLTE would drastically cut the time needed for calls to connect.

“For most of this year we have been undertaking one of the largest and most complex changes to voice calling in our network for more than 40 years,” said Mike Wright, general managing director, networks, at Telstra.

One benefit was the seamless transfer of calls to a WiFi network whenever a customer connected to one. The service is restricted to Telstra mobile customers but the WiFi network didn’t have to be Telstra’s.

Mr Wright said calls were integrated into the 4G LTE data­stream rather than the previous arrangement of reverting to 3G.

“4G calling allows customers to maintain a full 4G experience during a call,” he said.

“This means voice and data stay on the same part of the network, therefore delivering faster data access while using the internet as well as super-fast call setup times.”

However, customers would need phones capable of VoLTE, would need to have performed necessary software updates, and be calling another VoLTE ­customer.

Phones will have an option to switch on VoLTE but apart from that, customers would not necessarily be aware their calls were VoLTE.

Telstra also is working on making it possible for customers to initiate VoLTE calls over WiFi.

The telco expects to have hundreds of thousands of devices using VoLTE within a few months.


Telstra also announced a new category 11 device, a Netgear cellular WiFi modem router, capable of up to 600 megabits per second download in what Telstra said was a world first.

The device accesses Telstra’s 4GX network, an amalgam of the 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz networks along with the 700 MHz spectrum Telstra bought at auction in 2013 for $1.3 billion.

At a demonstration for journalists at its Sydney headquarters, Telstra attained speeds of more than 500 Mbps using Ookla’s speedtest.net benchmark. The Netgear device is designed primarily for small business.

Devices connect to it using WiFi AC. Telstra said the device could connect up to 15 users and was optimised for video streaming. It offered up to 11 hours of battery life.

Given its ability to quickly churn through data, users would have access to new data usage figures every 15 minutes.

The Netgear device will cost $264 and will be sold from September 29.

In a bid to eliminate mobile black spots, Telstra showcased small cells that could be installed in smaller regional centre buildings to create bubbles of connectivity for an area of a few hundred metres.

Although it is closing its 2G network, Telstra said it had no current plan to close the 3G ­network.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/telstra-unveils-lightning-fast-4g-lte-mobile-hotspot/story-e6frg90f-1227531469899


Cheers,
Stephen