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Call Quality Between Mobile Networks

Untrue, i daily drive Three and regularly receive incoming HD calls from Vodafone, O2 and their MVNOs but not from EE. Only outgoing calls to EE are HD.

Tesco VoLTE to Three VoLTE

View attachment 7148

I've tested this repeatedly over many months and devices and it's consitent on 4G/VoLTE. HD voice calling does sometimes work to 3 numbers when one or both networks are using 3G. However I've never seen it when both phones are using VoLTE (with the exception of 3 to 3 calls).

EDIT: I moved my own phone away from Three this month for this reason.

EDIT2: It's probably also worth mentioning that if you have a ported number that can also affect things.
 
Back on iPhone EE now but last week I was on a Samsung S20 FE with Smarty, calls to EE showed HD, calls to Three showed HD+, calls from EE showed HD, calls from Three showed HD+

But were they actually HD and over 4G?

It's possible what I've been seeing is regional (I'm in the South East) but I've never seen a real HD call (i.e. not a narrowband codec) to 3 from another network over VoLTE, yet Three can make outbound calls fine to EE/Vodafone.

I have seen "HD" appear on Android phones for non-HD calls however (implying an HD coded being used withing the network), which is probably due to transcoding before legacy SS7 peering. However I don't think I've ever seen the other phone in that situation show HD.

EDIT: If you're on Smarty all outbound calls should be HD. It's inbound from EE/Vodafone that I've never seen.
 
But were they actually HD and over 4G?

It's possible what I've been seeing is regional (I'm in the South East) but I've never seen a real HD call (i.e. not a narrowband codec) to 3 from another network over VoLTE, yet Three can make outbound calls fine to EE/Vodafone.

I have seen "HD" appear on Android phones for non-HD calls however (implying an HD coded being used withing the network), which is probably due to transcoding before legacy SS7 peering. However I don't think I've ever seen the other phone in that situation show HD.

EDIT: If you're on Smarty all outbound calls should be HD. It's inbound from EE/Vodafone that I've never seen.
Yea, it was inbound from EE and showing HD, I didn't test further than that. VoLTE icon wasn't there on Samsung, but the toggle was on? Maybe it's hidden by some carrier policy (Also in South East)
 
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Yea, it was inbound from EE and showing HD, I didn't test further than that. VoLTE icon wasn't there on Samsung, but the toggle was on? Maybe it's hidden by some carrier policy (Also in South East)
They can be hidden by a carrier setting. Two SIMs on my phone, one EE and one Lebara. EE shows VoLTE icon, Lebara doesn't, but Lebara is using VoLTE (remains on 4G unless I turn the option off for 4G calling where it drops to 3G).

Similar oddity with Wi-Fi calling. Both Lebara and EE show VoWiFi icon when connected, but Lebara also adds on Android a non dismissable notification that Wi-Fi calling is on, EE doesn't. There are a lot of carrier configuration options for what to show on the phone, at least on Android.
 
They can be hidden by a carrier setting. Two SIMs on my phone, one EE and one Lebara. EE shows VoLTE icon, Lebara doesn't, but Lebara is using VoLTE (remains on 4G unless I turn the option off for 4G calling where it drops to 3G).

Similar oddity with Wi-Fi calling. Both Lebara and EE show VoWiFi icon when connected, but Lebara also adds on Android a non dismissable notification that Wi-Fi calling is on, EE doesn't. There are a lot of carrier configuration options for what to show on the phone, at least on Android.
Same with Smarty, VoLTE works just fine but they haven't bothered to create a carrier profile to display the VoLTE icon on Samsung phones.
(Tut! I would like one) :cry:

It has certainly never shown on my S23 Ultra so far, maybe they'll get around to it one day, but then again, maybe not. :rolleyes:

It was Smarty themselves who told me this. 😊
 
If you're on Smarty all outbound calls should be HD. It's inbound from EE/Vodafone that I've never seen.
Smarty use the exact same IMS service as Three, so it counts for both. Vodafone have only recently enabled HD calling TO three, but it does indeed now work. The only call that isn't HD on Three/Smarty is an incoming EE one.
 
Same with Smarty, VoLTE works just fine but they haven't bothered to create a carrier profile to display the VoLTE icon on Samsung phones.
(Tut! I would like one) :cry:

It has certainly never shown on my S23 Ultra so far, maybe they'll get around to it one day, but then again, maybe not. :rolleyes:

It was Smarty themselves who told me this. 😊
Only EE, Sky and the now legacy Virgin Network display the VoLTE icon. Funny that Sky and Virgin don't even support HD calling. Maybe it's to make themselves feel better 🙂🙂
 
Only EE, Sky and the now legacy Virgin Network display the VoLTE icon. Funny that Sky and Virgin don't even support HD calling. Maybe it's to make themselves feel better 🙂🙂
Sorry a bit confused, doesn't VoLTE = HD Calling, so calls over 4G have to be atleast "HD"?
 
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Sorry a bit confused, doesn't VoLTE = HD Calling, so calls over 4G have to be atleast "HD"?
Nope, VoLTE solely means the call is done on 4G to an "IMS Server". I used to think this too, but the actual feature that is HD and HD+ Calling has to be enabled within the IMS server of both phone's networks for it to actually work.
 
Smarty use the exact same IMS service as Three, so it counts for both. Vodafone have only recently enabled HD calling TO three, but it does indeed now work. The only call that isn't HD on Three/Smarty is an incoming EE one.

I've just restested this and you're absolutely right. HD now works from Vodafone to 3 but only if the 3 number is not one that was ported from EE!

EE numbers ported to Vodafone are still HD when called from 3, EE and Vodafone, presumably because EE have inbound HD to Vodafone and 3 have outbound HD to EE!

The UK's ridiculously obsolete porting system strikes again.
 
I’m more surprised of who actually has time to use to check this stuff out.

I’d probably never notice unless I’m out in the sticks, but with 1 bar signal if anywhere, I’d probably always expect it to be rubbish calls.
 
I’m more surprised of who actually has time to use to check this stuff out.

I’d probably never notice unless I’m out in the sticks, but with 1 bar signal if anywhere, I’d probably always expect it to be rubbish calls.

I have to check regularly as part of my IT job. With remote working and everyone using mobiles, you'd be amazed at the amount of support tickets we get for "poor call quality" on company phones.

It's a particular issue when you have an entire company on the same network, with all the numbers ported from another network and a director that then decides to start using their own personal phone on a third network. :)

Also with VoLTE, the number of signal bars should not affect the quality substantially, other than to cause more drop outs. Dropping down to 3G or 2G however is a big issue even with full signal.
 
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Just wanted to chip in and say VoLTE will become more commonplace. VMO2 MVNOs have recently phased out their 3G devices so expect VoLTE to become widespread in the next 2 years, just in time for people's 3G device contracts to run out.
 
It would be nice for VoIP providers to work on interop and for higher quality codecs to be usable outside of the local network. For a brief while I had BT Digital Voice and HD calls between the landline and EE/BT mobiles was a nice surprise.
 
It would be nice for VoIP providers to work on interop and for higher quality codecs to be usable outside of the local network. For a brief while I had BT Digital Voice and HD calls between the landline and EE/BT mobiles was a nice surprise.
That would involve agreeing on a codec though, and which one would you choose, g722, g729, opus?
 
Presumably there's a degree of codec negotiation that happens on LTE currently, as some phones might not support EVS. You'd need to move away from peering over TDM or whatever in order to improve the quality, so codec negotiation might as well be part of it. I'm aware this will never happen though.
 
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