T-Mobile Lumia 640 has VOLTE out of the box!!!!!!!!!!

dashauns

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Nothing mentioned on the box, webpage, or literature, so I gave it a shot. Also clarying that not all HDvoice phones have voice over LTE, for example blackberry z10, lumia 635, and others all drop to hspa when you make a call. I made a call on the lumia 640 I just picked up from my local Walmart and it stayed on lte throughout the call. It seems this will be the norm for band 12 phones, including the budget ones, as the galaxy avant also has the feature. Although it was an incredible wait, thank you to tmobile for bringing us the first volte windows phone.
 

dashauns

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Before I get crucified I just wanted to make this thread because a lot of blogs, and sites I see use hdvoice and volte interchangeably(if that's a word). All volte phones will be hdvoice but not all hdvoice phones support volte. The ZTE zmax is a band 12 phone and supports hdvoice, but it drops to hspa as soon as you receive or make a call.
 

TexasLabRat

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Before I get crucified I just wanted to make this thread because a lot of blogs, and sites I see use hdvoice and volte interchangeably(if that's a word). All volte phones will be hdvoice but not all hdvoice phones support volte. The ZTE zmax is a band 12 phone and supports hdvoice, but it drops to hspa as soon as you receive or make a call.

Yeah other providers are only going to support HD Voice over a VoLTE connection (if/when rolled out) versus T-mobile which has had HD Voice for years over the HSPA network. That's where the confusion sets in since most people pay attention to the big guys and forget about T-mobile. Great point to clarify.
 

libra89

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Thank you for posting this! I was busy trying to update my phone to see that it can get the update with that, but I didn't know that it already had it before. It's time to test a phone call (soon).
 

TexasLabRat

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Anybody wants to explain what is HDvoice and VoLTE? I really have no idea what are they :)

HD Voice is the use of a high-quality audio codec for calls that sounds a lot more like a skype call than a traditional cell phone call due to the additional bandwidth allocated. Support for it is required by the provider as well as both of the phones involved in the conversation. T-mobile has supported this function for years over its HSPA network. Other providers are implementing the feature in conjuction with VoLTE and have no plans to "back port" it to run on their older 3G networks (that I know of, anyway) since they feel that LTE is the future (and rightfully so). Hence, most people equate HD Voice with VoLTE even though they are very much different things.

VoLTE is Voice over LTE, and it's just what it sounds like...voice service over LTE. LTE is, at its base, strictly a data service unlike the GSM and 3G protocols that preceded it which could do simultaneous voice and data. VoLTE basically encapsulates your voice call into effectively a private VoIP call across the provider's network while allowing you to continue do data-centric things as you previously could do with HSPA. Without this service, whenever you are on LTE and you make/receive a call, the phone must drop to HSPA (or possibly 2G/EDGE depending on coverage) in order to carry the voice call. This becomes even more important now that the new phones have 700MHz Band 12 LTE capability which, as far as I know, is LTE-only on T-mobile thus requiring VoLTE to be able to use voice services on it.
 

AV2RY

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LTE is, at its base, strictly a data service --UNLIKE THE GSM AND 3G PROTOCOLS THAT PRECEDED IT WHICH COULD DO SIMULTANEOUS VOICE AND DATA. -- VoLTE basically encapsulates your voice call into effectively a private VoIP call across the provider's network while allowing you to continue do data-centric things as you previously could do with HSPA. Without this service, whenever you are on LTE and you make/receive a call, the phone must drop to HSPA (or possibly 2G/EDGE depending on coverage) in order to carry the voice call.


This one is interesting part. So, I have L928 w/ Tmobile's SIM. Whenever I make/receive call my internet (data) stops working UNLESS I'm sharing internet and I have 1+ devices connected to this internet. Why does it happen? I never had LTE on this phones (I bought it off contract to use with Tmobile. Verizon and Tmo have different LTE bands), instead most of the time it show H (3G?). If it's 3G ain't I suppose to have voice and data simultaneously?

Thanks for ^ answer
 

TexasLabRat

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This one is interesting part. So, I have L928 w/ Tmobile's SIM. Whenever I make/receive call my internet (data) stops working UNLESS I'm sharing internet and I have 1+ devices connected to this internet. Why does it happen? I never had LTE on this phones (I bought it off contract to use with Tmobile. Verizon and Tmo have different LTE bands), instead most of the time it show H (3G?). If it's 3G ain't I suppose to have voice and data simultaneously?

Thanks for ^ answer

if I had to guess, I'd say it was an artifact from the 928 being a Verizon phone. So, while LTE has the issue of no voice, all data...the older CDMA protocols are kind of the opposite...no data when voice call is being made. It's likely that some combination of specialized CDMA-aware firmware for Verizon, maybe a software bug, and perhaps using the "wrong" APN could be combining to create the behavior you are seeing where the phone is acting like it's on a 2G/3G pre-SVDO CDMA network and must turn off data when using voice functions. Somehow the internet sharing thing overrides that behavior and makes it act "appropriately".

Kind of guessing here, but that's my stab at it.
 

AV2RY

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It's likely that some combination of specialized CDMA-aware firmware for Verizon, maybe a software bug, and perhaps using the "wrong" APN could be combining to create the behavior you are seeing where the phone is acting like it's on a 2G/3G pre-SVDO CDMA network and must turn off data when using voice functions. Somehow the internet sharing thing overrides that behavior and makes it act "appropriately".

Doesn't bother me much. I'll just leave that "maybe wrong" APN as is. If I touch I might lose my internet sharing. Its really hard to fix (gets broken everytime I update my phone (8, 8.1 ...))

Well, thanks again
 

dashauns

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Thanks Texas for the detailed clarification i was away and just came back to the thread. Glad to see the thread is getting responses.
 

Paul Verizzo

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Nothing mentioned on the box, webpage, or literature, so I gave it a shot. Also clarying that not all HDvoice phones have voice over LTE, for example blackberry z10, lumia 635, and others all drop to hspa when you make a call. I made a call on the lumia 640 I just picked up from my local Walmart and it stayed on lte throughout the call. It seems this will be the norm for band 12 phones, including the budget ones, as the galaxy avant also has the feature. Although it was an incredible wait, thank you to tmobile for bringing us the first volte windows phone.

You're wrong.

It's been in the specs all along. You just had to know what LTE bands to look for.

Frankly, my knees quiver with the thought of a better voice algorithm. Not hardly. Why all the excitement for a somewhat better voice codec? The real excitement should be far better penetration into buildings and over longer distances, you now can have a good voice connection.
 

dashauns

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You're wrong.

It's been in the specs all along. You just had to know what LTE bands to look for.

Frankly, my knees quiver with the thought of a better voice algorithm. Not hardly. Why all the excitement for a somewhat better voice codec? The real excitement should be far better penetration into buildings and over longer distances, you now can have a good voice connection.

You obviously have not read the other posts let alone the title. We knew band 12 was on the device but having band 12 does not mean you have voice over lte. The excitement is over being able to use lte data while on a voice call. The literature stated it would have hdvoice which doesnt necessarily mean volte. Zte zmax, moto e 2015, and alcatel onetouch idol are band 12 phones which to my knowledge don't support volte(the zmax definitely sinc I don't own it, and the other 2 are unlocked phones).

Better building penetration will only work in areas it is actually rolled out in and that remains to be seen considering that while you get better building penetration, you have to do so within closer distance to the tower, and with lower data capacity. A great feature, and sorely needed for some, but volte can be used over the other lte bands as well and over more areas than just those covered by band 12 lte.
 

voidcomp

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Android Police has an interesting discussion about T-Mobile pulling Band 12 on certain phones which blends in well with these discussions. Can't post a link yet but google 'Why Is T-Mobile Telling Manufacturers To Remove Band 12 LTE Support From Some Unlocked Smartphones?'
 

libra89

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dashauns

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If you are in a band 12 only area and have a phone that doesnt support voice over lte you wouldt even be able to make a 911 call as there is no voice service, hspa doesnt work on band 12. Initially if you were in band 12 you would have data and couldnt call or text and alot of customers, myself included were fine with that but having service and not being able to make calls or text is sure to confuse the vast majority of customers. Devices dont tell you via icon or any indicator when they switch bands or which they switch to so it is easier to for tmobile to say since band 12 is our band only please dont list it as supported unless you can provide volte, so that we have a consistent experience for our customers, and avoid complaints and confusion.
 

jhildy73

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Noticed this when I went to metro pcs...Initially I did not know metro pcs did hd voice because I was using a unlocked att LG g2 and for whatever reason would not get hd voice...well my LG g2 broke so finally got a lte metro pcs phone and WOW the voice quality is WAY better with HD voice..thumbs up to t mobile and metro pcs.....lumia 640 with metro pcs unlimited lte data for 60 a month is AWESOME!!!!
 

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