It has been a huge year for AT&T. We’ve seen most of their plans revamped by adjusting data tiers and adjusting plan prices for new and existing subscribers. They have brought its customers not only Wifi Calling, which uses nearby wifi networks to place calls when cellular signals are scarce, but has offered features like NumberSync, which links other devices to your primary number so you are able to send and receive calls or texts using another device, even if your primary phone is not with you or even dead. Tmobile is one of their biggest competitors and is keeping AT&T on its tippy toes. Right now in the carrier world, there is an unseen battle raging across all of the networks to rein prime king, rule all customers and to win loyal subscribers. With AT&T’s announcement today, it looks as if AT&T is one step closer to making that dream become a reality. Today AT&T announced that it has a loyal following of 27 million subscribers in their VoLTE program. This is more than any current carrier in North America. They also stated that their VoLTE program covers more than 295 million Americans. If this statement is true then that makes AT&T true king in the carrier world and one step closer to total domination.
With AT&T’s network, customers are able to surf the web and make calls simultaneously. Sprint, on the other hand, has not come around to adding this must-have-feature to its customers just yet. Sprint’s customers can surf the web and make calls simultaneously only if they are on wifi, but not while on Sprint’s own 4GLTE “Spark” network, something that AT&T has spoiled its customers with. But now after today, AT&T’s customers will be able to surf the web and make calls over new 4GLTE speeds, thanks to their own program, VoLTE. They will also be able to offer HD (High Definition) Voice, which produces more natural sounding audio waves by extending frequency range of audio signals. This is only being rolled out market by market, but if you would like to see if your area is available for HD Voice then visit AT&T’s coverage viewer.
What is something that might have been even more important and worth mentioning is that AT&T has seen the first exchange between their customers and another carrier over VoLTE. This is only in “selected areas” and they do not mention which carrier, so nothing to get excited about just yet, but it could mean some huge advancements in how we talk to everyone in HD instead of those on your own carrier.
It seems we are in the midst of a huge carrier battle and while there are many carriers racing to pick up customers through higher data speeds, it’s almost a certainty that we will see more advancements in networking for public consumption.