What is VoLTE?

VoLTE stands for voice over Long Term Evolution. Utilizing IMS technology, it is a digital packet
voice service that is delivered over IP via an LTE access network.
Voice calls over LTE are recognized as the industry-agreed progression of voice services
across mobile networks, deploying LTE radio access technology.

VoLTE is a technology where simultaneously you can send voice and data over the network.
So, we can say this is designed for both voice and data traffic. In LTE, if you make a voice call
and you also keep your data connection on, the quality of voice will reduce. So, in order to make
a good quality voice call, you will have to switch off data. In 3G, while you are making a phone
call, to preserve voice quality some phones will automatically stop data services.
But in the case of VoLTE, the voice quality will not reduce even if your data connection is on.
With VoLTE it is very easy to transmit telephone conversation over the data network. Compared
to LTE, VoLte has better advantages.

Who is VoLTE valuable for?

● Operators;
● OEMs;
● Network vendors;
● Partners; and
● Consumers.

What are the benefits of VoLTE?

The implementation of VoLTE offers many benefits, both in terms of cost and operation. VoLTE:

● Provides a more efficient use of spectrum than traditional voice;

● Meets the rising demand for richer, more reliable services;
● Eliminates the need to have voice on one network and data on another;
● Unlocks new revenue potential, utilizing IMS as the common service platform;
● Can be deployed in parallel with video calls over LTE and RCS multimedia services,
including video share, multimedia messaging, chat and file transfer;
● Ensures that video services are fully interoperable across the operator community, just
as voice services are, as demand for video calls grows;
● Increases handset battery life by 40 percent (compared with VoIP);
● Delivers an unusually clear calling experience; and
● Provides rapid call establishment time.

Simply put, VoLTE is a way to route voice traffic over the 4G LTE networks carriers use to
transmit data.

Here's a look at what the four major carriers offer in the way of VoLTE.
Simultaneous Voice and Data Calls

Say you're on the phone with a friend while you're out and about, and you decide to take in a
movie. If you're not sure what's playing, you'll want to check the listings while you talk. If you're
an AT&T or T-Mobile customer, you've been able to do this for years. That hasn't been the case
for Verizon and Sprint subscribers; you'd have to end the call to get on the Web. Now that
Verizon rolled out VoLTE, it's no longer a problem. Sprint says it will adopt VoLTE, but it is not
clear when.

Better Quality Voice Calls

VoLTE enabled what's called high definition (HD) voice calling. It's hard to quantify the higher
quality of these calls, but they are a significant improvement over traditional calls made via
cellular networks. There is, however, a catch. To make an HD voice call, you need to use a
phone that supports VoLTE, in an area with 4G LTE service, and the person on the other end
must also meet the same requirements.

No Increase in Voice Charges

Since HD calling utilizes the data network, you might assume that your HD voice minutes affect
your data allotment. Fortunately, that's not the case. The networks are smart enough to identify
voice packets, and they don't lump them into your data usage.

Not Every Phone Supports VoLTE

On the iPhone side of the house, only the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus support VoLTE. On Verizon,
your other choices for VoLTE phones include the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the LG G2. On T-
Mobile, there's the LG G Flex and Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy Light and Galaxy Note 3. For
now, you need an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus to utilize HD calling on AT&T’s network.

Benefits of VoLTE
● Superior call quality
The big advantage of VoLTE is that call quality is superior to 3G or 2G connections as far more
data can be transferred over 4G than 2G or 3G. Up to three times as much data as 3G and up to
six times as much as 2G to be precise, making it easier to make out not only what the person on
the other end of the line is saying, but also their tone of voice.

Essentially it’s an HD voice call and it’s a much richer experience over all.

● Improved coverage and connectivity

VoLTE can connect calls up to twice as fast as the current methods and as 2G and 3G
connections will still be available when there’s no 4G signal it simply means that there’s greater
mobile coverage overall, as currently places with a 4G signal but no 2G or 3G means that on you
can’t make or receive calls.

You might think that would be a rare occurrence, but some of the frequencies that 4G operates
on, such as the 800MHz spectrum, have far greater reach than 2G or 3G spectrum, so you’ll be
able to get signal further away from a mast or in buildings which other signals struggle to
penetrate. Indeed, Three is fully relying on its 800MHz spectrum for VoLTE calls.

However, while 2G and 3G services would likely remain they wouldn’t be as necessary as they
are now and much of the spectrum used for 2G in particular could potentially be repurposed to
increase capacity on 4G networks.

● Better battery life

Anyone who currently uses 4G could also find their battery life increased with VoLTE, as without
it whenever you make or receive a call your phone has to switch from 4G to 2G or 3G, since 4G
calls aren’t supported and then once the call is finished it switches back again. All that switching,
plus the need to search for a different signal each time, can give the battery a significant hit.

● Video calling
It’s also theoretically possible to make video calls over 4G, much like a Skype call except you’d
just use your mobile number and be able to use the regular dialler and call interface, so you can
make and receive video calls from anyone else with VoLTE, rather than relying on separate
accounts.
In fact you may have noticed that Skype and other existing video calls services often seem to
have superior audio quality to voice calls. That’s because like VoLTE they use more data as part
of a similarly named VoIP system, so you can expect your voice calls to start sounding more like
Skype calls, but they won’t hit your battery life as much as Skype does.

Not only could video calls become native to the dialler, but other Rich Communication Services
(or RCS’s) could as well, such as file transferring, real time language translation and video
voicemail and there may be applications which haven’t even been thought up yet.

Limitations of VoLTE
It’s not available everywhere on every network, or on every handset, so you may or may not be
able to use VoLTE.

Comparisons between VOLTE and LTE

The terms LTE and VoLTE are often thrown around so much, especially for marketing, that their
meaning is often confused and muddled. So much so that consumers often don’t know what the
terms mean or what they entail. The terms LTE and VoLTE are often used together for marketing,
but in reality the two are completely different things, though one is depended on the other.

LTE is basically a 4G network, or rather a prelude to a 4G network. First came 2G, then came
3G, however, technology still has not advanced to the stage where 4G, as described by 3GPP
(3rd Generation Partnership Project), exists. However, technology and speeds have improved
over 3G; hence, LTE, a network between 3G and true 4G. LTE stands for Long-Term Evolution.
In fact, it is often marketed as LTE 4G or 4G LTE.

Comparison between LTE and VoLTE:

LTE VoLTE

Voice Over LTE (Long-

Stands for Long-Term Evolution
Term Evolution)
 Type of Service provided
Type Type of Network
on the network

The next type of cellular Phone Calls over the LTE

Description
network. Faster than 4G. Network

In telecommunication,
Long-Term Evolution
(LTE) is a standard for Voice over Long-Term
high-speed wireless Evolution (Volte) is a
communication for mobile standard for high-speed
Definition (Wikipedia)
phones and data wireless communication
terminals, based on the for mobile phones and
GSM/EDGE and data terminals.
UMTS/HSPA
technologies.

May or may not support

Supports data usage and
Data data usage and voice call
voice call together.
together.

Using data and voice at Using data and voice at

the same time, may or the same time does not
Effect on Voice Call
may not affect the quality affect the quality of the
of the voice call. voice call.

Architecture LTE:
Architecture VoLTE:

The idea of IMS is old, but after it’s deployment with LTE users and operators can harness the
true power of IMS.

IMS – IP Multimedia Subsystem is a standalone system. It resides out of the LTE network.

Mobility Management Entity:

MME is the single most control point in the EPC and responsible for most of the control plane
functions.

Serving Gateway:

All IP packets in uplink and downlink flow through S-GW. S-GW is also responsible for handling
handovers.

Public Data Network Gateway:

P-GW allocates IP addresses to UEs. It also provides interfaces towards internet and IMS.

Policy and charging Role function(PCRF):

The PCRF determines the allowed traffic types in real-time. It also checks how to account for the
traffic. Operators use this information for billing purpose. Based on requests for IMS services, the
PCRF also initiates the appropriate bearers.
For eg, When a UE starts a VoLTE call, the PCRF checks if the UE has a subscription to start
VoLTE call. If the UE has VoLTE subscription, PCRF setup dedicated bearer for IMS services.

Home Subscriber Server(HSS):

HSS is a database that maintains user profiles and location information. It handles name and
address resolution. HSS is also responsible for authentication and authorization.

The E-UTRAN handles the radio communications between the mobile and the evolved packet
core and just has one component, the evolved base stations, called eNodeB or eNB. Each eNB
is a base station that controls the mobiles in one or more cells. The base station that is
communicating with mobile is known as its serving eNB.

LTE Mobile communicates with just one base station and one cell at a time and there are following
two main functions supported by eNB:

The eBN sends and receives radio transmissions to all the mobiles using the analog and digital
signal processing functions of the LTE air interface.

The eNB controls the low-level operation of all its mobiles, by sending them signaling messages
such as handover commands.
IMS Architecture:

Call Session Control Function (CSCF):

CSCF establishes monitors, supports, and releases multimedia sessions. It has three different
functional elements. These may or may not be separate physical entities.

● Proxy CSCF: P-CSCF acts as the initial point of contact from any SIP User Agent. It handles
all requests from the UE and is, from the UE’s point of view, the “SIP proxy” to the entire
subsystem.
● Serving CSCF: S-CSCF has knowledge about the user and what applications are available
to the user. It acts as a decision point. S-CSCF’s main job is to decide whether the user’s
SIP messages will be forwarded to the application servers.
● Interrogating CSCF: I-CSCF is the entity that initiates the assignment of a user to an S-CSCF
(by querying the HSS) during registration.

Media Gateway Control Function(MGCF)

MGCF controls media gateways and converts codecs where necessary. Also, it may serve as a
breakout to a circuit-switched network.

When MGCF works as a breakout to CS network, it is also responsible for:

 ● managing the conversion of signaling messages,
● converting SIP messaging to the Bearer Independent Call Control (BICC) and,
● ISDN User Part (ISUP) protocols used in legacy systems.

Breakout Gateway Control Function (BGCF)

When MGCF does not include breakout to CS network, BGCF takes care of this functionality.

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/lte/lte_network_architecture.htm

Reliance Jio Band & Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio DL/UL Frequency
Topology Bandwidth

1710-1785 MHz Uplink

Band-3 (LTE- FDD Frequency
5 MHz
topology) 1805-1880 MHz Downlink
Frequency

824 to 849 MHz Uplink

Band-5 (LTE- FDD Frequency
5 MHz
topology) 869 to 894 MHz Downlink
Frequency
 Band-40 (LTE- TDD 2300 to 2400 MHz
20 MHz
topology) Uplink/Downlink Frequency

https://www.thequint.com/tech-and-auto/4g-volte-vs-voip-vs-2g-3g-voice-networks-explained