Report: Verizon to improve voice quality with 4G

From CNET News.com: Verizon Wireless is promising improved voice quality on phone calls when its able to deliver voice services over its new "4G" LTE network, according to a story on CNN.com.

CNN spoke to Brian Higgins, executive director for ecosystem development at Verizon Wireless, who said that the company will be offering voice over LTE service sometime next year. The improved voice quality will be considered "high-definition" audio fidelity.

Verizon Wireless launched its LTE network in December and will soon begin selling smartphones that use the network. When the first LTE phones hit the market, they will use Verizon's traditional CDMA network to deliver voice services and the company's new LTE network to deliver faster data services. But Higgins told CNN that the company will soon be able to offer the voice service over the LTE network, which will improve call quality among other things.

It will also allow Verizon phones to handle data and voice services at the same time. Today's version of CDMA chips in Verizon phones do not allow data and voice services to be delivered simultaneously. This is a fact that AT&T has pointed out in its marketing as a major difference between its 3G cell phone service and Verizon's service. Verizon is the first company to sell the iPhone after AT&T's three and a half year exclusive to sell the phone in the U.S. The Verizon iPhone goes on sale later this week.

The new voice over LTE service on Verizon's network will allow the company to offer a video chat service. Other video chat services are available on cell phones today, but the quality is not very good on some and many do not work over a carrier's 3G cellular service. For example, today AT&T iPhone customers can use Apple's FaceTime application, but it only works over a Wi-Fi network. Apple is working to test the service over a 3G wireless network, CNN said.

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