LTE fanfare mounts, but what about voice?

Verizon Wireless set to launch fast data network

Industry analysis by expert Joanie Wexler, plus links to the day's wireless news headlines

The world's largest LTE network is poised to go live against a mobile backdrop in which streaming content, interactive data and video communications are becoming the norm. But what's happening to the voice experience?

Verizon Wireless will light up its 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network on Dec. 5, making LTE’s improved performance (about 5 to 12Mbps downstream, 2 to 5Mbps upstream) available in 38 markets. USB modems for laptop connectivity will be available initially; VZW is expected to announce LTE handsets at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Also see: Networking’s greatest arguments (LTE vs. WiMAX)

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The world's largest LTE network is poised to go live against a mobile backdrop in which streaming content, interactive data and video communications are becoming the norm. But what's happening to the voice experience?

Verizon Wireless will light up its 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network on Dec. 5, making LTE’s improved performance (about 5 to 12Mbps downstream, 2 to 5Mbps upstream) available in 38 markets. USB modems for laptop connectivity will be available initially; VZW is expected to announce LTE handsets at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Also see: Networking’s greatest arguments (LTE vs. WiMAX)

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No mention was made of voice.

As you may know, the mobile industry hasn’t settled on a short-term solution for accommodating the circuit-switched voice and SMS services we use today on newer LTE networks. This issue was solved efficiently with 3G, which runs circuit-switched and IP streams in a way that share a common back end.

Not so with LTE. The addition of another radio for data-only LTE ultimately results in sessions having to switch quickly between networks, as users toggle between data and voice sessions. There’s no "voice for LTE" service per se.

The biggest impact of that is on battery life, says Steve Shaw, VP of marketing at Kineto Networks, a company focused on convergence of different wireless network types. He estimates that LTE smart phones will likely have a four- to five-hour battery life.

An alternative is to put Skype client software on the phone, available for all major smart phone OSes.   Skype-to-Skype calls are free; Skype-to-PSTN calls are billed at SkypeOut prices starting at 2 cents per minutes.

"Put a Skype client on your Verizon LTE phone and there’s no need for Verizon’s voice service," says Shaw.

VZW said the LTE network reaches more than one-third of all Americans and that by 2013, it will match the reach of the existing Verizon Wireless 3G coverage area.

Read more about wireless & mobile in Network World's Wireless & Mobile section.

Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in Silicon Valley.