VoLTE phone calls to count against your data plan?

[prodigy1814]

"Because the call is counted under data, VoLTE could spell the end of phone call minutes on the monthly bill as the service gets lumped together with data. While it means one less item on the bill, it could potentially be confusing because consumers will have to start thinking of data instead of minutes when monitoring phone call usage."

This sounds ridiculous... Could this really happen? Would there really be no way to differentiate phone call data from application data? How would a consumer even begin to estimate how much data their VoLTE phone call is using?

 

[sniffs]

Yep, I got confirmation from my data account manager at Verizon that VoLTE will use data, which if you're a big talker, could mean you hit your cap quicker.

 

[prodigy1814]

If that is true, why in the world would any customer be interested in an LTE-only smartphone? I thought the industry was moving away from having to count talk time. Also, what does this mean for grandfathered unlimited customers who are subject to data throttling? Verizon will throttle their phone calls? It just sounds too crazy. Missed phone calls counting against your data??? SMH LOL.

 

[sniffs]

If that is true, why in the world would any customer be interested in an LTE-only smartphone? I thought the industry was moving away from having to count talk time. Also, what does this mean for grandfathered unlimited customers who are subject to data throttling? Verizon will throttle their phone calls? It just sounds too crazy. Missed phone calls counting against your data??? SMH LOL.

If they can nail down battery life, this means you only have 1 radio.. also you wouldn't have to count talk time, you just have to manage data, and I bet missed calls wouldn't count unless the call was connected.

You don't need much for a phone call, so even if they did throttle, you should still be fine.

 

[dpham00]

To me, the more important question is whether we can keep unlimited data. If we can, then it won't really matter.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[prodigy1814]

To me, the more important question is whether we can keep unlimited data. If we can, then it won't really matter.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

But look at how many people no longer have unlimited data... This is a very interesting prospective to think about. Nobody should have to count kilobytes for their phone calls. No matter show small the data usage from calls is, you could potentially use up the majority of your data plan from voice calls. This would be a major set back in the cell phone industry.

 

[Almeuit]

Even though it will use data I wouldn't be surprised if they just didn't count that traffic.. I. E. The phone call.

Example.. ATT uverse... They want to cap their home Internet lines with only so much data a month.. It's really high but still..

Well with uverse your TV uses data.. Phone uses data.. And Pc uses data... They can't track your TV usage and count it against your data since your paying for TV.. Just like you do a phone carrier for calls.

So in my opinion it will be data but they most likely won't count it against the actual data plan.

Sent from my T-Mobile HTC One using AC Forums.

 

[Mooncatt]

Even though it will use data I wouldn't be surprised if they just didn't count that traffic.. I. E. The phone call.

This would be my guess. To count phone calls into your general data usage would be pr suicide IMHO.

 

[anon(394005)]

The key word in that linked cnet article is "COULD", so for me it's all purely speculation at this point. I'd even go so far as to say cnet is just trying to generate page hits. Call me cynical.

 

[dpham00]

But look at how many people no longer have unlimited data... This is a very interesting prospective to think about. Nobody should have to count kilobytes for their phone calls. No matter show small the data usage from calls is, you could potentially use up the majority of your data plan from voice calls. This would be a major set back in the cell phone industry.

I don't think it will happen, because if it did, then texts would be virtually free

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[mesocyclonic]

I don't think it will happen, because if it did, then texts would be virtually free

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

This is why it won't happen. I would be thrilled if this occurred and if texting also became data, because at the end of the day it's all just data and the connection should be one big, dumb pipe. Voice and especially texts don't consume a whole lot of data, so keeping track of data shouldn't become too much harder under such a system. However, the carriers wouldn't take the loss of income sitting down, particularly their cash cow that is text messaging. In the end, we'd still pay for it one way or another.

 

[dpham00]

This is why it won't happen. I would be thrilled if this occurred and if texting also became data, because at the end of the day it's all just data and the connection should be one big, dumb pipe. Voice and especially texts don't consume a whole lot of data, so keeping track of data shouldn't become too much harder under such a system. However, the carriers wouldn't take the loss of income sitting down, particularly their cash cow that is text messaging. In the end, we'd still pay for it one way or another.

I refuse to pay for texts, I use Google Voice for free text

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II