Verizon Galaxy S6 jumps from 4G to 1X when making a call.

[Almeuit]

And this is exactly why I left verizon to at&t like 3yrs ago. Once I finished talking, sometimes it will stay stuck on 1x and it won't get back immediately to lte. Maybe the newer phones don't do this??? I would have to restart my phone several times a day.... One day I got fed up and jumped ship. I didnt want to pay max dollar for something I wasn't happy with. I can say though that verizon call quality is the best. Rarely I would drop a call but nowadays I speak less than 3 yrs ago...

Well I can't comment on 3 years ago but they solved this by dual radios .. they don't do it anymore. The last dual radio one was the Note 4.

Call quality for me on Verizon was bad.. gf hated it. Hence why I went back to T-Mobile.

 

[dpham00]

Fascinating. I have T-Mobile with VoLTE off (for battery savings reasons) and have had terrible call quality with the S6. It drops calls when transitioning towers that are not all LTE. Do you think it may not be playing nicely with the cell towers because VoLTE is off for some reason?

On tmobile, if you disable volte, it will drop to 3g/4g when making a call

Sent from my Pearly White Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

 

[dpham00]

Almeuit, thank you for the help.
Sounds like the Verizon S6 is gimped right out of the box. :-\

Well don't expect Verizon to provide this on future phones. Verizon Moto phones dropped it last year. Iphone never supported it. So if this feature is important then you are out of luck on Verizon.

Sent from my Pearly White Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

 

[dpham00]

And this is exactly why I left verizon to at&t like 3yrs ago. Once I finished talking, sometimes it will stay stuck on 1x and it won't get back immediately to lte. Maybe the newer phones don't do this??? I would have to restart my phone several times a day.... One day I got fed up and jumped ship. I didnt want to pay max dollar for something I wasn't happy with. I can say though that verizon call quality is the best. Rarely I would drop a call but nowadays I speak less than 3 yrs ago...

3 years ago Verizon didn't support volte. The s6, note 4, and a number of other phones support volte. So it never drops to 1x when on calls, with volte enabled. The radios are much improved from devices 3 years ago

Sent from my Pearly White Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

 

[Eclipse2K]

If you're in an area with decent 4GLTE coverage I recommend activating VoLTE and using it. I was against it at first but I'm loving it on my Droid Turbo. Like the S6, I must have VoLTE enabled in order to use Voice+Data at the same time.

Its not perfect but consider downloading the application Caller ID by White Pages from the Play Store. I use this free application and it works well most of the time. Not sure if Verizon's paid service is more accurate but this works for my needs.

On a side note, your experience with Verizon Customer Service is ridiculous. A factory reset and now a refurbished device is being sent out because you can't do both? Do they even know how to troubleshoot devices using their newest technology? This is why I call Verizon up AFTER I have done my own troubleshooting. They can tell if I did a Factory Reset, which is fine, but I never deal with them. My calls go something like this: Insert issue here, tried all the troubleshooting and I need a replacement. Okay, thank you have a good night.

Literally, that's my call now a days. For good reason too!

 

[felloffthetruck]

If you're in an area with decent 4GLTE coverage I recommend activating VoLTE and using it. I was against it at first but I'm loving it on my Droid Turbo. Like the S6, I must have VoLTE enabled in order to use Voice+Data at the same time.

Its not perfect but consider downloading the application Caller ID by White Pages from the Play Store. I use this free application and it works well most of the time. Not sure if Verizon's paid service is more accurate but this works for my needs.

On a side note, your experience with Verizon Customer Service is ridiculous. A factory reset and now a refurbished device is being sent out because you can't do both? Do they even know how to troubleshoot devices using their newest technology? This is why I call Verizon up AFTER I have done my own troubleshooting. They can tell if I did a Factory Reset, which is fine, but I never deal with them. My calls go something like this: Insert issue here, tried all the troubleshooting and I need a replacement. Okay, thank you have a good night.

Literally, that's my call now a days. For good reason too!

I just returned the phone to a corporate store for a full refund and will order up another "New" phone as I don't do refurbished stuff.

Verizon level 2 Tech Support has not a clue about the Galaxy S6 or their own technology. :'(

Do the iPhone's on Verizon also jump to a 1X signal when making a call?

 

[byrds8]

The phones have had multiple radios for a while they just dont have multiple antenna.

 

[felloffthetruck]

So, is the call quality any different between the 4G signal and the 1X signal?

 

[1dtb]

Does Advanced calling cost extra monthly to activate it on my S6 Verizon?

 

[Almeuit]

So, is the call quality any different between the 4G signal and the 1X signal?

It should sound better since it should use HD voice.

Does Advanced calling cost extra monthly to activate it on my S6 Verizon?

No it's free to add to your account.

 

[Eclipse2K]

So, is the call quality any different between the 4G signal and the 1X signal?

Yes, if both callers are on Verizon and have VoLTE enabled. I've done this with my buddy on his iPhone - its like were next to each other.

I just returned the phone to a corporate store for a full refund and will order up another "New" phone as I don't do refurbished stuff.

Verizon level 2 Tech Support has not a clue about the Galaxy S6 or their own technology. :'(

Do the iPhone's on Verizon also jump to a 1X signal when making a call?

Yes, it does. In fact, the iPhone was NEVER capable if doing both at the same time until VoLTE was enabled.

 

[felloffthetruck]

Yes, if both callers are on Verizon and have VoLTE enabled. I've done this with my buddy on his iPhone - its like were next to each other.



Yes, it does. In fact, the iPhone was NEVER capable if doing both at the same time until VoLTE was enabled.

So just talking to someone on a line line or that does not have VoLTE, the 1X sound quality would be no different then the 4G?

 

[Eclipse2K]

So just talking to someone on a line line or that does not have VoLTE, the 1X sound quality would be no different then the 4G?

Correct, although it'll have a bit of a different pitch. Almost a slight hissing but they fixed that on the Turbo, I assume S6 also.

You'll still have data though.

So here is the jist: Both people with Verizon VoLTE will be HD Calling.

One person without it would be standard.

 

[Rukbat]

Pretty sad that to make a call on the latest and Greatest Galaxy S6 with Verizon the phone dumps down to a 1X signal with technology from the 1970's

Since voice uses a 4kbps channel (that's all you get on a landline call, and cellphone calls eventually go via landline from one tower to another), there's no need to use a wider bandwidth connection from the phone to the tower. It's like a 2" pipe comingf from the reeservoir, but you want a 6" pipe from the street to your house. You won't get more water faster, the 2" pipe is the limiting factor. With phone calls, the landline channel bandwidth is the limiting factor. VoLTE is just a way of doing voice and data at the same time. You have 1 radio that can do 1X or LTE, not both at the same time, so you chop out a 1X-wide piece for voice on the LTE channel and you can do both at once. If you turn VoLTE off you get the same voice channel, you just don't get the rest of the data channel to use for data.

The lack of name on CID is another matter, and something then could change if they wanted to. CID comes in between the first and second ring, so even if it took the entire voice channel it wouldn't have any effect on the call.

 

[dpham00]

The phones have had multiple radios for a while they just dont have multiple antenna.

It is required to have more than one antenna for lte. However, only one cellular path is required.

Sent from my Pearly White Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

 

[Almeuit]

Since voice uses a 4kbps channel (that's all you get on a landline call, and cellphone calls eventually go via landline from one tower to another), there's no need to use a wider bandwidth connection from the phone to the tower. It's like a 2" pipe comingf from the reeservoir, but you want a 6" pipe from the street to your house. You won't get more water faster, the 2" pipe is the limiting factor. With phone calls, the landline channel bandwidth is the limiting factor. VoLTE is just a way of doing voice and data at the same time. You have 1 radio that can do 1X or LTE, not both at the same time, so you chop out a 1X-wide piece for voice on the LTE channel and you can do both at once. If you turn VoLTE off you get the same voice channel, you just don't get the rest of the data channel to use for data.

The lack of name on CID is another matter, and something then could change if they wanted to. CID comes in between the first and second ring, so even if it took the entire voice channel it wouldn't have any effect on the call.

Is this the case if using HD voice? I can definitely tell a difference in a normal call versus a HD voice call.

 

[byrds8]

Since voice uses a 4kbps channel (that's all you get on a landline call, and cellphone calls eventually go via landline from one tower to another), there's no need to use a wider bandwidth connection from the phone to the tower. It's like a 2" pipe comingf from the reeservoir, but you want a 6" pipe from the street to your house. You won't get more water faster, the 2" pipe is the limiting factor. With phone calls, the landline channel bandwidth is the limiting factor. VoLTE is just a way of doing voice and data at the same time. You have 1 radio that can do 1X or LTE, not both at the same time, so you chop out a 1X-wide piece for voice on the LTE channel and you can do both at once. If you turn VoLTE off you get the same voice channel, you just don't get the rest of the data channel to use for data.

The lack of name on CID is another matter, and something then could change if they wanted to. CID comes in between the first and second ring, so even if it took the entire voice channel it wouldn't have any effect on the call.

Cell calls hit a land line right after the first tower. They don't hop tower to tower around the country.

 

[Juan Q]

Hey guys I've talked about this in a different forum post: Dropped Call Issues?

I'll copy and paste it here, and No you can't use the 4G LTE when placing calls or surf at the same time unless you have the HD Voice and Video calling feature turned on; but beware of the drop calls and internet performance decrease. This is not just affecting the Galaxy S6 Edge but the regular S6 as well.

"Verizon is aware of the HD voice/video feature being the culprit of the dropped calls, they are blaming Samsung for not pushing an update to correct the problem. Meanwhile Samsung has said that the feature is a Verizon software. I was told by their tech support that it has been reported that there's a 50% dropped call increase using the galaxy S6 while having the HD voice/video feature on, this was 2 weeks ago. The agent said they have a search tool like Google search, this is internal and that's where he found this information.
You can not make calls and surf the web without the HD voice/video feature on, but turning this feature off will STOP THE DROPPED calls. Verizon's software side for galaxy S6 does not allow you to make calls on the 4G LTE network when the HD voice/video feature off, instead is shows 1x.
I have been in touch with Verizon wireless tech support for the last 3 weeks now, this past week Verizon has been sending me texts to update me on the progress of my ticket. I've had Samsung tech support in conference call with Verizon tech support; during this call that lasted more than 3 hours Verizon admitted that it wasn't a Samsung problem but Verizon's. As soon as the tech from Samsung hanged up the call because we were told that I would have to call their engineering department to further assist us. Before the Samsung tech agent hung up the call we had asked if I could make calls using the 4G LTE and was told to hold up while he researched this question. As soon as the Samsung tech agent left the conference call the Verizon tech answered no, and proceeded to make a complete 360 on answers he gave prior to the Samsung agent leaving the call, saying that the problem was not a Verizon but Samsung problem, even though moments before he said that it wasn't a Samsung problem to me and the Samsung tech support agent but Verizon's. I was also advised by the Verizon tech agent that if I wanted to, I could JAIL BRAKE my Galaxy S6 and download a software to disable the HD voice/video feature without losing the 4G LTE but that it probably still won't work properly. I told this agent that I've never jail broken a device and don't plan on because this is clearly a Verizon feature not working properly.
Not even 5 minutes after ending the call with Verizon's tech support, a supervisor from Verizon called me to tell me again that this is a Samsung issue not Verizon, he said that Samsung needs to push a SW version update to fix the problem with the HD voice calls dropping. He asked what I wanted, I said to get the Galaxy S5 and return this phone, but that I was told by 2 different stores (Rockville Centre NY, and Merrick NY both in Long Island) that if I wanted to return this phone or exchange for a different one I would be charged a 40% restocking fee even though I was within my 14 days. I was told by the tech before the supervisor called that it was at each store's discretion whether they charged you a restocking fee or not. I was told to consider this mater resolved by the supervisor, that they will get in touch with the store so I can return the phone and if in fact there are any fees I would be refunded in some sort of credit; but all I've received all of last week is text messages letting me know they are still working on my ticket."

 

[zrj5ten]

This is BS. The phone already has two radios, one CDMA and one LTE. The 2nd CDMA radio only comes into play if you want to talk and surf on 3G cdma. I got the HTC Thunderbolt when it first came out. It's claim to fame was the only phone at the time with 2 CMDA radios (3 radios in total, 2 cdma and 1 lte) so you could talk and surf at the same time on both 3G and LTE. Every other Verizon LTE phone at the time, you could only talk and surf if you were on LTE. There was no VoLTE. The voice call used the CMDA radio and the data used the LTE radio. In this case, the LTE radio is unavailable when the cdma radio is in use. I have no idea if this is a physical design limitation of the new radios or software based. I wonder if this is Verizon's way of pushing people completely to LTE so they can wean people off 3g. The thundebolt is why I switched back to verizon. Some AT&T customers in the largest cities had growing pains when 3G really took off and their networks became saturated due to data usage and voice quality was impacted, calls were dropped. The thing verizon had going for it when LTE was rolled out, data was kept separate from voice. On my current s4, as lte gets saturated, my download speeds have dropped but my calls are still the same. I understand keeping CDMA and LTE both is more expensive but its what differentiates Verizon and ATT.

 

[Eclipse2K]

This is BS. The phone already has two radios, one CDMA and one LTE. The 2nd CDMA radio only comes into play if you want to talk and surf on 3G cdma. I got the HTC Thunderbolt when it first came out. It's claim to fame was the only phone at the time with 2 CMDA radios (3 radios in total, 2 cdma and 1 lte) so you could talk and surf at the same time on both 3G and LTE. Every other Verizon LTE phone at the time, you could only talk and surf if you were on LTE. There was no VoLTE. The voice call used the CMDA radio and the data used the LTE radio. In this case, the LTE radio is unavailable when the cdma radio is in use. I have no idea if this is a physical design limitation of the new radios or software based. I wonder if this is Verizon's way of pushing people completely to LTE so they can wean people off 3g. The thundebolt is why I switched back to verizon. Some AT&T customers in the largest cities had growing pains when 3G really took off and their networks became saturated due to data usage and voice quality was impacted, calls were dropped. The thing verizon had going for it when LTE was rolled out, data was kept separate from voice. On my current s4, as lte gets saturated, my download speeds have dropped but my calls are still the same. I understand keeping CDMA and LTE both is more expensive but its what differentiates Verizon and ATT.

I believe the reason they did this was complications with battery life.