How to Make Your Cell Phone Calls Sound Better

Hey, are you at that place? Can you hear me now? Mobile information networks seem to improve by leaps and bounds every yr, but jail cell phone voice quality seems to take stood still for decades. If you think your calls sound lousy, y'all're probably non wrong. The frustrating reason comes from our good onetime gratis marketplace: Our mobile phone carriers simply aren't talking to each other well.

The discussion "telephone" has become pretty misleading when it applies to our lilliputian pocket computers. Sure, in 2022—the last twelvemonth we could find data for—Americans made two.751 trillion minutes (PDF) of wireless phone calls. But that pattern of calling has remained basically apartment for a decade, while the utilise of information services on phones has been skyrocketing.

Add together to that the fact that, a while ago, our carriers decided to use unlimited call-and-text packages equally their base price, and make coin from data packages, and you lot don't end upwards seeing a lot of marketing or excitement around voice quality.

But it turns out at that place'southward a big difference in vox quality between carriers, phones, and even calls on the same telephone. And you don't have to settle for lousy call quality.

Check the Codec

This next bit is going to be an alphabet soup. High-quality vocalization calls need a good codec running over a adept network. A codec is a method of encoding sound as digital data. MP3 is a codec, for case.

The CDMA and GSM cell phone worlds adult unlike sets of codecs. GSM carriers, such as AT&T and T-Mobile, went with the AMR (adaptive multi-charge per unit) family. CDMA carriers, such as Dart and Verizon, initially chose EVRC (enhanced variable rate codec).

There are narrowband and wideband codecs. The wideband ones (often called Hard disk Voice) sound improve, but you can't get them on all phones or calls. The AMR family unit has a bunch of codecs, and a big part of your voice quality depends on which one your phone uses. AMR-NB (narrowband), the simplest, is supported fifty-fifty by 2G networks and is optimized for sounds from 300 to 3400Hz. That includes about homo speech, only information technology tends to make "south" and "t" sounds muddied rather than crisp. AMR-NB tin likewise be implemented at dissimilar flake rates, which affects vox quality.

AMR-WB (wideband), which became branded as Hard disk Voice, uses more calculating power and gives you your sibilance dorsum by increasing the optimized range to 50 to 7000Hz. AT&T and T-Mobile implemented that on their LTE networks. Most recently, the new EVS (enhanced voice services) codec covers sounds upwards to 14000Hz, according to its creators.

T-Mobile has HD Vocalization on its 3G network, only it's slowly turning that network down. Stick with LTE.

Verizon'south 3G network uses an older CDMA codec called EVRC-B, which has the same bug we described with AMR-NB. Dart's 2G/3G vocalization network uses a CDMA codec called EVRC-NW, which sounds a lot similar AT&T and T-Mobile's AMR-WB, except for Wi-Fi calling, where Sprint just uses AMR-WB. Verizon switched to AMR-WB/HD Voice with its new LTE-based "advanced calling" function.

T-Mobile and Verizon too currently support EVS on some phones, although T-Mobile's VP of engineering services Grant Castle described that new codec as only, "small-scale voice enhancements on top of the normal AMR wideband engineering."

Verizon'south network VP Mike Haberman agreed. "Music sounds better on it, only is voice really going to sound that different? Nosotros actually take not seen that. It'due south nice to say you're evolving, merely it'due south not going to exist something that changes the game."

The creators of EVS disagree, of class. In a presentation made for the Audio Applied science Order (slideshow) in 2022, they claim a noticeable bound in audience rating scores from AMR-WB to EVS-WB, the codec that T-Mobile and Verizon are using (the slide beneath is from that presentation).

Castle and Haberman may be right, though, in that the deviation between EVS and Hard disk Voice sounds much less different than the change between AMR-NB/EVRC-B and Hd Voice—that'southward considering you get all of your "s" and "t" sounds at the HD Voice level. Listen for yourself.

T-Mobile Codec Comparison

• T-Mobile to T-Mobile EVS LTE Telephone call
• T-Mobile to T-Mobile HD Voice LTE Call
• T-Mobile to T-Mobile Hard disk Vocalism 3G Call
• T-Mobile to T-Mobile Narrowband 2G Telephone call

To get Hard disk Voice on all of our calls, we need interoperability.

What It All Sounds Similar

All four major carriers accept HD Voice on calls within the carrier right now. If you are calling someone else on the same carrier and you both have recent phones, you're probably getting Hard disk voice calling. When y'all make the phone call, y'all should see a piffling Hard disk icon low-cal up in the upper left hand corner of your screen. If you aren't getting Hd calling, and yous're on Verizon, make certain that both phones have Advanced Calling turned on in settings.

The call samples beneath were all recorded on calls betwixt 2 Samsung Galaxy S8 or S9 phones. We recorded the sound by piping a 3.5mm cable into the phone'due south headphone jack and recording it on a PC using Audacity.

Listen to HD Vocalism Calls
AT&T to AT&T	Sprint to Sprint	T-Mobile to T-Mobile	Verizon to Verizon
AT&T to Verizon		Verizon to AT&T

Castle explained that even if AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are all using AMR-WB, the carriers are linked "over an onetime type of connection which downgrades the voice to narrowband quality." Once the networks upgrade their interconnections, they'll be able to connect VoLTE (vocalization over LTE) calls to each other in Hard disk quality. They've been promising that this will happen since late 2022.

The situation may become meliorate by the finish of 2022. T-Mobile says it's hoping to have HD phonation interoperability with both Verizon and AT&T this yr. Sprint needs to launch standards-based VoLTE to join the interoperability party, and its CTO John Saw said at Mobile Earth Congress that would probably happen by the end of this year.

Listen to Non-Hd Vocalisation Calls
AT&T to Sprint	AT&T to T-Mobile	AT&T to Verizon/AT&T (HD)	AT&T to Landline
Sprint to AT&T	Sprint to T-Mobile	Sprint to Verizon	Dart to Landline
T-Mobile to AT&T	T-Mobile to Sprint	T-Mobile to Verizon	T-Mobile to Landline
Verizon to AT&T/Verizon (Hd)	Verizon to Sprint	Verizon to T-Mobile	Verizon to Landline

For cellular to landline calls, anything goes. What we at present think of equally landlines are now mostly a hodgepodge of unlike phonation-over-IP systems. They're mostly based on standards called IMS and SIP, but the devil's in the details. Castle said that T-Mobile is upgrading its interconnections for landlines it controls, like its voicemail system and customer care department. For any other cross-carrier call, you lot'll probably stop up dropping to dingy old narrowband audio, with a transcoder potentially introducing latency into the phone call.

"When you brand these calls and they get out to a long-altitude connection or to another public switched phone network, y'all're going to get downgraded to a narrowband solution...the interconnect work has to be done," Castle said.

Do yous subscribe to one of the smaller, virtual carriers that utilise the major carrier networks, like Consumer Cellular or Straight Talk? The ones that are wholly owned by major carriers, Cricket (AT&T), MetroPCS (T-Mobile), and Virgin and Heave (Dart), accept the aforementioned attributes as their parent carriers, including HD Vocalization calls to their mainline carrier brands. As for the residuum of them, some take access to HD Voice, and some don't, an AT&T spokesperson said.

How almost those common issues you hear on cellular calls? Generally muddy sound, every bit you hear in our samples, ofttimes comes from transcoding downward to a lower-quality codec. Patchy or inclement calls usually reflect a network problem that happened in call setup, Ryan Sullivan, Sprint's VP of production applied science said. That abrasive issues where you hear an echo of your own vocalization? That might be a breakup in transcoding betwixt two unlike systems. A computery tone comes from fault-correcting bit errors in manual. That can either be a network outcome, or a dissonance cancellation algorithm straining too hard.

"Generally speaking, based on our feel, the number one cause of less-than-quality audio reception or vocalization reception is going to have to do with the network connection," Sullivan said.

Why oasis't the carriers straightened this out? They say it's hard and blame each other, merely I think it's because at that place simply isn't a lot of money in phonation calling whatsoever more. Vocalization calling is the base-level service that people pay for information on pinnacle of. Turn a profit-seeking carriers desire to sell more data and more devices, rather than root around in the guts of their networks negotiating with other carriers to amend their penny-ante vocalisation services.

Wi-Fi Calling

At their best, phone calls made over Wi-Fi sound just like calls fabricated over the cellular network. The Wi-Fi calling technology that all the US carriers utilise essentially encapsulates a voice-over-LTE call, and sends information technology over Wi-Fi.

That'south a best instance scenario, though. Different LTE networks, Wi-Fi has no way to prioritize vox calls over other traffic. So while your vocalization call will get bumped alee of whatever other business with an LTE signal, on a crowded Wi-Fi network, information technology just has to await its turn.

"Depending on the Wi-Fi at your business firm, you're at the mercy of information technology. If somebody'south playing a game, or what have you lot [on the Wi-Fi], that will have an impact," Haberman said.

That results in more dropouts, more bit errors, and more dropped calls than you get on cellular, but because Wi-Fi network quality can vary so much moment to moment. Video streaming apps bargain with that inconsistency by buffering content well in advance, only of course, you can't exercise that with live calls.

The simply carrier to confront this trouble head-on, then far, has been Republic Wireless. Its "bonded calling" technology simultaneously sends call information packets over LTE and Wi-Fi networks, patching them together in places where Wi-Fi starts to neglect.

Not many flip phones support VoLTE and HD Voice. The Kyocera Cadence LTE for Verizon does.

How to Brand Your Calls Audio Better

Your selection of phone tin can definitely affect your voice phone call quality.

First, recall that to get acme-quality calls, Hard disk Vocalism needs to exist supported on both ends. Even if you have the newest smartphone, if you lot primarily call your grandparents who utilize an old 2G flip phone, you're going to exist calling narrowband. Recall, this is what the fanciest phone sounds similar when the phone on the other end is 2G.

Both phones should support Hd Vocalism and VoLTE (unless y'all're on Sprint.) A lot of simpler phones don't, especially non-LTE-capable Verizon voice-only phones. Our roundup of elementary phones takes a look at the relatively thin lineup of LTE-capable voice phones out there right now.

On T-Mobile and Verizon, a call between 2 EVS-compatible phones will offer the ultimate in vocalism quality. On T-Mobile, these phones should take EVS:

• Samsung Galaxy S7 and later flagships
• LG G5 and subsequently flagships
• Apple iPhone 8 and subsequently
• LG Aristo, Aristo 2, K20 Plus, and Stylo 3 Plus
• Moto Z2 Force Edition
• T-Mobile REVVL and REVVL Plus
• HTC U11 Life
• ZTE Bract Z Max
• Alcatel A30 Fierce

Verizon, meanwhile, verified these phones for EVS:

• Samsung Galaxy S8 and afterwards flagships
• LG V20, G6, and V30
• Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 Forty

The clearer your signal, the better your voice calls will sound. Carriers have been adding new LTE bands and band combinations over the by four years, and the more your telephone supports, the better chance you have of locking in a clear call over VoLTE.

Amidst phones that support the latest tech, in that location's notwithstanding some variation in earpiece maximum volume and distortion at top volume. If you use the speakerphone a lot, speakerphones vary wildly: Rear-facing ones often sound deadened when they're placed downwards on a table, making front or bottom-facing speakers a meliorate bet.

If you use a Bluetooth headset, the headset may exist choking down your voice quality. For a headset to make a wideband call, both the headset and the phone need to support the Bluetooth HFP 1.half-dozen contour. That came about in 2022, but there are nevertheless many older Bluetooth headsets (and phones) on the market.

Going Over the Top

If your friends or loved ones are on a different carrier, and you aren't satisfied with the voice quality, you might want to go over the peak. "Over the top" services such as FaceTime, Hangouts, Skype, and Whatsapp, are ways of making phone calls without using your carrier's standard voice calling technology.

Apple tree's FaceTime Audio uses the AAC-HE codec at 16KHz to brand voice calls. That produces a quality that's as good, or meliorate, than carrier Hd Vocalism. It works across all electric current iPhone models, on every carrier, so it's a great way to hack higher quality voice into your world if you alive amidst iPhone folks.

Skype and Whatsapp use variants of Skype's SILK codec. Whatsapp runs at 16kHz, and Skype varies. Once again, these are HD Vocalisation-quality codecs, and so you'll go amend call quality than on an inter-carrier vocalization phone call.

The just trouble in that location is that by going over the top, you lose your carrier's voice telephone call quality of service guarantee. So you might meet issues like in Wi-Fi calling, such as stalls or dropouts when yous're in a congested area and your packets are stuck behind someone else's. Still, though, this puts your call quality back in your own hands while the carriers slowly knit their networks together.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/samsung-galaxy-s8/20591/how-to-make-your-cell-phone-calls-sound-better

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