quickymart:

My phone was about $350 and it supports VoLTE.

Linux:

tim0001:

 

....

 

Not sure whether there are still people on plans with 4G disabled.

 

All plans have 4G access the issue was your mobile number was not provisioned on the 4G network so the mobile number could not attach to it

Thanks.  Just to expand further, I was told

"according to the business rules, your plan is not supposed to include 4G".

Thanks OP for posting this. I live and travel in rural areas regularly. I have experienced this issue myself, and would've never known it was VoLTE incompability if not for this post.

I completely agree that 3G fallback is not the way of the future, so I understand why RCG is going VoLTE. Fine, I have no issues with that.

However, currently I'm using a parallel imported Nexus 6P and I've used it in USA and Europe on VoLTE and WiFi calling in the past. However, it doesn't work with any NZ provider on VoLTE. When I bought the phone 4 years ago, the choice of phone was based on a number of factors, but all NZ & most global frequencies supported, and it must be supported on custom ROMs, as I use a number of apps requiring root access. This basically mean my choice in "supported" handsets is very limited today.

In my opinion, the issue OP is highlighting that the mobile providers in NZ are effectively locking people out (yet again, history repeats), but keeping very close tabs on the VoLTE settings and configuration.

By doing some research, I understand that VoLTE configuration standards are very fragmented around the world, yet technically, almost every LTE phone on the market has the ability to run VoLTE - it's just the configuration!

So why isn't it possible to just release an app in Google Play or App Store that would configure ANY LTE phone and be done with it? I suspect the answer to that would mean less revenue to the mobile operators, because us, the people, would again have freedom of choice to choose our own handsets.

It, once again, boils down to the monopolistic attitude of mobile operators in NZ and around the world under a disguise of "technical" excuses. Commerce commission should be involved.

I bought a parallel-imported hairdryer because I want to choose, and also NZ hairdryers are outrageously expensive. I was shocked the hairdryer plug wouldn’t even fit into the wall socket. What the heck ... how bad is that? Why don’t all houses have wall sockets that can take any plug?

This is an outrageous conspiracy on the part of appliance retailers who are ripping us off with their one-plug sales model.

It is essential that all houses be retro-fitted with universal sockets that will take any plug I choose to put in there.

Here - fixed that for you :)

I bought a NZ new hairdryer from one of my 3 local Hairdryer stores  because I want to choose, it was outrageously expensive. I was shocked the hairdryer plug wouldn’t even fit into the wall socket. What the heck ... how bad is that? Why don’t all houses have wall sockets that can take any plug from a NZ sourced hairdryer?

This is an outrageous conspiracy on the part of appliance retailers who are ripping us off with their one-plug sales model.

It is essential that all houses be retro-fitted with universal sockets that will take any plug I choose to put in there.

BlinkyBill:

 

I bought a parallel-imported hairdryer because I want to choose, and also NZ hairdryers are outrageously expensive. I was shocked the hairdryer plug wouldn’t even fit into the wall socket. What the heck ... how bad is that? Why don’t all houses have wall sockets that can take any plug?

 

This is an outrageous conspiracy on the part of appliance retailers who are ripping us off with their one-plug sales model.

 

It is essential that all houses be retro-fitted with universal sockets that will take any plug I choose to put in there.

 

Not quite... you can go to to Bunnings, or better Mitre10, and get a NZ plug. Don't go into the voltage difference stuff, because as I clearly said - there's nothing technically and hardware-wise preventing this to work in NZ. The only problem here is that the operators are trying to protect their retail business here. Consumer loses.

And in my example, having a standardised LTE config and provisioning process that works around the world for any device is not too much to ask for. Seriously.

thelonepinetree:

 

So why isn't it possible to just release an app in Google Play or App Store that would configure ANY LTE phone and be done with it? I suspect the answer to that would mean less revenue to the mobile operators, because us, the people, would again have freedom of choice to choose our own handsets.

 

It, once again, boils down to the monopolistic attitude of mobile operators in NZ and around the world under a disguise of "technical" excuses. Commerce commission should be involved.

 

This is simply not possible from a technical level and it is nothing to do with our operators. VoLTE always has been and ways will continue to be an absolutely terrible technical solution for voice - there is a reason it failed to gain traction in the market.

And getting the Commerce Commission involved wouldn't do anything because there is absolutely nothing they could do. Ultimately they (well MBIE) are the ones who engineered the funded the solution as it stands right now.

>VoLTE always has been and ways will continue to be an absolutely terrible technical solution for voice

look, from a consumer point of view, I don't really care how they decided to use a useless standards. Technology is mint, nothing wrong with it. It's just that the greedy telcos decided on their own implementations and it's been overall poorly executed. GSM's vision was good... Global System for Mobiles. It was. Now it's being dismantled, and we as consumers have every right to raise our concerns, because guess what... it's already not working in real-world - refer back to the original post, and my own experience where I'm trying to make a call, and all is preventing me from making it is... software configuration.

sbiddle:

 

thelonepinetree:

 

So why isn't it possible to just release an app in Google Play or App Store that would configure ANY LTE phone and be done with it? I suspect the answer to that would mean less revenue to the mobile operators, because us, the people, would again have freedom of choice to choose our own handsets.

 

It, once again, boils down to the monopolistic attitude of mobile operators in NZ and around the world under a disguise of "technical" excuses. Commerce commission should be involved.

 

 

This is simply not possible from a technical level and it is nothing to do with our operators. VoLTE always has been and ways will continue to be an absolutely terrible technical solution for voice - there is a reason it failed to gain traction in the market.

 

And getting the Commerce Commission involved wouldn't do anything because there is absolutely nothing they could do. Ultimately they (well MBIE) are the ones who engineered the funded the solution as it stands right now.

 

The only solution in the US now as 3G is switched off. All phones sold for connection to  US cellular operators  now have VOLTE and wifi calling.

@theibm, @thelonepinetree - Thank you very much for bringing this up. You have highlighted the exact true problem. 

Volte/Vowifi/Vilte is two sided.

First - The network should support this and should be enabled in the network against the users mobile number

Second - The relevant carrier specific configurations should be present in the mobile for these to work. These configs are hosted in a system app called CarrierConfig.apk

CarrierConfig app has the carrier specific network settings for all carriers around the world. Its the carriers responsibility to provide these settings to Google, so when a open market device is used on the network, the user can benefit all the services offered by the carrier. This app gets updated in a timely manner during the regular software updates released for every device. This would mean, any open market device/parallel imported device will work for LTE services out of the box. Providing settings to Google is not something new and has been going on since Android 6.

Have a read about it here - 

https://source.android.com/devices/tech/config/carrier

But carriers, whatever business interests they have with certain OEM's, share these settings just with them for certain models sold through the carriers thus forcing the user to buy these devices to avail these services. Hence we have carrier specific software updates making the device 

Not everyone wants a Samsung/Apple. Since Android 6 all handsets manufactured are capable of LTE voice and video. In NZ deployment of LTE voice/video started late compared to rest of the major markets around the world.

Now to address this issue, GSMA has started Network Settings Exchange Database. This allows to carriers to share their latest network settings with OEM's. This is similar to what Google does, but OEM's will have the option to implement these settings on their choice of devices.

Have read a through here - 

https://imeidb.gsma.com/nsx/index#

In the participants list you can see carriers around the word participating in this program. 

As LTE services deployment is just a year old - considering the fact there is ongoing testing, looks like it will take at least another few years for the carrier's to make their settings available to Google directly, which will enable new android devices to work on LTE services out of the box.

Finally its the carrier who needs to take the call. Until then, the user has to live with these shortcomings and face inconvenience.

I previously had a Sony Xperia which was having 2Degrees branded software and I was not able to use this phone on Telstra AU for VoLTE, though it was on their list of VoLTE capable devices - Just because it had 2Degrees branded software, technology deployment at its best.

Now I have a Nokia phone which I imported from Hong Kong - The software is not controlled by any carrier, there are on time monthly security updates, two years OS updates. The carrierconfig app has LTE services config's for carriers around the world including AU, except NZ.

I recently managed to extract the carrierconfig app from Nokia 7.2 and 4.2 using the ROM image. These have Volte/IMS configs for Spark, Vodafone and 2Degrees. These were available when the devices were updated to Android10. I don't have these devices, so was unable to check using a sim.

Keeping fingers crossed and hoping my year old phone Nokia 8.1 gets the updated carrierconfig app with Android11.

Thank you @jalvares for a clear and concise explanation of this. I'd like all three mobile operators to take note that we as consumers are expecting them to be open, and not start backtracking to the old days of SIM-locking, now with VoLTE being the excuse. And the government SHOULD be involved, since they're the ones paying for a lot of this. Maybe media can pick this up - this is definitely controversial (cough cough @juha ahem ;-)

THANK YOU. Over and out.

ajw:

 

The only solution in the US now as 3G is switched off. All phones sold for connection to  US cellular operators  now have VOLTE and wifi calling.

 

 

 

No US networks have yet shut down their 3G networks.. And when the shutdowns do start the last network (T-Mobile) will be the winner because they'll end up with 100% of inbound roaming traffic.

sbiddle:

 

ajw:

 

The only solution in the US now as 3G is switched off. All phones sold for connection to  US cellular operators  now have VOLTE and wifi calling.

 

 

 

 

No US networks have yet shut down their 3G networks.. And when the shutdowns do start the last network (T-Mobile) will be the winner because they'll end up with 100% of inbound roaming traffic.

 

 

 

 

 

I stand corrected. But I note in this article that Verizon wireless the biggest US cellular carrier is shutting down 3G at the end of this year.

https://www.lightreading.com/5g/goodbye-3g-heres-when-t-mobile-atandt-and-verizon-will-shut-it-off-/d/d-id/763362

sbiddle:

 

ajw:

 

The only solution in the US now as 3G is switched off. All phones sold for connection to  US cellular operators  now have VOLTE and wifi calling.

 

 

No US networks have yet shut down their 3G networks.. And when the shutdowns do start the last network (T-Mobile) will be the winner because they'll end up with 100% of inbound roaming traffic.

 

I see that  T-Mobile will require VoLTE as of January 2021 on new phones sold there

https://www.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-will-require-volte-january-2021

So in summary, are people complaining they can't use a frequency for voice calling, which wasn't set up for voice calling? IE it was set up to provide data only?