> VoLTE (Voice over LTE) - make calls over LTE internet instead of using minutes.
That's would have been a killer feature if it had occurred when smartphones were new enough that providers were selling plans with limited call minutes and unlimited data, but now that virtually every carrier has smartphone plans that are unlimited phone minutes/unlimited text and limited data with surcharges for data overages, who is looking to move from using voice minutes to using data?
who is looking to move from using voice minutes to using data?
The carriers. VoLTE is the way to do Voice+Data with a single connection saving power and finally unifying the GSM and CDMA worlds[1]. This could be the first iPhone that can be used in both AT&T/TMobile and Verizon/Sprint in LTE enabled areas. It could also allow mainstream use of Wifi for voice calls like Republic Wireless does[2]. Add something like Multipath TCP[3] and you could even do seamless switching between Wifi and LTE depending on availability/performance.
Also ironic as 4G (ala LTE) standard has VOIP routing for calls you make unlike 3G which uses a separate voice channel.
So if you can not make a call upon LTE normally out of your call minutes then you won't be able to make a call over VoLTE as they call it as it will just route from your device to the telco provder in the same way as currently and maybe less QoS tagging, so be supprised if there was any situation were making a pure VOIP call will be better than using normal call minutes.
Now as many say all packages tend to have more than enough voice and SMS included quota and tend not to have unlimited data.
Now for WIFI based calls with no or poor signal then this would be useful, also for long distance calls, which will probably not be included in that huge minute call bundle.
So given all that for most it will be a novel feature they will not use, but for those making calls that do not fall within their calling plan, then this may be useful.
Of note I was aware of VOIP over wifi being a feature in some phones (Blackberry and Nokia) over 10 years ago; But alas the carriers back then blocked such features from coming to the market. Nowadays carriers have changed and that may be in part how Apple initially pushed there devices onto the market allowing more clout and the fact such features will be more standard is only a good thing. Albeit for most they will be a feature they will not use.
T-Mobile has been including WiFi calling with a ton of their Android phones for years. I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if any of the other US carriers actually use this on the iPhone 6.
Really depends on how carriers choose to meter usage -- without knowing anything else about VoLTE, my guess is that voice data won't count against your cap, similar to how data from $CableCo_Video_Streaming_Service doesn't count against your cap.
VoLTE is all-IP, but it is not an "OTT" technology. It's "carrier SIP for your phone number." At best, it could deliver higher voice quality between compatible endpoints. But it hasn't taken off because the advantages are mostly theoretical.
Being a carrier voice product, it probably will not have any advantages over other carrier voice products, e.g. international calls will still be the same price, etc.
Though if you're on TMobile, you get roaming calls for $.20 a minute - now this seems like a lot, but we just spent 2.5 weeks in France, and our total bill for both phones using the data/voice/message roaming was like $40 (all voice, data and messages were free). We made lots of calls - and the local ones were charged at the non-usurious rate above. I pay nothing monthly for this perk and I didn't have to swap sims or anything like that.
Our least expensive portion of the trip and historically the most frustrating (well aside from the autoroute tolls that don't accept US credit cards).
Yeah, it's not terrible, but $6 for a half-hour conversation every few days will drain your coffer pretty quickly. I would have loved to have Wi-Fi calling at the start of my latest trip. (Now I just use Google Hangouts with my old cell # transferred to Google Voice. Hooray for free Wi-Fi calling!)
I doubt VoLTE will make any practical difference in day-to-day usage, unless carriers allow customers to default to a custom SIP/IMS registrar -- which won't happen for a long time. Calls (signaling) are still routed through the carrier[1], and your carrier still has to interconnect with the other end. While most backbones have been all-IP for a long time, the copper/cellular last mile is still mostly circuit-switched, even more so internationally.
[1] I'd be very surprised if VoLTE traffic, including media, was sent over the public Internet at the same QoS as the rest of your data. Voice-over-LTE is a nice technical achievement -- IIRC reliability was very difficult to ensure, especially during 3G/2G handoff -- but to consumers, VoLTE means nothing.
That's would have been a killer feature if it had occurred when smartphones were new enough that providers were selling plans with limited call minutes and unlimited data, but now that virtually every carrier has smartphone plans that are unlimited phone minutes/unlimited text and limited data with surcharges for data overages, who is looking to move from using voice minutes to using data?