Landlines and cellphones don’t have much in common these days – except for the noise, static and middling clarity of your typical call.
But that could soon change. With a new feature called HD voice, some Canadian wireless carriers are finally looking to put the phone back in smartphone.
In real-world terms, the technology is a said to significantly reduce background noise and improve call quality, making it easier to recognize speech and distinguish multiple voices in a crowded conversation.
WIND Mobile was the first to introduce the feature on select handsets early last year, promising a “better quality, clearer voice service experience.” Now, Bell (BCE Inc. BCE-T) and Virgin Mobile are set to follow suit. In January, both carriers announced that HD voice would be available to its customers on select handsets too.
But they’ll have some competition. Voice-over-IP services such as Skype and Google Voice – where a call is routed over the internet, as opposed to a cellular tower or landline – have been around for years, and the sound quality often exceeds that of a traditional phone conversation.
Telus Corp. T-T has even been touting the ability to use Skype on handsets utilizing the carrier’s high-speed data network to make free calls with other subscribers. And in the U.S., trials are already under way to make similar mobile VoIP alternatives the norm, thanks to what’s called Voice-over-LTE.
HD voice is just the latest way to stay competitive – at least, for now.
“Voice has been the lonely stepchild over the past few years as data growth has exploded,” says WIND Mobile CEO Anthony Lacavera of the sudden interest in improving voice quality and service. “And now you have carriers looking back.”
Call quality is determined by something called a codec, which is the software algorithm responsible for compressing all audio before it travels across the wireless network. Traditionally, carriers have used narrowband audio codecs, which only transmit a small slice – 200-3400Hz – of the audible voice frequency range.
However, Bell, Virgin and WIND are now using what’s called an adaptive multi-rate wideband audio codec – AMR-WB for short, and are branding that HD voice – which expands the frequency range to 50-7000KHz.
“There is a commercial incentive to squash the data as much as possible,” explained William Webb, head of research and development at the U.K. regulator Ofcom, in an 2010 interview with the BBC. “But you can go too far. The trick is to find the balance point, the sweet spot.”
According to a statement from Bell’s spokesman, Jason Laszlo, the company is operating “at the rate of 12.65 kbit/sec which is the most common industry implementation” –which, in theory, means that HD voice customers across Bell, Virgin and WIND should be capable of communication with one another using the wideband codec.
What’s special about this new codec is that a carrier can transmit more voice data over its existing cellular infrastructure, without having to invest in costly hardware upgrades for cellular towers and base stations.
But for some consumers, getting those crystal-clear calls won’t be that simple.
To make an HD connection, both the caller and the receiving number must have a wideband-capable phone. Calling most landline phones, for example, and non-supported wireless handsets will revert to the standard narrowband codec.
In January 2011, WIND announced it would be working with Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huwaei Technologies Co. Ltd. to bring HD voice capable handsets and infrastructure to the startup wireless network.
Earlier this year Bell and Virgin announced their own plans to bring HD voice to wireless subscribers (both carriers run on the same network). Supported devices so far include the HTC Sensation, HTC Incredible S, Nokia C6-00 and Nokia C6-01.
