VoiP vs VoLTE

kamal vijFREELANCE TECHNICAL TRAINER, 3G ,3.5G & EPSTop Contributor

Which is better, VoIP or VoLTE? A reality check blogs.nsn.com

This blog is by Gerald Reddig from Nokia Networks. Twitter: @GeraldReddig A little while ago,
Nokia Smart Labs tested the performance of operator Voice over LTE (VoLTE) against over-thetop (OTT) Voice over IP (VoIP) services. The results showed that OTT VoIP achieved<span
class="ellipsis"></span><div class="read-more"><a href="https://blogs.nsn.com/mobilenetworks/2014/07/03/voip-vs-volte/">Read

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Robert
Robert Alfonsi
Director and Co-Founder, All about the Product
Interesting read. If the majority of mobile users (for packet voice) are with VoIP from
OTT client apps, yet there are such quality benefits to be enjoyed, what is stopping the
adoption?
- Wide enough geographic coverage (with good quality) for 4G?
- Metcalfes law. Fragmented in-country operator support for VoLTE?
- Mobile platform support: APIs for OTT VoIP apps to select VoLTE bearers
- Complexity of building OTT apps to cater for cases when VoLTE is present or not.
- Dealmaking between current OTT VoIP providers and operators for the rights
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Louis
Louis GIBAULT
rseaux 4G, normalisation, brevets, proprit intellectuelle at FRANCE TELECOM /
Division R&D
These tests confirm what can be foreseen by brain deduction. GBR mechanisms allow the
eNB scheduler to optimise RB allocation : one allocation to each 20ms= codec
periodicity.
Between two packets the UE can sleep. OTT (http) way consumes more radio ressources
than VoLTE for a same bit rate because the scheduler does'nt know the periodicity.
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Jim
Jim O'Connor
Wireless Engineer | LTE, CDMA | Tools Development | Fieldtesting | Analysis &
Visualization
A few reasons why VoLTE should be better than VoIP, off the top of my head.
From the users perspective:
* Carrier-grade VoLTE, through IMS, has an end-to-end QoS guarantee that over-the-top
VoIP packets, flowing through a best-effort Internet, do not. This means lower latency
(and so less stepping on each others speech) and managed BLER and jitter.
* Users will also see VoLTE as better integrated into the phone, since theyre using the
dial pad theyre already used to, not some 3rd party app.
* Battery life should be better too, since parts of the phone can power down because of
the 20ms periodicity of VoLTE packets, which the network knows about.
* OTT VoIP solutions are often proprietary, in contrast to VoLTE, whose standardization
should make for better interoperability between hardware vendors and network operators.
* When switching between RATs, OTT VoIP solutions may drop, which should be less of
a problem for VoLTE with single radio voice call continuity to switch the call from LTE
to 3G/2G.
From the carriers perspective:
* The end-to-end QoS guarantee of VoLTE should allow the operators to offer a more
compelling solution than OTT VoIP. This should help them avoid becoming just a fat pipe
provider.
* The 20ms periodicity of the VoLTE packets allows the eNB scheduler to schedule more

efficiently, leading to greater capacity. Though voice doesn't consume much data, so
maybe that's not a big knob.
* By shifting voice to their 4G network, operators can reassign their 2G+3G spectrum to
4G and dramatically improve their bits/sec/Hz on both uplink and downlink.
I'm sure I've missed some important comparisons, but hopefully others will add these ...
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Lei
Lei Gao
Telecommunications Professional
this is not apple to apple comparison. Volte running on special APN with special QCI
which Voip can do similar. Volte here just voice call only similar CS call but Voip on
default beare can do not only voice call but also video call and anything base on PS call
which 4G should be..
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