T-Mobile on Wednesday confirmed its deployment of Enhanced Voice Services (EVS), a next-generation technology that is aimed at improving the quality of voice calls.
According to T-Mobile, EVS helps improve voice call reliability in areas with a weak signal and provide higher-fidelity, more realistic-sounding calls using a broader audio frequency range. The technology works with either a Wi-Fi or cellular LTE connection, T-Mobile said.
EVS works with a user’s compatible device regardless of whether the person being contacted also has an EVS-capable phone, T-Mobile said. That means Un-carrier customers can call friends on a different network and still be able to experience EVS, T-Mobile said.
An added perk for T-Mobile, of course, is the fact that EVS helps operators reduce the bandwidth needed for voice calls.
The Un-carrier said it’s version of the technology is patent-pending. T-Mobile said it believes its the first in the country to roll out EVS.
T-Mobile said the first device to come EVS-capable right out of the box is the new LG G5, which was launched at the start of this month. Both the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are also EVS-compatible thanks to a software update that was released this week. The Un-carrier said it is aiming to make EVS available on a total of seven smartphones by the end of this year.
T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said in a blog post the carrier’s roll out of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services in 2013 gave T-Mobile a leg up on its EVS deployment.
Ray said VoLTE now carries “well over” half the calls made on T-Mobile’s network.