Verizon is bringing a little more value to its prepaid customers with the pending roll out of Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) technology for eligible devices.
Verizon told Wireless Week Wednesday it is planning to launch HD Voice for its prepaid customers early this fall after a landing page for the feature was launched early by mistake and uncovered by several news outlets.
The page had been taken down as of Thursday morning.
The launch will allow prepaid customers to take advantage of Verizon’s HD Voice service, which the carrier has said offers clearer calls and the ability to use data and talk at the same time. The service also includes one- or two-way video calling, six-way conference calling and Wi-Fi calling, Verizon said.
To utilize the feature, Verizon said both phones must have HD Voice enabled and must be connected via a 4G LTE signal.
Verizon currently offers 26 HD Voice capable devices in its lineup, including the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Note 7, Apple iPhone 6s, Droid MAXX 2, Blackberry Priv, LG G5 and HTC 10.
The expansion to prepaid will follow the the carrier’s launch of Wi-Fi calling for select Android devices in December and the subsequent roll out of Wi-Fi calling for iOS devices.
Verizon was the last of the four major U.S. carriers to offer Wi-Fi calling, following T-Mobile’s roll out of the feature in 2007, Sprint’s launch in April 2015 and AT&T’s roll out in October 2015.
Verizon, however, may beat rival AT&T to the prepaid punch with Wi-Fi calling. AT&T’s dominant Cricket prepaid brand does not yet offer the feature.
Still, Verizon has a long way to go to catch up with T-Mobile’s VoLTE status – in both prepaid and postpaid.
The Un-carrier during its second quarter earnings call said more than half – or 57 percent – of its voice traffic is now carried over LTE.
This story has been updated with clarification on the feature launch from Verizon.
Filed Under: Carriers
