Last night T-Mobile announced the launch of HD Voice on its network, complete with a trio of smartphones that can use the feature. Now Verizon has provided an update on where it stands with HD Voice, and unfortunately for customers that are looking forward to the improved call quality that the feature brings, Big Red isn't planning to roll it out until 2014. That's what Mike Haberman, Verizon's VP of network operations, has told CNET, explaining that Verizon is waiting until it implements voice over LTE (VoLTE), which is expected to happen by the end of 2013 or early in 2014. Haberman added that Verizon is more interested in the services that can tie into VoLTE and that it'd rather wait to roll out HD Voice until it can provide a consistent level of service with that feature.
The other big U.S. operator that's still without HD Voice is AT&T, but that will change later this year. AT&T PR recently told PCMag that the big blue carrier is planning to introduce HD Voice in 2013, and while one official wouldn't share any other details on the matter, a couple of workers at AT&T's HD Voice demo booth said that the carrier was likely aiming for an August launch.
Sprint announced its HD Voice rollout plans when the HTC EVO 4G LTE made its debut, saying that the feature would be introduced in 2012. However, it appears that Hesse and Co. haven't made much progress since, revealing to CNET that it's only completed one test market. That's definitely kind of bummer for heavy talkers, but right now it appears that AT&T, Sprint and Verizon are focusing on expanding their LTE coverage and introducing VoLTE before making the HD Voice jump. Are any of you interested in HD Voice? Or do you do so little actual calling on your phone that you don't care all that much about the feature?
