Wife complains of poor audio quality on voice calls

[Serial Port]

Wi-Fi calling is on. It doesn't seem to make a difference.

Apart from phone calls, is the Wi-Fi connection acceptable for data on your computer? I am wondering if there is an issue with her phone internally. Might not have anything to do with the cellular network. Is there an Apple store nearby that could test her phone?

[FAUguy]

Don't forget that HSPA and HSDPA were data-only and not voice on the 3G networks. 4G introduced LTE and later VOLTE (Voice over LTE).

Yeah, that right, voice was just over regular GSM, while data was on HSPA. I remember being able to do voice and data at the same time, something I couldn't do on Verizon with CDMA.

[FAUguy]

Wi-Fi calling is on. It doesn't seem to make a difference.

If WiFi calling is on and you got a decent Router (using 5Ghz band, but even 2.4Ghz is OK) and a speed over 10Mbps, then the voice quality should be good (as voice doesn't use much data). But if WiFi calling doesn't sound good...no better than the VoLTE , then I would suggest having the phone checked out, it see if you can get another iPhone to test out (look on Amazon for a one that is Amazon Renewed. Even if you return it, you can still test out the voice quality.

[NCTed]

Apart from phone calls, is the Wi-Fi connection acceptable for data on your computer? I am wondering if there is an issue with her phone internally. Might not have anything to do with the cellular network. Is there an Apple store nearby that could test her phone?

Yeah, we have AT&T Gigapower. I have a Synology RT2600AC behind the RG using IP passthrough and a MR 2200AC connected via gigabit ethernet to the main router. Throughput and latency are excellent.

I could take it to an Apple Store. Is that something they do? Test cellular performance?

[NCTed]

If WiFi calling is on and you got a decent Router (using 5Ghz band, but even 2.4Ghz is OK) and a speed over 10Mbps, then the voice quality should be good (as voice doesn't use much data). But if WiFi calling doesn't sound good...no better than the VoLTE , then I would suggest having the phone checked out, it see if you can get another iPhone to test out (look on Amazon for a one that is Amazon Renewed. Even if you return it, you can still test out the voice quality.

When we get back from vacation, I plan to have her test wi-fi only calling by putting the phone in airplane mode and enabling wi-fi to see how well it works without cellular signal. The phone works fine everywhere else, but it behaves poorly at home, and this is not the first phone to have issues at this location, so I suspect it is the same old problem.

[NCTed]

Update: We got back home last night. My wife talked to her sister on wi-fi calling (with cellular off) for over an hour with no issues. She also made several calls on the way home while driving through the mountains of VA with no problems.

Today will be the real test as it is her first full day back to work which requires a lot of time on the phone.

[kaZZoo]

requires a lot of time on the phone.

Does she use a bluetooth headset.

[NCTed]

Does she use a bluetooth headset.

Yes, she has a Blue Parrot set. She also uses speaker on the phone itself quite a bit.

[NCTed]

Update: We got back home last night. My wife talked to her sister on wi-fi calling (with cellular off) for over an hour with no issues. She also made several calls on the way home while driving through the mountains of VA with no problems.

Today will be the real test as it is her first full day back to work which requires a lot of time on the phone.

No issues today using wi-fi calling only.

[NCTed]

So, wi-fi calling for a week while at home seemed to resolve the issue at home. While out of the house, calling on cellular worked fine. We did also do a test of Verizon at our house via a free trial, and the call quality was similarly bad on cellular, but also bad on wi-fi calling. Not sure why that would be, but it didn't make sense to consider switching to a VZW MVNO for worse coverage at home. T-Mobile has zero signal at our house, so we didn't even consider it. Anyway, that is the update.

[hominid7]

Thanks for the update! it's always frustrating when you happen to live in a dead-zone. I'm glad you were able to find a work-around. Not all MVNO's may allow calling over wi-fi. I'm curious if that might have been an issue with the one you tried. Visible does allow it but i'm not sure about other ones.

[wwglen]

Yes, she has a Blue Parrot set. She also uses speaker on the phone itself quite a bit.

Make sure she is connected to the 5GHz wifi.

Bluetooth can jam the 2.4GHz, especially in a phone as they usually use the same antenna for both to save money.

If your wifi router cannot split the two bands separate, you can add a hardwired router in access point mode with a different wifi name and then connect to that router's 5GHz.

Some extenders will also allow you to have a different wifi network name and you can use that to make sure you are connected to the 5GHz wifi.

[NCTed]

Thanks for the update! it's always frustrating when you happen to live in a dead-zone. I'm glad you were able to find a work-around. Not all MVNO's may allow calling over wi-fi. I'm curious if that might have been an issue with the one you tried. Visible does allow it but i'm not sure about other ones.

I actually used the full post-paid Verizon free trial:

https://www.verizon.com/support/veri...rial-faqs/#196

Visible was one of the MVNOs I would have considered trying.

[NCTed]

Make sure she is connected to the 5GHz wifi.

Bluetooth can jam the 2.4GHz, especially in a phone as they usually use the same antenna for both to save money.

If your wifi router cannot split the two bands separate, you can add a hardwired router in access point mode with a different wifi name and then connect to that router's 5GHz.

Some extenders will also allow you to have a different wifi network name and you can use that to make sure you are connected to the 5GHz wifi.

Thanks. Looks like it is connecting to 5GHz. There is an AP in the room she uses as her office, so I wouldn't think wi-fi signal would be part of the problem.