Verizon data limitations not unique to iPhone
There's a video up at 9to5 Mac that demonstrates how iPhones on Verizon and AT&T handle conference calling differently. Specifically, the CDMA-based Verizon phone is unable to jump between calls like the AT&T iPhone can.
The user began by placing a call on both phones. Once connected, a second call was initiated. The AT&T phone let the user move between calls easily, placing the non-active call on hold. Finally, each call could be terminated individually.
Meanwhile, the Verizon phone did not let the user jump between calls, and pressing the End button terminated both calls at once. We noticed that the user in the video didn't hit the Merge Calls button on either phone, even though it was available on both.
This is not a "limitation in the software" as 9to5 guessed, but a limitation of CDMA. The AT&T phone uses Cellular Radio and the GSM Data Radio to put each call on a unique channel. Since CDMA can't handle voice and data simultaneously, you're out of luck. The issue isn't unique to the iPhone, but the technology behind the Verizon flavor. In fact, here's how Apple summarizes the issue:
"On a CDMA model, you can't switch between calls if the second call was outgoing, but you can merge the calls. If you end the second call or the merged call, both calls are terminated."
Many home users won't be troubled by the limitation, but business users might be. Enterprise customers considering a purchase will want to keep this in mind.
Watch the video after the break.
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There's a video up at 9to5 Mac that demonstrates how iPhones on Verizon and AT&T handle conference calling differently. Specifically,...
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I'm not sure this is a limitation with CDMA or Verizon - before I got my Droid, I could easily manage multiple calls - I've done this numerous times when connecting clients before two-way calls.
Anyone else?
What surprises me is it sounds like it makes a difference whether the second call was incoming or outgoing? I'm sure there's a good reason for that, but it sounds bizarre from an end user perspective.
February 14 2011 at 7:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe one thing I just thought of though is this. The article says its a problem with Verizons CDMA network not being able to use data and voice at the same time. However, the original iphone was on AT&T's EDGE network which had the same issues but you could still handle multiple calls like you can now right? What's the difference?
February 14 2011 at 3:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWait a minute. Hold on. So does this mean that there is something else that the verizon phone can't do that the AT&T can? Something tells me there are going to be more of these little intricacies that show up in the near future as all of the verizon owners start (or try to) make use of all of the features that the iphone has. All the early reviews that said verizon did the impossible by making the best smartphone better are starting to look more and more inaccurate. They didn't make it better, then made it different. They improved network reliability maybe but it cost you speed and functionality. It looks like the reliability is the only thing that actually improved.
February 14 2011 at 3:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyOn AT&T you have to worry about those calls dropping
February 14 2011 at 3:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis is not a limitation of CDMA but rather a limitation of how Verizon deployed their network. Supposedly they will fix this fault sometime during the second half of the year. Wouldn't hold my breath though, if they're that serious about building out LTE>
February 14 2011 at 3:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt's a limitation of CDMA2000 and EvDO - Evolution Data Only. To allow voice, they would need to implement EvDV - Data & Voice. LTE is on the GSM track, so it requires a complete overhaul.
February 14 2011 at 5:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAKA SVDO, yes, I'm aware. My intent was to questions just how serious Verizon would be about that, considering they would probably rather put the money towards LTE rollout.
February 14 2011 at 5:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySo, what's the point of the merge button on the Verizon iPhone? It seems that the calls are already "merged"..
February 14 2011 at 3:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyScott,
I was confused about this too but I think what happens is the calls are still seperate. But since you can't swap between the two seperate calls then the only get back to the first call is by having the party on the second call hang up on their end since if you try to end the second call it ends both. But there are still two seperate calls going.
Ah, CDMA. America's favorite dead-end technology. If Verizon hadn't bet on the wrong horse years ago, we'd have two strong GSM networks right now in this country instead of just one.
(T-Mobile almost counts, but unfortunately they don't own the "right" spectrum so they have to have custom phones if you want 3G, which defeats the purpose of using a standard).
Hilarious. You know what the most widespread original 3rd Generation air interface was? UMTS. You know what the other name for UMTS is? W-CDMA. You know what HSPA/HSPA+ is? An extension/evolution of UMTS aka W-CDMA again.
February 14 2011 at 3:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySure, everything uses code division now so i should have been more specific--although I'm not sure what you're arguing. The good thing about CDMA is the idea of code division. That's the ONLY good thing. The slowness, no sim cards, and lack of features (like the topic the article is about) are bad things. And like you said, "GSM" networks today DO use W-CDMA--AND they also feature faster 3G, better calling features, and the ability to use phones made everywhere else around the world. The GSM standard took what was good from CDMA and improved the standard. Because in America we don't believe in standards, we have competing garbage like EV-DO and T-Mobile's 3G in the wrong band, making things suck more for consumers.
The point was that CDMA+EV-DO was the wrong horse. Yes, because it's slower than HSPA and HSPA+. Yes, because it can't handle simultaneous voice and data. Yes, because it can't do a proper conference like this very article points out. But frankly, even if it didn't have any of those flaws, CDMA+EV-DO was the wrong horse because it's incompatible with the rest of the world! Yes, I realize a couple other countries (Japan and South Korea, right?) ended up with (far superior to Verizon's) CDMA networks, but if you don't insist on being daft you have to admit that especially in North America, it's become a technological backwater today. This is why Verizon is abandoning it completely "someday" when they get enough 4GLTE service available (don't hold your breath).
On Verizon phones you switch between the two incoming calls by pressing the "Send" button. If your on a call and a second call comes in, you press Send to switch to the new call and Send to return to the original call. Is there an equivalent action on the Verizon iPhone?
February 14 2011 at 2:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyConsidering most businesses already use Verizon, I doubt they actually care about this limitation, otherwise they'd be on AT&T.
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