http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/ Engadget Comments for Orange plans to bring 'HD Voice' calls to UK next year http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 10:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Why not... Because its possible]]>Dec 31st 2009 10:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 10:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Honestly, if I would want anything HD, it would be my phone line.

That being said, I really just want everything HD - including my vision.]]>Dec 31st 2009 11:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Yeah pretty soon we will hear of the Ultra-HD phone call. I think for people in the US with ATT a phone call in general would be nice.]]>Dec 31st 2009 11:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
HD is the new black. Or was "Live" the new black and HD is the new Live?
...]]>Dec 31st 2009 12:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Because HD is a hype word used to sell products. Just like Super use to be. Super Phone Calls!]]>Dec 31st 2009 4:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/I bet the HD quality is worse than what windows calls 'radio quality' (22KHz 16bit mono PCM)

]]>Dec 31st 2009 5:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Traditional, or narrowband telephone calls, limit audio frequencies to the range of 300 to 3400 hertz. Wideband audio eliminates the majority of bandwidth limitations and transmits in the range of 30 hertz to 7000 hertz or higher.
...
The 3GPP standards group has designated G.722.2 as its wideband codec and calls it Advanced Multirate – Wideband (AMR-WB). A few handsets have been produced supporting this codec (for example, Nokia), and network demonstrations have been conducted.

After years of trials, AMR-WB was made commercially available in September 2009, when Orange launched the world's first high-definition voice service for mobile phones in Moldova, the first time since the 1990s that mobile voice technologies have been subject to a significant evolution. The first mobile handset integrating high-definition voice capability launched by Orange Moldova is the Nokia 6720c, which integrates WB-AMR.

...

AMR-WB operates like AMR with 9 different bit rates. The lowest bit rate providing excellent speech quality in a clean environment is 12.65 kbit/s. Higher bit rates are useful in background noise conditions and for music. Also lower bit rates of 6.60 and 8.85 kbit/s provide reasonable quality especially if compared to narrow band codecs.

All modes are sampled at 16 kHz (using 14 bit resolution) and processed at 12.8 kHz.
]]>Dec 31st 2009 5:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 11:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Most modern phones are very advanced and impressive in every area except for actually making phone calls, where little has changed in the last decade or so.]]>Dec 31st 2009 10:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 10:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Thats not the iphones fault its at&t. I live in spain and I never had any connection issues.]]>Dec 31st 2009 10:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 11:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Anyway: Yey! Let's hope it gets rolled out everywhere, and quickly.]]>Jan 1st 2010 10:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 10:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 10:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
this format is dead...

ahahaah!

Anyway I dont think anyone wants to hear all the backround noises.. especially cheating partners... ugh!]]>Dec 31st 2009 11:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Some of you guys should stop posting here and seriously pursue stand up comedy. I am not sure Blue Ray jokes will make it but i am sure you have some additional material.]]>Dec 31st 2009 11:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 11:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
http://bart.tcc.virginia.edu/classes/tcc315/Resources/ALM/Telephone/truevoice.html

]]>Dec 31st 2009 11:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Actually, VoIP phones nowadays are supporting new standards, Polycom in particular. We have their phones here, and when you're on a wideband ("HD Voice") call with someone else in the office, it really does make a difference, and you really can tell.]]>Dec 31st 2009 11:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
I thought they were pushing better sound on their land lines, then the compitition.
]]>Dec 31st 2009 11:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
It was a limitation in back then, but today, it really isn't. Especially with the advent of 3G, and even 4G, we will have more than enough bandwidth to bump up the voice call quality a little. VoIP systems have been doing this for a little while, that's why your Skype to Skype call sounds so clear compared to a cell phone or landline call.

It may initially seem like not much, but there really is great benefit in the intelligibility of calls once you expand to help include more consonant sounds. This is a paper by Polycom, and while it is to help them push their HD Voice calls on their phones, it is an excellent illustration of the reasons we need to improve our phone voice systems.

http://www.polycom.com/global/documents/whitepapers/effect_of_bandwidth_on_speech_intelligibility_2.pdf]]>Dec 31st 2009 11:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 11:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 11:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/However don't confuse the usage of AMR-WB codec for vocie calls with the same codec being available in many phones for file playback. These are entirely different use cases and systems.
]]>Dec 31st 2009 12:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
I guess

"Orange introduces AMR-WB (wideband) voice calls"

is not quite as catchy as

"Orange introduces HD Voice calls" :)]]>Dec 31st 2009 12:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
However there's a few thing that's gotta be in place before you actually make a wideband call:
* Both handsets needs to be WB enabled.
* Both callers needs to be connected via a WB enabled operator.
* Both callers needs to be in a WB enabled cell.
* Both callers will likely have to be connected in 3G mode (service later enabled for 2G mode).

If ANY of these conditions are not met the call will fall back to regular NB quality. Hence the likelyhood of yourself actually getting a WB call set up will initially unfortunately be quite low.]]>Dec 31st 2009 12:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/.

]]>Dec 31st 2009 5:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 11:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/]]>Dec 31st 2009 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 12:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/The wideband calls will typically use the a similar bit rate (~12 kbps) as the regular narrowband calls. The network operator dictates the actual rate to be run during the call, and since the WB codecs provides a much improved experience at a similar bit rate to NB they will initially stay there, since they're of course also conservative about that scarce bandwidth resource. However WB calls could be configured to run at up to 23.85 kbps for even better voice quality, but will not initially.]]>Dec 31st 2009 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
In Moldova it required 3G, so I'm guessing it uses more data:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/11/orange-introduces-hd-voice-calls-3g-moldovian-citizenship/]]>Dec 31st 2009 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/If the codec was not supported on the tower you would (probably) have to do pass to a voice gateway to lower the codec spec and pass to a conforming tower.
I'm not 100% on this (best guess) but if the calls are G722 and passing H225, H245 messages then the codec support would be required.

It's also worth pointing out that I've heard several arguments against rolling G722 out on sites as people (enterprise users) are not used to the improved performance and the - perceived - amplification of background noise is far improved. Things like shoes on hardwood floors can be heard clearly over the line and can impact call quality.
That said, the option would be nice.]]>Dec 31st 2009 3:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Sorry, clarifying on the above. The 3G towers are newer tech hence the suggested improved codec support.]]>Dec 31st 2009 3:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/]]>Dec 31st 2009 5:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Humans can hear 20-20,000 Hz. Phones can transmit just 350-3,500 Hz at most, and most are much narrower. Picture that graphically and you'll see that's such a small slice of what we can hear.

You fools who say "who cares" are like the poeple who said "Who needs to see color in television? Black and white is good enough to see and comprehend what your watching."

It's about a better experience, and yes, you CAN communicate better with the full range of hearing vs. just the small slice current phone systems allow.]]>Dec 31st 2009 12:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
I can't wait for that, but with that ful ranges comes drawbacks like network usage and noise pollution from the environment your talking from!]]>Dec 31st 2009 4:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/But maybe now we can communicate by whistling, and cats and gnats can get phones.

]]>Dec 31st 2009 5:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 11:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/Dec 31st 2009 11:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/31/orange-plans-to-bring-hd-voice-calls-to-uk-next-year/
Orange sucks ass.]]>Jan 1st 2010 9:12AM