T-Mobile is the first network provider to offer voice over 5G

• Some commercial calls will be routed over T-Mobile’s 5G network.
• Voice over via 5G have better latency, and also substantial benefits for customers.
• All US providers will likely want to switch to 5G voice calling in the future.

Not every carrier, however, is in a hurry to deliver calls via 5G. The brand was leading the charge last year, according to Fierce Wireless, as part of its ambitions to be viewed as the leader in 5G.In contrast, Verizon and AT&T are satisfied to continue using LTE for calls as they build up their 5G networks. T-Mobile has a history of bragging about its 5G firsts, such as the first voice conversation over a 5G standalone network with LTE as a fallback in 2020.

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VoNR is also something Dish is finding out as it builds a 5G network from the ground up, and it might be a stumbling block in passing the FCC’s merger conditions. It doesn’t have its own LTE network to fall back on until VoNR is resolved, and analysts believe it’s having difficulties seamlessly transitioning between 5G voice calls and the LTE networks it uses as roaming partners. If it reaches the FCC’s goal of serving 20% of the population by the end of the month, it would almost certainly do it on its own network, using just data rather than speech.

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Even if you’re a T-Mobile customer in Portland or Salt Lake City, you’re unlikely to hear a 5G voice chat in the wild. Only the Samsung Galaxy S21 is compatible with the technology, and it is only accessible in “limited areas” of those locales.

Correction On June 3rd, at 3:45 p.m. ET, In an earlier version of this story, T-Mobile launched their first VoNR call using LTE as a fallback; the company did so in 2020. Please accept our apologies for the oversight.