Google Project Fi users are tired of waiting for VoLTE services, 6 months since testing began

Google Project Fi has a growing user base and it has reached a point where it cannot afford to start losing current subscribers. But it seems this might just be the case unless necessary steps are taken within the shortest time possible.

Back in February, the search engine giant confirmed that the quality of Google Project Fi calls will be getting much better thanks to the added support for VoLTE. But up to now, this feature is still nowhere to be seen. For the uninitiated, VoLTE is the short form of Voice over LTE, that is, you make voice calls over LTE connectivity, the fastest network available so far.

Here in the U.S., most carriers already support VoLTE calls. As long as it’s available in your local area and through carriers, you can easily start enjoying high-quality calls over LTE, but this also depends on the type of hardware – phone – you have. What happens with VoLTE calls is that your carrier will let you make calls over LTE instead of the usual voice networks like 3G or even HSPA+, which have poor audio quality.

Without VoLTE, it means that when you place a call on Google Project Fi or any other unsupported carrier, the signal will drop from LTE, which is always active when browsing the web, to 3G or H (HSPA). But with VoLTE, you can place calls on the fastest network, thus ensuring your calls have the best audio quality. It gets even better when the person you are calling is also on VoLTE.

The calls will connect faster and you can even enjoy faster data browsing when the call is ongoing. When you are using VoLTE, you’ll notice that the signal indicator keeps displaying LTE without dropping to 3G. If anything, this is what Google Project Fi promised to bring with VoLTE services six months ago, but it hasn’t materialized just yet.

As a result, unhappy Fi users are up and in arms with respect to the lack of progress from the side of Google. Some are even suggesting that Google opens up this testing program to other willing Project Fi users rather than limit it to a small group. This is how Google usually does things and in fact, I’m surprised that this beta program is not open to all Fi users.

Some of those who have already received support for VoLTE calls on Project Fi are full of praise for the service, but as for the rest, the wait is still on. Google has not mentioned a thing regarding when it plans to release the feature to all users of Fi, but hopefully, it won’t be long.