VoLTE Vs Over-the-Top VoIP Services like WhatsApp

VoLTE is the buzzword but is it better than all the Over-the-Top VOIP services offered now. Services including WhatsApp, Skype, Viber or Line all are providing or planning to offer VOIP services. Then why VoLTE. Is VoLTE has any advantages over all the existing services.

According to latest report from NSN Lab, VoLTE is in fact way ahead in terms of battery consumption, network signal load and other aspects.

Over-the-Top (OTT) Clients

NSN Lab tested VoLTE against OTT VOIP services hed-to-head with the following KPIs in mind:

• Smartphone battery consumption
• Data connections
• Data volume / throughput
• Signaling load

Key findings from these test are:

• OTT VoIP consumed much more smartphone battery power to meet this level of quality
• OTT VoIP required higher bit rates in general
• VoLTE client exhibited up to 94% lower mouth to-ear delay compared to OTT VoIP

So VOLTE is the clear winner in all kind of test.

Smartphone battery use

VoLTE clients consumed about 40% less than OTT VoIP clients.

Data connections

OTT VoIP clients generated up to 10x more data connections in the mobile network than a VoLTE client during a call.

Data volume/throughput

Most OTT VoIP applications required between 20% and 40% more throughput than VoLTE clients during active calls to meet this quality level, although one OTT VoIP application showed exceptional performance and came close to VoLTE. Overall data volume consumed over a period of time, including a mix of active and stand-by periods, resulted in at least 50% lower consumption for VoLTE thanks to its more efficient behavior during stand-by.

Signaling load

Typical default OTT VoIP keep-alive patterns activated during standby created between 100% and 200% higher signaling load on LTE networks compared with VoLTE. In one case, an un-optimized OTT VoIP client caused up to 3,000% more signaling in the network during stand-by with default settings.