At launch, Google made more than a passing reference to the Pixel range of phones supporting VoLTE and HD Voice calls. We asked the question of our local Googlers, and it was confirmed that whether handsets were purchased from Telstra or elsewhere, the Pixels would support VoLTE / HD voice calling on Telstra.
Well, it seems that wasn’t quite the case. You see, when we took possession of our Pixel last week, we confirmed that VoLTE wasn’t working. That was followed by a rather frustrating experience dealing with Telstra’s customer service, but that’s an aside.
After a few more phone calls, and discussing the matter with senior folk within Telstra, it has now been confirmed; Telstra made the decision to switch VoLTE off for the Pixels, at least for now. Steve Carey, Telstra’s GM, Media, gave us this statement this afternoon:
Both handsets are VoLTE ready, however we launched with the feature switched off while we optimise voice call performance for the devices on our network. We’re sorry for the confusion this has caused and we’re working to activate the feature in the coming weeks.
This correlates with information we’ve received from elsewhere in Telstra that the feature isn’t quite ready to go. It’s a shame, but at least we know the issue is a known issue and it will be addressed at some point in the future.
