Originally Posted by mk378
I think all the Verizon towers transmit 4G now (also, there's no such thing as "non LTE 4G", they are the same thing). The only time a new phone might fall back to 3G is in a weak signal area. I have found that data seldom works at all in that situation, because the signal is weak and they don't care much for 3G users.
That's interesting. To make sure I understand, are you saying the data connection with Verizon will almost always be either LTE or nothing?
Originally Posted by mk378
The 3G CDMA standard does not support circuit-switched phone calls, only IP traffic. The "HD Voice" feature converts phone calls to IP, so they could potentially go via 3G simultaneously with data, but see above about 3G data being unlikely to work in the first place.
For what it's worth, Verizon told me they're basically all GSM now and their last CDMA networks will be "obsolete" by the end of the year. Does this change the calculus at all?
Originally Posted by mk378
Making a non-HD call when LTE is not available will use 1X (aka 2G). That standard was optimized to carry phone calls on weak signals, so it works pretty well. But you won't have data at the same time.
Is this true of any network, or just Verizon/CDMA?