GoKawiilJoe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR Android 17 introduces platform-level support that automatically routes over-the-top voice and video call traffic to premium 5G network slices, enabling lag-free calls even in crowded locations.
The OS uses Telecom Jetpack APIs to identify active calls by an app’s UID, eliminating the need for developers to manually build slicing capabilities or handle carrier upsell flows.
However, carriers will need to provide the dedicated 5G network slice for voice and video call traffic, and it may come at a premium.
Google recently rolled out Android 17 to Pixel devices. While the update brings plenty of noteworthy changes, like App Bubbles and Screen Reactions, a network-related upgrade has quietly flown under the radar. Android 17 supports automatic routing of over-the-top (OTT) voice and video calls to premium network connections via 5G network slicing, and that’s big news for your next WhatsApp or Zoom video call over mobile data.
What is 5G network slicing? 5G network slicing is a core network feature that allows carriers to partition, i.e., slice, one 5G network into multiple isolated virtual networks with different characteristics. Thus, instead of treating all internet traffic equally, network slicing enables carriers to allocate different resources to different types of traffic and even to specific customer segments. This opens up carriers and network operators to provide customized lanes for specific use cases, such as ultra-low latency or high bandwidth, on their 5G Standalone (5G SA) networks.
In the US, T-Mobile has created a Video calling slice to optimize mobile apps that provide OTT video calling or conferencing features. Developers who want to beta-test the video calling slice can manually add support for it to their mobile app, test routing traffic through it, and evaluate performance using latency, packet loss, jitter, and other metrics. Verizon also has an Enhanced Video Calling network slice. T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T also have network slices for public safety use.
Android’s progress on 5G network slicing features so far Google has spent the past few years incrementally laying the groundwork for 5G network slicing capabilities. Android 12 introduced support for 5G network slicing, but it was restricted to data routed through enterprise work profiles. Android 13 added support for per-app routing controls for IT admins. However, these 5G network slicing features have been available only to enterprise users.
Android 14 (QPR 1) added support for 5G slicing upsell feature, which lets carriers offer enhanced network capabilities (mainly prioritized latency) to their users through 5G network slicing. This feature required apps to make specific changes to offer the carrier’s upsell if the user wasn’t already subscribed to the slice, and then subsequently use it.
As you can imagine, this was a decent amount of legwork for app developers to handle, and expecting a third-party app developer to interrupt the user and present the carrier’s purchase flow isn’t great UX either.
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