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AT&T to allow 3G Skype calls
- datums 17y agoIf you have a sip account you can use fring to make voip calls.
- smanek 17y agoThat's amazing ... Why would AT&T do this? I no longer need 'minutes' of phone service anymore (except as a backup when I'm occasionally out of a 3G service area)
- staunch 17y agoPerhaps they calculated that it's less risky to open VOIP apps than to possibly suffer the wrath of the FCC.
- fossuser 17y agoI agree, after rejecting google voice they didn't dare to reject this.
- pyre 17y agoIt's supposedly Apple that has rejected Skype and Google Voice. If you read Apple's letter to the FCC their agreement with AT&T is to prevent apps that will abuse the 3G bandwidth from making it into the App store, which is why I assume that Skype has been wifi-only up until now. I'm just hoping that AT&T wasn't right. It would sure suck if 3G performance (for everyone since bandwidth is shared per cell tower) suffered from loads of people making Skype calls and/or Skype performance also suffered from too many other people trying to make Skype calls.
- eli 17y agoYeah, that's my guess. Might as well get out in front and score some PR points for being open since it seems to be only a matter of time before it's a mandate. http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/genachowskis-open-internet-guidelines-offer-few-specifics-wireless/2009-09-21 http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/genachowskis-open-intern...
- joezydeco 17y agoWell, Verizon just put a huge shot across AT&T's bow today by announcing they would allow Google Voice (and others) on their new Android-based handsets. http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/10/verizon-android-phones/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/10/verizon-android-phone...
- stcredzero 17y agoA shot across the bow is fine. The folks who put together the phone still have to execute. Hopefully this will shape AT&T up.
- joezydeco 17y agoVery true. Verizon could be all talk at this point. But it's interesting to see the walls starting to come down, slowly as they are.
- dmnd 17y agoCan you even get 3G data service from AT&T without first buying 'minutes' though? I can never seem to use up the minimum amount of monthly minutes so this has no bearing on my own monthly bill.
- jrockway 17y agoOn T-Mobile, you have to buy 400 minutes a month before you are even allowed to pay for data. I use about 1% of my minutes...
- arithmetic 17y agoHoly crap! That is extortion!
- jrockway 17y agoYeah. And honestly, I think the person selling me the plan lied to me about the 400 minute plan being mandatory. (This is why I'm happy to see Amazon killing retail stores -- retail employees suck.)
- jws 17y agoThere used to be, and maybe still is, a mechanism to activate your iPhone with an AT&T pay-as-you-go plan. The last time I had a pay-as-you-go it worked out to about $8/mo to keep up with the calendar based expiration of minutes.
- abyssknight 17y agoI believe that was quietly killed off during the 3GS upgrade.
- kogir 17y agoI'm sure they're banking on the quality of 3G VoIP calls being low enough that you'll want to place a normal call whenever possible. People already complain endlessly about their voice service dropping. I suspect data is worse, and VoIP will make that abundantly clear.
- jonknee 17y agoThe snarky side of me wants to say they know how bad their own 3G network is... But a voice plan is required to use the iPhone and their minimum plans are expensive enough that they won't be missing much revenue. It will be handy for having a single phone with multiple numbers though (maybe business/personal). Though so is Google Voice...
- eb 17y agoYou're still tied to an AT&T voice plan unless you don't intend on receiving calls. Applications still aren't allowed to run in the background so you'd need to have your iPhone on with the Skype app running to receive calls.
- ryanspahn 17y agoNot so amazing as Skype nor Vonage match the phone experience as neither take control of your dialer nor run in the background. If Skype is closed your phone won't ring and your calls will be missed.
- mbowcock 17y agoDoes this mean Google Voice will be supported as a native iPhone app?
- borism 17y agoif/when Apple pulls its' head out of its' a*, maybe. or maybe Google will punish Apple and not release native app again.
- SamAtt 17y agoI wasn't sure at first (thought Apple might be taking the heat) but this seems to confirm AT&T's claim that it's Apple that has the problem with Google Voice and not AT&T.
- jkincaid 17y agoIt isn't clear yet. Google Voice isn't VoIP (at least, not in the same way that Skype is) because you use your carrier's minutes whenever you place a call. That said, AT&T may choose to bundle the two announcements together because they're both examples of them being "open". Of course, Apple is the one supposedly behind the Google Voice ban, so don't be surprised if Google Voice isn't mentioned at all during tomorrow's event.
- Timothee 17y agoI figured that the Google Voice issue would be brought to light with this announcement. But, the Google Voice app should have technically been accepted before 3G Skype calls: it doesn't really use data like Skype does. It seems (I don't have it) to be more of a convenience for the user so that he doesn't have to call his GV number and then dial the number he wants to reach, and instead accesses your address book and dials everything for you. If this shows anything, it's that Apple is really behind the refusal (so far) of the GV app.
- dschobel 17y agoIn light of the Vonage app which was approved the other day, I don't see what possible objection ATT/Apple could have against the Google Voice application.
- darjen 17y agoI use Gizmo5 on my e71 over 3g. Better and cheaper than Skype.
- lpgauth 17y agoSo what's your point?
- brianobush 17y agomore info here: gizmo5.com and their blog: http://gizmo5news.blogspot.com/ http://gizmo5news.blogspot.com/ quite cheap indeed.
- chedigitz 17y agoI second that. Google Voice + Gizmo5 is working pretty well for me on the iphone using siphon. Free incoming calls (gVoice click to call), call quality is not to shabby, slight delay but its manageable. without using any cell minutes.
- staunch 17y agoATT actually loses nothing from me. I'll still use my normal ATT phone service for all US calls. All this means is that I will call foreign countries from my cell phone.
- acg 17y agoGood for them, good decision. There are other international operators that run skype and it is really useful.
- trezor 17y agoI think the technically correct term would be "no longer actively blocks".
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- laut 17y agoQuestion: With the Skype-app on the iPhone can you be online on Skype even after you lock the screen or go to another app? If you want to online on Skype on the iPhone so that people can call or message you even when you are using SMS or doing something else. Is this possible? At least on wifi?
- jsz0 17y agoNot possible without jailbreaking.
- godDLL 17y agoAIM does just that, albeit they ping you with badges/notifications when you get a message, which wouldn't quite work with calls. But you could always call back, or be "away". Nothing is stopping Skype from making that happen.
- laut 17y agoThanks. Not very practical if two people using want to be able to contact each other on Skype and especially if they are both using it on the iPhone. Imagine if everyone was using Skype like that. No one would be online.
- sahaj 17y agoi wonder if this has anything to do with keeping the iphone exclusivity? verizon today also announced that they will be supporting android devices.
- chrischen 17y agoToo bad skype text chat is unreliable.
- padmanabhan01 17y agoOne benefit is I no longer have to use my minutes to call 1800 #s. like cust service etc
- ErrantX 17y agoI was going to ask if you guys have a similar site to http://www.saynoto0870.co.uk http://www.saynoto0870.co.uk that turns premium numbers into local phone numbers for standard rate calls. But I found it. http://www.saynoto1890.com/ http://www.saynoto1890.com/ The UK version of that has saved me crap loads in customer service call costs.
- jrockway 17y agoFWIW, Skype over AT&T 3G has worked for many years on Windows Mobile. Or... it did 2 years ago when I last used it.
- nfriedly 17y agoDitto. I also made a skype call from my laptop via a tethered cellphone and the quality was noticeably better: the cpu speed of the phone was more of a limiting factor than the 3g data speed.
- arithmetic 17y agoFCC would have ruled AT&T to do this anyway.