5 ms·

That'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 ar

by smanek 17y ago

That'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 ago
Perhaps they calculated that it's less risky to open VOIP apps than to possibly suffer the wrath of the FCC.
- fossuser 17y ago
  I agree, after rejecting google voice they didn't dare to reject this.
  - pyre 17y ago
    It'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 ago
  Yeah, 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 ago
  Well, 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 ago
    A 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 ago
      Very 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 ago
Can 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 ago
  On 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 ago
    Holy crap! That is extortion!
    - jrockway 17y ago
      Yeah. 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 ago
  There 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 ago
    I believe that was quietly killed off during the 3GS upgrade.
kogir 17y ago
I'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 ago
The 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 ago
You'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 ago
Not 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.

by smanek 17y ago

That'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 ago

Perhaps they calculated that it's less risky to open VOIP apps than to possibly suffer the wrath of the FCC.

fossuser 17y ago
I agree, after rejecting google voice they didn't dare to reject this.
- pyre 17y ago
  It'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 ago
Yeah, 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 ago
Well, 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 ago
  A 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 ago
    Very 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 ago

Can 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 ago
On 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 ago
  Holy crap! That is extortion!
  - jrockway 17y ago
    Yeah. 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 ago
There 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 ago
  I believe that was quietly killed off during the 3GS upgrade.

kogir 17y ago

I'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 ago

The 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 ago

You'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 ago

Not 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.