Verizon To Allow Skype Calling On Its Network

The Verizon press release begins: "At the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Verizon Wireless and Skype today announced a strategic relationship that will bring Skype to Verizon Wireless smartphones in March." What used to be one of the most protective carriers anywhere has been opening up in major ways since the introduction of the Motorola Droid. Phandroid summarizes: "Starting next month, Verizon Smartphone users with data plans will enjoy free and unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls to anyone on the planet. And you’ll enjoy amazingly cheap Skype International calls as well. All this from Verizon Wireless’ 3G network." Some are wondering how the DoJ and law enforcement will react to a major upsurge in fully encrypted traffic.

Comments

Data and unlimited plans

[Enderandrew]

More and more people are purchasing data plans. And it sure seems like every major network is pushing to move as many users to an unlimited plan as possible. Where many people used to have service in the $30-$40 range, more and more people seem to be paying closer to $100 (pre-tax) for cell service.

Why complain about people using data when data plans are so profitable? And does it matter if they're not using minutes if they pay for an unlimited plan anyway?

Re:Data and unlimited plans

[JSBiff]

I would point out that the cost of data plans is gradually decreasing. I've avoided any 'smart' phones up until recently, because I refused to pay $80+ per month. But, I just got a plan with T-Mobile that is about $60/mo (it's actually a little less than that, but what the discount giveth, the taxes taketh away, so it comes to almost $60 exactly), gives me 500 voice minutes, unlimited text, unlimited data.

My previous voice plan with Verizon, which I had from about 2003 - 2009 was about $45/mo (40 before taxes), gave me 300 minutes, and no text or data. So, I figured, $15/mo, with an extra 200 minutes, plus text and data, isn't too bad.

Some will say that T-Mo has the worst network of the major carriers. That might be true, I'm not sure. In Ohio, where I live and work, the coverage seems excellent. I don't travel much, but in the little bit of travel I've done in the last 6 months with T-Mo phone service, I had coverage in most places, except for extremely rural areas. In some places, T-Mo gave me free roaming on AT&T's network (West Virginia seems to have absolutely no T-mobile coverage, but the phone used AT&T there).

It's good enough for me, anyhow. YMMV.

Re:Data and unlimited plans

[MrNaz]

As an industry long timer (been running a retail store for about 10 years now) I can tell you that the cost of delivering services to you are no longer tied to how much you use. They could give everyone unlimited minutes, and as long as the 2% of crazies were kept in check*, it would make little appreciable difference to their bottom line.

Use is only restricted for the purpose of tiered billing according to the amount of use each person desires, so that they can offer a set of distinguished products.

Costs are wound up in administrative overhead, engineering and R&D expenses etc. They won't make a loss on a plan at all, ever, because total operating costs are now quite divorced from network usage, and this is only becoming more and more the case.

* The only issue is ensuring that total network traffic remains below total network capacity, and the number of users that cause this to even be an issue is small. Keep them on a leash and capacity issues don't exist.

Not so fast

[UndyingShadow]

From gizmodo.com: However, it appears the service is pretty gimped as you can't call Skype out to regular lines domestically in order to save minutes. Even on AT&T (of all carriers), the fring iPhone app allows Skype-out calling (even though the Skype app still technically does not). When Verizon allows domestic Skype-out, we'll celebrate in full.

One guys twitter...

[rwade]

Is translated to "some are wondering"? Seriously, who is Christopher Soghoian and when did he become a bellweather?

Re:One guys twitter...

[Antony-Kyre]

For a more direct link...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Soghoian

They'll probably be granted access.

[BitterOak]

In the US at least CALEA requires carriers to allow lawful intercepts by law enforcement agencies of its phone networks. Skype has avoided running afoul of this since their Skype-Skype calls are really computer communications and not telephone communications. And Skype-out and Skype-in calls could be tapped at the POTS endpoint. But if Skype-Skype calls can be made on phones rather than computers now, then CALEA would probably apply, and Skype would have to modify their protocols to allow access to law enforcement. IANAL, so perhaps some lawyers could provide some insight here.

Re:They'll probably be granted access.

[Lehk228]

a smart phone is a computer, the skype app is a computer program accessing the internet via a mobile data connection

Re:They'll probably be granted access.

[Sloppy]

But if Skype-Skype calls can be made on phones rather than computers now, then CALEA would probably apply, and Skype would have to modify their protocols to allow access to law enforcement.

Except that Skype would not be the "telecommunications provider" in this context. Verizon (or other ISPs) would. Thus, Verizon is required to have backdoors to allow third parties to intercept ... *drumroll* ... the ciphertext.

Don't be a provider. Be a software author. CALEA doesn't say anything about programmers or software vendors. CALEA is about the people in charge of the wires. CALEA is obsolete if people use modern tech.

OTOH, surely Skype, the company that made a specially-modified government-approved version of their software for use in China, actually would cooperate. And that raises the question: who has audited how Skype does key exchange? Who certifies identities? Skype, that's who.

The story here is VoIP in general. Skype itself is a specific sideline that will hopefully fade into history.

I know how they will react

[goldaryn]

Some are wondering how the DoJ and law enforcement will react to a major upsurge in fully encrypted traffic.

Place a large order for Post-it notes?

Re:NSA

[geekmux]

fully encrypted, hahaha. yeah right.

My thoughts exactly. Nothing gets THAT large without some eyes and ears from our good "friends" in three-letter land...

Not likely to be a problem

[SpooForBrains]

This sounds like it's going to be essentially the same service that 3 mobile have been offering in the UK for a few years now. The Skype calls are handled through a gateway at the carrier. Between the carrier and the handset they function the same as a regular voice call (so they're nice and tappable).

Skype collaboration

[DrYak]

Specially since Skype are rather open about the fact they are ready to collaborate with governments if legally asked to.

Once again : the only *true* privacy/security is complete end-to-end (deniable) encryption where the encryption is under the control of the sender and the decryption under that of the receiver, and everything in between only transits in encrypted form.

Only opensource phones with publicly available and auditable source-code and that use ZRTP do qualify (like currently Twinkle. Probably Ekiga too at some point in future).
Being closed source and thus not auditable, Skype doesn't qualify as *under control of sender/receiver*, unless the data it self is already encrypted at the time it is fed into Skype.

(NOTE:
Off the Record plugin + Skype4pidgin plugin does exactly that on Pidgin/Adium with text messages : if both ends of a conversation have OtR running, the message will be encrypted before it is transmitted to Skype API - even if there's a backdoor inside Skype the only thing it sees would be already encrypted text. OtR works with other networks, given the proper plugin. But currently can't work with sound/video, because Skype only accept raw media that have to be compressed)

Re:How about SIP or IAX calling??

[daemonc]

They sure don't.

I use the awesome Sipdroid app to make and receive all the calls on my Droid over SIP, including to/from landlines.

Also, you can already Skype from the third party app Fring.

The point of this announcement is that Skype is promising to make a fully functional app for Blackberries and Androids, and Verizon is promising not to do anything to block it.

dancing in the streets, more likely

[Eil]

Some are wondering how the DoJ and law enforcement will react to a major upsurge in fully encrypted traffic.

With glee, probably. Since Skype won't talk about how its protocols and software work, it's entirely possible that they have methods of monitoring all calls made on the network. (In fact, one Austrian official admitted that they have no problem intercepting Skype communications.) Even if the full encryption spec is published for cryptographic review and is found to be sturdy, the clients are closed-source, meaning they could simply wait for a specific kind of packet and switch the call into an unencrypted or poorly-encrypted mode for easy wiretapping.

Re:NSA

[Anonymous Coward]

The NSA uses a program called Trireme that analyze data forwarded to them by Raptor boxes. To achieve throughput they essentially map every IP address into it's own FSA. To achieve the memory/speed footprint they need, it all runs on Itanium servers running 32gb ram. Racks of em. That business about a secret room @att in california: True.

Now that Skype is firmly under US jurisdiction since eBay purchased them, tapping calls should be no problem. If you need encryption you MUST do it on your own end-to-end