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Skype App Updated, Allows 3G Calling On the iPhone

Posted by kdawson on from the free-for-now dept.

silverpig sends this excerpt from the Wifitalk.ca blog: "Skype has just announced that an updated version of its iPhone app has been released to the App Store and now allows calling over 3G. While this functionality has been available on the iPhone since a January update to the SDK, and while other apps such as Fring have enabled 3G VOIP calling through their apps, Skype has been noticeably absent from the VOIP-over-3G landscape. Until today." A reader adds: "Included in the app update are some UI tweaks and a call quality indicator to help you predict what your VOIP-over-3G call quality will be like. Most interesting in the announcement is the suggestion that while Skype-to-Skype over 3G will be free for 2010, Skype is investigating pricing options and may charge for it in 2011. This could lead to smartphones being sold with data only + Skype plans."

13 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I don't get it.. by gad_zuki! · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Right, in the sane world there would be no difference. I was doing Skype over 3G EVDO like 3 or 4 years ago, but then again my Treo wasn't controlled by Apple and the network it ran over was Sprint.

    In the AT&T/Apple world, you the consumer don't make choices. You don't run software willy-nilly. They allow you to run software, and if that software is seen as taking away profits from either entity then it won't get approved. Or in this case gets approved after 2 years of complaints, threatened lawsuits, and the FTC breathing down AT&Ts neck.

  2. I predict... by dargaud · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I predict that in the near future all 3G subscriptions will be data only, paying by Gb. Voice will be data like any other. As soon as one provider starts pricing like this, all the others will be forced to follow suite.

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    1. Re:I predict... by sssssss27 · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's actually one of the requirements for 4G, "An all IP, packet switched network." Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G

    2. Re:I predict... by NevDull · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Personally, I think Google is waiting for Skype to fight the data vs. telephone case and then follow the "open" path Skype has created to swoop in with Google Voice end-to-end VoIP apps and scale out like sand in a sandstorm.

    3. Re:I predict... by MBCook · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That doesn't mean the carriers have to expose that to us meager peons, or price services in a way that reflects that fact.

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  3. Er, not to intrude on the soapbox by Wrexs0ul · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...but there's a half-dozen carrier-neutral SIP/IAX2 apps on iTunes, and even more free apps purpose-built by companies offering VoIP over wifi/3G. I use one to connect to an Asterisk server and get great integration with my office PBX that is effectively a high-quality wifi phone.

    The announcement here was that Skype feels it solved problems inherent with changing latency of 3G to the point you can walk around and have a decent phone call. That's huge if it works because service quality where I am can change block-by-block. I'm sure they'll have an Android version of this too in no-time if that's the case.

    Apple is "Evil to the core(tm)". By choosing their products and harsh requirements for software reliability I'm forcing vendors to jump through hoops to sell me something. Maybe that's the trade-off for a device that just works.

    -Matt

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    1. Re:Er, not to intrude on the soapbox by Weezul · · Score: 4, Informative

      All that shit "just works" on my N900, including Skype. Imho, the only mobile platform that doesn't "just work" is Window Mobile.

      --
      The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
    2. Re:Er, not to intrude on the soapbox by Luckyo · · Score: 3, Informative

      Skype has been working over any data connection on nokia phones for years, both via 3rd party applications as well as native one.

      Heck, the main complaint is that native skype app on nokia won't give you video calling at the moment, unlike the 3rd party apps that do.

  4. Emergencies by LBArrettAnderson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Are they finally going to allow emergency calling (and locating) for skype?

  5. That's nice by Majix · · Score: 5, Informative

    Gee, thanks for "allowing" this, you're all too kind. Of course the Nokia N900 has had Skype over WiFi and 3G since last fall, and with the latest update does Skype-to-Skype video calls as wells (over whatever TCP/IP connection you have of course, including 3G)! But I'm sure it will be a great innovation and a lot of fuss about it when the iPhone 4G or whatever invents video calls later on.

  6. Re:even slower? by HeronBlademaster · · Score: 3, Informative

    iPhone OS 4 will support keeping Skype and other similar programs running in the background (essentially), if you hadn't heard.

  7. Just use the iPad plan by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Interesting

    1) Buy an iPad

    2) Use a MicroSim adaptor to use the iPad data only connection in your favorite mobile device.

    3) This step intentionally left blank.

    Although I can't find any reports of someone ACTUALLY doing this (just lots of reports of people using an iPhone SIM in the iPad3G) it seems like it should work.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  8. Skype 3G VOIP "Just Worked" on WM Since 2007 by meehawl · · Score: 3, Informative

    the only mobile platform that doesn't "just work" is Window Mobile.

    Skype Mobile on WM has done 3G VOIP since 2007 on my Sprint network. It pretty much Just Worked. Bonus: have been enjoying occasional Video VOIP calls since then with Microsoft Portrait. That Just Works as well.

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