Thursday, October 8, 2009

AT&T Opens the VoIP Door to iPhone

AT&T gave in to the inevitable and will allow the iPhone to make VoIP calls. They needed to look long and hard at an App that allows iPhone callers to bypass the AT&T network for long distance calls beyond the US, but if they didn't, something else would. Sure, AT&T might lose some revenue on LD, but they will probably make it back with additional usage at the other end.

This is one case where AT&T saw the writing on the wall, and we're glad they did. However, this is an iPhone-only function, and I'm sure they'll drag their feet on making it available to other users. This also means products like Skype go mobile.

But it's only one alternative for free or very cheap international long distance calls for wireless customers. It's already available to those of us who just add a prepaid LD card to our cellular phone book, or just use TracFone's free international access. Can you believe some wireless carriers charge .65 per minute for calls to Mexico? How long can that last?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

VoIP is not an iPhone only function. It's available on all smartphone platforms, including Windows Mobile, Palm OS, BlackBerry OS, Android, and WebOS.