Full FeedAT&T allows VoIP on the iPhone, still no Google Voice allowed
AT&T has finally announced that it will now allow Voice over IP on the 3G network for all of its phones. Essentially, this means VoIP apps, like the recent Vonage app, can be used on the iPhone and not just over W-Fi. Now you can finally use Skype over the 3G network (when the update is released) and hopefully have fewer dropped calls than when you call people normally.
What this won’t fix, however, is Google Voice on the iPhone. Verizon today announced it will be supporting Google Voice, apps for the service are available on the Android Marketplace and can be used on T-Mobile (and presumably Spring with the upcoming Hero), and Palm Pre has multiple unofficial Google Voice apps. This leaves AT&T as the only carrier that doesn’t seem to support the service. To be fair, Google Voice doesn’t require the iPhone app, but it is helpful. Also, AT&T stated it had nothing to do with blocking the Google Voice iPhone app. That whole issue is itself very confusing, with each company claiming something different, but it still stands that Google Voice isn’t VoIP, and most likely won’t be affected by this.
Allowing VoIP for every smartphone on the network is a good move by AT&T. Verizon Wireless looks to be taking every shot it can at the company, so AT&T needs some good publicity at the moment. It would be better if the network wasn’t so overloaded with iPhones, and the company worked on the infrastructure, but at least that gives more people a reason to skip the iPhone for an Android or WebOS device, or even the newly released Windows Phone.
Read [TechCrunch]
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Google Voice isn’t VoIP?? Then what is it? It’s certainly not traditional phone service, it doesn’t run over a dedicated copper wire, instead it runs over the Internet. It carries voice Packets over the Internet. Which would, umm, make it Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP.
Get your facts straight.
on October 7, 2009 at 10:11 AM - LINKMatt, I’m sorry, but Google Voice isn’t VoIP. It uses the carriers’ voice networks for phone calls. Google Voice is really just a call forwarding system run by Google. The fact that it is run by Google does make it very confusing as to what it actually is.
on October 7, 2009 at 10:50 AM - LINKYou do have a point as it seems the overarching conclusion is that Google Voice is more a set of services than a traditional VoIP phone service. My analysis of your article was overly harsh and I apologize for that. I shall research more carefully in the future. :)
You must admit though, that for all intents and purposes as far as AT&T and Apple are concerned, the Google Voice app acts basically as a VoIP service, connecting the iPhone via a data connection to the Google Voice servers, and consequently into the phone networks with which Google has connections. So, how then can it be classified from the iPhone’s standpoint as anything *but* VoIP? Seems like the recent decisions (mostly from Apple) are directly anti-competitive…
Keep up the great articles! I read Gadgetell every day.
on October 7, 2009 at 11:17 AM - LINK