Mobile VoIP: Truphone Drops Internet Calling Over 3G From Many Apps

by Dan Di Gregorio on January 16, 2010

VoIP over 3g

Karl Good, Truphone’s Director of Applications, has published an interesting post about VoIP calling over 3G saying that in the next future Truphone will drop VoIP over 3G functionality from many applications for the following reasons;

  1. The quality of VoIP calls made trough 3G network lacks if compared to those made over wifi connections
  2. Many operators do not allow this type of phone calls on their networks
Furthermore, Apple do not approve for release into App Store applications supporting this technology.
I’ve used Truphone on my Nokia N95 and I’ve to say that it is the best VoIP mobile i’ve ever tried, so this decision worries me a little.

I quote from his post:

There are two main reasons stopping us from offering VoIP calling over 3G across our range of applications.

The first is that although a small number of networks, such as AT&T in the US, allow VoIP calling over 3G, this capability has not been approved by most operators, and has not been opened up across all handset manufacturers, such as the iPhone. As of today, iPhone applications that offer VoIP calling over 3G would not be approved by Apple for release into the App Store.

The second relates to quality. Although it is technically possible to offer VoIP calling over 3G on devices such as the Android, the relatively low bandwidth of 3G compared to Wi-Fi means that those calls are very often of a poor quality.

I was sure that the resistance applied by the operators  against this technology was destined to end soon, but probably i was wrong.
Fortunately Truphone will continue to offers Internet calls via 3G in all Nokia handset, and this is a little but good news.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Dan Di Gregorio January 16, 2010 at 5:12 pm

This is bad.. bad.. bad.

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