Comments on: AT&T should embrace iPhone VoIP over 3G

Don Reisinger thinks AT&T should embrace VoIP on the iPhone. Does his argument hold up?

[tekwiz4u]

Although I like your thinking as to promote VoIP for the iPhone, I wont be surprised when AT&T start charging overages for DATA, therefore imposing a DATA cap. Data packets run high all the time, more than voice. So the overages will be there, and AT&T will use that to pad their pockets eventually. And if it does happen, it will resemble what Time Warner is testing out with their customers about imposing caps and charging overages for data. They will need to get that money back somehow, so its a plan in the making.

[Penguinisto]

Err, if you're using a local non-AT&T Wifi hotspot, you're not using up your data charges. Caps be damned, the tap is always wide open at the coffeeshop.

[aztec92154]

- IF ATT allowed VoIP, they would gain A LOT of customers.
- It would makes sense to allow VoIP on "unlimited plans"
- It would makes sense to allow VoIP for customers who are in areas that don't have good cell phone coverage.
- It may actually cause users to spend MORE time on the phone, which would set an expectation. These users wouldn't want to switch to outer carriers because the perceived value would be less, since they would have to pay for "all" the minutes.
There are SOOOO many reasons to allow VoIP! Great article Don!

[purcell429]

Umm.... what? How does this make sense for ATT? Don't get me wrong, I'd love a VOIP app that didn't need wifi... but comeon! Besides the fact that ATT has to recoup the $300 they pay apple everytime someone buys an Iphone, they still need to make money. And no one would buy the ATT VOIP app if its more expensive than other offerings.

And yeah, the market has reached saturation, and ATT needs to steal customers. And they have. Hence the point of the iPhone's exclusivity agreement. How many extra people will be magically enticed to switch just because of VOIP? A few thousand VOIP geeks probably.

[aztec92154]

VoIP over WiFi/Lan:
- ATT spends less money because these calls dont clog up their network
- ATT instantly increases its coverage area to every broadband enabled household in the world

VoIP over 3G:
- Gain additional customers
- If you have unlimited minutes or data, it wouldn't matter if you use 3G DATA or Voice
- It doesn't "COST THEM" any more to allow this, you're already paying for 3G data.
- People will actually use MORE minutes because they will be used to talking so much using free VoIP, these supplemental VoIP minutes will add value to the customer and will be away to keep them on this carrier.
- The whole "well they would loose money on people not using their regular pay per minute plans" wont work forever - these "minute plans" WONT exist in the future.

Eventually, unlimited internet is going to be available everywhere. Right now they have the opportunity to grab as many consumers as they can with this feature. In the future, the Internet will be everywhere and this whole "minutes" thing will be a thing of the past. Thats right, "minute plans" will go away just like America Onlines "hourly" Internet is something high schoolers don't even know existed. How ridiculous would it be for you to pay "by-the-hour" for Internet access in this day in age? How about by-the-minute "toll-rates" for calling between different cities with a cell phone? A call from California to New York is a regular minute with most cell phone plans. VoIP over 3G and WiFi is totally doable if someone in top-level management can make it happen.

[robertlopez1]

I'm sorry, I usually don't comment , but pardon me if I sound harsh. Where is the logic in your argument. You are trying to convince ATT to overload their 3G network VOIP calls. They just rolled it out and coverage is spotty even in theNYC area. Anyone with an Iphone knows. 3G kills the battery pretty quickly.
IF ATT wanted to attract more customers, they would release a VOIP app that works over WIFI. They would be able to expand coverage for their network over WIFI networks. ATT would not have to add more cell towers. Inside buildings where cell signals don't reach you would still be able to be in voice communication without worry about missing a call. That is something that the enterprise customer loves and will pay for. Redundancy. If ATT wants to attract more customers they could give away the app and not charge for call made over WIFI. The worst feeling is having a nice new IPhone and ZERO bars.

[keithpr]

I support Don's argument. I would guess that the cumulative time spent accessing wifi spots is spent at a combination of the home and office -- places where mobile calls are less frequent anyway because of the landlines that exist in those spots.

A voip app on the iPhone would then have such a mrginal impact on revenue that could be offset by an app priced under five dollars.

I'd buy it.

[bigmc6000]

I would actually prefer them to NOT get into the VOIP over cell service deal because, in the end, they are going to up the price of the unlimited data plans to compensate. Right now I already have the minimum plan anyway and the only thing I'd really want is Wi-Fi VOIP. If AT&T does it they are going to charge a monthly fee where as the way the App Store is set up you should be able to just buy the App once and use it, basically, forever.

[i_am_still_wade]

Not going to happen. AT&T is a telco dinosaur. AT&T has landline phone services and to such companies VoIP is the enemy.

[robertlopez1]

Landlines are a thing of the past. They become more irrelevant t with each passing day. Everyone at work has a landline, but they also have blackberrys. I guess the majority of people are shackled to their cubile, but I'm not. I know many people who could benefit from VOIP over WIFI. I had a cell phone nearly for 10 years, I have only had a my first landline for the last 2 years. The only reason i have one is that it came with the cable package. No one calls me on it, they call my cell phone if they want to reach me. Tmobile is charging $10 a month for the same thing. It's not just the app, they also need to take call that originated on WIFI and route them to their cellular network. That takes money and equipment.

[monastrell]

If you thought that iPhone performance for Telephony was already poor, just wait and see how miserable VoIP will be. The overall availability and throughput of the Packet data side of AT&T's 3G (HSPA) network is sufficiently unreliable that your VoIP service will be intermittent and probably not "good enough" to replace the traditional voice technology that runs behind their "pay by the minute" voice services. Cheaper, maybe, better, no hope at all. Add to that the seemingly less than stellar iPhone radio performance, and....

Good luck with that.

[wlau]

Spectrum allocation is extremely costly. It absolutely doesn't make sense to waste 3G spectrum on VoIP when there is a dedicated voice network. VoIP apps generally do not use extremely optimized vocoder, which could lead to waste of bandwidth. You keep thinking about saving money by using VoIP, but if you are a data user for email and browser, would you want others to eat up a big chunk of the bandwidth and impact your data performance? Conventional broadband network can't even guarantee QoS for VoIP, imaging how difficult it would be for a high-latency bursty based network. Bad bad idea. No VoIP on 3G data network!

[icallarlo]

When did Apple say "no VoIP over 3g" ?

They have said "no VoIP over Edge".. nobody has ever said anything about 3g.

I'm about ready to rock the iPhone world with the iCall iPhone product.

[sciamannikoo]

Ok, great! You have this issue with ATT, but:

1. There is only ATT in USA? Why other providers must be penalized because of stupid agreements with ONE single provider?
2. Why other countries that barely knows or doesn't know at all about ATT's existence, must be penalized because of that? If I use a WinMo device, I can makes VoIP calls over 3G with T-Mobile. With my iPhone, I can't, because Apple's agreement with an american company compeltely unrelated with my country.

The outcome is that many users jailbreak their phone: I still waiting, as I can survive without 3G VoIP calls, however, It's unbelievable that US must always rules the rest of the world.