VoIP for IPhone

Source: MyVoIPProvider.com - Author: Audrey, September 16, 2008

The 3G iPhone has people scratching and biting to download the latest applications designed specifically for the elite few who were fortunate enough to get their hands on the phone. Those who are savvy enough know that if a traditional mobile phone call drops then the same call can be attempted via VoIP on an internet signal. Apple has opened the floodgates and asked developers everywhere to help develop new applications for the phone and developers are paying special attention to VoIP applications.

More than 60 million new iPhone applications were downloaded in 30 days and I bet a great deal of those downloads included applications that enable VoIP phone calls. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable while we review a few VoIP applications for iPhone.

Let’s start with iCall, not only does their name conjure up thoughts of making cheap calls on an iPhone, iCall functionality enables incoming and outgoing calls via a WiFi connection. Their super-cool feature is that the program will switch calls to a VoIP connection when a WiFi connection is detected. Can you imagine what AT&T must be thinking…”Hey! Wait a minute!” The marriage of AT&T and Apple could have AT&T thinking that Apple is cheating on them by allowing VoIP phone calls which means AT&T can’t charge their usual rates unless of course they have figured out a way to only allow calls over AT&T cable signals (trust me, they can’t do this).

Then there is Truphone, providers of quality service for the iPhone with great design and functionality the special feature offered by Truphone is the strong integration with iPhone’s GUI (Graphical User Interface). Truphone lets you see and search stored contacts and access easy to understand account information right on the phone. One must however ask, how do VoIP Truphone calls sound? Apparently, Truphone passed tests with flying colors and calls were made and received without delay. Truphone allows users to call one another freely and naturally there are no roaming charges either. The download of the program is free from the iTunes App Store and after setup there is an introductory free credit so you can test it out for yourself.

PhoneGnome service inclues many easy features but what we like most on the iPhone is that PhoneGnome boasts the convenient visual voicemail feature and 1-click calling.

Talkety is a web based application whereby users can simply log into the Talkety website type in their telephone number and the telephone number of the person you would like to call and Talkety will connect you both via the internet like your own personal secretary. Talkety also claims to save international users 85 – 90%. They also offer voice conferencing with up to 50 participants but that requires a Talkety pro account. Another cool feature of Talkety is the ability to sync your contacts with the Mac OSX Address book.

Jajah is known for being a supporter of the iPhone and is similar to Talkety in that calls are connected over the internet, just enter Grandma’s number and your local telephone number and Jajah will connect you to Grandma.

Thankfully, opening up application development and the increase of competition means big phone companies like AT&T have to open up and accept that VoIP phone calls are here to stay even on an iPhone.

Facebook Gets New VoIP App

A new Facebook application called Phone-Me-Now allows Facebook members to place free calls from their friends' Facebook profile pages, without revealing either party's caller ID.

The company, Ifbyphone, was offering the first 1,000 accounts 100 free minutes per month to regular U.S. phone numbers, though we doubt there are any of those left.

Standard Ifbyphone subscriptions start at $14.95 per month.
After registering for a free Phone-Me-Now account in your Facebook profile, your Facebook friends can contact you from the friend's area of their Profile. You select the person you want to contact, provide your own number and Ifbyphone rings both telephones, blocks the caller IDs and conferences the two callers together.

This means you can have personal conversations with other members while still keeping your own number (and theirs) private.

"Even In this age of online social networking, there are times when only a real-time personal phone call can convey the right message between two people," said Irv Shapiro, Ifbyphone CEO. "Phone-Me-Now makes it easy to connect privately with a friend by phone, without automatically divulging personal contact details the way caller ID does, and without leaving Facebook to make the call."

The Phone-Me-Now application widget is basically a phone mashup other Ifbyphone mashups allow inbound, outbound and click-to-call telephone applications with integrated interactive voice response dialogs.

Phone-Me-Now is an extension of Ifbyphone's "voice of the Web" services which are designed for medium-sized businesses and enterprise-level Web presence deployment.

The widget is available under Applications at Facebook.com by searching under "Phone-Me-Now". Here is the link http://apps.facebook.com/phonemenow/.

VoIPNews.com.au