VoIP cozies up to cell phones
Published: June 23, 2005, 2:08 PM PDT
By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Jayson Jepson pays 29 cents a minute to call London on his cell
phone. Wouldn't it be great, the founder of Mint Telecom asks
rhetorically, if it were more like 2 cents a minute?
Now it is, courtesy of Mint and a growing corporate coterie selling
cell phone versions of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software,
which is used to transform Internet connections into inexpensive
home or office phone lines.
Mint began offering a $7-a-month cell phone service two weeks ago.
Skype, Vonage, IP Drum and other operators using VoIP software have
caused tectonic shifts in the traditional phone-service industry.
Now these same interests are dialing into cell phones, primarily
because a growing number have high-speed Internet connections
rivaling the performance of broadband operators, whether it's over a
third-generation cell phone network or based on Wi-Fi wireless
connectivity.
A speedy connection is very important to VoIP, in which calls travel
on the Internet just like e-mails and instant messages. Because VoIP
is intended for voice communication, it is relatively unforgiving of
Internet connections afflicted by sluggishness or clipped or dropped
signals.
Consumers, of course, must weigh the cost of VoIP cell phone access
against the savings they might derive from standard VoIP. Cell phone
subscribers, after all, already pay a monthly fee for cell phone
service. So why would they pay a company like Mint $7 a month extra,
plus a per-minute fee, to make a call on the same phone?
Previous Next Jepson argues that the savings for customers
using VoIP services are significant enough to make it worthwhile to
buy cell phone access over VoIP. "You could ask the same question
for VoIP in general," he wrote in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "It's
$24.95 for an unlimited calling plus $20 to $40 a month for
broadband just to save a few cents?"
Most cell phone VoIP software comes from start-ups such as IP Drum,
which is based in Norway. It's a product that enables cell phones to
use Skype, arguably the world's most popular Internet telephony
provider.
But VoIP giants Skype and Edison, N.J.-based Vonage say they also
have ambitions to develop software for cell phone access.
"It's an area we're committed to," said Skype spokeswoman Kelly
Larabee.
On Monday, Santa Barbara, Calif.-based CallWave will reveal a new
wrinkle in its lineup of VoIP-related cell phone services, including
a unique call screening feature. |
