By We were introduced to a nice little treat upon our return from lunch today: Vonage is coming out with an Android app. Initially, only AT&T and T-Mobile customers will be able to use the VoIP provider’s app, but there’s no word on the two CDMA national carriers in the states (their site just tells us that Vonage isn’t compatible). Michael Tempora, the senior vice president of product management, chimed in to adorn this announcement with his own tidbit:
We are focused on ensuring that our customers can enjoy all the benefits of their Vonage service from any location using any device that can access the Internet. We will continue to expand our offerings in 2010 to include a robust set of voice and messaging services that utilize Wi-Fi and 3G wireless networks.
For those of you scarred by Skype’s exclusivity on Verizon recently this may be your best alternative now (and it isn’t a bad one, to boot). Their site only lists the Nexus One as a compatible device, but I had no problems finding the app in the Android market using my T-Mobile G1. Head over there to see more information about the service and, if you’re a Vonage user, be sure to let us know how it fairs against other popular VoIP solutions such as Skype.
Side note….THIS is the reason for the Nexus One. I went to the Vonage site and there they have the N1 on the page to represent Android. Thats what Google needed…an icon for Android thats not really tied to any of the manufacturers or carriers. It made it hard for them and other third parties to show a picture to represent Android without also endorsing a particular carrier and manufacturer.
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On topic…maybe its me but I seem to never be in a situation where Vonage can come out cheaper than my phone service. Now that my cell IS my phone I don’t see how this works out if I’m still going to have to pay for a minimal voice plan. I guess I’m saying if I have this I don’t want to pay the carrier for voice at all.
@Phil
There are two combination that help you get unlimited voice calls in the USA.
1) Google Voice+Sipgate+Sipsorcery(or)GVdialer+SipDroid
2) Google Voice+Gizmo+GVdialer+Sipdroid
Good website to check this out
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Ae8glDUXDsh9ZGR2eG43cjRfMzNkOTM4ZjNjeA&hl=en&pli=1
If anyone is interested in Google Voice and don’t have an account, I have a couple of invites. Please email me at [email protected]
so this is separate from the Vonage residential service? It doesn’t look like there is a way to log in using my existing, normal Vonage account.
Trying this out, works pretty good, one force close on my nexus one.
Voice quality was ok.
Snuck it onto my Telus Milestone despite the restrictions just to try it out. Using Fido. It allowed me to register and verify my phone number but I can’t add funds with a US address. Tried making a US call using its “intercept over wifi” setting. It warned me the call would use my plan minutes, and then made a call to a New York gateway area code 646. Pressed end a dozen times to avoid that long distance call being made!
So in conclusion… it’s another damn fake VoIP app. No actual voice over Internet is happening here from the handset, folks. Move along…
That is extremely annoying. This will only be workable as soon as Wimax/lte is nationwide. Then we can start utilizing VoIP protocols over wireless networks.
Also for people. I have already sent out the two google voice invites I had so can’t take any more requests.
Tried it for free domestic calls over wifi (I have pretty good Internet). Worked great, but like many other VOIP solutions that I’ve tried, it sometimes suffers from a noticeable latency. Using two of my phones, I called the second one by using Vonage to place a call from the first one. I placed the first phone by my TV and listened to the difference in timing between the actual TV sounds and the same, but delayed TV sounds coming through my second phone. Delays were quite noticeable, but still less than a second (probably more than 0.5 seconds though). I compared the latency to the latency I hear with Google Voice. Google Voice actually seems to have more latency than Vonage.
Google Voice is a virtual phone number pretty much. It doesn’t provide it’s own VoIP but allows you to have one phone number that can call many different phone numbers. You can also classify incoming phonecalls or block phone numbers etc. It is pretty sweet. However you have to use it with other services. Such as Gizmo5 (if you are lucky enough and got one before they froze the signup process) or another provider is Sipgate that gives you one free DID. If you use it in conjunction with another service such as GVdialer (on your droid) or sipsorcery, you can set it up so that your use your google voice as your main dialer. Like if you log into your google voice online and use the call function. That way as Sipgate in my case will only get incoming phonecalls that are free as I use google voice for all the calling.
Once Google Voice and Gizmo5 is integrated all the way, we will have a fully fledged VoIP service that will either cost a bare minimum or even be free. I’m watching this progress closely. It will be a great alternative when Wimax and LTE is cover most of the USA. Or at least in the big cities.
Why would I want this rather than using a VOIP provider like voip.ms, for example, and sipdroid? I can make wifi *and* 3G calls on my Hero and the rates are very good. FWIW, I’m on Fido in Canada.
sucks… doesn’t work over 3G :(
Maybe it’s just me, but for $25/month for service that most carriers would only allow you to use over wifi when you can put that to getting unlimited calling, and have one service to deal with sounds a bit tedious. Personally not a big fan of Vonage, but I would rather just deal with one carrier especially for the price Vonage will charge you.
I just have to say avoid vonage! I have their home phone “service” and have nothing good to say about it. It’s unreliable, they have HORRIBLE customer service, and they were simply bold faced liars about their “no contract” service. There’s no contract until you try to cancel, then you are told of all the cancellation fees hidden in their terms of service. I promised their customer service representative I would tell everyone I can about my experience with them so here I am. AVOID VONAGE!!!
Nice when it works but force close too many times when using wifi…
I could care less about video calling. All I want is voip calling independent of carrier. Voyage clearly doesn’t care about their current client base. Thanks for the tips on other voip apps