NEW YORK (Reuters) – Vonage Holdings Corp plans to offer discounted international phone calls to iPhone and BlackBerry users, as the Internet telephony company aims to expand beyond the residential market.
Consumers could save more than 50 percent for calls to dozens of countries if they download a free Vonage application to Apple Inc iPhone and Research In Motion BlackBerry devices starting on Monday afternoon, Vonage Chief Executive Marc Lefar said.
“It’s an important first step for us. It moves us from the home platform,” Lefar told Reuters. “Over the long term mobile is absolutely a critical place for Vonage to be competing.”
The service is available on any iPhone, which is available only to AT&T Inc subscribers in the United States, or any BlackBerry regardless of the carrier.
Computer-based Internet telephone services have been around for years, but mobile Web calling has come into the spotlight in recent months as Apple rejected Google Inc’s Web calling service as an application for iPhone.
Lefar said Vonage was careful to follow all the application requirements set out by Apple and Rim.
Vonage users will even be able to make calls from iPhones using AT&T’s cellular network as well as the device’s short-range Wi-Fi links, found in places like coffee shops.
By comparison, usage of the iPhone app for Skype, the Internet telephone unit of eBay Inc, is limited to areas where Wi-Fi is available.
Vonage’s iPhone customers, however, will use up minutes from their AT&T service plan whenever they make a call using the cellular network.
Lefar said consumers will still save a lot on international calls because they will pay Vonage’s lower international rates rather than those of AT&T.
He said there are differences in how the application works on both iPhone and BlackBerry.
IPhone users will have to open the Vonage application every time they want to take advantage of its cheaper rates, while a BlackBerry will automatically revert to the Vonage rates over the wireless provider’s every time an international number is dialed.
Initially, users will have to prepay for Vonage mobile calls and will be charged on a per-minute basis, according to Lefar. He said that Vonage will also offer a flat monthly rate soon.
(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Richard Chang and Leslie Adler)
Must have version 4.2.1 OS? You’re kidding, right?
Google Voice>Vonage.
Why Vonage Mobile is Unnecessary
Recent release of Vonage Mobile® application on the Iphone and Blackberry has caused a lot of excitement among bloggers, Iphone and Blackberry users and the news media. What is little known to everybody is that with the installation of a small hardware on the Vonage World® line, Vonage Mobile® becomes unnecessary. Everybody was waiting for a Vonage World® version that would work on their cell phones. What we got was just a cheaper calling card that works only on an expensive smart phone – the Iphone or the Blackberry. Using an Iphone, we have a choice of operating it on a 3g network, WiFi or regular cellular network. With the Blackberry, we can only use the regular cellular network. When we run it on a 3g network, we incur an additional $20 monthly fee. When we run it on a regular cellular network we pay for expensive air time and long distance charges. When we choose to go with WiFi we have to seek out hotspots, which are not readily available. It is also inconvenient that we must anticipate and prepay for these services. There is no need for any of these if we already have a Vonage World® account. We can extend our Vonage World® account to our cell phones now. Here’s how:
You subscribe to a cellular plan which has either free incoming calls or free calls to and from favorite numbers. You designate your Vonage® number as a favorite number. This gives you free unlimited air time calling to and from that number. Even as heavy cell phone users, you can sign up for the minimum $49 per month plan and slash your monthly bill by half and still make free unlimited air time and long distance calls.
To illustrate how Vonage World® can be accessed manually by any cell phone user using the regular cellular network, let us say you have somebody (your wife) at home where your Vonage World line is installed. You call your Vonage® line (or have your wife call you from the Vonage® line), your wife answers and you tell her to transfer the call to another number which could be domestic (all USA and Canadian numbers are transferable) or international (some countries like India, China, Malaysia are transferable). Your wife will tap the hook switch (flash), put you on hold and get another dial tone. She then dials “#90” (to tell Vonage® it is a transfer call), the country code, city code and the telephone number. Vonage® will automatically transfer the call to connect you directly to the destination number. Vonage® will send your wife a stutter dial tone and a long dial tone to signal her to hang up and free up the Vonage® line. Your son (friend, employee, etc.), using their own cell phone, can repeat the process and be connected to their destination number at the same time you are using the system. Of course it is not practical for your wife to do all these things for you even if you are saving a bundle. What you can do is install a telecommunication switch such as the DialMate CM1003 on your Vonage® line and have it perform all these functions for you. With this combination you can place the cheapest domestic and international calls from your cell phone. As an added bonus, the people you call in those 60 flat-rate-calling-countries can also use your Vonage World® line to call those 60 countries for free and most importantly, using an ordinary cell phone or landline, without a broadband connection.
® Vonage Holdings Corporation Registered Trademark