Its been anounced (so i can now talk about it ) that mobile providers will soon be able to offer free unlimited calls on your mobile via an internet protocol. I've tried it and it works very well, you can't tell between a 2G/3G call and a internet mobile call at all!

You will probably end up paying a bit more for your monthly contact but for unlimited calls to anywhere in the world...... its worth it! Due to be rolled out in late 2006 - early 2007.

Oh and you should see some of the next generation phones coming out..... wow!

 

Cool sounds good shame its not coming out sooner as i need a new contract

 

VOIP has been around for ages, loads of systems to allow it, but they only ever tend to be free from mobile to landlines, and never TO a mobile.

The reason is that the networks charge anyone who connects through them to a mobile phone, so therefore its not possible for anyone to offer a free service to them when they are getting charged in return.

 

DanS take it your on about 3 offering skype, via a mobile? read about it in the FT today, now awaiting skype ME to be released.

what mobile industry do you work in then, got a release date for the Nokia N80

 

Yes Fil thats the one. Its been worked on for ages but its all been very hush hush. Needless to say 3 wont be the only company offering the service

I work for Radio Engineering so i'm not that clued up on release dates for phones, but we get to test the odd one or two

Chip - Its actuly got alot to do with the handset technology and the type of system used to transfer data. Trying not to get to techy but basicly a system will be released shortly that will alow mobile phone providers to offer this service via their own networks which hasn't been available before.

 

for those who can be arsed to read,

Skype, the fastest growing Internet Communications Company and Hutchison 3 Group, the leader in 3G mobile services, today announced an agreement to enable Skype communications on 3G.

Working together, Hutchison 3 Group and Skype plan to give people the freedom to enjoy Skype anywhere they go, whether at home, in the office or on the move while on Hutchison's 3 networks. Hutchison views Skype as an attractive value added service, providing customers with more choice and thus further accelerating the uptake of the Hutchison's 3G services.

The Skype and Hutchison 3 brands compliment each other, representing innovation and high value offerings to consumers. This partnership will enable Hutchison to directly tap into the 75 million people using Skype across the Hutchison territories and promote to them the benefits of using Skype on Hutchison's networks.

"With Skype on mobile devices, people can keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues wherever they go. This takes Skype beyond the PC into the mobile world," said Niklas Zennstrom, Skype CEO and co-founder. "I believe this will accelerate the adoption and use of Skype to new levels."

Pioneering 3G mobile operator Hutchison 3 Group is expected to be the first to market the Skype-enabled mobile devices. Hutchison is running friendly user trials to optimize the user experience and plans to launch later this year, following its trials, in countries including Austria, Australia, Hong Kong, Sweden, the UK and Italy. Trials will be carried out using enabled mobile phones from leading phone manufacturers.

3 Sweden is already offering a Skype bundle with a 3G flat-rate subscription and 3G data card. With a mobile flat-rate data plan from Hutchison 3, users can make unlimited Skype calls.

"Skype on 3G smartphones, datacards and other devices is a service that our customers will be thrilled to use. With Skype they can talk for as long as they want with their friends around the world. It will be a great addition to our existing wide range of multi-media mobile broadband services. We believe Skype is yet another reason for people to choose 3 - customers demand a choice of innovative services and we are delighted to be working with Skype to deliver that, said Christian Salbaing, MD Europe Telecommunications at Hutchison 3. "We look forward to offering it to our subscribers in our key markets starting with Sweden and then in our other markets as soon as user trials are concluded."

Skype for mobile devices offers a number of key features and benefits:

-- Skype-to-Skype and SkypeOut calls

-- Instant Messaging and group chat

-- Presence, including online, offline, away, call forwarding

-- Voicemail

-- Easy contact search

-- Contact request authorization and new contact addition

 

more people talking shite for longer on the phone

 

exactly

 

Skype (which is basically just a particular branded bit of VOIP technology) is fairly interesting stuff in terms of some of the extra features you mention like easy conferencing, but its not going to lead to FREE calls like you seem to believe.

Basically I expect eventually when its up and running you will just have a bundled amount of VOIP traffic as part of your tariff like you do at the moment with inclusive minutes anyway, they are not going to rape their own business up the arse by allowing you unlimited calls free as where would they earn their money from after that?

Just like at the moment it costs the networks nothing to send text messages basically but they still charge for them anyway and put limits on bundles cause if they didnt it would be the loss of a complete revenue stream.


What VOIP in general is the tits for though is international calls cheaply

 

As i said Chip, you will pay extra for the service through your monthly bill and i doubt it will be available on pay as you go but who knows. OH and it only works via the 3G network so unless both handsets are in 3G coverage you will be downgraded back to the 2G/GSM network.

Not entierly true, capacity is king in mobile telecommunications, if you have it you can sell the time/space. It cost us Ł11million to maintain enough space on our nextwork to run the sms service alone in 2005.

 

thats about all i ever use it for, and when abroard phoning the uk for free on my ipaq and the many unsecure networks

 

Makes the title of this thread a bit misleading then

 

GPRS-data-usage charge, if it's going over 3G?

 

I doubt eBay would have paid the amount it has for Skype for it to become a free service!

 

Its as free as all the "free txts & free calls" deals you get at the moment. It removes the basic price per minute charging thats currently used.

Nope this uses a different protocall, you need to be within coverage of a 3G mast as it uses the RF signal to send the data too and from your phone & the cellsite but the actul network it uses ie from cellsite to server to cellsite is different to the 3G network (this is where skype comes in).