You remember Vonage right? The trailblazing VoiP company is still around and appears at first glance to have instigated a bit of coup in the battle for VoiP calls over AT&T connections. Unfortunately they haven't, at least not yet. See, the free Vonage Mobile app just added to the iTunes App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch has been approved for making international calls over AT&T's cellular network (take
that Skype) in addition to WiFi. Unfortunately, we're not talking about SIP calls over EDGE/HSDPA data. Like the
rejected Google Voice app, if you're out of WiFi range but still have voice service then Vonage Mobile will redirect your international call (entered directly into the App or selected from your address book) to a local access number in the US -- you're then using your AT&T minutes while being charged Vonage Mobile's discounted worldwide calling rates. The app is strictly pay-as-you-go for the moment and will not give free global calling to those who subscribe to Vonage's $25 per month Vonage World plan -- Vonage says that will come before the end of the year. The Vonage Mobile app for BlackBerry only works over your carrier's voice network while the iPod touch app only works over WiFi, naturally. Also, BlackBerry users will revert to Vonage's lower rates anytime they make an international call whereas iPhone users must launch the Vonage application first.
[Thanks,
Ricky B.]
posted Oct 5th 2009 6:33AM
I was hoping for functionality similar to Vonagent. No such luck. I haven't seen that app since v1 software. (It was a jailbreak app.)
Has anyone seen something like Vonagent, which would let me change Vonage account settings and listen to Vonage voicemails in the app?
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