3G Skype coming soon to the iPhone

Jacqueline DiOrio 3 Feb, 2010 at 9:49pm ET Article published in Tech

VoIP luminary Skype announced today that it will soon be bringing 3G support to the Skype application for the iPhone. The new feature was made possible by iPhone SDK 3.2, released to coincide with the introduction of the iPad.

Skype also asserted that the firm has lagged behind other VoIP apps with respect to 3G support in order to assure that audio quality was as superb as it could possibly be. The new 3G Skype app, Skype says, will make calls in wideband audio, making for extremely clear calls.

There’s no concrete word as to when the 3G-enabled edition will be released, but we will update you when Skype releases more information.

Comments

4 Feb 2010 ~ 1:50pm Cliff_Forster Okay, forgive me for having a dummy moment in advance but...

Okay, I see where you would obviously like to be able to do VOIP over wi-fi to save some minutes while sitting around your house or favorite coffee shop, but how does VOIP over AT&T's 3G network offer the consumer anything worthwhile?
4 Feb 2010 ~ 1:55pm AlexDeGruven Skype To Skype between two Skype users without using minutes. Free phone calls ftw.
4 Feb 2010 ~ 2:08pm BobbyDigi I think I'm with Cliff,

Wouldn't the calls then eat up your Data usage? You are paying ~$30 for the data, that's not Free. If the data plans are unlimited then I understand, but I thought there were caps on ATT "Unlimited" plans.

-Bobby
4 Feb 2010 ~ 2:37pm AlexDeGruven

Bobby1211 wrote:

I think I'm with Cliff,

Wouldn't the calls then eat up your Data usage? You are paying ~$30 for the data, that's not Free. If the data plans are unlimited then I understand, but I thought there were caps on ATT "Unlimited" plans.

-Bobby

If you have an unlimited plan, data is still less expensive than minutes. And unless you're using it almost exclusively for your calls, then it would be pretty unlikely that you'd hit any of the soft limits that the providers have in place.
4 Feb 2010 ~ 7:59pm chrisWhite Yeah, it's the same type of deal we've seen with the billion and two free SMS apps, eat into the unlimited data instead of your minutes, makes sense if, unlike me, you eat threw your minutes quickly. Personally, I have the minimum number of minutes and last time I checked I had two or three months worth in rollover, I don't talk on the phone much.
7 Feb 2010 ~ 10:43pm RyanFodder Call quality alone would make it worthwhile to me. I currently would rather talk on Skype than my phone because of the sound quality.