Let's get the facts straight about Voice over 3G here in the USA as I'm growing tired of the story being about AT&T and Apple when for the past few years Voice over 3G on Nokia N and E series devices worked.
I've been using my agency's client, Truphone from time to time that way without a problem on my Nokia N95 and E71s. It works. It makes calls, and when I'm not driving around it works. Other Mobile VoIP clients worked as well, but none as well as Truphone. Gizmo had a similar client that took advantage of the SIP stack and the VoIP client inside the Nokias also. And guess what, if you had a 3G service plan on your Nokia device you could make calls too.
All this "hype" and "hoopla" about the iPhone and AT&T is just that. Hype. It's spin control at its finest. Make something news and the world gushes over it. But at the end of the day, those of us who had unlocked Nokia handsets have been doing this for sometime and yes, AT&T was well aware of it, otherwise why did devices like the E62 and now the E71x come out neutered minus the key technology to make calls over 3G. Simple, because AT&T knew all too well what was coming down the pike and they needed to buy time to get their network up to snuff. It still isn't but it's getting closer.
The decision by Apple came from somewhere else, not Cupertino. For if they didn't want 3G VoIP calling on the iPhone, they wouldn't have had any software in the phones that when they were jailbroken that services that were offering VoIP over WiFi could run on them. So let's not spin a spinner.
So much for understanding that Open is in the hands of the beholder. You want open. Buy what is, not what will one day be.
Actually, Andy, if you read AT&T press release, they acknowledge this:
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=27207
"For some time, AT&T has offered a variety of other wireless devices that enable VoIP applications on 3G, 2G and Wi-Fi networks."
Posted by: PhoneBoy | October 08, 2009 at 10:25 AM