Showdown: Carriers threaten to ban Skype from cellular networks

[The Straight Story]

Showdown: Carriers threaten to ban Skype from cellular networks

Chicago (IL) - The recent release of Skype for iPhone proved that yes, users are interested in replacing their costly carrier voice minutes with free (or much cheaper) VoIP calls -- downloading the Skype application over one million times in just two days. The problem is, some carriers won't allow it. Is Skype strong enough to battle these carriers and reduce them down to dumb infrastructure providers, overtaking their services business?

Deutsche Telekom has threatened to block Skype on its European cellular networks. Here in the United States, the agreement between Apple and AT&T already restricts iPhone VoIP programs to Wi-Fi networks, though Verizon and T-Mobile allow competing VoIP services like Skype to run on their cellular networks.

Skype for iPhone appeared on the App Store this past Tuesday. It surpassed the one million download mark in less than two days. Clearly, users see the value of Skype as an alternative to carrier minutes. "In less than two days, Skype for iPhone has been downloaded more than one million times -- around six downloads every second," the company wrote in a blog post.

Skype has also sparked criticism on Apple's carrier partners which forbid VoIP programs on their cellular networks -- limiting them instead to Wi-Fi connectivity only. The agreements effectively limit users to placing cheap VoIP calls only over Wi-Fi hotspots, which often provide less coverage than cellular networks. Interestingly, if you use Skype on an iPhones running the developer beta of the iPhone OS 3.0, it does let you place free VoIP calls to other Skype users over AT&T's 3G network, as noted by the 9 to 5 Mac. Its reporter was able to make and receive VoIP calls over both AT&T's 3G and EDGE cellular networks.

ComputerWorld blogger Seth Weintraub wrote that call quality with Skype on iPhone easily exceeds a regular voice call.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/41939/145/