VoIP

Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5 Billion

Alex Heath ∙ May 10, 2011

In a shocking report, The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that Microsoft has purchased Skype in a 8.5 billion dollar buyout. This deal gives Microsoft complete ownership of Skype Technologies SA, and this buyout is one of Microsoft's biggest purchases to date.

Skype has been a key player in the desktop and mobile space as one of the most popular VoIP services in existence. On iOS, Skype has always been a wonderful service for those wishing to make calls (both audio and video) over 3G and Wi-Fi.

Viber Gets Serious About Challenging Skype, Adds Free Text Messaging

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 2, 2018

Viber is the product of a small Israeli startup, Viber Media Inc. They launched the first version of their VoIP app back in December of last year to rave reviews.

Much like Skype, Viber makes free phone calls over Wi-Fi and 3G to other users with the Viber client. Unlike Skype, there's no need to create an account.

The typical process for making calls with 3rd party applications can be tedious. Signing up for accounts, verifying email address, and setting up contact lists are usually involved when using Skype or similar services. Viber made some waves with their no-username policy, and is set to do so again with the app's latest update...

Facebook Messenger for iPhone Allows You to Chat And Make Free Audio Calls Through VoIP

Alex Heath ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

A new app called Facebook Messenger has been receiving a lot of attention in the press lately. It is the premiere app from the CrispApp developers.

I was a tad skeptical of Facebook Messenger when I first started reading about the app. There are a great deal of Facebook-related apps in the App Store, and I was curious about what made Facebook Messenger stand out.

Facebook Messenger is a clean and well-designed chat application for Facebook, but that's not all. The app also allows you to make free audio calls to your Facebook friends straight from your iPhone.

Vonage Offering Free Calls to Facebook Friends

Guest Author ∙ Updated May 11, 2018

So you've probably added all your old friends from your hometown via Facebook. While it's fun to "like" their latest pictures and status updates but you really don't want to waste your minutes on them, your problem is solved. Vonage has teamed up with Facebook, creating an app for your iPhone, (& Android), entitled Vonage Mobile for Facebook that allows free calls over Wi-Fi or 3G to anyone domestic or overseas, for free.

After you download the free app, just sign in with your Facebook account and you'll see a list of your friends who've done the same, and are ready to be called for free. You will also see whom you can chat with over IM. If you don't have unlimited 3G, or a Wi-Fi subscription, your first move should be checking with your carrier to figure out any charges that may apply to you.

Of course the program has its own Facebook page, which will allow you to invite your friends to the download the free app. This all sounds great, but I have one question. How many people are actually going to do this? Are you?

How to Get Vonage on Your iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

I originally signed up with Vonage because it was inexpensive and it gave me unlimited calls to France (and other countries) where all my friends and family still are. As my fiance and I are planning our one-year trip around the globe, I started looking into getting Vonage on my iPhone so I can make calls from my iPhone, either over 3G or wifi, using my Vonage plan.

There are many reports showing that Vonage is currently working on an iPhone app but it's probably not going to happen anytime soon. By digging a little more, I found an article that shows you how to set up Vonage on your iphone by using your Vonage line as a SIP line.

First, you have to find out your Vonage SIP credentials. To do so, open your internet browser from your house and point it to:

https://im-config.vonagenetworks.net/config?&login=USERNAME&password=PASSWORD&type=1003

Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD by your Vonage account username and password.

This is going to open a page with a bunch of information. The information we need is at the top of the page. You are looking for something like that:

[SIP 2.0] ProxyUserName=iphoner ProxyUserPassword=Y0ur1Ph0ne5ux ProxyDomain=a.vonim.com ProxyPort=10000

Next step is downloading an SIP client for your iPhone. I recommend using Fring as it can be downloaded for free from the App Store. If your iPhone is jailbroken, you can also download SIPhone from Cydia.

Launch Fring then sign up or login with your existing account. Go to More > Add-ons > SIP > Other.

Fill out the required fields as follow:

User ID = ProxyUserName Password = ProxyUserPassword Proxy = a.vonim.com:10000

Save these settings. You can now place a call from your iPhone using your Vonage account, assuming you have wifi connectivity. If your iPhone is jailbroken, download VoIPover3G from Cydia and you will also be able to use Vonage from your iPhone over 3G.

It works great but for some reason, I can't have it place international calls. Every time I try to call France, it gives me an error message. It's still pretty awesome that you can use your Vonage account to place calls for free over wifi and 3G.

That's a pretty sweet hack, eh! What do you think?

Forget Fring, Use TruPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 22, 2017

Ok, don't forget Fring yet as it is a pretty good "all-in-one" app. But if you are using Fring solely for the Skype calls feature, then you might want to give a try at TruPhone, a VoIP app that was the first of its kind to be approved in the App Store.

So, what's so good about TruPhone? Well, I guess the best feature of this application is that it allows you to make VoIP calls from your iPhone to any phone in the world over wifi, and most importantly you can make calls even if you are not in a wifi zone. Now I have to admit this part is a bit shady. I had a look at Truohone's website and I can't figure out how this works exactly. It doesn't say anything about 3G or Edge but it does say that you can make calls even if you don't have an Internet connection. It's confusing but it still sounds great!

Fring allows you to do pretty much the same (and actually more) but the problem with Fring is that the app doesn't let you make VoIP calls over 3G or Edge, unless you implemented my Fring hack, of course... It seems that TruPhone is making this possible, without having to hack anything.

Let's have a look at what TruPhone can do for you:

Cheap international calls

The Truphone iPhone app routes iPhone calls over the Internet which can save you loads of money on international calls from your home country and on calls when you're abroad. You can look at the rates here. Calling a landline in my home country (France) is $0.06/minute but calling a cellphone there is $0.30/minute. All calls in the US are $0.06/minute.

Use Truphone Anywhere

If you're not online Truphone Anywhere can still route your call over the internet. So now you can make cheap VoIP calls even when you're not connected to a Wi-Fi network. How does that work? I'm not sure...

Free calls worldwide

Calls to other connected Truphone users are FREE, worldwide. So if you and your friends all download Truphone, you can call each other for FREE, wherever you are in the world!

Know who's online

A new feature lets you know which of your Truphone contacts is online. It's great news if you want to make FREE Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi calls on your iPhone because calls between connected users are always FREE Worldwide.

Receive calls for free

You can receive FREE Truphone calls whenever you're connected to a Wi-Fi network.

iPod Touch users for once shouldn't feel left aside. If you have a headset with a microphone you can also use this great app on your iTouch, which means that you can turn your iPod Touch into a phone!!!

Truphone is free and you may click here to download Truphone for iPhone or Truphone for iPod Touch.

One question still lingers in my mind though... Is AT&T ok with that?

VoIPover3G

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

VoIPover3G (that's Voice Over IP Over 3G) is what I think the hottest application that came out this weekend, and let me tell you right now, like all hot apps, it is only available in Cydia - that should give you yet another reason to jailbreak if you still haven't done so.

So what does this bad boy do? This MobileSubstrate library can trick any application into thinking that it is on wifi even though it is on a cellular data connection. There are a lot of possible uses for that, but for me the main use is being able to use VoIP programs like Fring over 3G. So no more hack necessary to use Fring over Edge or 3G.

By default, VoIPover3G is configured to to trick only the App Store and Fring but you can edit the setting, but in order to do so, you'll have to know your way around SSH...

As mentioned above, VoIPover3Gis available in Cydia. If you instal it, don't look for the icon on your springboard as it doesn't have an icon. Configuration settings are explained in the "more info" link of the app.

Fring is out! Officially

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

A few months ago I talked about Fring on my personal blog. At the time, this app was just being released for jailbroken iPhones. Six months and 3 firmware upgrades later, Fring made its way to the App Store.

What is Fring?

Fring is a mobile internet service & community that enables you to access & interact with your social networks on-the-go, including make free calls, live chat and seeing your contacts online presence with all your fring, Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo! and AIM friends using your iPhone’s Internet connection rather than costly cellular airtime minutes.

So far, Fring is the only VoIP app available in the App Store, along with Truphone, althought other similar apps are coming soon.

I haven't tried Fring yet but expect a review from us within the next few days. In the meanwhile, if you try it, please let us know what you think by leaving a comment.