Voice Over IP on the iPhone

[MacRumors]

Endgadget posts a video demo of an iPhone successfully making a phone call over IP. The demo was provided by a company called Truphone who announced today. From the press release:

1. Many people have called for true VoIP calling on Apple's iPhone. Truphone will today prove that it is possible using the iPhone's in-built Wi-Fi capability.
2. Truphone's demonstration will comprise two iPhones connected to Wi-Fi on the DEMOfall 07 stage. A VoIP call will be initiated from one handset, routed via Wi-Fi and the Internet to Truphone's servers, and then back again to the access point and onwards to the destination handset -- a 100% IP phone call.
3. Today's event will be a live demonstration only and is not a commercial launch of Truphone on the iPhone.
4. Truphone does not need to unlock the SIM in order to operate its service for the iPhone.

Voice over IP (VOIP) allows users to use the internet to transmit their voice calles, bypassing AT&T's cellular network (and billing).

Article Link

[psychofreak]

Awesome, not too long until this is easy...hopefully by the time the UK gets the phone

[nismo]

i just read this on engadget and it is soo friggin cool! I can't wait!

[Telp]

This is great!! True voIP...

[aerospace]

me thinks at&t isn't happy about this development

[Mydel]

I think AT&T is aware that iPhone is a full blown computer, and they are not able to stop this kind of development. And frankly speaking I guess Apple is silently cheering

[dvkid]

Originally Posted by Telp

This is great!! True voIP...

Not quite. Though I can overlook the length it takes to call out now as that will surely be remedied soon. However there have been no inroads made towards receiving calls via VoIP. Not to mention you would also be unable to utilize AT&Ts Voicemail with this method at all, let alone Visual Voicemail. Unfortunately, until AT&T (or T-Mobile) is willing to release this as a product it will not function as well as it should and thus will not permeate the primary population.

[TXCraig]

Originally Posted by dvkid

Unfortunately, until AT&T (or T-Mobile) is willing to release this as a product it will not function as well as it should and thus will not permeate the primary population.

T-Mobile already has this service that will switch calls from WiFi to Cell and back again as you travel from WiFI AP to another. The calls made on the WiFi network are free. They have 2 phones currently that do this. It was released in June just before the iPhone started selling.

[bob122989]

I'd be extremely interested in finding out how capable the ipod touch would be with this here method.

Unless it uses some fancy workaround on files that wouldn't be present on the ipod touch.

Just a thought.

[QuarterSwede]

While cool, it's not that exciting for a few reasons.

1) Current cell plans give plenty of minutes (my wife and I never use all of our minutes. I think we have over 2000 on rollover).

2) VOIP only works while in a WiFi area.

3) Not feasible for use in cities while walking around town or in the car.

So, while it's great while you're in your house, etc. This is NOT going to replace your cell phone.

However, if would be nice to use your iPhone as a cell phone while abroad and as your "landline" while at home. Too bad VOIP quality pales in comparison to good old copper ... at least that's what I hear from people who have had it.

[ivi7]

This was one of those things I was sure the iPhone couldn't do.
I am really happy and excited about this development.

[ChrisA]

I'll let yo all figure out the implications of this but, you know asterisk has been ported to Mac OS X.

http://www.asterisk.org/support/about

It would be fun if asterisk run on the iPhone but that's unlikely to happen soon.

[TurboSC]

Soon enough they'll release a nice version for the iPhone I'm sure...

I think all the development teams and hackers are just waiting for the 1.1.1 firmware before they spring into action and start hacking it to bits.

[Bosunsfate]

I know that the general impression is that AT&T is against a VoIP for the iPhone, however I think they have it wrong.

The biggest laugh is how much AT&T claim they have the best all over network. Well, I still get complete crap reception in my house, in my work place, and in just about in building around.

If I'm outside, okay, AT&T is good.

Which is why VoIP is good for them. 9 times out of 10, when I'm in a building, I'm connected to a WiFI.

What I think might be holding them up is that they will want to find some kind of pricing on this. Afterall, they don't want to give up on free minutes, right?

[bentup]

It's exciting stuff, but I'm worried this will be thrown up on the list with free ring tones and SIM unlocking, as things that Apple "do not want!" <insert picture of steve jobs and white grammatically incorrect text here>

[QuarterSwede]

Originally Posted by corywoolf

iPod Touch has a mic and speaker. The left earbud has a built in microphone and of course the right earbud could be the speaker. If the app balanced the audio all the way to the right side, maybe that would create a sort of phone. Not that anyone would really want to talk like that for long though. iPod Linux used to allow me to record memos through the left earbud.

Sigh. There is no mic in the left earbud. What is happening is that the speaker's polarity is being inverted and is becoming a mic. Basically, the speaker stops receiving audio signals and starts sending them to iPod. This is why it sounds terrible and is fuzzy, because it was designed as a speaker not a mic.