VoIP
iPhone owners least likely to switch when service sucks
May 3, 2012: 11:00 AM ETBlackberry and Android users are quicker to drop both their phone and their carrier
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FORTUNE -- A new survey of smartphone users doesn't speak well for the quality of the cellular telephone service provided by U.S. carriers.
Roughly 40% of respondents said they experience at least five dropped calls a month, and 9 out of 10 said they'd be willing to switch carriers due to poor call quality.
But in this regard, not all cell phone owners were alike.
Owners of Apple (AAPL) iPhones were marginally more likely to stick with their carrier (18.5% vs. 15% for BlackBerry and 14% for Android), no matter how unhappy with their provider. And they were significantly more likely to stick with their phone (29% vs. 17.5% for BlackBerry and 18.7% for Android. (See chart.)
This is not terribly surprising, given the high satisfaction marks the iPhone has been getting over the years.
This survey was conducted on March 6 using SurveyMonkey, an online service, which polled 992 U.S. mobile phone owners. It was sponsored by Rebtel, a mobile voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) provider that competes with Skype, so naturally the respondents were asked what they did when their carrier crapped out.
Curiously, the poll uncovered a distinct gender difference. As Rebtel's press release put it:
- Men are 90% more likely (38% vs. 20%) to use a mobile VoIP app as an alternative to their carrier's regular calling service.
- Women are 47% more likely than men (44% vs. 30%) to use a text messaging service as an alternative to their carrier's regular calling service.
You can see the rest of the results here.
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Official Google Voice client finally reaches the iPhone
After 16 short months in the Apple App Store approval process, Google Voice is now available as a native app on the iPhone.
The Google Mobile blog announced today that Google Voice would be available to Apple's iPhone users. The app caused controversy almost two years ago when it was put into 'App Store Purgatory' by Apple and became one of the focal points of a government investigation into Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) MORE
Seth Weintraub - Nov 16, 2010 2:32 PM ET -
T-Mobile gets VoIP right
Finally, a carrier decides to use a better technology for their customers.
Details are starting to emerge on T-Mobile's new VoIP service that lets customers switch over to Wi-Fi when the T-Mobile signal is no longer strong enough to take a call. T-Mobile explains it like this:
Wi-Fi Calling for Android is built upon the same technology as UMA, but is a different implementation from our past offerings. While T-Mobile's current Wi-Fi MORE
Seth Weintraub - Oct 6, 2010 11:30 AM ET -
Google Voice Android widgets leaked
An upcoming release of the T-Mobile G2 build was leaked, along with some new Google Voice widgets.
While they don't offer VoIP, the widgets that were extracted from an unreleased T-Mobile G2 build allow easy access to Google Voices features, demonstrated below.
Google (GOOG) released Voice on Gmail last week in a surprise move that had many thinking Google was targeting Skype and Facebook. Having a full Google Voice VoIP application on MORE
Seth Weintraub - Aug 30, 2010 10:23 AM ET -
Google VoIP Desktop grass roots campaign starts
Google had reportedly nixed their desktop Skype killer in favor of a browser-based version. Now, a petition has started for Google to release the desktop client.
Backstory: Google purchased VoIP provider Gizmo5 last year in a move which seemed to indicate that they were going to merge their Google Voice and Google Talk clients to make a Skype-like service that would be able to call traditional phone numbers.
Since that point not MORE
Seth Weintraub - Jul 3, 2010 11:23 AM ET -
Google Voice now open to all in the US
Google's call-routing telephony service goes mainstream.
When Google bought Grand Central three years ago, many Google watchers saw this day coming. Google Voice is now a free service for everyone in the U.S., no invite needed.
What is Google Voice, you may wonder? The fine folks in Mountain View have put together a pretty good two-minute elevator pitch:
Google has been preparing for today's launch by buying up literally millions of phone numbers MORE
Seth Weintraub - Jun 22, 2010 1:59 PM ET -
Dell details Streak tablet, includes Google Voice
Dell today detailed its upcoming Dell Streak (Mini 5) Android tablet with some interesting details.
The device will be released initially in the UK on O2 with follow-up rollouts in the US and elsewhere starting later this summer. What's interesting about this device is that it isn't being branded as a 'Smartphone' and may not be sold with voice options, even though it contains 3G hardware for data (and in the MORE
Seth Weintraub - May 25, 2010 1:04 PM ET -
Google acquires Global IP Solutions to pump video conferencing
Google pays $68.2 million in cash for the voice and video over IP technology maker.
As part of their expansion into new technology fields, Google has recently been gobbling up companies at a voracious clip.
One area of strong acquisitions is in video and VoIP fields. Google picked up On2 last year and has been building an open source video codec called VP8 around On2's technology. The company also purchased Grand Central to become MORE
Seth Weintraub - May 18, 2010 11:04 AM ET -
Google gives Voice to students as Gizmo integration looms
Google is now offering a Google Voice invite to anyone with an .edu email address.
The announcement, made on the official Google Voice Blog, lets the floodgates open to users interested in managing their voice communications with Google.
Google offers a free phone number, Voicemail transcription, call routing, cheap international calling and a bunch of other cool features with Voice. (Great video overview of Google Voice services here.)
Until now, the free service had been MORE
Seth Weintraub - May 17, 2010 4:21 PM ET -
What AT&T's bombshell means for Apple
AT&T's (T) surprise decision Tuesday to reverse course and permit low-cost Internet calls over its cellular network is good news for iPhone owners, but it leaves Apple (AAPL) with some explaining to do.
Apple was quick to welcome AT&T's change of heart. "We are very happy that AT&T is now supporting VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol] applications," said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. She promised that the company would get updated versions MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Oct 7, 2009 8:22 AM ET
