The missing VOIP on iPhone

Written on July 23rd, 2010 by Vincenzo Vecchio
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I’m definitively an iPhone fan. I bought it the first day it was delivered to stores.
I also must admit it has increased my productivity and pleasure in using such a device.

BUT, although it has been around now for several years, the operating system is now in its release 4.0.1….  yet I still believe there is one huge deficiency: VOIP. While most of other smartphones provide this feature in someway, the iPhone seems to ignore the VOIP industry.
Many VOIP app developers are struggling in trying to upload their applications on the Apple store, but I believe everyone is still far from what a true VOIP phone should look like.

I’ve been using Nokia smartphones in the past few years also and I think the way Nokia handles the service is way more mature. If you have any E-series Nokia phone (and in some cases also N-series) you have the possibility to register your phone with any international VOIP provider that is using the SIP standard protocol. Basically, you can have you local land-line number on your mobile device (without any transferring charges) and make local calls from anywhere in the world. Also, you can receive calls on your local number (home or office) independently if you are travelling to Singapore or are right in your office. The service works both on wi-fi networks but with a reasonable quality also on 3G, with a few easy configuration steps.

cell phone

During the launch of the new iOS 4 for iPhone, Apple had pushed a lot the “new” voice over IP features of its operating system. We also assisted to the live demo of the new version of Skype working in multitasking mode on iPhone 4.
Yesterday Skype has released the new version of its application on the Apple store. Finally, we can see it running on the background and you can always be online on Skype. BUT, I believe there are still some pieces missing in this VOIP puzzle:

  1. Skype is not really what we may call a VOIP standard application. Even if you are now able to buy from skype a local land-line number, Skype does not use SIP standard protocol and you cannot register another number you already have with some other VOIP provider.
  2. Assuming that VOIP = Skype, I think the phone itself is not yet integrated enough with skype. Multitasking is a great thing, but if you are talking on Skype and you receive a phone call, still your conversation will be dropped to let you answer to the cellular incoming call (and vice versa). Using Nokia integrated SIP VOIP feature your mobile gives a busy signal to incoming calls if you are talking on you VOIP number (and vice versa).

So what I suggest while waiting for Apple to integrate Skype fully into its iOS 4, is to try two very well made VOIP apps:

  1. Fring: one of the first multi-channel IM client (also available on Symbian OS), lets you register on any VOIP provider using standard SIP protocol and lets you sign in with almost all Instant Messaging channels.
  2. Nimbuzz: very similar to Fring, I have found to work a little bit better in handling incoming calls over VOIP while the app is running in the background.

In both cases, your conversation will still drop if you receive a call on your mobile number.. :(

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