Verizon adds Skype
02/16/2010
BARCELONA, SPAIN; BASKING RIDGE, NJ, UNITED STATES; AND LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG — At the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Verizon Wireless and Skype today announced a strategic relationship that will bring Skype to Verizon Wireless smartphones in March. The new Skype mobile┞¢ product enhances Verizon Wireless’ smartphones for users who have data plans by offering a new way to call around the globe, while also giving hundreds of millions of Skype users around the world the opportunity to communicate with friends, family and business colleagues in the United States using Verizon Wireless.
The two companies have created an exclusive, easy-to-use Skype mobile offering for 3G smartphones. Verizon Wireless 3G...
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BARCELONA, SPAIN; BASKING RIDGE, NJ, UNITED STATES; AND LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG — At the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Verizon Wireless and Skype today announced a strategic relationship that will bring Skype to Verizon Wireless smartphones in March. The new Skype mobile┞¢ product enhances Verizon Wireless’ smartphones for users who have data plans by offering a new way to call around the globe, while also giving hundreds of millions of Skype users around the world the opportunity to communicate with friends, family and business colleagues in the United States using Verizon Wireless.
The two companies have created an exclusive, easy-to-use Skype mobile offering for 3G smartphones. Verizon Wireless 3G...
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I'm unclear about just how this works. If you talk over skype, is this treated as data, so it doesn't go against your monthly allotment of minutes?
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From the sound of it, it looks like this is a data app.
If you use Google Voice on these phones they use a re-routing call with your existing phone number. You literally use your phone. I could do it, technically, on any cell phone.
This sounds different.
If you use Google Voice on these phones they use a re-routing call with your existing phone number. You literally use your phone. I could do it, technically, on any cell phone.
This sounds different.
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Also, since it says that skype calls to international numbers are billed by skype, what is the advantage of doing this over merely using a phone card to make your international call? Is the only advantage that it doesn't go against your monthly allotment of minutes?
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I guess it depends on how much the calling card is. I checked calls to France on Skype and they would be anywhere from 2 cents a minute up to 44 cents a minute, depending on where you're calling and if its a wireless (22cents). They bill in Euros. Check out their rates page:
http://www.skype.com/intl/en/prices/callrates/#allRa ... »
Now, if someone internationally has Skype it should be a free call. THAT's hard to beat.
Note the press release didn't mention any pricing. I have Skype on my Droid, and it's free, but who knows what they'll come up with.
http://www.skype.com/intl/en/prices/callrates/#allRa ... »
Now, if someone internationally has Skype it should be a free call. THAT's hard to beat.
Note the press release didn't mention any pricing. I have Skype on my Droid, and it's free, but who knows what they'll come up with.
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My calling card has cheaper prices than the Skype rates you quote. However:
1. If the international recipient of the call has Skype on his phone (albeit a landline or cellphone), would the call be free?
2. Will you use minutes from your monthly allotment in making such a call, or are you allowed unlimited time using Skype in addition to your monthly allotment of minutes that would be applicable with regard to regular Verizon calls over your cellphone?
Eventually, these questions will be answered.
1. If the international recipient of the call has Skype on his phone (albeit a landline or cellphone), would the call be free?
2. Will you use minutes from your monthly allotment in making such a call, or are you allowed unlimited time using Skype in addition to your monthly allotment of minutes that would be applicable with regard to regular Verizon calls over your cellphone?
Eventually, these questions will be answered.
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1. If you are calling another skype account, no matter where they are in the world, it will be free. If they have skype on their mobile or on their computer it will not matter.
2. Skype is VOIP (Data) not a call forewarding service like Google Voice. So skype calling is not part of your minute plan, but rather your data plan.
2. Skype is VOIP (Data) not a call forewarding service like Google Voice. So skype calling is not part of your minute plan, but rather your data plan.
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Yes, in most cases. My Droid doesn't work the same way. When someone calls my GV it goes directly to my phone with their actual number on it. My phone doesn't ring with the GV number. I guess that's an Android thing.
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When Sprint dropped to $50 unlimited everything on Boost, it was because they had an overbuilt iDEN network that wasn't seeing any significant usage and they wanted to fill it up with subscribers rather than let the airwaves sit vacant.
Verizon must be in a comparable position right now in order to make a deal like this. They must be running at extremely low capacity on the 3G side right now, and looking to drive advanced device adoption by sanctioning VOIP over the under-used 3G bands, because just like Boost they're not making any money off of them while they sit vacant.
Like the Boost punch, it's brilliant marketing and use of network resources which will compel the competition to respond with something. But unlike Boost, it's not...
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Verizon must be in a comparable position right now in order to make a deal like this. They must be running at extremely low capacity on the 3G side right now, and looking to drive advanced device adoption by sanctioning VOIP over the under-used 3G bands, because just like Boost they're not making any money off of them while they sit vacant.
Like the Boost punch, it's brilliant marketing and use of network resources which will compel the competition to respond with something. But unlike Boost, it's not...
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My interest in this is more about what the Phone Scoop news blip states "Calls will be routed over Verizon's Circuit-switched network"
Which actually implies that calls will be routed like any other traditional voice service, but as far as Verizon is concerned, it mobile-terminates (is switched off of the VZW network) to the Skype network, and then continues however they want to work it out.
If that's correct, it poses a significant cost savings to Verizon (no local carrier exchanges to deal with, international carriers, etc.).
Further, if that's correct, there's nothing stopping a BREW app from being developed for even the dumbest of dumb phones with Media Center.
I imagine the 3G comes into play to enable the presence featur...
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Which actually implies that calls will be routed like any other traditional voice service, but as far as Verizon is concerned, it mobile-terminates (is switched off of the VZW network) to the Skype network, and then continues however they want to work it out.
If that's correct, it poses a significant cost savings to Verizon (no local carrier exchanges to deal with, international carriers, etc.).
Further, if that's correct, there's nothing stopping a BREW app from being developed for even the dumbest of dumb phones with Media Center.
I imagine the 3G comes into play to enable the presence featur...
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Good point. Also the way I understand it you won't be able to Skype out to US numbers. Those will be routed normally and incur normal usage charges. That sucks. I doubt Skype to Skype and Skype out to International numbers will really be all that huge. If they allowed you to Skype out to US numbers and route that through Skype then it would be awesome.
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I've been scouring the web for various press releases on this, and I can't find any media outlet that's saying the same thing as what Phonescoop says.
I initially read the passage from Phonescoop's main page differently:
"Calls made from the Skype Mobile app will transit Verizon's cellular circuit-switched network, but won't use a subscriber's monthly minutes."
At first, I read this to mean "the network" with a lot of extra wording. I assumed it was referring to the "cellular circuit-switched" data network. The word "transit" adds to the confusion. I can see how it would be read as "calls will go through the network like a regular call."
However, if you read into what Skype's CEO and other employees were saying about the iPhon...
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I initially read the passage from Phonescoop's main page differently:
"Calls made from the Skype Mobile app will transit Verizon's cellular circuit-switched network, but won't use a subscriber's monthly minutes."
At first, I read this to mean "the network" with a lot of extra wording. I assumed it was referring to the "cellular circuit-switched" data network. The word "transit" adds to the confusion. I can see how it would be read as "calls will go through the network like a regular call."
However, if you read into what Skype's CEO and other employees were saying about the iPhon...
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Times like this I wish I could redact something I've posted on these boards. I'm totally off base with what I suspected earlier.
It CAN'T be 3G VOIP, because it's slated to be functional on the BB Curve 8330 and the the old BB 8830 World Edition. These phone are EV-DO rev 0 and still use the 2G upstream which is only 80 kbps (under the best of real-world circumstances) and CANNOT support VOIP over their 3G antennas.
It's got to be some sort of 3G-initialized call that routes over the 2G network.
I have never used Skype for anything, IM or VOIP, so I don't know enough to really read the tea leaves on this one, but my current running theory is that VZW will simply add all Skype #'s to a sort of giant "Friends and Family" list, and t...
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It CAN'T be 3G VOIP, because it's slated to be functional on the BB Curve 8330 and the the old BB 8830 World Edition. These phone are EV-DO rev 0 and still use the 2G upstream which is only 80 kbps (under the best of real-world circumstances) and CANNOT support VOIP over their 3G antennas.
It's got to be some sort of 3G-initialized call that routes over the 2G network.
I have never used Skype for anything, IM or VOIP, so I don't know enough to really read the tea leaves on this one, but my current running theory is that VZW will simply add all Skype #'s to a sort of giant "Friends and Family" list, and t...
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