Making international phone calls from a U.S. mobile phone appears to much more affordable over the past two weeks, as Vonage introduced its mobile VoIP application for a variety of platforms and AT&T announced it was going to lift the 3G handcuffs from the Skype mobile app for its iPhone.  While Skype and Vonage (News - Alert) have struggled to effectively make a case beyond SMB usage, their efforts will put more pressure on per minute pricing.

 

Certainly, the new Vonage Mobile service has one eye cocked toward business users since one of the first three devices it supports is the BlackBerry (News - Alert) family; the others being the iPhone and the iPod Touch; other smart phones platforms will likely be supported down the road. Vonage Mobile says it can help customers save more than 50 percent on calls to dozens of countries without the hassle of calling cards. Business users are likely to take a hard look at the addition of the Vonage World plan to Vonage Mobile by the end of the year, providing users the ability to make unlimited phone calls to over 60 countries for one flat fee. 

 

I've also heard rumblings that Vonage may support SIP trunking at some point, a move that would provide some very interesting options to business and enterprise customers looking to get the most bang for the dollar out of their total telecommunications budgets. Will Vonage rise to the occasion and make a stronger business push? Only time will tell.

 

Meanwhile, Skype for iPhone on AT&T's (News - Alert) has always supported lower-cost Skype-Out calling via WiFi, but AT&T will now allow an updated version of the app to make calls via 3G and WiFi. Since there's a lot more 3G coverage over WiFi and since many times it is easier to use 3G rather than fussing with logging into a for-pay hotspot, this is good news for iPhone users who love Skype (News - Alert).

 

To be fair, Truphone has been plugging along with a mobile VoIP app for low-cost international calling for quite a while, supporting Nokia (News - Alert), iPhone family, Android, and BlackBerry. AT&T and Vonage's efforts in the marketplace will only serve to place more pressure on other U.S. carriers to allow/enable similar plans, as well as to create its own low(er)-rate/flat-rate international calling plans for mobile devices.  

 

All things considered, carriers want to keep their customers on the books with some revenue, rather than having them depart and leaving them with no revenue. Don't be shy about seeing if you can negotiate better rates based upon what you can get from Skype, Truphone, and Vonage.