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Mobile VoIP Blocked
(22-06-07) - Mobile phone companies are trying to deter customers from making calls through internet telephony numbers by blocking numbers and increasing data charges.
Customers can save loads - especially on international calls - by calling numbers owned by a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) company. These numbers are usually included in a mobile customer’s free minutes, or charged at a local rate, but upon connection, the VoIP provider will put customers through to their chosen destination. In this way customers have been able to call as far as Australia or the US, using only their inclusive minutes.
Obviously, mobile phone companies are not happy. Vodafone has introduced new data tariffs so that customers will have to pay more for VoIP services than email or web browsing and both Orange and Vodafone disabled the VoIP function on their new, branded Nokia N95 phones, but T-Mobile has proven to be the most aggressive of all.
Despite a new advertising campaign claiming to be “setting the internet free” the company, owned by Deutsche Telekom, refuses to interconnect with VoIP providers and is blocking all calls to the Truphone number range.
James Tagg, Truphone’s CEO, said: “Since T-Mobile is the only company that can route calls from its customers it has a complete veto on the Truphone service.
“(T-Mobile) is both resisting VoIP and buying it, and at the same time running ads saying it sets the internet free. Maybe the left hand simply doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” he added.
Chris Eagle, BroadbandChoices.co.uk commercial manager said: “Increasing numbers of people are choosing not to have home phones but long distance calls from mobiles are very expensive so VoIP is the perfect answer from a consumer point of view - and mobile phone companies won’t be able to fight it forever.”
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