Note: I tend to agree that VoIP via cellphones is not very practical without the major carriers doing some major upgrades to support the huge amount of additional traffics that will be generated via VoIP. Before that happens I believe we will see "Flat Rate" affordable cell plans so you will just be able to pay a monthly fee and make unlimited calls period.
VoIP is clearly a hit on conventional data services, but what about wireless services? Can it compete with cellular?
Wireless communications companies like Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and AT&T have been moving as fast as they can to roll out data services. As useful as they can be and as slick as they clearly are, they're much more expensive to operate than conventional wired data services.
Therefore, it's tempting to ask whether they are a practical vehicle for VoIP (Voice over IP). There is good reason to believe that VoIP is not a practical application for these networks for the foreseeable future, and not just for cost reasons.
Even if cost were not an issue, there are technical problems, not to mention the business problem: running Skype or some other free VoIP network could compromise the interests of the companies operating the networks. These companies—which, after all, are first and foremost telephony companies, and their networks first and foremost are cellular telephone networks—are not going to take kindly to low-cost hacks eating into their revenue and using their own networks to do it.
In the long term, they may not have a choice if both customers and government demand open access to other voice providers on mobile networks, i.e. "net neutrality." In the shorter term, the telcos don't have to be bullies about it. Market forces will make VoIP on mobile data networks a quixotic effort.
As T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan noted recently, VoIP's successes have been on landline networks that have low, flat costs. While costs on mobile networks are dropping, they are certainly not low yet, and definitely not flat. Renegade VoIP companies like Skype aren't giving up on the idea.
About a year ago, Skype and Hutchison 3G announced a partnership for bringing Skype to mobile phones, but it's hard to see it being successful any time soon. When customers take advantage of the free Skype service but see a large mobile data charge at the end of the month, they'll switch back to their cellular calls in a hurry. Even Skype concedes this point now, and has put development in this area on the back burner.
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