Let’s fight…

There’s a war going on – on one side you have the VoIP giants Skype and on the other side you have the Goliath telecoms providers.� The battleground is the mighty iPhone…but what is going on?� It’s all a bit petty when you get into it.

The telecoms providers are fighting to disallow the use of Skype from the iPhone as providers are losing money – obviously users are going to make free calls over VoIP and say goodbye to over priced “minutes”.� It’s fair to say that the idea isn’t exactly a hit with the telecoms providers…

Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile Germany has stated that any customers that use Skype to make VoIP calls using their iPhones could be disconnected.� Furthermore AT&T have stopped Skype from working on either of its Edge or 3G networks.

However Skype aren’t taking the news lying down – the Voice on the Net coalition Europe has urged European policymakers to show their support for the up and coming VoIP services on mobile phones on any network.

Skype are hoping to attract some strong backing as the Voice on the Net coalition Europe includes the might of Microsoft, Google and Intel to name but a few.

But how do we, the poor, simple public get a chance to save a few pennies?� Well Skype isn’t the only VoIP force on the iPhone and although the likes of AT&T and T-Mobile Germany will be looking to block any and all VoIP clients, there are a couple of Skype alternatives that should keep you busy.

Truphone

Truphone is a golden oldie that has seen the tides of change from the original early days of VoIP to todays apparently embrace of the cheap service.� Truphone stands out from the others because it integrates so seamlessly with the iPhone – you have access to contacts in your iPhone’s address book as well as being able to gain access to your Truphone account balance and view recent calls, all easily.

Call quality is good with Truphone and the prices are very cheap.� The application is free which is also great news and can be downloaded through the AppStore – as a nice little thank you, you will even receive a bit of free credit to get you started!

iCall

iCall is perfectly integrated onto the iPhone to the point that you will only find that you need to use the network’s minutes when you are out of Wi-Fi range.� iCall makes the whole process so easy that you will be waiting for calls just so you can convert them over to iCall in ease.

Fring

Fring is for the caller who has friends spread across a number of different networks – whether you want to IM or make calls over the Internet to friends on Skype, AIM, MSN, GTalk and Yahoo! Messenger, Fring will do it all.

What do you think?

Do you feel sorry for poor old T-Mobile Germany and AT&T and iPhone users should forgo the Skype way of life?� Do you support cheaper calls over VoIP?� Leave a comment and let us know…