Vonage Offers Unlimited Mobile Calling to Over 60 Countries

December 24, 2009 By Geoff Duncan

Vonage is ratcheting up competition with Skype, announcing unlimited international calling to over 60 countries for iPhone and BlackBerry users.

VoIP provider Vonage might be most famous for barely surviving massive patent battles with Verizon and Sprint back in 2007, but the company is now eager to start taking on Skype for a share of the international VoIP market, announcing Vonage World Mobile, a new calling service that offers unlimited calling to more than 60 countries for a monthly rate of $24.99 per month. The service is available to iPhone/iPod touch and BlackBerry users, who can download free applications for the service via iTunes and BlackBerry App World, respectively. The iPhone version can be used over both Wi-Fi and cellular data services, where the BlackBerry version only works via cellular data.

“Vonage World Mobile is a natural extension of the popular Vonage World home-based calling plan,” said Vonage CEO Marc Lefar, in a statement. “As mobile devices (phones, PCs, netbooks) become more powerful, broadband networks become more available, and 3G/4G data networks become more open, we envision a future where Vonage delivers calls, readable voicemail, texts, MMS, and video calls from any device, using any broadband connection.”

The applications tie into users existing contact list, and uses customers’ existing cell numbers to call recipients know who is calling. The service enables customers to call to landline phones in more than 60 countries; calls to cellular phones are supported in only a subset of those countries, though, including Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.

Vonage’s $24.99 service competes with a similar $12.95 service from Skype; however, Skype currently only covers 40 countries. Existing Vonage World Home customers are eligible for a $10/month discount, however, making the service directly competitive for existing Skype customers who already use Vonage.

Showing 3 comments

Docanti at 2:10am 27th June 2010 FRAUD ! USELESS ! CHEATING ! STAY AWAY I have used vonage mobile for last 3 months on my T mobile blackberry. Worked okay the first month. In the second month I was charged $100 by my cellcarrier for "international calls" that happened due to faiure of vonage software, as confirmed by vongare representative. They said they had informed the customers via email which i never received. This happened again in the third month !! I am being charged a hefty amount by the cell carrier for international calls. since the last event, I have made sure that I hear the vonage tune and see the yellow screen every time I make international calls....but still I am paying on two ends and being ripped off by vonage for providing essentially NO SERVICE ! One of my colleagues also had similar experience. I would strongly advise considering other company, unless you wish to have a "not funny" experience above, and that too repetitively !!
Visa Prepaid Cards at 1:59pm 9th June 2010 I don't think Vonage's VoIP service will be better than Skype. Users will not choose to use the Vonage's service in many Asian or European countries expect the UK. However, Skype is the real WORLD communication software.
making international calls at 3:55am 19th May 2010 I've heard about a company holds the Guinness World Record for the largest conference call ever (10,424 participants) and that they have dial-in numbers in 67 countries around the world. That's a good way to be number one.