Score one big one for the consumer. It seems months of bitching from consumers and the FCC alike have finally gotten AT&T to open up. The ridiculous ban on VoIP apps is now no more. iPhone users should especially find this good news as several apps (including Google Voice) are now technically “legal” under AT&T’s new ToS. Yesterday we saw Vonage slip into the App Store which raised a few flags as it broke several previous rules of AT&T’s ToS. Look for many more VoIP apps to become a lot more useful now that AT&T has found a small pocket of warmth and compassion for us consumers.
In case you were wondering whether or not this clears the path for Google Voice — we’re still skeptical. Not to mention, Google Voice isn’t technically VoIP. (TechCrunch does a good job explaining that here). While it will now fit within AT&T’s rules, (…more parenthesis…AT&T “claims” to have had no hand in getting GV rejected), Apple’s double standard laden, BS rules concerning “duplicating phone features” still stands in the way. We all know how the Vonage app doesn’t duplicate the dialer in any way at all……/sarcasm. We shall see. The proverbial ball is in Apple’s court now. Come oooooon Google Voice.
Other types of data hungry apps such as video streaming services like iSlingplayer are still on the outs with Big Blue however as this new change is “strictly for VoIP”. Hey, at least it’s progress folks.
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