T-Mobile's Bobsled lets you call regular phones for free

T-Mobile's Bobsled and other Web voice services could take a big bite out of wireless carriers' profits and consumers could ultimately benefit.

SAVVY PHONE CONSUMERS can keep their voice-minute needs to a minimum by taking advantage of “over-the-top” services, which provide voice, video, messaging, and more via your de­vice's Internet data connection, for free or for much less than standard voice-minute plans charge. You can save even more by using an OTT service through your device's Wi-Fi connec­tion, since Wi-Fi services are much less expensive than mobile networks are for high-bandwidth applications like video chat.

If you use an OTT service over your device’s regular wire­less data connection, you need to pay attention, because it could chew up more data than you intended, incurring over­age charges and eliminating any cost savings.

Skype, FaceTime, and Bobsled

Bobsled android iphone

Two of the best-known over-the-top services are Skype and Apple's FaceTime. Skype is an app that provides free calling, video chat, and messaging between Skype users, typically on desktop or laptop PCs, and can make calls to regular phones for a cost. It is also available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, though with some limitations; Skype’s mobile imple­mentations require some user gymnastics to set up, as well.

FaceTime lets owners of AppLe products conduct video chat sessions with one another. But until Apple's iOS 6 operating system ships this fall, FaceTime will work only over Wi-Fi.

A more recent option is Bobsled, which T-Mobile originally launched as a way to initiate calls from a Facebook page. Bob­sled has since morphed into a full-featured Internet voice app for Android and iOS, but not for Windows Phone and Black­Berry. All Bobsled calls are free, and the service’s Facebook integration (such as the ability to leave voice messages on friends' Facebook walls) may be of considerable interest to people who spend most of their online time on Facebook.

T-Mobile USA says that the Bobsled service has attracted 2 million users, who have made more than 10 million calls since the app's debut in April 2011—80 percent of them to numbers outside the United States. T-Mobile also notes that 95 percent of Bobsled's users aren't T-Mobile customers.

Video Chat From Tango, OoVoo

Another area attracting over-the-top innovation is video chat, where two or more people use mobile phones or desk­top connections to have a virtual-reality interaction. One service in this market is Tango, which debuted in autumn 2010 and claims 45 million registered users.

You can set up Tango with just a name and a phone number. Another appealing feature is the ability to turn off the video in midcall. Tango works over cellular connections and Wi-Fi, and offers client software for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices, and for PCs.

The rival OoVoo video chat service says it has an instaLLed base of 46 miLlion users. It lets up to 12 people participate in a group video chat. OoVoo offers a free version, a premium version ($30 per year or $3 per month), and a new Facebook app. The premium version eliminates ads, allows screen sharing, and has “priority support," OoVoo says.

Can Carriers Compete in OTT?

Eventually the major wireless carriers may give up on their voice and messag­ing cash cows and try to compete on features. An expected shift in phone billing occurred in late June, when Verizon unveiled its first attempt at so called family plans, which allow users to bundle multiple devices together under a single data-services contract.

Though the family plan approach cuts the costs of separate voice and mes­saging plans, it doesn't result in savings for every user. Nor does it match the flexibility of video or voice chat services that are portable across multiple platforms and work with a single username.

We may have to wait several years for victors to emerge in the over-the-top marketplace, or perhaps we'll be stuck with a mixed bag of similar but incom­patible offerings. I haven't even mentioned the OTT services available from voice providers such as Vonage and device manufacturers like Samsung.

Posted in: bobsled,T-Mobile