This is a Sponsored Post Courtesy of Vonage
Can you imagine a future where your smartphone comes with unlimited data, but without a calling plan?
Living in this brave new world doesn’t mean you have to abandon voice communication. The new Vonage Mobile app for iPhone and Android brings this new reality closer with free worldwide talk and text to all other users of the app. Whether your phone is connected over 4G, 3G, or Wi-Fi, your entire address book is only a tap away. Just remember that calls still use a portion of your data plan.
Vonage Mobile certainly isn’t the first smartphone app to provide free calling and text messaging from mobile phones, so what make this different? Unlike Skype for iPhone and Android, which maintains a separate address book, Vonage Mobile integrates your existing address book – which means free app-to-app calls and text messages are available without needing to reconnect with people who already provided contact information. And the Vonage Mobile multi-invite function lets you invite anyone (or everyone) from your contact list with one simple text. Skype requires you to search for users and invite each person one at a time.
Vonage Mobile doesn’t limit calls to people with the app, or even to people who have a smartphone. You can call direct from Vonage Mobile to virtually any phone number on the planet. You can dial internationally without needing to activate special services with your mobile carrier. And most importantly, you can do this with the address book on your phone and your existing mobile number.
There is a cost associated with calling phones directly, but according to Vonage, the app offers international calling with per-minute rates that average 70 percent less than major mobile carriers and 30 percent less than Skype. This savings estimate is based on per-minute rates to the top 50 countries called. Billing is also more convenient, with payment integrated directly into your iTunes or Android Market account, instead of maintaining billing in a separate login.
Vonage combines exceptional call quality with an integrated phone experience to offer a more complete calling solution. Unlike other free voice apps, which often echo badly or sound like you’re talking on tin can, when calling app-to-app Vonage delivers what they call ‘high-def’ voice quality, which is much better than a standard cell phone call.
To see a demo of the app, go check out the “Magic of Vonage Mobile” video on YouTube at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaRcnY1xZxM
For those of you playing along at home, here is a quick feature recap:
- Free domestic and international calls and texts to anyone with the Vonage Mobile app.
- When calling a landline or phone directly, you get international calling with per-minute rates averaging 70% less than major mobile carriers and 30% less than Skype.
- In-app credit purchases are tied directly to your iTunes or Android Market account.
- Inviting multiple people right from your address book via SMS or email is easy.
- Vonage Mobile automatically identifies contacts who already have the app.
- Your mobile number double as your caller ID (so your friends won’t be surprised by an unfamiliar app-assigned number)
- Works on Wi-Fi and 3G/4G worldwide.
If better call quality to any of your existing contacts isn’t enough to make you try out Vonage Mobile, there’s just one more thing you should know. Vonage is currently offering free calls from virtually anywhere in the world to the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico. There are a few circumstances where free calling may not work, like business calls, premium and special service numbers, and satellite phones, but for the most part, free really means free. You also need to stay under 3000 minutes per month, but who talks that much anyway?
Download Vonage Mobile now and check it out on your iPhone or Android phone.
Invite your family and friends so you have someone to text or call, then let us know what you think.
VONAGE MOBILE® App Overview
- Vonage Mobile® is a free downloadable app for iPhone and Android that lets users talk and text worldwide for FREE with anyone else who uses the app. The app will be available globally.
- When calling people who don’t have the app, users get ultra low-cost calling worldwide with per minute rates that are on average 70% less than major mobile carriers and 30% less than Skype’s.
- Works over Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G wireless data networks, worldwide.
- Users can instantly add calling credit from the app through iTunes® or the Android Market in increments of $4.99 and $9.99
- To build interest and encourage users to try the service, calls to any phone in the United States, Canada or Puerto Rico** from anywhere in the world will be FREE for a limited time.
- App-to-App calls (also called on-net) are made using the latest innovations in VoiP technology to deliver “high-definition” audio quality; the difference versus traditional cell phone calls is dramatic.
- Vonage mobile uses the phone’s existing mobile number and contact list, eliminating the need for unique user names and duplicate identities for contacts.
- Users can instantly build a FREE global calling and texting network using the app’s multi-invite system from their existing contacts.
- Users do NOT need to be a Vonage customer to use the app. However, as an added benefit to all app users, calls to Vonage home or business lines are also free.
- This new Vonage Mobile consolidates the best features of our prior applications, while adding important functionality, better value and improved ease of use. Vonage Extensions will continue as a standalone application for now; however, we anticipate integrating Extensions into a future Vonage Mobile release.
- Vonage Mobile is better than competitive “Over The Top” apps because it combines the best of free voice and messaging services with exceptional high def audio, along with incredible value for traditional international calling, all while using the existing mobile number and address book.
Additional detail information
- The user’s existing mobile number is their Caller ID, so there is no need to create and share a new username, and friends and family can know who is calling.
- Users can view their existing credit and look up international rates in the app before making a call – this eliminates the need for credit cards, PIN entries and the need to leave the app when the user wants to make a call
