A forward thinking platform should be based on open standards and built with interoperability with other services in mind. How successful would have the original telephone networks been if users from AT&T were unable to talk to subscribers on another network.

Google Talk, built with open standards XMPP and Jingle, is a great alternative btw.

of course there are now and will be 3rd party options to help make cheap calls even though skypeout/in is blocked. basically callback services that work with skypenames in place of phone numbers.

this would all help get skype into the enterprise switchboards as well.

If you have a Time Warner Cable internet connection, and you have a LAN, then the time warner LAN is your WAN by extension.

Anyway, what he said was correct, it was just correct at a much larger scale than the typical home LAN.

To require or even suggest that a 3G network should be used for transport for his services, is quite frankly, assuming that he or his company knows more about the economics of transport than the carrier. I am probably taking him out of context, but, let’s just set the extreme bound so, perhaps we can meet in the middle.

Personally, my experience in Mobile VoIP has been less the glamorous despite what the Skype fanboys say (I am a fanboy of skype, but I am also a fanboy of carrier economics). I hope Josh is not asking to utilize 3G specifically, but wants deeper integration into the mobile phone irrespective of what technology is used. Ex. 3Uk’s skypephone is deeply integrated with skype (presence, contacts, etc), however, it uses voice switching to complete calls, skype sessions, etc.

I don’t believe most rationale carriers would balk from such situation and quite frankly, the carriers really don’t have a choice with the unlimited minutes and Google voice alternatives.

When we tell carriers that they must transport voice over 3G, especially when it costs them more money to do this, vs. the legacy switch network, you will run into real-world opposition. Or quite simply, the data plan prices will increase to offset the extra data tonnage and backhaul needed at the towers. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

I have very interesting and timely tid-bit of information on Skype and US Patent 7,089,319 applicability and behind the scenes buyout drama. I am one of the inventors listed on the patent, and this is NOT a sales pitch of any kind. Just wanted to run an idea and a concept by someone of your experience and knowledge of social network community. I could not find your e-mail. Please contact me at anthony_remove_(at)adrodotcom

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,089,319.PN.&OS=PN/7,089,319&RS=PN/7,089,319

And given that Skype uses 3-4x more radio capacity than a cellular voice call, I have absolutely no sympathy with the idea the mobile operators should allow it.