I have been a Vonage customer for many years now and the at home voice-over-IP company has come a long way from those early days. Â Their suite of offerings continues to improve including into mobile apps for iPhone and Android devices. Â Their latest app is Vonage Mobile. Â This app works over 3G, 4G and WiFi networks to give you the ability to make free or very low cost calls (including international calls) and text messaging.
The app works by leveraging the data network of your iPhone to make calls or to place SMS’.  Like a true VoIP solution, if you use the Vonage Mobile app while connected to WiFi, you are using none of your data plan with your carrier, making the calls essentially free.  For SMS, think of it as Vonage’s version of iMessage.  You can SMS other Vonage Mobile users (regardless of what platform they are on) for free.  This has a big advantage over Apple’s iMessage in that you may have family members who use Android devices instead of iPhones.  Now you can text with them for free using this app.  Over the past few weeks I’ve been giving the Vonage app a test drive and I have to say I’m very impressed with its quality and stability.
The Vonage app is designed for iPhone and requires about 15MB of storage on your device. Â The app download itself is free but in-app purchases of Vonage credit are supported (more information on this a bit later). Â When you initially start the app you will be asked to allow it to access your contacts on your iPhone. Â This is so the app can determine which of your contacts are using Vonage (either as their home phone or the Vonage app) so you can make calls to them at no charge regardless of their location.
After the Vonage app has completed synchronizing your contacts, you have a list of your contacts with three options at the top of the display. Â The default view is a list of all of your contacts. Â Using the Vonage app you can call anyone in your contacts from the app. Â The next tab are those contacts who are Vonage users. Â They are noted with the small Vonage icon next to their names. Â These contacts you can call free of charge anywhere in the world using the Vonage app. Â Finally there is an invite tab where you can send an email to contacts to invite them to download the Vonage app to use.
A key thing to remember is that you do not have to be a Vonage customer to use the Vonage Mobile app.  It is available to everyone and does not require that you sign up for their service (although I’m perfectly happy with them and would recommend them).  If you are a Vonage customer then you can call any Vonage customer for free from the app.
When you want to make a phone call using the Vonage app, tap the contacts name. Â You will be prompted on if you want to use your mobile minutes via your carrier or if you want to make a VoIP call via the Vonage app. Â If you select VoIP then you are essentially making the call for free as the call is placed over your wireless network or 3G network. Â Even if you access your 3G network to make the call you are usually at a lower cost point than your phone minutes.
In testing the app I found that using it over WiFi, as expected, provided a more robust and reliable phone call. Â The call quality was outstanding, even on a marginal WiFi network (like in a hotel) and was superior on my beefy home WiFi network.
The app supports in-app purchases for Vonage credits so you can place calls to friends and family who have not downloaded the app.  There are two levels of purchases available â€" $4.99 and $9.99.  Rates of consumption will depend on where you are calling and the app includes a calculator to help you determine how much a call will cost you.  Keep in mind though that anyone world wide can download the app (as long as it is in their localized App Store) so you can use it to call and text friends and family abroad.  The in-app purchases are linked to your iTunes account so there is no need to put in credit card information.  The Vonage app will leverage your purchasing information linked to your iTunes.
Another great feature of the Vonage app is the SMS functionality built into it.  Like phone calls, the Vonage app allows you to send and receive SMS messages in the app from other Vonage App users.  As I indicated in my opening remarks, think of this as Vonage’s version of iMessage.  These SMS’ are no cost to you and I found the service to be very reliable in my testing for this review.
Having used the Vonage app for several weeks now I have to say I am impressed with it. Â The ease of use is there, the call quality (especially on WiFi) is terrific and the ability to SMS in the app is both reliable and easy. Â As a long time Vonage customer there are some additional benefits for me but even if you are not a customer, you can use this app and have friends and family use it to make low cost or free phone calls and text messages around the world.
The Vonage Mobile app is free in the App Store and can be downloaded using the link below. Â I encourage you to give it a try and see what you think. Â I doubt you will be disappointed.
Vonage Mobile â€" Free International Calls & Texts â€" Vonage [1]
Links
- ^ Vonage Mobile â€" Free International Calls & Texts â€" Vonage (click.linksynergy.com)
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