Vonage Mobile offers free Canada and U.S. calling for a limited time

Vonage already provided free calls between Facebook users last year. With the recently launched a new version of its Vonage Mobile app, the company is making calls free to anyone in Canada, the U.S, and Puerto Rico for a limited time, regardless of whether or not those other users have the app installed --and you stay under the 3000 minutes per month, of course. After that, rates will be "on average 70 percent less than major mobile carriers and 30 percent less than Skype," according to a advertisement package we have received.

Full disclosure: Education & Tech has been paid to comment on this free calling app for local and free international mobile calls.

VoIP service Vonage new app works on the iPhone (including the iPad) and Android. Vonage promises free app-to-app calls and 30-percent cheaper VoIP than its well-known rival. In fact, voice calls using the Vonage Mobile will save you 70% over major carriers and costs 30% less than Skype. For calls to mobile users without the app, they can add calling credit in either $4.99 or $9.99 increments right from the iTunes store or Android Market.

As you’d hope, there is integration with your phone’s address book, and you’re contacted via your existing mobile number. Unlike Dell Voice, which gives you an entirely new number, for example; outgoing Vonage calls shouldn’t be cause to have your recipients hit the Ignore button.

In a consumer communications market outside North America which tops the $300 billion, Vonage mobile app puts the company in direct competition with Skype and raises the stakes for other carriers looking to protect their existing business model.

After installing the free calling app for iPhone and Android, users need to activate the app via a six-digit number sent via SMS. Vonage Mobile also asks for your email address so it can send you update notifications. Vonage Mobile, however, doesn't integrate directly into the phone's dialer. You'll have to launch the app, select a contact, and then dial. The drawback is that Vonage Mobile is an enormous app. It has consumed a full 25 Mbytes on my iPhone.

For more information on Vonage Mobile, please go to www.vonagemobile.com.



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Milton Ramirez