The next maemo device will have a SIM card and it will have access to 3.5G data through phone networks, so it will have internet access wherever there's a phone signal.

At the same time, more and more people are able to get unlimited data for a fixed monthly fee, and non-fixed data charges are going down too (in the EU we're also about to get fairly low mobile data price caps to speed up drops in prices).

The upshot of all this is, will VOIP through mobile data be good enough to replace conventional phone calls? If so, would the next Maemo device be usable as a phone despite not having access to a conventional voice service?

And if many people did use VOIP through their SIM card, would that overload the phone networks' data capacity quite quickly?

Any thoughts on this?

I've never found Skype to be consistently as good as a wired or cellular network. I regularly get drop-outs and disconnects. So unless other people have much lower standards, or much better luck with Skype, or a VOIP with much better quality of service than Skype, I don't see how it's "good enough" to replace conventional phone calls.

Theoretically, yes. Practically, we're close but not quite there... at least on a large scale.

Yeah, that's what I suspect is the case for most people: VOIP is good enough to try, and good enough to replace expensive international calls, but not good enough to rely upon for local calls.

Even on my home broadband Skype tends to drop the call almost every time I use it, which isn't surprising considering it's free but it also makes it very awkward to use. I use it a lot to save money when phoning abroad, but I rarely use it to phone people in the same country.

Nevertheless I'm going to give it a go when I get the next maemo device, as it should make an interesting article.

VoIP phone as only phone is feasible, but you need reliable network and relatively low ping.

I have had VoIP service in my house for many years and it works flawlessly. (I do have FiOS (fiber optic) internet... so that's not a big surprise.) VoIP over cellular networks is a different story since there tends to be more dropped packets and longer ping... so I'm not sure I'd like to have that as an only option. However, my parents have currently a mobile phone with 3G plan and N810, and we talk to each others through them using SIP VoIP every once in a while. It seem to work pretty good when they are in the 3G coverage area. But once they go to EDGE area their upload speed becomes a bottleneck and voice quality suffers significantly. The long ping seem to affect less than I first though.

So at good 3G (or better) coverage area I would say it is feasible...

I'm living off of it just fine. $60 for a year of unlimited local and long distance anywhere i have wifi is pretty pimp.

First I must admit to having no personal experience using VoIP through mobile phones. Some/many networks also ban VoIP data connections or sell separate (Skype?) usage packages.

But supposing service providers' policies, coverage and latency were no issues, the usability of the next Maemo device as the only telephony (and videocall?) device would also depend on its design and ergonomics. Too large or too thick is out. Pressing a bright (unless it autosenses usage) LCD screen against your oily face (when wireless headsets are inconvenient or unavailable)?

I'm not sure if Krisse is looking for positive or negative reinforcement to this idea, but certainly with the right accessories it could be done.

What is Maemo hardware wrt. VoIP? An UI with data processing capabilities and radio.

What is VoIP mostly used for today? To circumvent expensive per minute long-distance or overseas phonecalls, for videocalls (not cheap using 3G) or perhaps for privacy (with encryption) or for lines that are mostly open (such as between offices). Can (the majority of) my local contacts call my VoIP number using their local call plans?

Stationary VoIP users probably outnumber mobile phone VoIP users by a healthy margin. Personally I'd also think the VoIP ecosystem would be better if it was done via standard protocols (SIP?) instead of a single corporation (like eBay's Skype).

Localized 3G data plans can also be murderous for those who frequently travel abroad.

If a somewhat N8x0-sized tablet was my only mobile voice device, regardless of ergonomics I'd rather keep it mostly in my pocket, bag or belt pouch and would hope to see new innovative accessories to take care of the interfacing issues of making and receiving phonecalls. Watches with simple UI for handling calls and status info, dongles, clips, credit card sized remotes and what have you; and once you go down that route, why not have a tiny and dumb GSM/CDMA dongle for feeding cheap non-VoIP local calls through that system as well since the UI is already handled via (mainly) the Maemo device and/or easy call handling via its accessories. (will the next Bluetooth replacement have lower latency besides higher bandwidth?)

With mobile converged SMS & email increasingly popular I could imagine a well-designed Maemo device w/ slideout keyboard or excellent virtual keyboard being able to fulfill many needs and user cases. However providing good-enough VoIP experience depends also on the (local) data network and SIP (or Skype-like) providers.

But what if I can I hook up a very compact $200 ARM-based netbook with an (inexpensive) handset? Price will also play a role in the mix of voice and portable computing devices. What benefits would a Maemo tablet + compact netbook combo provide? A small tablet would be ideal for handwriting text entry in the many non-alphabet-based languages but now I must stop my blatant digressions before I am banned from here for good!

You cannot compare skype to any decent sip provider. I use them for my international calls and they're pretty good (and cheaper than skype, which rhymes with....).
Also, voip is quite low bandwidth, so it shouldn't be too much of a burden on the network.
Edit: anyway, I don't think the new tablet will be ok as a voip phone due to the battery life: who needs a phone that'll be dead in 2 hours?

in many areas i dont get a data connection at all, while voice quality is still acceptable. so: no voip for me except in selected situations. (and only as sip, of course.)

They don't have any major restrictions here in Finland, you can use your connection for anything you want, though some networks ban P2P (but I think most people can live with that restriction on a mobile device).

I have used Skype through a 3G connection, but the problem was the person at the other end only had a 2G (GPRS) connection so the sound was very low quality indeed.

One interesting thing though, Nokia announced at the beginning of the year that they would be integrating Skype services into their phones. I assume that's only for use through wi-fi, but it would be fascinating to see what would happen if it allowed 3G use too.


It would definitely autosense usage, I have a Nokia 5800 and it switches the screen off whenever you're talking on it.

Using the 5800 is also ergonomically no different to any other phone. Even non-touch phones nowadays have large screens which you would also press against your face.


I have no hidden agenda at all, I'm just trying to start a discussion of the pros and cons of VOIP through mobile networks. :-)


It might be better to do through SIP, but it's possibly too late to do anything about it because people will naturally flock to whichever service is easiest to use and has the most members.

At the moment Skype is by far the easiest to use and has by far the largest membership. My parents aren't exactly computer geniuses, but they know how to install and use Skype. They do not know how to install and use any other VOIP system, in fact they don't even know about any other VOIP system because no other systems advertise themselves.

(This is why I get so frustrated with certain open source project members who think the technology alone will draw users in. It won't.)


If you buy your device unlocked you can use it with local SIM cards all over the world, so you'd only ever be paying whatever the locals pay.

Even 3G phones are starting to carry multiple frequencies to allow worldwide use.


It seems that future maemo devices will be smaller than the current tablets, and a lot closer to the size of mobile phones. That should make it a lot more plausible to use as a phone.