Facebook has today rolled out its new VoIP calling feature to Messenger users in the United Kingdom, following its launch in the United States back in January. Available only on the iPhone, the feature allows users to make free voice calls to their Facebook friends over Wi-Fi and 3G.
British carrier O2 has today launched a new VoIP and messaging service called TU Go, which is available to its pay monthly customers with Android and iOS devices. The service allows users to make calls and send texts over the Internet, so even when they have no cell reception, they can connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot and get in touch with friends and family.
Today, Facebook updated its Messenger app for both iOS and Android, adding a voice messaging capability to the app on both platforms.
There have also been reports that Facebook has been rolling out a pilot VOIP feature to the Messenger app, which will let users call other Facebook Messenger friends for free, or at least without incurring carrier voice minute debits.
The VOIP option is not available for all users, as the iOS app is the only one with even a mention of the feature in the app description. TechCrunch reported that the pilot program is only available in Canada for now, as well.
A decade ago, your mobile phone number may not have meant much. In the days before number porting, mobile phone numbers were transient. If you switched carriers or moved, you got a new number.
Things are a bit different today. You can take your number with you from one mobile carrier to another, you can port it VOIP services like Vonage, or forwarding services like Google Voice, and you can even port it to a landline phone. Your phone number, much like your personal email address or Twitter account, belongs to you for as long as you want to keep it.
That can create a problem for companies implementing BYOD programs. If an employees bring their own phones, they also bring their own numbers. For many employees, particularly those that are mobile professionals, their mobile number is the go-to number to reach them. When such an employee leaves that company, what happens to his or her phone number?
When FaceTime was first introduced back in June 2010, Steve Jobs noted the video calling feature would be available to users over 3G once the necessary agreements with carriers had been made. Nearly a year on, FaceTime still requires a Wi-Fi connection, but it could be about to make its debut over 3G in Germany.
If you’ve spent much time podcasting, Skyping, recording any kind of audio on your Mac, you’ve no doubt found its built-in microphone woefully inadequate. Well if you’re ready to toss down some Benjamins for an upgrade, the Rode Podcaster Microphone ($230) is a rich-sounding, easy-to-use option you should consider.
VoxOx’s free telephony app was already heavy on features when it launched earlier this year. Now it adds two more big features: outbound faxing capability (previously the app only had the ability to receive faxes) and two-way, realtime SMS translations.
Over a year ago, when Skype’s iOS app was finally upgraded with the ability to work as a backgrounded app, it was a big step in the direction of untethering voice communications from the telcoms. Today marks the next big step in that direction, as both Skype’s iPhone and iPad app add Bluetooth support.
A pair of new goodies from Logitech were revealed today; we actually snagged a little time to check out both when Logitech lifted the curtain for us at a sneak preview a couple of months ago.
I’ve worked at a few desks that used Cisco VoIP phones (one in the Wired.com offices among them); but something like the new Invoxia NVX 610 iPhone-controlled conference phone may eventually turn conventional handsets — even VoIP ones — into relics.
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![Logitech Unveils Two New Bluetooth Gadgets for the iPad [Hands-On]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/logitech-bluetooth-2.jpg "logitech-bluetooth-2")
