Review: Vonage Mobile for iPhone

Overview Apple’s kung fu grip strikes again – Vonage Mobile for iPhone is DOA. So divorce yourself from what you thought Vonage Mobile for iPhone would do, because it does none of that. Vonage Mobile for iPhone is a discount international per-minute calling app, aka a ‘Calling Card’, and it's going to cost you over and above what you already pay for Vonage every month. Features How does Vonage Mobile for iPhone work? Well, the Vonage Mobile for iPhone uses your cellular voice plan minutes or a Wi-Fi connection to make cut rate international calls. Yes, you read that right, you have to pay Vonage for the per-minute calls and it eats away your cellular voice plan minutes if you are on your cellular providers network. WHAT? Yes, and if all that isn’t enough you will have to pony up on the cash and prepay for your per-minute international Vonage calls. Vonage Mobile for iPhone has the following features:

• A dialer much like the standard iPhone dialer but with a funds balance display
• Standard call history, contacts, and keypad buttons
• A link to your Twitter account so you can tweet directly from the dialer
• A My Account button that takes you directly to your account so you can juice up your balance

The Breakdown The Good The UI for Vonage Mobile for iPhone is nice and it allows you to make discounted international calls and it does that very well. Seriously though, that’s all I could find positive to say about Vonage Mobile for iPhone. Maybe with AT&T blessing VoIP over 3G recently Vonage Mobile for iPhone can change for the better. But, until then, that is all I the positive I can muster. The Bad If you have a regular Vonage account you can fuhgeddaboudit because Vonage Mobile for iPhone does not allow you to do anything with that account. As a matter of fact, you have to create a new and separate account with Vonage to use Vonage Mobile for iPhone. How’s that for convenient? I also have to remind you that because of AT&T you have to burn through your plan minutes and pay Vonage when you use Vonage Mobile for iPhone on 3G. To use Vonage Mobile for iPhone you have to open the app and then dial to qualify for Vonage’s discount rates. On the Blackberry however, things are markedly different. Research In Motion (RIM) allowed the Vonage discount rates to kick in anytime you dial an international number. In layman’s terms Apple’s and AT&T’s death grip on the iPhone has a lot to do with Vonage Mobile for iPhone ending in the FAIL column. The Verdict Vonage Mobile for iPhone is a total FAIL due to expectations, I mean it does well but if you don’t make international calls don’t bother. I’m not in a hurry to burn through my mobile minutes while paying Vonage. If a n international call is so serious that I can’t wait till I get to my home Vonage account, it is probably worth the money to go ahead and make the call.