Facebook Enables Free iPhone Voice Calls

FACEBOOK - Press technology began buzzing earlier this month with reports that Facebook plans to add VoIP (voice over IP) calls to Messenger for iPhone application. New features officially arrived Tuesday, when Facebook released an update to the application.

Facebook app transmits calls using a broadband connection on your phone, whatever it is - 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi. Instead of consuming your monthly voice minutes given by your service provider, it takes a megabyte of data packets you. It was a boon for heavy speaker with an unlimited data plan.

This is nothing new or groundbreaking technology: Skype did that long before Facebook. Facebook has more active users than Skype, though, and the lure to use less of the network or the application will appeal to some (seems to be a lot).

But this can not be for all, at this time would seriously limited.

Your phone will not remind you that way when you have a normal call: Facebook calls only appears as a push notification. And now, you can only connect with a friend who also had a conversation on the iPhone Messenger installed them.

You tidakdapat call a Facebook friend who log in through the website, and there is no way to place a call to a phone-digit number. Calling is still absent from the version of Android and the BlackBerry Messenger application.

There is a good reason for their omission. VoIP features in the web version of Facebook was built by using Skype technology, while the technology is all the calling Messenger Facebook. The ability to place and receive calls using traditional phone numbers require telecommunications resources Facebook does not have (at the moment, at least).

For now, services like Google Voice and Skype has legs, given a large set of features. But Facebook generally does not allow anything to remain in the state for long. as we know that facebook would rather start with a little, and continue to refine its products. Expect the same with voice calls.

And unlike Google Voice and Skype (owned by Microsoft), Facebook is the platform 100% neutral. Facebook does not care if you use the app on iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry or something crazy like Ubuntu.

In a time when every company keep the best features of the product to the mobile ecosystem itself, Facebook has a chance to instantly win both competitions and build-killing voice telecommunications services.

It will be really interesting.