Fring, iCall Support VOIP Over 3G On iPhone; Where Is Skype?

While AT&T long ago announced it was removing any restrictions on iPhone VOIP application on their network, Apple didn’t follow suit. With the release of the latest, iPhone / iPad / iPod touch SDK, that restriction has been removed, and VOIP companies are jumping into the 3G pool.

iCall was the first VOIP company to announce 3G support with their VOIP app. In fact, iCall announced its 3G capability the same day as the iPad announcement, which also released the new SDK.

On Thursday, Fring announced the same functionality was now available via its app. In fact, it sounds like all they had was a server-side block on the functionality, as their blog post announcing 3G support notes no new Fring app is required. Fring works with Skype, and allows MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo! and AIM messaging.

Speaking of Skype, in December they said they had a 3G-enabled version ready, but because of Apple’s restrictions, they never submitted it. Now users are (rightfully) dinging the company in its forums as Fring and iCall have beaten it out the gate. One would have expected Skype to be first, or at least fast, honestly.