Broadband Phone Services

Verizon is the strongest home communications network in the US that provides Internet, telephone and television services over a fiber optic communications network.  Skype on the other hand is a cheaper alternative for calls and peer-to-peer communications in general.  The partnership aims to offer more reliable Skype and Verizon services for their users. Skype and Verizon announced their partnership in February 2010 at the Mobile world Congress in Barcelona. Since then, they have been rolling out services that are impacting the way we communicate with others and share information.

Skype Mobile for Verizon Wireless

One of the results of the partnership between Verizon and Skype is that Skype mobile is now available on Verizon’s wireless network.  While Skype mobile gives you access to over 500 million people on Skype worldwide, Verizon Wireless makes Skype’s calling technology available to over 90 million of its users. The performance, speed, coverage, and reliability of the wireless network have come to change the way we stay in touch. You no longer need Wi-Fi or computer to communicate and collaborate with your employees, clients, colleagues or loved ones. All that is needed are 3G smartphones. Their client/server solution is optimized for efficient bandwidth usage with minimal impact on battery life.

You cannot however use Skype mobile app on your Verizon wireless android phone while connected to a Wi-Fi network. It will give you a message to either disable or exit Wi-Fi or switch to Verizon wireless data network. This also applies to blackberry phones or windows mobile phones. They both don’t use a Wi-Fi connection. They only use Verizon’s wireless data network. With Skype mobile, you’ll save no matter where you are. You’ll get great low rates on international calls to landlines and mobile numbers. Skype and Verizon have now finally brought the world to your fingertips. And this is just the beginning.

What the Media is Saying about these channel Partners

Since Skype and Verizon announced their partnership at the Mobile world conference in Barcelona, the media have been highlighting certain issues where the partnership may have flaws. Some of the areas include the exclusion of certain Blackberry and android devices and the possibility of facing stiff competition in the long run.

This partnership is already favoring 3G smart phones and some Blackberry models like BlackBerry Storm 9550, BlackBerry Tour 9630, BlackBerry Storm 9530 and BlackBerry Curve 8530. As for the Android phones those included are Motorola DROID, the HTC DROID ERIS and the Motorola Devour. This means the exclusion of all others. They are saying that the partnership is supposed to look into a situation where an application should be created to cater to the others as fast as possible. If this is not done, they are likely to face competition from Google soon. Google has started putting their pieces together to take over the P2P market in the not to distant future. The media is also saying that since you can still incur monthly charges, this means the companies are more concerned about making profits than about serving the people.

Will this Partnership Affect the Use of  the iphone and Android Phones?

Since some Wi-Fi dependent users are affected by the partnership, it means that some of the Verizon users who use android will have to rely on Skype apps for android and iphone in order not to be left behind. People are already watching out for technology that will roll out to breach the gab that is already created because of the partnership between Skype and Verizon.