WhatsApp voice calling – Should mobile operators be worried?

Plenty of win when you add wifi into the mix - totally free calls!
 
Viber and Skype already does voice so not exactly a revolution.

I don't think they are very worried. Its pretty much useless unless both parties have WiFi /good signal.

Might actually help them if enough clueless people get bitten by the nasty R2 /MB charge.
 
Ye, definitely not revolutionary at all.
This new year, we celebrated at home and were Skype video calling on our cells, to our mates around the world, through our adsl. Perfect clarity voice and video, and the only money begrudgingly going to telskum, was for the line rental.
 
Facebook Messager also does calls but the quality is not great.
 
Yep, Vodacom isn't worried... charging out of bundle data fees for VoIP over their network.

I got another question for y'all:

I personally don't like receiving "business" whatsapps. Whatsapp has always been more of a messaging service between mates, at least for me. Clients and colleagues should SMS or email.

So, would you like to receive calls over Whatsapp from telemarketers, clients and other work related personnel?
 
The one plus for operators is that now both people will pay for a call. This could be a stumbling block too, to call people, they need data available.

Either way, I look forward to trying it when it launches.
 
FlashSA said:
Plenty of win when you add wifi into the mix - totally free calls!
Click to expand...

Yep, if Whatsapp to Whatsapp voice calls are free then at least 90% of my calls will be for free and I won't be paying one of the mobile operators a cent in the process since I won't even be using GSM data in the process (fixed line access with Wifi at home and work).
If both parties have fixed line access it bypasses the mobile networks entirely which means zero revenue for them.

I can understand why MTN SA's CEO Ahmad Farroukh is a bit worried.
MTN boss derides OTT ‘free riders’
 
cr@zydude said:
The one plus for operators is that now both people will pay for a call. This could be a stumbling block too, to call people, they need data available.

Either way, I look forward to trying it when it launches.
Click to expand...

Sjoe...I didn't even think about that...Also if you were to phone someone while they were overseas..they would have to take out a second bond to pay the bill for the roaming data charge..If they were stupid enough to take the call...suppose all things being equal this will just balance out...they will recoup the cost somewhere...

Didn't they used to charge extra if they picked up voip traffic on your 3G connection..?
 
HavocXphere said:
Viber and Skype already does voice so not exactly a revolution.

I don't think they are very worried. Its pretty much useless unless both parties have WiFi /good signal.

Might actually help them if enough clueless people get bitten by the nasty R2 /MB charge.
Click to expand...

How many people have viber and skype on their phone? How many have whatsapp? I think they should be worried
 
Paul_S said:
Yep, if Whatsapp to Whatsapp voice calls are free then at least 90% of my calls will be for free and I won't be paying one of the mobile operators a cent in the process since I won't even be using GSM data in the process (fixed line access with Wifi at home and work).
If both parties have fixed line access it bypasses the mobile networks entirely which means zero revenue for them.

I can understand why MTN SA's CEO Ahmad Farroukh is a bit worried.
MTN boss derides OTT ‘free riders’
Click to expand...

Which means less load on the networks so better quality for everyone overall?
 
cr@zydude said:
The one plus for operators is that now both people will pay for a call. This could be a stumbling block too, to call people, they need data available.

Either way, I look forward to trying it when it launches.
Click to expand...

Which is why BBM is smart enough to only let you make calls over wifi.
 
So the operators can make more dough through OOB, should the user not have a data bundle loaded (or it runs dry).
 
Petec said:
Ye, definitely not revolutionary at all.
This new year, we celebrated at home and were Skype video calling on our cells, to our mates around the world, through our adsl. Perfect clarity voice and video, and the only money begrudgingly going to telskum, was for the line rental.
Click to expand...
And how does it effect Blackberries BIZ? :-)
 
I dont think this will really impact providers. Call quality will always be better using carrier grade voice services. And remember that you pay for receiving calls via VoIP. Once this catches on people wont be so eager to answer via whatsapp.
 
backstreetboy said:
Google Hangouts FTFW! Works great and better sound quality then with GSM calls.
Click to expand...
+10
I used Hangouts when I was in USA and UK.
The t-Mobile/EE SIM cards I had only did local calls and data.
Hangouts worked a treat - even does video call.
Great to chat & see the family back home.

Highly recommend Google Hangouts.
 
SteveO said:
I dont think this will really impact providers. Call quality will always be better using carrier grade voice services. And remember that you pay for receiving calls via VoIP. Once this catches on people wont be so eager to answer via whatsapp.
Click to expand...

If they use the Opus codec then quality should be good with very low data usage
 
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