Skype for iPhone gets 3G support, but it will cost you

The good news is that the latest update to Skype for iPhone finally allows you to make calls over AT&T's 3G network. The bad news is that those calls will cost you a "small monthly fee." The fee starts in August for Skype calls to regular numbers, but Skype-to-Skype calls over 3G will still be free until the end of the year.

The fee makes some sense, because Skype over 3G will likely add additional strain to AT&T's (notoriously unreliable) network. Best guess? The fee offsets whatever AT&T is charging Skype for the extra bandwidth this will inevitably suck up.

From a Skype user's perspective, though, an additional fee is a nasty surprise. Users have grown accustomed to getting all Skype-to-Skype calls for free, and changing that will no doubt anger some of them.

3G calling, combined with the ability to run Skype in the background in Apple's upcoming iPhone OS 4.0, would give AT&T's phone service a run for its money. Why pay for a voice plan with extra minutes when you can Skype any time over the same network for less? There's no information about what 3G Skype service will cost per month, so it's hard to say whether it's time to downgrade your minutes or not.

[via Wired]

Tags: 3g, atT, calls, iphone, phone, skype, voip