All voice calls on the new Zer01 Mobile service will be VoIP, delivered over AT&T's wireless data network into the company's own IP backbone. Zer01 says they will offer service at $69.95 per month without a contract.

All calls on Zer01 phones will go through a proprietary VoIP application that currently runs on Windows Mobile 6 phones. In the future, the app will be ported to Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Java, and even jail-break iPhones. The VoIP application has several new technologies, says the company, including a software-tie in to enable dialing from the phone's keypad without launching a separate VoIP app, and some QoS optimization to enable VoIP to effectively run over EDGE and GPRS data networks.

Zer01 also uses interconnect agreements to move data to and from AT&T's network onto their own IP backbone, so each device on the Zer01 network gets a fixed IP address and opens up a VPN tunnel to the company's servers. By using interconnect agreements, Zer01 can get around carrier 5 GB/month data caps and offer unlimited data, says the company; bandwidth hogs should note that company systems will do some traffic management so local cellular networks aren't overloaded.

A closed beta of the service will be launched in April, and a commercial launch date should be set at CTIA on April 1.

For more:
- PC Mag. Post [1].

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