VoIP on the BlackBerry

BlackBerry is one of the most well known mobile handset manufacturers in the world. Its ubiquity as a corporate email solution is nearly unchallenged, as is their secure communication channels that allow unlimited privacy via the BlackBerry servers. It's quite a flexible platform and many third parties have created applications that run on the BlackBerry OS.

Which is why it's surprising that there are no native VoIP clients for BlackBerry users. There are some workarounds though, which enable users to dial into a number which calls them back - but this uses up minutes and defeats one of the main benefits of VoIP, namely cost savings.

There have been many reasons why BlackBerry has a crippled VoIP ecosystem. Other mobile phones with VoIP have a wide range of choices. Android and the iOS have a vibrant VoIP community with a number of providers offering their services for use with VoIP either over wi fi, or with the regular data plan. BlackBerry users have often chafed at this disparity in functionality.

One of the reasons why there isn't a proper VoIP solution for BlackBerry is that there isn't any proper API for SIP based VoIP calls. This makes it very difficult for third party developers. Also, BlackBerry is known for its corporate tie ups and the existence of VoIP is a significant threat to its relationships with existing partners. Therefore, while no policy has been officially announced, it hasn't given good support for voice based applications.

Recently however, a VoIP client was introduced for the BlackBerry platform that has caused waves all over the tech world. An Indian company called TringMe has crafted a solution that uses regular Wi fi for VoIP calls when it's available. When it's not, the service switches back to local access with a callback solution. This is a real boon for users who find themselves in a wi fi enabled workplace for most of the day and haven't been able to make use of it till now.

It even works with third party SIP clients - the user has to set up the connections manually. It supports advanced features such as one click conferencing and encrypted calling over wi fi. Hopefully this one application will open the floodgates and more providers will get on board. TringMe isn't revealing details about how they pulled off this magic trick of bypassing the regular calling minutes on the BlackBerry, but it's certainly interesting!

Bhagwad is an expert in Business VoIP systems. He also specializes in Mobile Phones with VoIP.