Skype lovers will get 3G VoIP support over the iPhone “real soon”

True to our predictions, the moment the starting gun for VoIP calls being allowed on AT&T’s 3G network went off, Skype has begun completing, (rather than writing from scratch) a version for the iPhone which can offer voice over the 3G network.

AT&T said last week that its 3G network would allow VoIP calls over HSDPA, and then Apple changed the terms of service on its SDK to allow them and has issued a new version, 3.2, which removes the restrictions on calling over 3G. Skype won’t be the first to offer 3G VoIP calls, because iCall and Fring are supposed to be racing to get onto the App Store with one first, any day now.

We also expect the AT&T decision may well force Apple into allowing Google Voice on the iPhone as well, but that’s another story. Google Voice is an altogether more complex issue whereby you appear to have one phone number with advanced services, which can run on multiple phones.

The Skype version was discussed on a the Share Skype Blog on the Skype website, and the service needs a call quality indicator written for 3G networks (green, yellow, red), so that you know what to expect from a 3G VoIP Skype call in your location, in much the same way Skype already does on Skype iPhone for wi-fi right now.

The newer SILK Codec from Skype, which came out last March, needs to be added to the system which is supposed to use 50% less network bandwidth or provide better quality for the same bandwidth. It will supposedly provide CD quality voice over 3G, says Skype.

No date yet, just that Skype for iPhone 3G will come real soon, and the tone of the discussion is that it will be out in weeks not months.

Part of this is down to Apple introducing the iPad, which is perhaps the reason that Apple got behind convincing AT&T that if this was to sell 3G data plans with the device, it also needed to support VoIP.