***Updated***
A German court has granted a request by wireless carrier T-Mobile by issuing an injunction banning the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) on Apple Inc.'s iPhone.
The Order prevents the download of an beta-test phase application called "Sipgate". Sipgate can only be accessed by users that have jailbroken their phones (to run apps not available for download at the apple apps store). The application allows the iphone to place calls through the iphone's internet connection (rather than over T-Mobile's cellphone network). By placing free VoIP calls from wherever there is a Wi-Fi connection, a user avoids incurring airtime charges to the cellphone carrier (T-Mobile).
The injunction prevents Sipgate (who was not allowed to submit arguments to the Hamburg Court) from advertising and distributing the software. However, the decision also upheld
an earlier injunction against T-Mobile that prevents the carrier from advertising the iPhone in Germany because claims of "unlimited" internet usage were misleading given a long list of restrictions (including a ban on VoIP use). Canadian carriers have also recently been criticized by customers for promoting "unlimited" services that are limited in many ways, however Canadian regulators and Courts have not yet been called on to act.
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2 comments:
I'm not sure if you copied the article from somewhere or wrote it yourself, but jailbreaking is not the act of making a VOIP call. The term "Jailbreaking" is when someone unlocks the software on the iPhone allowing users to put non-Apple approved software on it. Sipgate allows users to place VOIP call on a Jailbroken phone. They are not issuing an injunction banning the actual act of Jailbreaking. Just the advertisement of this particular software.
Thanks. I've updated the post with an edit to clarify the "jail breaking" angle.
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