Vonage has been battling Skype for many, many years, but they’re not letting up now that the latter has been acquired by Microsoft.

The Internet calling company, which came dangerously close to dying a few years ago, this morning launched a new Vonage Mobile app for iPhone and Android, offering free calls and texts to anyone who also has the app installed (as predicted a few weeks ago).

This is hardly the first time Vonage has debuted apps for smartphone platforms, but this one is definitely worth checking out.

Vonage says the app, which works over Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G wireless data networks, provides users with international per-minute calling rates that are, on average, 70 percent lower than major mobile carriers and 30 percent lower than Skype (based on per-minute rates to the top 50 countries called).

Vonage Mobile users can instantly add calling credit directly from the app through iTunes or Android Market, in increments of $4.99 and $9.99. Also worth noting: the app utilizes the phone’s existing mobile number and contact list, removing a lot of the hassle of using such a service.

Also important: users do not need to be a Vonage customer to use the app. However, as an added benefit to all app users, calls to Vonage home or business lines are also free.

Also read: Call All Your Facebook Friends Free With Vonage

Editor’s note: Guest writer Jules Maltz is a General Partner at Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), a late-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park. You can follow him on Twitter @julesmaltz.

One of my favorite recent blog posts is Seth Godin’s “Getting funded is not the same as succeeding.”   Whether or not we’re in a bubble, it’s a sign of the times that this post has to be written in the first place.   As Josh Elman tweets, we’ve gone from RIP Good Times to funding a grilled cheese company in less than three years (Sequoia was involved in both interestingly).  Instead of focusing on the companies that are creating the most value for their customers, we’re talking about who raised the largest round or who’s part of the billion dollar valuation club.

And this is dangerous.  It’s dangerous because we’re celebrating the “success” of fund raisings rather than the success of building truly valuable businesses.   Fundraising success does not always predict long-term success, and the data shows it.  Below are the largest technology venture fundraisings from 2004 to 2008 according to VentureSource (Note: I purposely excluded data from the current bubble and from cleantech, which I imagine only further supports the point).

While many of these companies have had good outcomes (IVP invested in HomeAway, Cortina, and Vonage), it’s surprising how few lasting, quality multi-billion dollar companies are on this list.   Having a successful mega-fundraising is a lot like being an NBA lottery draft pick.  It can feel great at the time, but just like for Darko Milicic, Michael Olowokandi, or Sam Bowie (drafted ahead of Michael Jordan), it doesn’t guarantee success.

So while much of the tech world gets caught up in the hype around valuations, I think we should all get back to business—the business of building great, lasting, sustainable companies.  The kind of companies that pay less attention to joining the billion dollar valuation club and pay more attention to joining the billion dollar revenue club.

Have you been looking for a way to call your Facebook friends on your iPhone or your Android device? Haven’t figured out their numbers yet? A new solution from Vonage offers free calls to all you Facebook friends who, virally, have downloaded the same app. The calls work over WiFi and 3G/4G networks.

The app, called Vonage Mobile for Facebook, is an odd, viral solution for voice communications. The app trolls your Facebook profile for compatible friends and shows you that they are able to either take voice calls or chat. Regular updates remind you to tell your buds about the service via Facebook, thereby completing the human centipede of Vonage connected-ness.

While you could feasibly, you know, call the people you know on the phone, this offers a quick and easy way to get in touch with folks you may not usually be able to reach via standard channels. There’s also an obvious privacy issue here – if you don’t want to be called, this could be abused – but if you’ve downloaded the app the assumption is you’re ready to chat.

There’s now three international plans:

• $9.99 for 1,000 minutes to 70 countries
• $9.99 for “bulk discount” rates to all other countries
• $9.99 availble to just Ooma Premier customers combines the 1,000 minutes plan to 70 countries with the discounted rate plan for all other countries.

Of course the main difference between Ooma and other services like Vonage is that while Ooma has significantly lower calling plans (most are free), customers are required to buy pricey hardware upfront. Where with, say, Vonage, most plans include the cost of the hardware. Either way is a hell of a lot lower cost than what cable providers or traditional telphone providers charge though.

The GE600 comes standard with Windows 7, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB SATA drive. The new machine is currently for sale at Newegg, and you’ll be able to pick it up for $899, today.

From the press release:

CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA – April 28, 2010 – MSI Computer Corp., a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, is proud to announce the availability of the stylish new GE600 gaming notebook. Weighing in at just 5.9 lbs, the GE600 is MSI’s lightest 16-inch gaming notebook to date, but still packs quite a punch with Intel’s powerful new Core i5 processor and ATI Radeon 5730 graphics card — all for under $900.

The GE600’s new ATI Radeon HD5730 GPU supports DirectX 11 graphics, making the notebook compatible with the rapidly approaching next generation of games and 3D graphics. Its new Core i5 processor improves battery life by as much a 15% and Intel’s new Turbo Boost technology can increase overall performance by 30%.

“The new GE600 is a powerful mobile gaming station that delivers everything a gamer needs to emerge from battle victorious in a lightweight affordable package,” said Andy Tung, Vice President of Sales, MSI North America.

The notebook’s handsome new design features a durable scratch resistant chassis, glossy black exterior and a sand accented interior with illuminated touch sensitive hotkeys. The GE600’s raised chiclet keyboard and wide touchpad increase both accuracy and comfort while typing or gaming.

The newest addition to the G-Series family of gaming notebooks also ships with a 16-inch LCD screen with 1366×768 resolution, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 320GB hard drive 7200rpm, a 6-cell battery, Bluetooth connectivity and Microsoft’s Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

Apple’s chief complaint against the Google Voice application was “The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls…”

And that’s ok, because we all know that the real reason Apple won’t let Google Voice through is that they are scared out of their mind that Android and Google Voice will eat their iPhone lunch over the long term. Apple can’t win the fight over the long term, but they sure are willing to say and do anything in the short term to stop the advance of Google.

But you’d think they’d at least be consistent and apply the same arguments to other third party apps. At least until this whole FCC thing blows over.

But Skype’s calling app, which uses Wifi, is totally fine. And yesterday, the Vonage iPhone app, which seems to be just as much of an issue as Google Voice based on that quote at the top, got the green light, too.

Users can use Wifi or cellular minutes, and have to open the Vonage application to make calls. They’ll save a bundle on international calling.

Of course, it’s hard to argue that Vonage doesn’t “alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls.”

But really, I’m not even sure anyone is paying attention at this point. If you care, the truth is this – Apple isn’t threatened by Vonage. The smart thing would have been to reject their app anyway, to stay consistent. But unless someone actually forces Apple to play by the rules, why should they?

Yeah, I know. Apple Fanboys can unleash hell on us now in the comments.

I have been using Vonage since July 2004 and have had zero complaints with the service. It constantly works well and the price was right. That’s what I thought until I just noticed that my rate plan went up from $14.99 to $17.99. Sure, not a huge increase and a warning would be nice, but it’s the fees and taxes that have slowly been added on over the years I have beef with. My first bill for the 500 minute basic rate plan came to $16.94 once taxes were added in. My latest bill was $23.18 for the same plan, which includes a ton of extra fees and taxes now.

Altogether the fees and taxes add up to $5.19 for a $17.99 rate plan. That’s almost 29% of the total bill. Still, I know Vonage is a great deal even at that price but I was curious about why I am paying three different fees for 911 service so I called Vonage up. No one could answer why I need to pay these besides that’s what my county, state, and the US Government requires Vonage to charge its customers. Alright, then what about the Federal Program Fee?

Again, I was told it was required for them to charge this fee. Same thing goes for the Regulatory Recovery Fee. The strange thing is that when I first signed up for Vonage, the only extra fee was the Regulatory Recovery Fee and FET, which totaled$1.95 together. I totally understand that prices change and Vonage has had dealt with some hefty legal issues over the years, but charging 29% in fees is a little ridiculous.

So I called up Comcast and inquired about its Digital Voice service. If Vonage’s VoIP service has these fees, then Comcast’s service probably does as well I thought. Nope. The lady I spoke with went over the fees and taxes with me and there isn’t anything extra besides sales tax and a equipment rental fee of $3 per month, which sounds about right.

Listen, Vonage is still an okay deal at $23.18 post fees and taxes, but the fees are extremely high and need to be addressed. At least reps should be able to explain why customers need to pay ‘em. I am convenced — and could be wrong — that a few of the fees are there to pad the bill for Vonage.

Times are tough for Vonage right now as they struggle to gain new customers. During the second quarter of this year, Vonage only signed up 2,080 new customers compared with 56,691 from the same quarter last year. Their struggles boil down to a lack of advertising cashflow, as well as what we can imagine a tremendous competition increase.

There was a time when Vonage’s snarky commercials filled the prime time airways but that was before the company was ordered to pay $80 million to Sprint. Then throw in new competition from almost every cable provider, along with T-Mobile now too, and it’s easy to spot their troubles from a far.

“Vonage Pro is the VoIP offering that prosumers have been asking for to help them stay connected while on the go.”

Strong words from a strong man (or lady, possibly). The package comes with an updated version of Vonage Companion (Mac version coming soon), which is a SoftPhone powered by CounterPath. All you need to do to use this service is install the software, hook up a headset, and you’re ready for business. If you’re wondering, incoming calls ring on both the home phone and the SoftPhone. You can also make two different outgoing calls at the same time (one over VoIP and the other on the home phone). It also has the other expected features like personalized ring tones, call recording, and call blocking.

If this sounds like something you interested in, expect to pay $35 a month (new customers only) for their unlimited calling package. If you’re an existing customer you can upgrade to Pro for an additional $10 a month.

Wow, does that mean Comcast is promising to stop blocking services like Vonage from running on its network? How sweet!

Vonage Chief Technology Officer Louis Mamakos said in a statement: “This agreement helps Vonage to ensure that customers have the best possible Internet experience. Although we’re competitors with Comcast, this understanding helps our two companies work together to balance the needs of network management with consumers’ ability to freely access the services, applications and content of their choice.”

Comcast also wanted you to know that this is only its “latest” in a series of announcements that “demonstrate the company’s commitment to ensure that its customers’ ability to use any application or access any content they choose while avoiding network congestion situations that could affect the consumer experience.”

Comcast Corporation and Vonage Holdings Corporation announced today a collaborative agreement to address the reasonable network management of Internet services. Comcast committed to work together with Vonage to ensure that network management techniques are chosen that effectively balance the need to avoid network congestion with the need to ensure that over-the-top VoIP services like Vonage work well for consumers.

“This agreement helps Vonage to ensure that customers have the best possible Internet experience,” said Louis Mamakos, Vonage Chief Technology Officer. “Although we’re competitors with Comcast, this understanding helps our two companies work together to balance the needs of network management with consumers’ ability to freely access the services, applications and content of their choice.”

“This collaboration with Vonage, and our outreach to many key participants in the Internet community, demonstrate that we are committed to provide network management solutions that benefit consumers and competition” said Tony Werner, Comcast Chief Technology Officer.

This is the latest in a series of announcements related to Comcast’s network management practices that demonstrate the company’s commitment to ensure that its customers’ ability to use any application or access any content they choose while avoiding network congestion situations that could affect the consumer experience. In March, Comcast announced it would move to a protocol-agnostic network management approach by the end of 2008, and tests on this approach have already begun. Comcast has announced other collaborations with BitTorrent, Inc. and Pando Networks, as well as participation in the P4P Working Group organized by the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA). Comcast has also participated in the IETF Workshop on P2P Infrastructure, and will continue to collaborate in the IETF with other ISPs, P2P providers, and others on technologies related to network management and P2P application development.

For a company like Vonage that’s been hemmoraging money due to legal misunderstandings, it’s a positive sign that after settling with Sprint, its stock went up 74% to $2. That’s still far less than Vonage’s IPO price of $17 per share. Sprint’s stock went down 1.5% to settle at $18.73 per share.

Sprint and Vonage settle patent dispute [Reuters]

Earlier this year, Vonage lost a cool $58 million, plus 5.5% future royalties to Verizon. That now seems somewhat tame. All told, that brings the grand total to $127.5 million plus 10.5% of all future revenue that Vonage is going to have to dish out. Guess who might be picking up some or all of that bill? Vonage customers.

I would like to try to say this as delicately as possible. I understand that many of you out there use Vonage and are happy with the service. I understand that Vonage is a better deal than a traditional phone line and that there are many fine people who work for Vonage.

That being said, I don’t like Vonage one bit. I won’t shed a single tear because of this recent lawsuit. As a former customer, I had a terrible time with its customer service and it took me about a dozen phone calls to cancel my account. I was finally able to do so by telling them that I was moving to Australia to study aboriginal people and would be out in the middle of nowhere with no access to any sort of broadband internet service. I’m not kidding, either.

Vonage to pay Sprint $69.5 million – Yahoo! News

The company also says that they have “substantially completed” the workaround deployment for two of the patents at issue in the company-threatening patent litigation with Verizon. And development of the workaround for the third patent at issue is completed says Chairman Jeffrey Citron. A Federal court will have to agree before the company is in the clear.

Revenues for the quarter were a record $206 million, a 43% increase from the same period last year. Net losses were $34 million, down from $74 million in Q2 2006. The company still has $344 million in cash, although $66 million of that is reserved for collateral in the patent litigation.

Some bad news, though – customer churn increased to 2.5%/month. The company says they are extending the grace period for non-payment to encourage retention…but they may be retaining the deadbeats.

I am a long time Vonage customer but will soon be switching to Ooma (which, by the way, became available for purchase this morning) and getting rid of that $25/month Vonage fee. Vonage is a lot cheaper than a normal phone line, but free is hard to compete with. Perhaps some of the new hardware Vonage is testing with some customers will help them.

It sounds like they’re taking a page out of Ooma’s playbook. Ooma offers users a much more compelling VOIP device as part of their service; it includes a speaker, voicemail controls and other features. Ooma is also free once the hardware is purchased.

The Vonage gateway also includes other features – see the email sent to us below. If you’d like to test it, they are offering a month of free service during the test, plus a credit of $30 on your Vonage account. You must return the device at the end of the month, however. Sign up here.

Text of email:

Dear Michael Arrington,

Vonage is pleased to unveil a new line of “Vonage” branded Voice Gateways. These products have been designed and engineered to be user-friendly. They incorporate a liquid crystal display (LCD) to guide you through setup and help resolve technical issues. The LCD also displays Caller ID information, and other helpful status messages. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) messages are also still utilized to help resolve issues. The first product showcased is the Vonage VDV21. See the feature list below.

VDV 21 Features

Industrial design uniquely developed for Vonage – a cool and sleek, yet simplistic and approachable design that will inspire consumers to proudly display their Vonage router rather than hide it under their desk
Two lines of VoIP (2 RJ-11 FXS Ports)
Voice-over-data prioritization – talk on the phone while using the Internet with no reduction in voice quality
T.38 Fax Support
Ringer Equivalency Number (REN) of 5 – in laymen’s terms, can support 3 or 4 telephony devices in each port
GR-909 Line Testing – will self-diagnose if your telephone/home wiring has problems
Built in Single Port Router (RJ-45 LAN Ethernet 10/100 Port) – will support a user’s PC (or home network connection)
User friendly, built-in Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) with
Caller ID and call timer
Call Logs (Missed/Received/Dialed) – up to 50 entries each
Voicemail waiting indication
Brightness control – individual settings for normal conditions as well as when there is voicemail waiting
Built-in upstream bandwidth tester
Network status information (LAN/WAN) such as IP Address, Subnet Mask, etc.
Error messages plus suggestions on what to do to fix the problem – for example, it can detect when your Internet connection is down, one of your cables accidentally becomes loose or disconnected, or if you’re a DSL user and you need to set up PPPoE
Secure web-based User Interface for Configuration
Improved User Interface, with built-in FAQs and Contextual Help to assist non-technical users with setting up their router (setting up a network, PPPoE, parental controls, etc.)

As a valued Vonage customer, we are inviting you to apply to participate in the beta test trial of our new VDV21. Beta trial participants help us to thoroughly evaluate new products prior to formal product introduction. For a 30 day beta period, you will be asked to use the VDV21 and Vonage Premium Unlimited Plan service at no charge. Note: charges will still apply for 411 calls and international calls not included in the Premium Unlimited Plan. In return for your participation in the beta program, you will receive a credit of $29.99 on your primary Vonage account. You may use the credit as you please – toward your phone bill or to try out a Vonage add-on feature such as a virtual number. Your existing Vonage service will continue as normal during the beta trial. We ask that you please apply on or before Monday, August 6th. Space is limited. Please read below for detailed information pertaining to the beta trial.

You may connect the VDV21 to an existing router if you have one, or directly to your broadband modem. The VDV21 offers one LAN port, so you may connect a computer to it. The VDV21 offers two Vonage phone ports; however, only one will be active for the beta trial.

As a participant in the beta trial, you will be asked to:

Activate your beta device on to a separate beta account with its own unique phone number. This number will only be active for the duration of the beta period. It will be independent of your current Vonage service. A valid credit card will be required for activation. Your credit card will only be charged for 411 calls and international calls (if charges apply).
Provide weekly feedback via an on-line survey regarding your experiences with activation, installation, and usage of the VDV21.
Upon successful completion of the beta program, we will credit your main Vonage account $29.99. The conditions for this credit include:

Successfully activating and using the VDV21 Single Port Router.
Completing the weekly 5 minute on-line feedback survey.
Returning the VDV21 in satisfactory condition. A pre-paid return shipping label will be provided.

To apply to participate, please click on the link below. This link will take you to an application on forums.vonage.com.

VDV21 Beta Trial Application

Thank you for your interest and continued support of Vonage.

If you are not interested in this offer you may discard this email or click on the link below to opt out.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/optout.aspx?sm=FErIppHsI_2fjsBUoLzUifKg_3d_3d

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