Skype is one of the most justly celebrated successes of the Internet era with more than 450 million subscribers and still growing. The only problem is that subscribers are tethered to their computers, WiFi hotspot, or mobile applications often with poor voice quality. Whether it be with Skype, Vonage or other providers, Internet calling—VoIP—is not yet fully mobile.

There are numerous examples from around the world of cellular companies that have made it clear that they do not want VoIP calls to travel over their networks. This is not surprising in that VoIP calls are free or extremely low cost in contrast to the relatively high cost of cell phone service.

In addition, existing cellular networks were never designed to handle Internet voice traffic. VoIP calls over 3G, Edge, and WiMax can often be of poor quality with dropped calls and long call set up times.

But there is an alternative. xG Technology recognized several years ago that mobile VoIP will be the technology of the future and designed an Internet-based, mobile system from the ground up with that in mind. The company’s xMax system addressed the numerous technical hurdles involved with VoIP in order to produce a network that delivers high quality calling at a very low cost.

By focusing on reducing the cost of the cellular network itself, xG Technology is a company that believes mobile VoIP can provide significant savings to consumers and still be profitable for carriers. The company’s approach has been to develop a network that uses available free spectrum instead of costly licensed spectrum and an all-IP architecture that is less expensive to operate. This translates to dramatically lower costs that can be passed on to the consumer.

Seven-year-old xG Technology is a US based company, but development of xMax is an international effort that involves companies in Europe and Asia. A portfolio of 50 US and 124 international patents and pending patent applications has been developed with the goal of bringing lower-cost communications to consumers.