REPORTS HAVE reached the INQ that two of the UK's mobile network operators -
Orange & Vodafone - have disabled the Internet telephony option inside the
latest N95 cameraphone.
A spokesman for Orange confirmed to the INQ that his company had indeed
requested that Nokia shouldn't preload the Internet telephony capability.

He claimed that the move wasn't deliberately aimed at stopping Internet
telephony, rather that there hadn't been sufficient time to test the
application thoroughly.

"It is not Orange's policy to remove VoIP functionality from devices. This a
handset specific issue and in this particular instance Orange was asked by
Nokia whether they wanted the VoIP functionality switched on or off, and
Orange selected off."

"We're always working to ensure the customer has the right experience," he
maintained. He couldn't confirm whether the facility has been turned off
with the Nokia E65 but it is available with the E60.

James Tagg, a spokesperson for VoIP client software supplier, Truphone, told
the INQ, "Clearly this is deeply irritating for people who've often paid a
large sum of money for a highly-specified phone that they've carefully
chosen. Particularly if mobile internet telephony was one of the buying
criteria."

The crucial point is whether or not customers have not been told at point of
sale about the removal of internet telephony capability.

Various Internet forums are ablaze with postings on this issue. For those
who want VoIP on their N95, the solution is to flash a completely different
version of the handset's operating system.

Of course, if you tried such a trick and failed, then you'd have a
completely useless but expensive handset on your hands. µ

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39040