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Throughout the years, long distance charges were a part of doing business. Every company encountered them, adjusted their targets to ensure the budget covered them and sought ways to streamline communications to avoid them. The arrival of the Internet and VoIP helped create a whole new pathway to staying connected across the miles. Mobile entered the mix and now mobile VoIP offers another method for low cost communications.

While this evolution was taking place, a little company known as Skype (News - Alert) emerged on the scene, offering a low- to no-cost method for staying connected. Users flocked to the opportunity to allow their audio and visual communications to traverse the public Internet so they could stay in touch. Mobile carriers blocked the service for a while and mobile VoIP remained elusive.

Since its first arrival on the market, Skype has been purchased by Microsoft (News - Alert) and mobile carriers now have no choice but to allow the use of applications that leverage mobile VoIP. Whether the service is Skype or some other channel, the demand for streamlined operations and low cost communications has extended to the mobile platform.

For many, however, Skype isn’t the ideal platform. Some have reported problems with quality, dropped calls, in-call interference or simply dissatisfaction with the fact that Microsoft owns the platform. To that end, they look for alternatives. Fortunately, according to a recent REVE Systems, there are other options if you don’t want to use Skype.

Grasshopper – built for the business environment, this platform supports multiple users, voicemail, individual greetings, web access and notifications by text message or email.

Google (News - Alert) Hangouts – some consider this to be the most obvious replacement for Skype and incorporates the best of Google Plus Hangouts, Google Talk and Google Plus Messenger. The only drawback is you can’t directly call a landline until it fully merges with Google Voice.

ooVoo (News - Alert) – a messaging and voice/video calling service, this platform features text chat, instant messaging, video calls and video conferencing for 12. Calls can be made directly from the browser to other PCs and you don’t have to install software.

Tango – this free app allows video calls and is optimized for texting, voice calls, sharing and even playing games. While mainly aimed at the mobile VoIP market, there is a PC client available.

In all, consumer demand is shifting towards mobile VoIP and like it or not, carriers have to follow. To ease the process, companies like REVE Systems are offering white branded mobile VoIP services that can deliver on consumer expectations, while still providing a solid revenue opportunity.