We reported yesterday that Orange and Vodafone had removed the Truphone VoIP function from the new Nokia N95. It was suggested this was done to prevent loss of voice call revenue, however the network has responded:

In a statement today Vodafone admit removing the software from the handset, but to ensure users only received quality of service from its network. The company believe VoIP is still not a reliable enough service to offer its customers, which in the way that VoIP works, sending voice packet-data for calls, many VoIP services regularly experience data transfer problems.

Vodafone said before it uses VoIP, that it needs to do "in-depth testing, a solid end-to-end customer experience, billing integration and customer service support which is not currently available".

The company also went on to explain that VoIP is not free, especially using a mobile network that would require a form of internet connectivity, incurring charges.

An official quote received to Pocket-lint: "Vodafone works to ensure its handset range provides a consistent and good
experience for customers. In line with other operators we do not always take the 'vanilla' version of a device. Vodafone continually assesses customer feedback as to which applications or features should be incorporated into future devices."

It is worth noting though that stand-alone applications such as Fring continue to work okay on the N95 from Orange or Vodafone.

>> Via - Orange and Vodafone disable Nokia VoIP