There have been a couple of applications released of late that pack some of the features offered by the RF dialer. The folks behind these apps are tripping over one another trying to be known as the first “real Voice over IP” application for the iPhone.

Apparently, to some developers (and even some bloggers who write about such things, Here’s one, and another, and one more) “real VoIP” on an iPhone can only be achieved when the cell phone bypasses the cellular voice network altogether, and transmits and receives voice on the device over WiFi or the cell phone carrier’s data stream.

That this is “real VoIP” is an absurd notion on a few levels.

First, VoIP has been in use for many years, long before the term entered the realm of common technical lexicon, and well before Packet8, VoicePulse and Vonage — the companies that first offered consumer-level non-computer-bound IP communications services — brought VoIP to the masses. It is more than likely, if you made any international calls using one of the international Ma Bells over the past two decades, that you were on VoIP without even knowing it. The world’s communications giants have been using VoIP to cut their international transmission costs since shortly after the the IP network was established. What Packet8, VoicePulse and Vonage accomplished was to actually bring those cost-savings to the consumer, creating a whole new industry in the process.

Second, the use of the term “real VoIP” is fraught with contradiction. Is it “Real VoIP” when a conversation originates from a data-only connection (on an iPhone, for example), travels over the IP network to a telephone switch, then using analog telephone lines to reach its recipient on a plain old telephone? If so, then why isn’t the reverse — a conversation that originates from the cellular network, connects to a local switch where the stream is digitally converted and transmitted over VoIP to a recipient on an IM network like Google Talk — “real VoIP?”

Either “real VoIP” is a conversation that bypasses the traditional or cellular networks altogether (in which case even those calling themselves a “real VoIP” solution are fibbing), or it is a conversation that is carried somewhere along its path using VoIP.

Until the IP network totally replaces the traditional and cellular network as the method by which telephone calls are transmitted, we believe the latter to be the case (OK, not so coincidentally, making RF.com the first “real VoIP” solution for the iPhone).

But, ultimately, this debate over semantics is a non-starter. In the real world, what matters is what is of use to the most people in most circumstances. In bringing VoIP to the iPhone, we chose to maximize the benefits by following different paths (GSM versus WiFi, Web-based versus native hacks, etc.) than other developers tackling the mobile IP challenge.

We’ll delve into these paths — and the whys and why-nots of each — in this space in the coming days.

While we made RingFree a web application that doesn’t need any hacks to run on the iPhone, there are still certain things you’ll want to make sure are operational before registering with RF.

Some folks are still reporting problems when registering.We’re quite certain, though, that checking the list below and correctly pre-configuring your iPhone will make the registration painless.

Make sure your iPhone is not in “Airplane Mode” - Click on “Settings” and set “Airplane Mode” to “OFF”;

If you intend to use a Wi-Fi data connection, make sure WiFi is on - In order to work (both when registering and dialing), your iPhone will need to make a data connection to the RingFree servers. Wi-Fi, though not always available, of course, is your best choice. Click on “Settings” and look to the right of the Wi-Fi  icon. If a Wi-Fi network is listed, you’re all set. Otherwise, click on the Wi-Fi icon, then make sure Wi-Fi is on (it should say so at the top). Click on the “OFF” button to turn Wi-Fi on, then select a network (if one is available) from the list that appears on the iPhone. When connected via Wi-Fi, you’ll see a striped upside-down triangle to the right of your service provider’s name on the upper-left corner of the iPhone. If there is no network available, you’ll have to use the EDGE network.

If there is no Wi-Fi where you are, make sure EDGE is on -   Whether the EDGE data network is available to you is more dependent on your mobile network provider than anything (though EDGE will be forced off if you are in the “Airplane Mode” described above). Look on the upper left of your iPhone, if you are not on Wi-Fi, you should see a capital “E” to the right of your service provider’s name on the upper-left corner of you iPhone. If, instead you see an upside down striped triangle, you’re using Wi-Fi (this should work). If you don’t seen either a triangle or a capital “E”, then you have no data connection and won’t be able to proceed. If this is the case, find a Wi-Fi network to latch onto, or take your iPhone to a location where the EDGE network is available.

Make sure you have a cellular signal -  Both to register and use RingFree, you’ll be making a regular mobile phone call. This means you’ll need a cell signal. On the upper left hand corner of the iPhone you should see an upwards and rightwards sloping set of bars. If you don’t see this, you’ll need to get to a location with a cell signal.

Make sure Caller-ID is set to “ON” - We use the caller-ID information sent by your iPhone to validate your account and make sure the telephone is authorized to use your account.  This means caller-ID must be set to “ON” to register and use RingFree. To make sure, go to “Settings”, click “Phone”, In the “Calls” section, click “Call Waiting”, and make sure it is set to “ON”.

Make sure Mobile Safari has JavaScript enabled - RingFree uses JavaScript extensively both in registration and in the dialer. If JavaScript is disabled, registration will ail. Go to “Settings”, click “Safari”, and, in the “Security” section, set “JavaScript” to “ON”.

Make sure Mobile Safari is set to “Accept Cookies” -  For RingFree to work, you must allow cookies to be placed on your telephone so that the server can track current session information. Go to “Settings” and click “Safari”. Set “Accept Cookies” to either “From Visited” or “Always” (for security purposes, we recommend the “From Visited” setting).

If you tried to register with RingFree and the process did not complete, you may try again after checking all of the above.