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If you’ve got the ‘gift of gab’ and spend most of your time talking on the phone and running up giant phone bills, there are new technologies that will help to support your habit. Some users are already cashing in on the savings.

Mobile VoIP, the technology that makes use of your mobile device's Internet connection to place phone calls, has already experienced an uptick over the last few years as new technologies and improved networks were introduced. Now, a new study by Openmind Networks (News - Alert) has found that users are spending more time chatting on their mobile phones when they have mobile VoIP.

According to the study, users of Openmind’s Portico service were found to talk on average over 2.5 times longer when on a mobile VoIP call than a traditional mobile call.

For mobile operators, this points to a promising trend in the market. The value of mobile VoIP is increasing for consumers who are looking to make calls, especially when traveling abroad, at rates that are free or more affordable than what mobile carriers charge.

Just this week, IDC said its latest Worldwide Mobile Phone (News - Alert) Tracker study found that the mobile phone market grew 19.8 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2011 with 371.8 million units shipped by vendors in the first quarter.

In addition, Openmind found that those making use of their Portico mobile VoIP offering in one market increased their call duration by over 4 times over the normal mobile phone calls being made in that same market.

As more mobile VoIP solutions become available, even via social networking sites, it’s expected that there will be close to 139 million mobile VoIP users by 2014, In-Stat (News - Alert) predicts.