If your head is still fuzzy from an iPad media event hangover, you might have missed a nugget of info that’s now part of the iPhone SDK: Apple is now allowing apps to make VoIP calls over 3G data connections!

AppleInsider has a report on the post-iPad turn of events, complete with a link to the press release from App Store developer iCall, whose updated app is the first out of the gate to take advantage of making VoIP calls over 3G -- including AT&T.

Previously, both Apple and AT&T would only allow calls from VoIP apps (including the big daddy of them all, Skype) over a Wi-Fi connection. AT&T announced back in October that it was lifting that restriction, presumably after being pressured earlier in the year by the Free Press. That Internet advocacy group had asked the FCC to investigate both Apple and AT&T over claims that the companies were violating Federal net-neutrality protection.

There’s no word on why Apple took so much longer to get with the program than AT&T did, although the last version of iPhone OS was 3.1.2, released around the same time as AT&T lifted its own VoIP over 3G restriction back in October.

“I applaud Apple’s decision to allow iCall to extend its functionality beyond Wi-Fi and onto the 3G networks,” iCall CEO Arlo Gilbert said in the company’s press release. “This heralds a new era for VoIP applications on mobile platforms, especially for iCall and our free calling model. I hope that now more developers will begin using our VoIP as a platform to integrate VoIP into their applications.”

And iCall isn’t alone: Developer fringland Ltd. has announced that the current 3.0.0.7 version of their free fring app is already 3G-ready, which brings Skype (as well as Google Talk and MSN) into the game, with no new download required.

“fring users and our team alike are very excited that Apple Inc. have allowed independent iPhone VoIP applications over 3G networks,” says fringland Ltd. CEO Avi Shechter in a press release. “This decision reflects the trend we have enjoyed over the past four years, as incredible devices and fring’s rapidly-developing technologies let our users communicate and share social internet experiences over their preferred Internet access points, wherever they are.”

If you think AT&T’s 3G data network was congested before… we shudder to think what the future may hold now.

(Updated to include fring announcement)