VOIP Guide posted about SIP Call forwarding a few days back. The SIP tutorial was featured on many websites. However, we used Voxalot/Gtalk2voip as our preferred SIP Call forwarding service. Gtalk2VOIP still works great however Voxalot is now paid (since 16th July).
If you have been using Voxalot for quite a time and like the features but not ready to pay for the service, then we have have come up with a good solution.
Voxalot is really convenient and easy to use VOIP platform (I call it platform as they are not actually any VOIP provider). Voxalot allows to use as many VOIP services to be used with your single ATA/VOIP phone line and this is a very good feature when you have different VOIP in numbers. Registering all your VOIP in numbers with voxalot will ring all your numbers at one phone line.
The call out with dialling plans via different ISPs is as well a great feature which routes your call to cheapest service provider set by you.
Today we will discuss about a voxalot alternative service which is FREE and has almost all the options that you require in a SIP provider.we are talking about mysipswitch. This sip switch is run by a premiere sip service provider in Ireland called Blueface
As the name suggests this is a sip switch service which allows multiple sip registration with one piece of hardware. The registration is quite simple and straight forward; you do not even need to complete any subsequent link confirmation via email.
Lets see how we do this.
1) Register at mysipswitch.
2) You can register your sip services here and make your own dial plans to route your calls through different SIP services.
For details Read out SIP Call Forwarding Tutorial
3) To make use of your SIP hardware your SIP details will be as below:
User name : your user name
Password : your password
SIP proxy server: sip.mysipswitch.com
Tip: when you register your sip service, add sip: your mysipsiwtch user name@213.200.94.182 in contact field to get incoming calls to ring your phone.
They do not allow configuring the codecs but when we tested their SIP registration, the call quality was excellent and so you do not need to worry which codec will be used to carry your voice. Mysipswitch also have real time call display switchboard GUI and they allow Call holdup/resume, call forward, call transfer etc via their GUI platform.
Certainly webcall back feature is missing here. Hopefully they would add it in near future.
This is an excellent alternative to Voxalot and easy to setup.
In our next review we will cover second option which is feature rich and a very good alternative to voxalot. Thanks to Vishnu for providing details of Setup and Guillaume BONNET of mysipswitch for pinging us about their service.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Microsoft designing VOIP Solution Software
When SunRocket went down (seriously, I’m obsessed with this now), there was a lot of speculation by ‘experts’ and ‘analysts’ about how the company’s bankruptcy could spell doom for the VoIP market, and how it could frighten possible future players away. Now usually, it takes a little while – a few months or so – for these alleged ‘experts’ to be proved wrong, and by that time, everybody’s even forgotten what they said. This time around however, the ‘highly qualified analysts’ have struck out in a mere two weeks – Microsoft is all set to enter the VoIP market, and it’s planning to enter in a big way.
Office Communications Server 2007 and the Office Communicator – the much hyped, much talked about, much anticipated software based VoIP solution – are now code complete.
In case you were living in a cave these previous months, Microsoft had decided to enter the VoIP market and was in the process of developing a completely software based VoIP solution. They are currently promoting it via a ad campaign
"We’re one step close to delivering the products that will establish Microsoft as a major force in communications," said Jeff Raikes – President of Microsoft’s Business Division – at the vendor’s annual analyst meeting. Office Communications Server 2007 – in public beta since March – is entirely software based, thus promising to bring VoIP telephony, instant messaging and conferencing under a single PC-focused umbrella. OCS 2007 uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), allowing for greater interoperability with different VoIP vendors, thus resulting in superior cost savings and broader functionality. Microsoft expects to help organizations cut their enterprise telephony costs to half with its solution.
Customers are truly seeing the magic of software in this instance, Raikes said. They see they will get more capabilities at less cost than the traditional approaches of any of the existing players.
Commenting on the same, Jay Lendl, Vice-President of Microsoft Services at Granite Pointe Partners – a Minnesota based solution provider – said that the interest in OCS 2007 for most customers would be because of its integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
It's important to have a single view of the internal teams and people that you work with, and have presence be a part of collaboration, whether it's through text, speech, video conferencing.” He added.
All very well, and all very good. In just a couple of months, we’ll have yet another VoIP player in the market – always a good thing for us customers. And since it will be a BIG player, it will be even BETTER for us customers. Let’s just hope that when Microsoft’s solution falls in fall, it doesn’t actually fall.
A quick note from Vinay- I myself have been using Microsoft Communicator for internal office communication. I found it more stable and it integrates nicely with Outlook, so keeping track of Nortel voicemails is very easy. The best feature is perhaps integrating it with other click to call software such as corebridge. I am using corebridge via Nortel API to make Calls without dialing a number. It works all great.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our full time VOIP news editor.
Office Communications Server 2007 and the Office Communicator – the much hyped, much talked about, much anticipated software based VoIP solution – are now code complete.
In case you were living in a cave these previous months, Microsoft had decided to enter the VoIP market and was in the process of developing a completely software based VoIP solution. They are currently promoting it via a ad campaign
"We’re one step close to delivering the products that will establish Microsoft as a major force in communications," said Jeff Raikes – President of Microsoft’s Business Division – at the vendor’s annual analyst meeting. Office Communications Server 2007 – in public beta since March – is entirely software based, thus promising to bring VoIP telephony, instant messaging and conferencing under a single PC-focused umbrella. OCS 2007 uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), allowing for greater interoperability with different VoIP vendors, thus resulting in superior cost savings and broader functionality. Microsoft expects to help organizations cut their enterprise telephony costs to half with its solution.
Customers are truly seeing the magic of software in this instance, Raikes said. They see they will get more capabilities at less cost than the traditional approaches of any of the existing players.
Commenting on the same, Jay Lendl, Vice-President of Microsoft Services at Granite Pointe Partners – a Minnesota based solution provider – said that the interest in OCS 2007 for most customers would be because of its integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
It's important to have a single view of the internal teams and people that you work with, and have presence be a part of collaboration, whether it's through text, speech, video conferencing.” He added.
All very well, and all very good. In just a couple of months, we’ll have yet another VoIP player in the market – always a good thing for us customers. And since it will be a BIG player, it will be even BETTER for us customers. Let’s just hope that when Microsoft’s solution falls in fall, it doesn’t actually fall.
A quick note from Vinay- I myself have been using Microsoft Communicator for internal office communication. I found it more stable and it integrates nicely with Outlook, so keeping track of Nortel voicemails is very easy. The best feature is perhaps integrating it with other click to call software such as corebridge. I am using corebridge via Nortel API to make Calls without dialing a number. It works all great.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our full time VOIP news editor.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
PeterZahlt offers Free Calls to many countries
I was checking back on my Free Calling VOIP Providers database build over time and found this interesting VOIP provider in Germany. This is a great news for all our german readers. VOIP Guide will also look into a hack to make it work for other nations.
PeterZahlt which means "Let peter Pay" is a advertisement based Free Calling service in germany. PeterZahlt offers free Phone to Phone calls from Germany to over 25 countries namely Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, USA and Canada (Landline Only). They recently added Australia, Singapore, Greece , Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, Hong Kong, San Marino and the Vatican.
This service Only works for Germany, however we will try to find a hack soon :-)
PeterZahlt offers free 30 mins each call. You can call the same destination again. You dont need to worry about using headphones. Lets see how you can call with PeterZahlt,
1) Go to PeterZahlt (Note: The site is in German)
2) Enter your number
3) Enter other party's number
4) Click Call (kostenlos telefonieren)
5) They will first call back on your number and then connect the other Party!
Talk for FREE for 30 mins. When the calls is cut, you can redial using the above steps.
As i said earlier, We are working on a hack to receive PeterZahlt calls in other countries and will post a solution soon.
Sunrocket Inc a VOIP provider to remember
It was in 1936 that Margaret Mitchell published Gone with the Wind – the epic bestseller that was later adapted as a movie in 1939. Seventy-one years after the book, Gone with the Wind has been written again, this time by VoIP provider SunRocket Inc.
It’s been two weeks since SunRocket officially went out of business, leaving more than 200,000 customers orphaned and VoIP-less. That it left them orphaned is a shame, really. But wait – read between the lines, please. SunRocket had TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND customers, making it the SECOND LARGEST VoIP provider in the USA after Vonage. That, ladies and gentlemen, is an achievement in itself, and something to be mighty proud of, even more so when you think it did all that with less than two hundred employees and in s span of just three years. I’ve seen many VoIP providers come and go, but the bankruptcy of SunRocket – the ‘No Gotcha Company’ (more on that later) – left me disheartened. SunRocket was a leader, an innovator, a market champion. Unfortunately, it seems things went to SunRocket’s head, and it started biting more than what it could chew, leading to its ultimate downfall. Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting a VoIP Guide exclusive tracing SunRocket’s path through the times… a tribute to the VoIP provider called SunRocket.
It all started in 2004, when American telecommunications provider MCI Inc. went bankrupt following Accounting scandals in its books. Faced with unemployment, two marketing executives – Joyce Dorris () and Paul Erickson (who, by the way, invented 1-800-COLLECT) – decided to start out on their own in Vienna, Virginia out of pure circumstances. And so in early 2004, SunRocket Inc was formed, bringing to the customer ‘new choices, better value, and ultimate control of your home phone service.’ And they brought all this at bottom-line pricing, thanks to their dependence on a system called Voice-over-Internet Protocol. It was something new for the American public, but SunRocket was determined to change the industry by inventing ‘clever ideas to make the boring, fun; the confusing, simple; the difficult, easy.’ They had large-scale technophobia to get rid of, and they were determined to do it. All this, plus a commitment to the customer to never deceive him; never sneak in extra prices when he’s not looking – the ‘No Gotcha’ Company. A promise never to spring in unpleasant surprises in the form of hidden costs.
And SunRocket was an innovator – right from its early start. Charging just $24.95 a month (which later became $16.59 a month), they allowed customers unlimited domestic calls, voicemail and caller ID, allowance for international calls, two information calls per month (a rarity in VoIP services) and an two extra phone number with a distinctive ring and voicemail. Then there were innovations like the Signature Service, the ever-popular ‘No Gotcha’ (including no activation charges and cancellation fees) commitment, bundling in $3 of international calling in their regular plan (that translated into 30 minutes of calling to Europe and 100 minutes of calling to Canada), and adding a Short Message Service and a voicemail to email service. Wherever it could make arrangements with local CLECs, SunRocket offered enhanced 911. Otherwise it provided a 911 service similar to that of Vonage Holdings Corp., in which calls are forwarded to public-safety access points. Till this date, there are companies that do not offer 911 emergency services, and while it still breathed, SunRocket was offering ENHANCED emergency services to around 96% of its consumers.
In the last quarter of 2005, SunRocket revealed yet another Ace-in-the-Hole. A $9.95 per month offering that included enhanced 911 service; free calling features such as call waiting, caller ID, and three-way calling; 200 minutes of global calling; and unlimited inbound and SunRocket-to-SunRocket Internet phone calling. The $9.95 per month plan provided unlimited inbound calling plus 200 minutes of outbound calling to the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, along with Enhanced 911. All taxes were included (No Gotcha, remember), and extra phone numbers and enhanced voice mail could be added for $3 per month each. This limited period scheme lasted till the end of 2006, but it did more than its share in helping SunRocket achieve its 200,000 customer base.
By early 2006, SunRocket extended its reach to San Antonio, thus extending its direct presence to around 75% of America. The rest of the year saw SunRocket expanding aggressively in all parts of America too. By the time 2007 began, SunRocket was employing 197 employees and had a customer base of 200,000 – it had begun three years ago with only 30 employees and no customers.
On July 16, 2007, disaster occurred. SunRocket Inc officially closed down with no warning given to customers or employees. SunRocket’s customer service line played a recorded message stating that SunRocket is ‘no longer taking customer service or sales calls.’ Roger Pondel, a spokesman of Bell Industries, which provided services for SunRocket, said in a statement that all 197 of its employees were terminated as of Monday, July 16, 2007.
It was the end of an era. SunRocket Inc – one of the best and most customer-oriented VoIP provider – was suddenly a part of history. Economics killed VoIP.
SunRocket Inc, dead or alive, I salute you.
This is a special article written by our VOIP news Editor Samarth Chandola.
It’s been two weeks since SunRocket officially went out of business, leaving more than 200,000 customers orphaned and VoIP-less. That it left them orphaned is a shame, really. But wait – read between the lines, please. SunRocket had TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND customers, making it the SECOND LARGEST VoIP provider in the USA after Vonage. That, ladies and gentlemen, is an achievement in itself, and something to be mighty proud of, even more so when you think it did all that with less than two hundred employees and in s span of just three years. I’ve seen many VoIP providers come and go, but the bankruptcy of SunRocket – the ‘No Gotcha Company’ (more on that later) – left me disheartened. SunRocket was a leader, an innovator, a market champion. Unfortunately, it seems things went to SunRocket’s head, and it started biting more than what it could chew, leading to its ultimate downfall. Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting a VoIP Guide exclusive tracing SunRocket’s path through the times… a tribute to the VoIP provider called SunRocket.
It all started in 2004, when American telecommunications provider MCI Inc. went bankrupt following Accounting scandals in its books. Faced with unemployment, two marketing executives – Joyce Dorris () and Paul Erickson (who, by the way, invented 1-800-COLLECT) – decided to start out on their own in Vienna, Virginia out of pure circumstances. And so in early 2004, SunRocket Inc was formed, bringing to the customer ‘new choices, better value, and ultimate control of your home phone service.’ And they brought all this at bottom-line pricing, thanks to their dependence on a system called Voice-over-Internet Protocol. It was something new for the American public, but SunRocket was determined to change the industry by inventing ‘clever ideas to make the boring, fun; the confusing, simple; the difficult, easy.’ They had large-scale technophobia to get rid of, and they were determined to do it. All this, plus a commitment to the customer to never deceive him; never sneak in extra prices when he’s not looking – the ‘No Gotcha’ Company. A promise never to spring in unpleasant surprises in the form of hidden costs.
And SunRocket was an innovator – right from its early start. Charging just $24.95 a month (which later became $16.59 a month), they allowed customers unlimited domestic calls, voicemail and caller ID, allowance for international calls, two information calls per month (a rarity in VoIP services) and an two extra phone number with a distinctive ring and voicemail. Then there were innovations like the Signature Service, the ever-popular ‘No Gotcha’ (including no activation charges and cancellation fees) commitment, bundling in $3 of international calling in their regular plan (that translated into 30 minutes of calling to Europe and 100 minutes of calling to Canada), and adding a Short Message Service and a voicemail to email service. Wherever it could make arrangements with local CLECs, SunRocket offered enhanced 911. Otherwise it provided a 911 service similar to that of Vonage Holdings Corp., in which calls are forwarded to public-safety access points. Till this date, there are companies that do not offer 911 emergency services, and while it still breathed, SunRocket was offering ENHANCED emergency services to around 96% of its consumers.
In the last quarter of 2005, SunRocket revealed yet another Ace-in-the-Hole. A $9.95 per month offering that included enhanced 911 service; free calling features such as call waiting, caller ID, and three-way calling; 200 minutes of global calling; and unlimited inbound and SunRocket-to-SunRocket Internet phone calling. The $9.95 per month plan provided unlimited inbound calling plus 200 minutes of outbound calling to the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, along with Enhanced 911. All taxes were included (No Gotcha, remember), and extra phone numbers and enhanced voice mail could be added for $3 per month each. This limited period scheme lasted till the end of 2006, but it did more than its share in helping SunRocket achieve its 200,000 customer base.
By early 2006, SunRocket extended its reach to San Antonio, thus extending its direct presence to around 75% of America. The rest of the year saw SunRocket expanding aggressively in all parts of America too. By the time 2007 began, SunRocket was employing 197 employees and had a customer base of 200,000 – it had begun three years ago with only 30 employees and no customers.
On July 16, 2007, disaster occurred. SunRocket Inc officially closed down with no warning given to customers or employees. SunRocket’s customer service line played a recorded message stating that SunRocket is ‘no longer taking customer service or sales calls.’ Roger Pondel, a spokesman of Bell Industries, which provided services for SunRocket, said in a statement that all 197 of its employees were terminated as of Monday, July 16, 2007.
It was the end of an era. SunRocket Inc – one of the best and most customer-oriented VoIP provider – was suddenly a part of history. Economics killed VoIP.
SunRocket Inc, dead or alive, I salute you.
This is a special article written by our VOIP news Editor Samarth Chandola.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
UK VOIP providers to allow 999 calls
Remember VOIP Solution advertisement saying ‘Does not support calls to Emergency Numbers’ at the bottom of the page. Well in the near future, UK VOIP providers would tell a different story.
Ofcom – the communication watchdog of the United Kingdom – has ordered all VoIP providers in the UK to incur the cost of allowing their customers to make 999 emergency calls by early 2008. Ofcom believes, and rightly so if you ask me, that VoIP series are increasingly adopting the look and feel of traditional telephones, increasing the risk of confusion as to whether users have access to 999 emergency numbers. Moreover, in an emergency, a VoIP (or Mobile VoIP) user would first have to locate a landline or ordinary mobile, leading to delay which might prove critical.
999 is the world’s oldest emergency number – initially available in London before slowly spreading to whole of Britain. It’s counterpart in the United States is the famous 911 emergency call service. Ofcom’s move makes Britain the first country in the world to force VoIP providers to extend their calling services to include emergency numbers. The move came after a survey by Ofcom found that 78% VoIP users who cannot call 999 either thought they could, or did not know whether they could.
Ofcom estimates the cost of allowing VoIP customer calls to 999 to be approximately 90 pence per household per year. Multiply that with the 2.4 million households (as of 2006) using VoIP, and the figure comes out to be $2 Million. A pretty big figure, but remember, the Two Million is not the expense of each individual provider but actually the sum total of the entire British VoIP industry. A part of that expense is actually being borne even now – as some providers like BT and Vonage offer calls to emergency numbers.
Steve Weller, Head of Communication Services at independent price comparison service and switching service, uSwitch.com, said in a statement that Ofcom had been consulting on the importance of VoIP services to allow 999 calls since 2004, but they should have tackled the issue head on last year when services were proliferating and the cost saving of using a VoIP service instead of a traditional landline was being made very clear to consumers.
“Our latest findings revealed that 15% of consumers now have access to a VoIP service at home.” He continued. “VoIP is predominantly being used as an additional service to a landline and to date the ability to make 999 calls was not guaranteed. By enabling 999 calls to be made, the number of consumers using VoIP as an independent form of communication will increase dramatically; it’s just a shame that we’ll have to wait until 2008 to get there.”
So come 2008 and you’ll finally be able to VoIP those three magic numbers. Who knows, you might even end up saving somebody’s life?
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our full time VOIP News Editor.
Ofcom – the communication watchdog of the United Kingdom – has ordered all VoIP providers in the UK to incur the cost of allowing their customers to make 999 emergency calls by early 2008. Ofcom believes, and rightly so if you ask me, that VoIP series are increasingly adopting the look and feel of traditional telephones, increasing the risk of confusion as to whether users have access to 999 emergency numbers. Moreover, in an emergency, a VoIP (or Mobile VoIP) user would first have to locate a landline or ordinary mobile, leading to delay which might prove critical.
999 is the world’s oldest emergency number – initially available in London before slowly spreading to whole of Britain. It’s counterpart in the United States is the famous 911 emergency call service. Ofcom’s move makes Britain the first country in the world to force VoIP providers to extend their calling services to include emergency numbers. The move came after a survey by Ofcom found that 78% VoIP users who cannot call 999 either thought they could, or did not know whether they could.
Ofcom estimates the cost of allowing VoIP customer calls to 999 to be approximately 90 pence per household per year. Multiply that with the 2.4 million households (as of 2006) using VoIP, and the figure comes out to be $2 Million. A pretty big figure, but remember, the Two Million is not the expense of each individual provider but actually the sum total of the entire British VoIP industry. A part of that expense is actually being borne even now – as some providers like BT and Vonage offer calls to emergency numbers.
Steve Weller, Head of Communication Services at independent price comparison service and switching service, uSwitch.com, said in a statement that Ofcom had been consulting on the importance of VoIP services to allow 999 calls since 2004, but they should have tackled the issue head on last year when services were proliferating and the cost saving of using a VoIP service instead of a traditional landline was being made very clear to consumers.
“Our latest findings revealed that 15% of consumers now have access to a VoIP service at home.” He continued. “VoIP is predominantly being used as an additional service to a landline and to date the ability to make 999 calls was not guaranteed. By enabling 999 calls to be made, the number of consumers using VoIP as an independent form of communication will increase dramatically; it’s just a shame that we’ll have to wait until 2008 to get there.”
So come 2008 and you’ll finally be able to VoIP those three magic numbers. Who knows, you might even end up saving somebody’s life?
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our full time VOIP News Editor.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Truphone mobile VOIP offers Free Calls till December
Recently many VOIP companies have been offering free call offers and now Mobile VOIP companies seem to join the FREE VOIP Bash. I am sure the consumers are 2x happy to see more and more companies offering free calls to their favorite destinations.
Truphone, a leading Mobile VOIP company and close competitior to Fring has announced that they have extended the FREE Calls offer to 40 countries till Decemember 2007. Under this offer, all truphone (old and new) users will be able to make calls to landlines/mobiles of these 40 countries. That means its not restricted to truphone to truphone free calls. That's a great news.
Truphone has recently won a court case against T-Mobile who were blocking access to truphone services. Thats was great victory for Truphone and overall mobile VOIP industry which set to grow faster than residential VOIP in the next couple of years. This also proves that mobile VOIP are no more taken as "Startup Ideas".
This truphone offer is valid till December 2007 for Free calls however users will have to signup before 30 Sept 2007 in order to make free calls.
The following countries are supported under Free Call offer: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paulo only), Canada, Chile, China (Landline and Mobile), Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Guam, Hong Kong (Landline & Mobile), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Korea (South), Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City & Monterrey only), Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama City, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia (Moscow Central & St Petersburg only), Singapore (Landline & Mobile), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, US Virgin Islands, USA (Landline & Mobile)
Besides free calling, truphone has some great features such as Truphone SMS which is free across the world to another truphone user. They have a patented technology called SMS over IP. I strongly suggest everyone to try that.
The only majoy downside of truphone is they only support limited phones and it seems they seriously in love with Nokia. It seems that definately keeps them away from the real market. I hope they take this issue seriously and start designing their newer version more compatible with other brands and newer phones.
If you are already on truphone then start making free calls, if you never heard of them its probably a good time to register at Truphone
Truphone, a leading Mobile VOIP company and close competitior to Fring has announced that they have extended the FREE Calls offer to 40 countries till Decemember 2007. Under this offer, all truphone (old and new) users will be able to make calls to landlines/mobiles of these 40 countries. That means its not restricted to truphone to truphone free calls. That's a great news.
Truphone has recently won a court case against T-Mobile who were blocking access to truphone services. Thats was great victory for Truphone and overall mobile VOIP industry which set to grow faster than residential VOIP in the next couple of years. This also proves that mobile VOIP are no more taken as "Startup Ideas".
This truphone offer is valid till December 2007 for Free calls however users will have to signup before 30 Sept 2007 in order to make free calls.
The following countries are supported under Free Call offer: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paulo only), Canada, Chile, China (Landline and Mobile), Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Guam, Hong Kong (Landline & Mobile), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Korea (South), Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City & Monterrey only), Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama City, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia (Moscow Central & St Petersburg only), Singapore (Landline & Mobile), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, US Virgin Islands, USA (Landline & Mobile)
Besides free calling, truphone has some great features such as Truphone SMS which is free across the world to another truphone user. They have a patented technology called SMS over IP. I strongly suggest everyone to try that.
The only majoy downside of truphone is they only support limited phones and it seems they seriously in love with Nokia. It seems that definately keeps them away from the real market. I hope they take this issue seriously and start designing their newer version more compatible with other brands and newer phones.
If you are already on truphone then start making free calls, if you never heard of them its probably a good time to register at Truphone
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Click to Call VOIP empowers ChatDate
I thought I’ll be finishing my SunRocket article this week but I had to cover this intriguing Click to Call VOIP solution empowering Chatdate, a leading new zealand based dating company.
Just a week after internet giant eHarmony announced its tie up with VoIP provider Jajah to provide its customers with a Click-to-Call service. New Zealand based nine weeks old internet dating service CHATdate has announced that is has started offering voice and video based services so that customers can interact with each other via microphones and webcams. Chatdate is the first company in New Zealand to have employed VoIP technology to power its voice and video services, which essentially allows people to have one-on-one virtual dates without leaving the safety of their homes. The service is backed by another called ‘txtnudge,’ which allows users to send text messages to tempt people to come online.
CHATdate director Chris Cadag said that the service's point of difference lies in its ability to offer more tools than traditional dating sites. With its VoIP-based video and chat services, Cadag says the site provides a more personable experience for customers.
In its nine weeks on the market, CHATdate has signed up 400 users – on an average, that’s around 6 to 7 users per day. Cadag says the service is currently free, but he is unsure whether they will charge a membership fee or rely solely on advertising revenue.
“The concept of dating web sites is a 21st Century One,” He said. “But most other dating sites don’t embrace 21st Century Technology. CHATdate is also reaching out to the over 60 age market – a group that has mostly been too scared to try out internet dating.”
And for those tired of dating (now that’s a ridiculous proposition), the site also offers an online shopping option. This, says Cadag, is of particular interest to agencies looking at gender-specific advertising markets.
So at the end of the day (or at least, at the end of the article), we have yet another company – a dating website yet (something which naturally tends to attract a lot of traffic) – swearing by VoIP. Or should we call it VoDP? Voice over Dating Protocol.
This articles is written by Samarth Chandola, our full time VOIP news editor.
Just a week after internet giant eHarmony announced its tie up with VoIP provider Jajah to provide its customers with a Click-to-Call service. New Zealand based nine weeks old internet dating service CHATdate has announced that is has started offering voice and video based services so that customers can interact with each other via microphones and webcams. Chatdate is the first company in New Zealand to have employed VoIP technology to power its voice and video services, which essentially allows people to have one-on-one virtual dates without leaving the safety of their homes. The service is backed by another called ‘txtnudge,’ which allows users to send text messages to tempt people to come online.
CHATdate director Chris Cadag said that the service's point of difference lies in its ability to offer more tools than traditional dating sites. With its VoIP-based video and chat services, Cadag says the site provides a more personable experience for customers.
In its nine weeks on the market, CHATdate has signed up 400 users – on an average, that’s around 6 to 7 users per day. Cadag says the service is currently free, but he is unsure whether they will charge a membership fee or rely solely on advertising revenue.
“The concept of dating web sites is a 21st Century One,” He said. “But most other dating sites don’t embrace 21st Century Technology. CHATdate is also reaching out to the over 60 age market – a group that has mostly been too scared to try out internet dating.”
And for those tired of dating (now that’s a ridiculous proposition), the site also offers an online shopping option. This, says Cadag, is of particular interest to agencies looking at gender-specific advertising markets.
So at the end of the day (or at least, at the end of the article), we have yet another company – a dating website yet (something which naturally tends to attract a lot of traffic) – swearing by VoIP. Or should we call it VoDP? Voice over Dating Protocol.
This articles is written by Samarth Chandola, our full time VOIP news editor.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Free Ad Based VoIP Call Service
Those of you who have been following my previous articles would remember that I promised a tribute to SunRocket as my next article, but when I started working on it and realized the amount of research it involved, I decided to err…. put-it-off for a while, shall we say? Instead, here’s an article about something which stands as the core reason for people flocking to this guide – FREE CALLS!
Canadian based Intertainment Media Inc has established a marketing services and technology relationship with Itibiti Inc) –a privately held company that provides various niche product offerings in the online telephone services market – to provide customers with a video ad based free VoIP Service. While the actual calling bit will be Itibiti’s end of the bargain, marketing will be handled by Intertainment Media Inc, using the Video Player and ad based technology platform it previously deployed through its wholly owned subsidiary, Eye Rock Digital Network Intertainment will also be providing technical development services for the integration of the communication technology and marketing systems. The service has been scheduled to launch in September, and Intertainment has roped in Trooker to give a hand in the final distribution of videos to customer’s soft-phones.
The condensed form of the Press Release basically had the following to say about the service –
1)Customers will have a soft-phone on their desktop through which they would avail the service.
2)Computer – to – Computer (peer-to-peer) calling services are free.
3)Traditional communication features – like local and long distance calling – will also be free.
4)Add-on communication features will not be free, but can be ‘earned’ through participation programs.
5)The VOIP soft-phone is customizable with skins and other features.
6)The audio portion of advertisements will automatically be muted during user calling activity.
-Vinay's thoughts: This voip service sounds very similar to Globe7, who after becoming popular stopped offering free calls. I wonder if that's what these guys planned :-)".
No details about the scope of operations were released, leaving much scope for speculation about which countries would come in the ‘long distance calling’ category. David Lucatch, President and CEO of Intertainment Media Inc had the following to say about the venture.
“This platform allows Intertainment to provide a true ‘push’ based system for advertising directly on a primary communication device. Consumers have taken well to free VOIP based programs, and companies like Skype have had tremendous growth and valuation. The ad and video based system allows the group to offset the costs of the service through the delivery of advertising services, making it a revenue model in combination with a user acquisition tool.”
So this September and there’ll be yet one more way of calling across the globe (hopefully) for free –this time, without any hacks or exploits. A method of free calling that will STAY… unless, of course, the entire VoIP Industry decides to catch the SunRocket bug.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our VOIP News Editor.
Canadian based Intertainment Media Inc has established a marketing services and technology relationship with Itibiti Inc) –a privately held company that provides various niche product offerings in the online telephone services market – to provide customers with a video ad based free VoIP Service. While the actual calling bit will be Itibiti’s end of the bargain, marketing will be handled by Intertainment Media Inc, using the Video Player and ad based technology platform it previously deployed through its wholly owned subsidiary, Eye Rock Digital Network Intertainment will also be providing technical development services for the integration of the communication technology and marketing systems. The service has been scheduled to launch in September, and Intertainment has roped in Trooker to give a hand in the final distribution of videos to customer’s soft-phones.
The condensed form of the Press Release basically had the following to say about the service –
1)Customers will have a soft-phone on their desktop through which they would avail the service.
2)Computer – to – Computer (peer-to-peer) calling services are free.
3)Traditional communication features – like local and long distance calling – will also be free.
4)Add-on communication features will not be free, but can be ‘earned’ through participation programs.
5)The VOIP soft-phone is customizable with skins and other features.
6)The audio portion of advertisements will automatically be muted during user calling activity.
-Vinay's thoughts: This voip service sounds very similar to Globe7, who after becoming popular stopped offering free calls. I wonder if that's what these guys planned :-)".
No details about the scope of operations were released, leaving much scope for speculation about which countries would come in the ‘long distance calling’ category. David Lucatch, President and CEO of Intertainment Media Inc had the following to say about the venture.
“This platform allows Intertainment to provide a true ‘push’ based system for advertising directly on a primary communication device. Consumers have taken well to free VOIP based programs, and companies like Skype have had tremendous growth and valuation. The ad and video based system allows the group to offset the costs of the service through the delivery of advertising services, making it a revenue model in combination with a user acquisition tool.”
So this September and there’ll be yet one more way of calling across the globe (hopefully) for free –this time, without any hacks or exploits. A method of free calling that will STAY… unless, of course, the entire VoIP Industry decides to catch the SunRocket bug.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our VOIP News Editor.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Zoippe offers free calling minutes
The sunrocket saga didn't really affect the growing VOIP industry and voip companies ain't shying away from free calls promotional offer yet. Hopefully never, so keep us alive :-) Today, we will discuss about this free minutes offer which can give you from 100 free minutes to 1000 free minutes if you know how to grab them.
Zoippe, A Hong Kong based VOIP provider has been running this promotion since last 2-3 months (sorry we missed it) and Hemant Jain (a regular reader) has reminded us that they extended the offer to Aug 31. Zoippe is getting popular around the APAC region especially HK, mainland china where they really belong. However, now they are trying to expand their reach by offering free calls minutes promotion.
Lets see how you can grab these hundreds of minutes for FREE:
1) Register yourself at Zoippe (sign up from this link will give you instant 10 Free minutes)
2) Download their softphone.
3) Install and start making calls
4) Now very importantly, you can refer your friends to signup . If you refer 5 friends, you will get 100 minutes (or rather $2.00USD credit) and your friend will get 10 free minutes instantly if he activate his account.
Note: While making calls, just dial country code +area code+ phone number (don't add + before country code)
Yesterday, I was checking the voice quality of Zoippe to Singapore, USA and India. It worked like a charm, the voice quality is good. The softphone however looks a bit crowded and the options are not easy to find however you can always play around the softphone.
You can make calls to many countries, I would say around the world.
Zoippe also offers some great features such as a Call back facility names as Zoippe Linkup. You can send SMS to your contacts using Zoippe SMS. In my opinion, Zoippe is a rather complete communication solution.
I strongly suggest 2 great features Zoippe offers:
1) Zoippe Call Divert: You can set a Call forward/divert in your Zoipee. Go to tools-Call divert. This will open your account page. Change settings here.
2)Zoippe In Number: People can call you with this Zoippe In number, when they dial this number. Your Zoippe softphone will ring but if you are offline then the call will be diverted to your Zoippe Call divert number.
These features makes Zoippe one of the best VOIP softphones out there. Although, it wasn't clear whether they charge for these services, but i would say yes. I would be happy if people can report their experience.
Make the most of this free calls offer and make calls to your loved ones.
Zoippe, A Hong Kong based VOIP provider has been running this promotion since last 2-3 months (sorry we missed it) and Hemant Jain (a regular reader) has reminded us that they extended the offer to Aug 31. Zoippe is getting popular around the APAC region especially HK, mainland china where they really belong. However, now they are trying to expand their reach by offering free calls minutes promotion.
Lets see how you can grab these hundreds of minutes for FREE:
1) Register yourself at Zoippe (sign up from this link will give you instant 10 Free minutes)
2) Download their softphone.
3) Install and start making calls
4) Now very importantly, you can refer your friends to signup . If you refer 5 friends, you will get 100 minutes (or rather $2.00USD credit) and your friend will get 10 free minutes instantly if he activate his account.
Note: While making calls, just dial country code +area code+ phone number (don't add + before country code)
Yesterday, I was checking the voice quality of Zoippe to Singapore, USA and India. It worked like a charm, the voice quality is good. The softphone however looks a bit crowded and the options are not easy to find however you can always play around the softphone.
You can make calls to many countries, I would say around the world.
Zoippe also offers some great features such as a Call back facility names as Zoippe Linkup. You can send SMS to your contacts using Zoippe SMS. In my opinion, Zoippe is a rather complete communication solution.
I strongly suggest 2 great features Zoippe offers:
1) Zoippe Call Divert: You can set a Call forward/divert in your Zoipee. Go to tools-Call divert. This will open your account page. Change settings here.
2)Zoippe In Number: People can call you with this Zoippe In number, when they dial this number. Your Zoippe softphone will ring but if you are offline then the call will be diverted to your Zoippe Call divert number.
These features makes Zoippe one of the best VOIP softphones out there. Although, it wasn't clear whether they charge for these services, but i would say yes. I would be happy if people can report their experience.
Make the most of this free calls offer and make calls to your loved ones.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Packet8 VOIP takes over Sunrocket Customers
I’ve not been doing my job properly. Here I am – Full Time VoIP News Editor and everything – and what am I doing while ScrewedRocket (Thanks to Vinay for this pun) is going out of business right under the Sun?
If I tell you people that SunRocket is now out of business, I’ll probably be inviting stale eggs on my face for providing stale news. If I tell you that there are 200,000 SunRocket orphans now, you’ll probably add tomatoes to the eggs. So what do I do to ensure acceptance of my news by you and acceptance of the article by my boss? Simple. I tell you that 8x8 Inc, provider of Packet8 residential, business and video VoIP phone services have made a pact with SunRocket’s executors to offer the 200,000 SunRocket Orphans a specially-priced offer to transition their account to Packet8.
8x8 Inc is a publicly traded twenty-year old company, which started offering Internet Phone Services in 2002. It has been awarded 68 US patents for voice, video and VoIP technologies, and is a provider of internet-based telephony solutions for individuals and small to medium sized business organizations. In addition to regular VoIP through its Packet8 system, the company also hosts a Virtual PBX contact center called Virtual Office. At the end of its 2007 fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, 8x8 reported more than $53 million in revenue and approximately $12 million in cash and showed significant progress toward becoming cash flow positive.
Under the terms of the agreement, Packet8 will waive all regular start up costs associated with its residential service plans plus offer one free month of service. SunRocket – or what’s left of it anyway – is supposed to communicate with its 200,000+ subscribers via an email and voicemail recommending they transition their service to Packet8 immediately. If you’re a SunRocket customer and you’ve received this communication – or not received this communication – do let others know in the comments.
8x8 Chairman and CEO had a lot to say about the agreement, but I’ll skip you the effort of having to read the entire text and give you the short version of it –
1)Packet8 is making arrangements with its network service providers to rapidly port SunRocket phone numbers to Packet8’s network in order to minimize the disruption that the transition may to their communication services.
2)SunRocket subscribers will be able to choose from several plans, including the Packet8 $199 Freedom Annual Plan, which essentially offers unlimited U.S. and Canada calling for a year.
3)Packet8 is one of the few service providers who actually own all of the core technologies underlying their services, thus enabling them to also provide video services to their VoIP offerings.
For more information, SunRocket customers should go to Packet8 Sunrocket Special Signup Page or call toll free +1-866-TRY-VOIP, option 2.
It’s a shame, really – a fine VoIP Provider like SunRocket going out of business. I’ve decided to make my next article a sort of tribute to SunRocket – outlining its entire 3 years career, from birth to demise. Of course, this commitment is subject to no drastic newsbreak till the time I finish the article. In case you don’t get the message Vonage, Please don’t give-in to your many legal woes and shut down and make me write two obituaries instead of one.
This article is contributed by our full time VOIP news editor Samarth Chandola.
If I tell you people that SunRocket is now out of business, I’ll probably be inviting stale eggs on my face for providing stale news. If I tell you that there are 200,000 SunRocket orphans now, you’ll probably add tomatoes to the eggs. So what do I do to ensure acceptance of my news by you and acceptance of the article by my boss? Simple. I tell you that 8x8 Inc, provider of Packet8 residential, business and video VoIP phone services have made a pact with SunRocket’s executors to offer the 200,000 SunRocket Orphans a specially-priced offer to transition their account to Packet8.
8x8 Inc is a publicly traded twenty-year old company, which started offering Internet Phone Services in 2002. It has been awarded 68 US patents for voice, video and VoIP technologies, and is a provider of internet-based telephony solutions for individuals and small to medium sized business organizations. In addition to regular VoIP through its Packet8 system, the company also hosts a Virtual PBX contact center called Virtual Office. At the end of its 2007 fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, 8x8 reported more than $53 million in revenue and approximately $12 million in cash and showed significant progress toward becoming cash flow positive.
Under the terms of the agreement, Packet8 will waive all regular start up costs associated with its residential service plans plus offer one free month of service. SunRocket – or what’s left of it anyway – is supposed to communicate with its 200,000+ subscribers via an email and voicemail recommending they transition their service to Packet8 immediately. If you’re a SunRocket customer and you’ve received this communication – or not received this communication – do let others know in the comments.
8x8 Chairman and CEO had a lot to say about the agreement, but I’ll skip you the effort of having to read the entire text and give you the short version of it –
1)Packet8 is making arrangements with its network service providers to rapidly port SunRocket phone numbers to Packet8’s network in order to minimize the disruption that the transition may to their communication services.
2)SunRocket subscribers will be able to choose from several plans, including the Packet8 $199 Freedom Annual Plan, which essentially offers unlimited U.S. and Canada calling for a year.
3)Packet8 is one of the few service providers who actually own all of the core technologies underlying their services, thus enabling them to also provide video services to their VoIP offerings.
For more information, SunRocket customers should go to Packet8 Sunrocket Special Signup Page or call toll free +1-866-TRY-VOIP, option 2.
It’s a shame, really – a fine VoIP Provider like SunRocket going out of business. I’ve decided to make my next article a sort of tribute to SunRocket – outlining its entire 3 years career, from birth to demise. Of course, this commitment is subject to no drastic newsbreak till the time I finish the article. In case you don’t get the message Vonage, Please don’t give-in to your many legal woes and shut down and make me write two obituaries instead of one.
This article is contributed by our full time VOIP news editor Samarth Chandola.
MegaFreeCalls offers free calls to USA
Woot! VOIP Guide loves summer, I repeat! Last 2-3 days, I was too busy covering stories and reading articles on Sunrocket but it seems now the sun is setting where Packet 8 will rise. Samarth will cover the story sometime soon. In the mean time, let me talk about this free calls to usa offer.
MegaFreeCalls is offer
ing free calls to USA and each call is limited to 10 mins. You can call landline+ mobile in North america. However this offer is only available for North Americans. If you visit Megafreecalls, from outside north america it shows a message "Sorry at this time, megafreecalls is only available in North America.
Lets see how you can use it from outside of USA:
1) Get a good working USA proxy. Google for it.
2) Now go to Internet Explorer-Tools-internet Options-Connections-Lan Settings-Select Proxy.
3) Here enter proxy address and port. Select bypass proxy option as well. Now apply. OK.
4) Now visit MegafreeCalls
5) Now make free calls to USA.
Note: You need to have Flash installed on your machine. if not, then download Flash.
MegaFreeCalls is offer
ing free calls to USA and each call is limited to 10 mins. You can call landline+ mobile in North america. However this offer is only available for North Americans. If you visit Megafreecalls, from outside north america it shows a message "Sorry at this time, megafreecalls is only available in North America.Lets see how you can use it from outside of USA:
1) Get a good working USA proxy. Google for it.
2) Now go to Internet Explorer-Tools-internet Options-Connections-Lan Settings-Select Proxy.
3) Here enter proxy address and port. Select bypass proxy option as well. Now apply. OK.
4) Now visit MegafreeCalls
5) Now make free calls to USA.
Note: You need to have Flash installed on your machine. if not, then download Flash.
In our test, we found the voice quality of the calls was OK but not great. This could be possible since we were using a proxy. It seems people in USA might get better voice quality that international users. Thanks to Yogesh for testing the solution for VOIP Guide.
Anyways, Happy free calling to USA.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Jajah offers Cheap Calls to India
VOIP Guide has been patiently waiting for that summer deal where one of the VOIP providers will offer some great deal for free or cheap calls to India. If you miss this post, you miss this great offer.
Thanks to Frederik of Jajah (Thanks to Pat for reminding) who pinched me today about this offer. I was so engrossed with ScrewedRocket , I had no time to look beyond the sun :-) Getting back to the offer, the time has come, to celebrate your summer in US and Independence Day in India with cheap calls to and from India.
This time Jajah has decided to shine on the large non-resident Indian populations settled abroad (including me). Jajah has launched a campaign for Indians called Jajah India . They are offering from now until India Independence Day (August 15), calls to and from India and North America and the U.K. will cost 7.3 (USD) cents/minute (3.2 INR), at a cost far below standard telco rates. This is important everyone offers cheaper calls to India but not many offering cheaper calls from India to other destinations. Rs.3.2 to US and UK sounds good.
Jajah has been constantly improving on their quality of calls and service, however lately especially post- Intel funding, I didn’t see much action. They were probably busy counting the mullah : -) now they seem to be back in action.
Furthermore, Jajah is offering special promotion, you will get 30 mins if you invite 5 friends to Jajah. What are you waiting for Go to Jajah India and invite your Friends
don't forget to DIGG this story and let everyone know
Thanks to Frederik of Jajah (Thanks to Pat for reminding) who pinched me today about this offer. I was so engrossed with ScrewedRocket , I had no time to look beyond the sun :-) Getting back to the offer, the time has come, to celebrate your summer in US and Independence Day in India with cheap calls to and from India.
This time Jajah has decided to shine on the large non-resident Indian populations settled abroad (including me). Jajah has launched a campaign for Indians called Jajah India . They are offering from now until India Independence Day (August 15), calls to and from India and North America and the U.K. will cost 7.3 (USD) cents/minute (3.2 INR), at a cost far below standard telco rates. This is important everyone offers cheaper calls to India but not many offering cheaper calls from India to other destinations. Rs.3.2 to US and UK sounds good.
Jajah has been constantly improving on their quality of calls and service, however lately especially post- Intel funding, I didn’t see much action. They were probably busy counting the mullah : -) now they seem to be back in action.
Furthermore, Jajah is offering special promotion, you will get 30 mins if you invite 5 friends to Jajah. What are you waiting for Go to Jajah India and invite your Friends
don't forget to DIGG this story and let everyone know
Jajah VOIP powers Dating giant eHarmony
What happens when a creative, innovative VoIP provider like Jajah meets Internet dating giant eHarmony? No, it’s not a case of love at first sight (This is not When-Harry-Met-Sally, It’s When-Jajah-Met-eHarmony remember?). it’s a case of the addition of one more service feather in Jajah’s cap – Click-to-Call.
Jajah is going beyond the scope of being a pure VoIP phone calls provider, and is expanding its domain to include commercial applications like Click-to-Call, which lets eHarmony members talk to each other anonymously over the phone simply by clicking the other member’s name.
In times when pure VoIP companies are experiencing catastrophes, Jajah’s move comes as a smart one. Pure VoIP providers like Vonage are facing dire financial strains, while Vonage’s biggest competitor till yesterday, SunRocket is now officially out of business . Interestingly, SunRocket retrenched about a quarter of its workforce only one week ago in an effort then dubbed by the analyst world (and by me) as “efficiency spree.”. SunRocket was considered as a robust, steady provider of VoIP services, having the second largest customer base after Vonage. If a company like SunRocket officially shuts down just days after claiming how good they were going to be in the near future, then things certainly look weak for the small, startup VoIP providers.
There are way too many players in the market now for VoIP companies to survive purely on phone calls by end users (SunRocket is a living example. Well… dead, actually), and identifying and grabbing opportunities like Jajah just did is the only way to survive. It’s pretty much Darwin’s theory of natural selection – only the most innovative and most responsive to change will survive. Backing up this theory is the American Venture Capital Market, which has invested about US $ 1 billion in diversified VoIP firms. The operative word here is ‘diversified.’
Commenting on the deal, Greg Waldorf, CEO of eHarmony, stated that telephone calls through Click-to-Call would never compromise the anonymity eHarmony offered.
“Until today, you lost anonymity once you went to the voice stage,” He said. “But this (Click-to-Call) keeps you as much in control of your information disclosure as you are when you use email.” Great! Now I can claim to be Elvis over the phone too!
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our full time VOIP news editor.
Jajah is going beyond the scope of being a pure VoIP phone calls provider, and is expanding its domain to include commercial applications like Click-to-Call, which lets eHarmony members talk to each other anonymously over the phone simply by clicking the other member’s name.
In times when pure VoIP companies are experiencing catastrophes, Jajah’s move comes as a smart one. Pure VoIP providers like Vonage are facing dire financial strains, while Vonage’s biggest competitor till yesterday, SunRocket is now officially out of business . Interestingly, SunRocket retrenched about a quarter of its workforce only one week ago in an effort then dubbed by the analyst world (and by me) as “efficiency spree.”. SunRocket was considered as a robust, steady provider of VoIP services, having the second largest customer base after Vonage. If a company like SunRocket officially shuts down just days after claiming how good they were going to be in the near future, then things certainly look weak for the small, startup VoIP providers.
There are way too many players in the market now for VoIP companies to survive purely on phone calls by end users (SunRocket is a living example. Well… dead, actually), and identifying and grabbing opportunities like Jajah just did is the only way to survive. It’s pretty much Darwin’s theory of natural selection – only the most innovative and most responsive to change will survive. Backing up this theory is the American Venture Capital Market, which has invested about US $ 1 billion in diversified VoIP firms. The operative word here is ‘diversified.’
Commenting on the deal, Greg Waldorf, CEO of eHarmony, stated that telephone calls through Click-to-Call would never compromise the anonymity eHarmony offered.
“Until today, you lost anonymity once you went to the voice stage,” He said. “But this (Click-to-Call) keeps you as much in control of your information disclosure as you are when you use email.” Great! Now I can claim to be Elvis over the phone too!
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our full time VOIP news editor.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
SunRocket out of Business
SunRocket VOIP, a supposedly leader in US VOIP market, one of the strong competitor to Vonage has official shut down. This is breaking news for customers of Sunrocket. They are now officially named as “Sunrocket Orphans” and now I can predict competitor companies will be literally rambling to get the sun rocket customers on their board.
If you are a current sunrocket customer, there is no choice but to switch to new one. However the biggest issue is about loosing your sunrocket phone number which you shared with your friends, family and almost the world. How will they know your new number?
Interestingly Vonage is the first company trying to capitalize on this situation and offering SunRocket customers to transition their phone number over to Vonage, and also receive the added benefit of two months free service. Wooho! Way to go, but wait are you sure you want to go to Vonage? Another VOIP company which is already in trouble over multiple legal issues? I won’t be surprised if Vonage would be out of business overnight.
That leaves us with few choices; however some of the new VOIP phone companies are offering some good deals and seems more reliable. Sometimes smaller companies tend to do better than bigger VOIP firms.
Lets quickly look at which other Sunrocket alternatve VOIP providers can offer value.
1) Lingo: We recently reviewed their offering under Lingo VOIP Review. Basically, Lingo is now catching up with their competitors and providing excellent VOIP services at competitive prices. For $21.95 they give almost all featured with unlimited calling to over 22 countries including USA and Canada. Its must a check out.
2) PhonePower: The fairly new entrants in the VOIP provider space, however they offer stellar services at great prices. For $9.95 they are offering Voice Mail, Call-Waiting, Caller-ID Fax to email, any area code, E911 and much more.
Impressed? Signup Today
I will review some more alternatives to VOIP in coming days.
If you are a current sunrocket customer, there is no choice but to switch to new one. However the biggest issue is about loosing your sunrocket phone number which you shared with your friends, family and almost the world. How will they know your new number?
Interestingly Vonage is the first company trying to capitalize on this situation and offering SunRocket customers to transition their phone number over to Vonage, and also receive the added benefit of two months free service. Wooho! Way to go, but wait are you sure you want to go to Vonage? Another VOIP company which is already in trouble over multiple legal issues? I won’t be surprised if Vonage would be out of business overnight.
That leaves us with few choices; however some of the new VOIP phone companies are offering some good deals and seems more reliable. Sometimes smaller companies tend to do better than bigger VOIP firms.
Lets quickly look at which other Sunrocket alternatve VOIP providers can offer value.
1) Lingo: We recently reviewed their offering under Lingo VOIP Review. Basically, Lingo is now catching up with their competitors and providing excellent VOIP services at competitive prices. For $21.95 they give almost all featured with unlimited calling to over 22 countries including USA and Canada. Its must a check out.
2) PhonePower: The fairly new entrants in the VOIP provider space, however they offer stellar services at great prices. For $9.95 they are offering Voice Mail, Call-Waiting, Caller-ID Fax to email, any area code, E911 and much more.
Impressed? Signup Today
I will review some more alternatives to VOIP in coming days.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Yoomba offers Free Worldwide Calls via Email
Free VOIP space is heating up this summer with more new startups popping in this now crowded place. Well for consumers however it’s a great news, more free calls and more options to look forward to. You can always multiple services to make free calls worldwide.
This isreali startup firm, Yoomba joins the “Free voip” party and offering a very unique voip solution unlike the traditional PC to Phone, Phone to Phone alernatives which are getting too common. Don’t we use Email everyday, we atleast check 1 email each day, well I check almost 5 everyday and that too around 20 times. So a average person spends spends time on email if not on surfing the web. Yoomba banks on this consumer habit and trying to integrate solution with to this most widely used medium of communication on the web called Email.
Now you would be saying, OK I got Gmail and my friend have yahoo mail so how will this actually fit?
Yoomba has developed an open peer-to-peer application that integrates into any email network and converts your email address into a phone or messenger, allowing users to talk to people around the world, for free. No need to worry softphones, thinking about SIP settings etc. This is easier than making a peanut butter Sandwich.
However at the first look, I found Yoomba a bit cluttered all over my gmail but it could be just me. I thought it’s actually hijacking my Gmail by adding buttons to it. Slowly, I got into the whole idea and now it seems alright. I hate cluttered desktops and applications :-)
To use Yoomba, you need to do the following:
1) Go to Yoomba
2) Enter your email address to get Activation email.
3) Just click on the activation code sent you in email
4) This will start yoomba plugin download.
5) After completion, just loginto Yoomba.
6) Automatically Yoomba will integrate itself in all email application you use including your web email.
7) Start making Free Calls
8) Of course, do I have to say invite more people to Yoomba so you can talk for FREE.
Enjoy free worldwide calls with Yoomba.
This isreali startup firm, Yoomba joins the “Free voip” party and offering a very unique voip solution unlike the traditional PC to Phone, Phone to Phone alernatives which are getting too common. Don’t we use Email everyday, we atleast check 1 email each day, well I check almost 5 everyday and that too around 20 times. So a average person spends spends time on email if not on surfing the web. Yoomba banks on this consumer habit and trying to integrate solution with to this most widely used medium of communication on the web called Email.
Now you would be saying, OK I got Gmail and my friend have yahoo mail so how will this actually fit?
Yoomba has developed an open peer-to-peer application that integrates into any email network and converts your email address into a phone or messenger, allowing users to talk to people around the world, for free. No need to worry softphones, thinking about SIP settings etc. This is easier than making a peanut butter Sandwich.
However at the first look, I found Yoomba a bit cluttered all over my gmail but it could be just me. I thought it’s actually hijacking my Gmail by adding buttons to it. Slowly, I got into the whole idea and now it seems alright. I hate cluttered desktops and applications :-)
To use Yoomba, you need to do the following:
1) Go to Yoomba
2) Enter your email address to get Activation email.
3) Just click on the activation code sent you in email
4) This will start yoomba plugin download.
5) After completion, just loginto Yoomba.
6) Automatically Yoomba will integrate itself in all email application you use including your web email.
7) Start making Free Calls
8) Of course, do I have to say invite more people to Yoomba so you can talk for FREE.
Enjoy free worldwide calls with Yoomba.
ViaTalkfree offers Free Calls to USA
We at VOIP guide love summer holidays. Aint we already getting good free call offers this summer, i hope they last for extended period. Currently we have some great solution for making free calls to USA. With this solution, we have 4 good working solutions for free calls. This has however better voice quality coz its Phone to Phone free calls service.
Viatalk is a leader in VOIP in USA and directly competing with providers such as Vonage VOIP & Packet 8. However, Viatalk must be feeling more comfortable now since Vonage is already in trouble with legal issues and it just keep popping back for them.
To promote their flagship VOIP service(which are one of the cheapest in USA) Now Viatalk joins the Free call movement. They have launched a new free call service called viatalkfree. This is kind of surrogate advertising, where you advertise another product to promote your flagship products. This is interesting for people living in USA cause viatalk is offer free calls for USA residence.
The best part of the service is they will first call back and connect to you party. Lets see how you can make calls to other USA resident with viatalkfree
1) Go to viatalkfree
2) Download their plug-in.
3) Now enter your phone number and other party’s number
4) Click Call
5) They will first call back on your phone and then connect the other party.
6) The call is totally FREE.
Although, its not very clear but I heard rumors that the call is limited to only 10 mins each call. Although, not bad for quick conversation. Remember, this service only works for people living in USA since they will give a call, although you can always forward your calls with any SIP provider by getting a free USA number and setting forward to your phone. That way, you can make free calls to USA from anywhere in the world.
Quick Hint:
1)Get register on IPKall and get a USA number. They have direct option to fwd call on sip account.
2)Give your gtalk2voip sip no. Read free Call forwarding Guide to setup Gtalk2voip & PhoneGnome.
3)All calls will be fwd on your landline/mobile via phone gnome
With that workaround/hack, you can now use viatalkfree even from outside of USA.It seems we have some great solutions now for people to make free calls in USA.
Happy Calling!
Viatalk is a leader in VOIP in USA and directly competing with providers such as Vonage VOIP & Packet 8. However, Viatalk must be feeling more comfortable now since Vonage is already in trouble with legal issues and it just keep popping back for them.
To promote their flagship VOIP service(which are one of the cheapest in USA) Now Viatalk joins the Free call movement. They have launched a new free call service called viatalkfree. This is kind of surrogate advertising, where you advertise another product to promote your flagship products. This is interesting for people living in USA cause viatalk is offer free calls for USA residence.
The best part of the service is they will first call back and connect to you party. Lets see how you can make calls to other USA resident with viatalkfree
1) Go to viatalkfree
2) Download their plug-in.
3) Now enter your phone number and other party’s number
4) Click Call
5) They will first call back on your phone and then connect the other party.
6) The call is totally FREE.
Although, its not very clear but I heard rumors that the call is limited to only 10 mins each call. Although, not bad for quick conversation. Remember, this service only works for people living in USA since they will give a call, although you can always forward your calls with any SIP provider by getting a free USA number and setting forward to your phone. That way, you can make free calls to USA from anywhere in the world.
Quick Hint:
1)Get register on IPKall and get a USA number. They have direct option to fwd call on sip account.
2)Give your gtalk2voip sip no. Read free Call forwarding Guide to setup Gtalk2voip & PhoneGnome.
3)All calls will be fwd on your landline/mobile via phone gnome
With that workaround/hack, you can now use viatalkfree even from outside of USA.It seems we have some great solutions now for people to make free calls in USA.
Happy Calling!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
VoIP over WiMAX
Two weeks ago, Vyke Communications PLC announced its tie-up with The Clouds Networks Limited to enable its customers access to seamless Mobile VoIP from over 10,000 HotSpots in Europe. In a move closely but not entirely resembling Vyke’s, California based VoIP Technology Provider HelloSoft has announced the launch of its VoIP Technology for WiMAX System-on-Chip (SoC) Designs.
And as it’s always when I introduce a new term, here’s a Beginner’s Guide to WiMAX. As per Wikipedia, WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, which is also called WirelessMAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
End of Guide, back to News.HelloSoft – a California based VoIP Technology Provider with an R&D facility in Hyderabad, India – has launched its VoIP Technology for WiMAX System-on-Chip Designs. To make a long article short, this move will allow extensive VoIP implementation over WiMAX networks, thus paving way for what is now being termed VoWiMAX (Voice over Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access).
“HelloSoft is paving the way for mass deployment of VoIP over WiMAX by providing the most optimized VoIP solutions for WiMAX SoCs,” said Mr. Krishna Yarlagadda, Founder, President & CEO of HelloSoft. “The launching of our VoIP for WiMAX SoCs program enables WiMAX semiconductor manufacturers to add VoIP to their WiMAX designs for a complete VoWiMAX product running on a single-chip solution. We are excited for HelloSoft to be able to present this technology and deliver this low-cost solution to the marketplace.”
Commenting on the move, this little two-week expert says that this is a landmark move for both WiMAX and VoIP. Not only is it expanding WiMAX capabilities, it’s also boosting VoIP popularity by enabling it over entire cities through WiMAX. Vyke’s deal with The Clouds Networks Limited gave customers access to 10,000 (and growing) HotSpots from where they could access VoIP, but implementation of VoIP over WiMAX will convert entire cities into HotSpots! This kind of move can virtually cripple traditional telecom providers in the near future, including government ones. Way to go, HelloSoft! Now let’s just hope that this move acts as a wake-up call for telecom operators and governments against VoIP. Keep your fingers crossed!
This article is written by our VOIP news editor, Samarth Chandola.
And as it’s always when I introduce a new term, here’s a Beginner’s Guide to WiMAX. As per Wikipedia, WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, which is also called WirelessMAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
End of Guide, back to News.HelloSoft – a California based VoIP Technology Provider with an R&D facility in Hyderabad, India – has launched its VoIP Technology for WiMAX System-on-Chip Designs. To make a long article short, this move will allow extensive VoIP implementation over WiMAX networks, thus paving way for what is now being termed VoWiMAX (Voice over Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access).
“HelloSoft is paving the way for mass deployment of VoIP over WiMAX by providing the most optimized VoIP solutions for WiMAX SoCs,” said Mr. Krishna Yarlagadda, Founder, President & CEO of HelloSoft. “The launching of our VoIP for WiMAX SoCs program enables WiMAX semiconductor manufacturers to add VoIP to their WiMAX designs for a complete VoWiMAX product running on a single-chip solution. We are excited for HelloSoft to be able to present this technology and deliver this low-cost solution to the marketplace.”
Commenting on the move, this little two-week expert says that this is a landmark move for both WiMAX and VoIP. Not only is it expanding WiMAX capabilities, it’s also boosting VoIP popularity by enabling it over entire cities through WiMAX. Vyke’s deal with The Clouds Networks Limited gave customers access to 10,000 (and growing) HotSpots from where they could access VoIP, but implementation of VoIP over WiMAX will convert entire cities into HotSpots! This kind of move can virtually cripple traditional telecom providers in the near future, including government ones. Way to go, HelloSoft! Now let’s just hope that this move acts as a wake-up call for telecom operators and governments against VoIP. Keep your fingers crossed!
This article is written by our VOIP news editor, Samarth Chandola.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
VoIP comes to the iPhone
I want an iPhone, and I’ve got every materialistic reason to demand it. It’s everything iTunes and a fifth generation iPod is, and you can even make and receive calls with it! Add the fact that it’s one of the best multimedia cell phones out there, with looks to die for and connectivity that screams ‘Let’s go,’ and probably you’d want one too. If you do, here’s one more reason for you to have it, and if you don’t, here’s a reason why you might change your mind and end up buying this little new gizmo – VoIP is coming to the iPhone!
Collaboration and Conference provider Genesys has announced that their Genesys Meeting Center 4.0 will be the first VoIP-enabling utility for the iPhone. The Genesys Meeting Center will work via the iPhone’s Safari browser, and will enable all features regularly viewable on a desktop during a web meeting on the iPhone, with complete zooming and portrait/landscape capability. Genesys has announced that the Genesys Meeting Center, which already supports SoftPhone Capabilities, will be compatible with Publisher, Meeting Launcher, Outlook Calendar, and Outlook & Lotus Contacts Control. Complete VoIP on the move – now that’s something.
The iPhone comes with a heavy price tag (US $499 for the 4GB Version, and US $599 for the 8GB one).
That’s one of the reasons why I’m still wishing for an iPhone and don’t actually own one. While the availability of VoIP will not exactly make people discard their previous multimedia smart phones and communicators, it will definitely contribute to the bigger picture of the iPhone hype by adding to its long list of multimedia and communication capabilities.
Is the game worth the candle? I don’t know. Will VoIP be the clinching factor that will make Apple more millions than it’s already making? I don’t know that either. But you know what? I still want an iPhone.
This post is written by Samarth chandola, our full time VOIP news editor.
Collaboration and Conference provider Genesys has announced that their Genesys Meeting Center 4.0 will be the first VoIP-enabling utility for the iPhone. The Genesys Meeting Center will work via the iPhone’s Safari browser, and will enable all features regularly viewable on a desktop during a web meeting on the iPhone, with complete zooming and portrait/landscape capability. Genesys has announced that the Genesys Meeting Center, which already supports SoftPhone Capabilities, will be compatible with Publisher, Meeting Launcher, Outlook Calendar, and Outlook & Lotus Contacts Control. Complete VoIP on the move – now that’s something.
The iPhone comes with a heavy price tag (US $499 for the 4GB Version, and US $599 for the 8GB one).
That’s one of the reasons why I’m still wishing for an iPhone and don’t actually own one. While the availability of VoIP will not exactly make people discard their previous multimedia smart phones and communicators, it will definitely contribute to the bigger picture of the iPhone hype by adding to its long list of multimedia and communication capabilities.
Is the game worth the candle? I don’t know. Will VoIP be the clinching factor that will make Apple more millions than it’s already making? I don’t know that either. But you know what? I still want an iPhone.
This post is written by Samarth chandola, our full time VOIP news editor.
Friday, July 13, 2007
SunRocket VOIP is on an Efficiency Spree
For us, Voice-over-Internet-Protocol is a neat, cheap and convenient way to communicate with our near and dear ones. For others still, it’s a technology to explore and be fascinated about. And for other others, Voice-over-Internet-Protocol is a business – to run and use to mint in the smoothest and most convenient way possible. And in the face of stiff and growing competition, efficiency takes top priority for people running the VoIP business.
SunRocket – a Vienna based provider of residential VoIP technology – is currently on an increase-revenue-decrease-expense spree. The company – known for its prudent frugality – has laid off a quarter of its workforce in an effort to reduce costs amidst increased competition. SunRocket is second only to Vonage in the broadband phone market, but unlike Vonage, does not indulge its funds in massive advertisement campaigns, preferring aggressively priced calling packages over the expensive fanfare. This little strategy earned them 206,000 customers over in the last three years. Not just a successful strategy, but a classic case of what my Business Studies teacher would term ‘Minimum Input, Maximum Output.’
Commenting on the retrenchment, Chief Marketing Officer of SunRocket, Chris Mannella said that they were trying to lower their expenses in order to execute their business plan.
“We’re on the same path.” Mannella said. “We’ve just reduced operating expenses in light of the competitive environment.”
Since March 2005, SunRocket has received $80 Million in funding from several different investing firms. According to Mannella, SunRocket’s executives were considering a new round of venture capital funding in an effort to restructure the company. Well, they sure aren’t leaving any stone unturned in an effort to maximize their efficiency.
There’s no doubt in my mind that SunRocket is all set to become a lean, mean VoIP machine at minimum cost to the consumer. The company seems pretty serious about maximizing its efficiency while retaining its effectiveness. A low operating cost will mean higher profit to the company, which will not only enable SunRocket to add yet more features and innovations to its VoIP service, but will compel the competition to go the same way as SunRocket – maximum efficiency, minimum waste.
This post is written by Samarth Chandola, our full time VOIP news Editor
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Free Call Forwarding With SIP Tutorial- Part 1
This is another must read post, perhaps the best post written in the last 6 month. If you miss this tutorial, you will need to pay for call forwarding services. This tutorial will enable you to make unlimited call forwards to various destinations for FREE. This hack/workaround will work for people calling from India, Pakistan and any other destination as long as you have a PSTN gateway number and SIP service enabled.
We will try to make this guide as extensive and clear as we can. I hope you understand the steps and do not miss any. Please read the steps carefully, if you miss any of the step the hack won't work.
This hack will work with any provider including tpad (with PSTN numbers). I will first explain how you setup the free call forwarding facility and then we will see how people can call you.
Lets start with the tutorial. This tutorial has multiple sections. I want you to understand how the whole things works, since it will be easier for you to mix and match these parts to create a different solution from this.
First Section- Defining a Forward Facility with PhoneGnome.
Second Section- Setting up SIP Gateway
Note: We are not considering voxalot for this exercise since voxalot will be a paid service from July 16. We will be using gtalk2voip to replace voxalot.
1. logon to your Google talk messenger (Download Google talk if you don't have it already). Add service@gtalk2voip.com in your buddy list.
2. open the chat window with service@gtalk2voip.com (You can register with Gtalk2voip and ask for invitation) and type HELP in that chat window & it will give you the list of text command which u can use, and at the last of this list it will give u Your personal account page URL .
3. Go to your personal account page and click on Define your own SIP providers and click on Add to define your SIP provider.
4.
Host = sip.tpad.com
Port = 5060
Your User Name = your tpad username
Your Password = your tpad password
Techprefix : +
select Reg. to SIP and Enable option and save ur information
5. Now click on "Define your dialing plan ".
Note: If you already have Phonegnome added as provider then no need at add it again. go to step 6.
Add Phonegnome as your provider with PhoneGnome SIP settings.
Username : (ur phonegnome username ex. soft12345678)
password : (ur phonegnome password)
Host: pgp01.televolution.net
Port : 5060
Techprefix : +
select Reg. to SIP and Enable option and save ur information.
6.Now click on "Define your Follow-Me number or SIP URI" and in Follow-Me phone number or SIP URI: type your complete phone no. with + countrycode which u have given in phonegnome account. ( ex. +4921712345678 where +49 is country code for germany).
7.After some time in your SIP provider list, the status of your sip provider status should be Registered, if not so logoff from your gtalk, and login after few sec.
Now your VOIP Gateway is Setup.
Section 3: How can someone call you?
There are two ways to call you, either via PC (tpad to tpad is FREE) or via PSTN. PSTN will be most popular method to call, so lets consider this in our example.
Consider that your brother in Mumbai wants to call you in Germany. Lets see how he can do it.
1) He will have to call Tpad's PSTN Gateway number(Gateway numbers are available in many countries, check the list), For Mumbai: 0 2228665454
2) They will hear an automated message "Thank You for calling, please enter
the number you wish to call" <--------- (Tpad is going to change this
message and make multilingual soon)
3. They then dial YOUR personal 7 digit Tpad Number e.g 1124139 and it will
take 5 - 10 secs to connect (depending on number).
4. Now this call is converted from PSTN into SIP will terminate first at Tpad SIP Server, however since we have forwarded your Tpad account to your phone via phonegnome, you phone will ring.
5. Now make Free calls unlimited times with this FREE forwarding method.
This will save your money on forwarding your call to your phone. The only cost is local call rate to connect to PSTN gateway which is Rs.1.
This workaround/Hack can be used across providers who provide PSTN gateway numbers or for that matter any provider offering SIP service.
Please let us know any specific provider whom you want to hook up on this free forwarding setup and we will try to provide you with a tutorial.
I would like to thank Yogesh (Germany) & Vishnu (Ireland) for their help in achieving this solution. Yogesh has worked with me for hours to figure this out before we knew vishnu already did it :-). We have now formed a new team me, Yogesh and Vishnu who will be working to find new exciting free solutions.
Please post your comments, questions and success stories. This hack will rock the VOIP industry!
We will try to make this guide as extensive and clear as we can. I hope you understand the steps and do not miss any. Please read the steps carefully, if you miss any of the step the hack won't work.
This hack will work with any provider including tpad (with PSTN numbers). I will first explain how you setup the free call forwarding facility and then we will see how people can call you.
Lets start with the tutorial. This tutorial has multiple sections. I want you to understand how the whole things works, since it will be easier for you to mix and match these parts to create a different solution from this.
First Section- Defining a Forward Facility with PhoneGnome.
- Register your CellPhone/HomePhone with PhoneGnome
- When logged into their website (PhoneGnome) go under the features tab and activate Remote Access. Edit the settings to Ring SoftGnome with Home Phone:Active by ticking the box. Now save.
- On the same screen, Click View Sip Settings to see Sip Username, Password, and Sip proxy. Store it somewhere or keep this window open.
Second Section- Setting up SIP Gateway
Note: We are not considering voxalot for this exercise since voxalot will be a paid service from July 16. We will be using gtalk2voip to replace voxalot.
1. logon to your Google talk messenger (Download Google talk if you don't have it already). Add service@gtalk2voip.com in your buddy list.
2. open the chat window with service@gtalk2voip.com (You can register with Gtalk2voip and ask for invitation) and type HELP in that chat window & it will give you the list of text command which u can use, and at the last of this list it will give u Your personal account page URL .
3. Go to your personal account page and click on Define your own SIP providers and click on Add to define your SIP provider.
4.
Host = sip.tpad.com
Port = 5060
Your User Name = your tpad username
Your Password = your tpad password
Techprefix : +
select Reg. to SIP and Enable option and save ur information
5. Now click on "Define your dialing plan ".
Note: If you already have Phonegnome added as provider then no need at add it again. go to step 6.
Add Phonegnome as your provider with PhoneGnome SIP settings.
Username : (ur phonegnome username ex. soft12345678)
password : (ur phonegnome password)
Host: pgp01.televolution.net
Port : 5060
Techprefix : +
select Reg. to SIP and Enable option and save ur information.
6.Now click on "Define your Follow-Me number or SIP URI" and in Follow-Me phone number or SIP URI: type your complete phone no. with + countrycode which u have given in phonegnome account. ( ex. +4921712345678 where +49 is country code for germany).
7.After some time in your SIP provider list, the status of your sip provider status should be Registered, if not so logoff from your gtalk, and login after few sec.
Now your VOIP Gateway is Setup.
Section 3: How can someone call you?
There are two ways to call you, either via PC (tpad to tpad is FREE) or via PSTN. PSTN will be most popular method to call, so lets consider this in our example.
Consider that your brother in Mumbai wants to call you in Germany. Lets see how he can do it.
1) He will have to call Tpad's PSTN Gateway number(Gateway numbers are available in many countries, check the list), For Mumbai: 0 2228665454
2) They will hear an automated message "Thank You for calling, please enter
the number you wish to call" <--------- (Tpad is going to change this
message and make multilingual soon)
3. They then dial YOUR personal 7 digit Tpad Number e.g 1124139 and it will
take 5 - 10 secs to connect (depending on number).
4. Now this call is converted from PSTN into SIP will terminate first at Tpad SIP Server, however since we have forwarded your Tpad account to your phone via phonegnome, you phone will ring.
5. Now make Free calls unlimited times with this FREE forwarding method.
This will save your money on forwarding your call to your phone. The only cost is local call rate to connect to PSTN gateway which is Rs.1.
This workaround/Hack can be used across providers who provide PSTN gateway numbers or for that matter any provider offering SIP service.
Please let us know any specific provider whom you want to hook up on this free forwarding setup and we will try to provide you with a tutorial.
I would like to thank Yogesh (Germany) & Vishnu (Ireland) for their help in achieving this solution. Yogesh has worked with me for hours to figure this out before we knew vishnu already did it :-). We have now formed a new team me, Yogesh and Vishnu who will be working to find new exciting free solutions.
Please post your comments, questions and success stories. This hack will rock the VOIP industry!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Now Make International Calls at Local Rate
This is a Must Read post for everyone. Are you tired of using those PC to Phone service to make calls to your home country? Your Parents don’t know how to make calls using PC? They don’t have an internet or a SIP Phone to make calls? Now, the ultimate solution is here. Now even a 2 yr old kid can call you with this solution. The best part for a local rate(Rs.1). This will work for India and Pakistan as well.
Let me give you a background of this solution. I have been in constant touch with Tpad. Tpad when launched wasn’t really upto the mark. I remember sending my initial negative feedback about their slow site and a few bugs in their software. But I must say today, Tpad is one of most interesting VOIP provider in the world. They have come a long way, took criticism seriously and most importantly worked their way up to top. They now have great VOIP bundle.
Tpad recently launched a new Gateway number (Break IN numbers) in multiple countries (including Pakistan).
The service was a instant hit since there is a large bunch of users who still find it comfortable to use traditional phones over SIP device or a web based VOIP service to make calls. I don’t have to tell you the importance of such service in India and Pakistan where our family members find this service very easy to use. No special technical knowledge required. It works like a Calling Card.
From Today, They are covering India as well. They started a new number in India - Mumbai – ( 0 2228665454) and 2 new numbers in Pakistan - Islamabad – ( 0 518080903/0 518080913). They are offering numbers in various countries, check the list.
Before we start the tutorial, it’s essential that you get a Tpad account (you will get a Tpad number, Note it down)
Now Lets see what Tpad is offering us and how we can possibly use this Service.
Tpad Service can be used by your relatives who can ring you for just the price of a Local Call (or what their Telco charges them to ring that area).
1. Your caller rings from a Normal House Phone / Landline or mobile the
Tpad Break IN Local Number (phone must have DTMF tones)
e.g 022286665454 for Mumbai.
2. They will hear an automated message "Thank You for calling, please enter
the number you wish to call" <--------- (Tpad is going to change this
message and make multilingual soon)
3. They then dial YOUR personal 7 digit Tpad Number e.g 1124139 and it will
take 5 - 10 secs to connect (depending on number). Get a Tpad number for yourself
4. You can receive this call on the Free Tpad Softphone for Free.
5. Or you can forward this call (use either the softphone or website to
forward your calls - simply enter the full international code of the
number) to any landline / mobile in the World.
The actual service of call fowarding is Free, but you will be charged
the Tpad Call Rate to whatever country you forward to.
Here are the rates: (all rates are in USD$ and include VAT)
Tpad promises to Offer:
1. No connection charge / no minimum call length
2. Billed per second.
3. Tpad credit never expires.
4. No hidden fees / contracts means If you buy $10 of credit then you get $10 of credit
6. They only accept VISA / Mastercard - we are close to getting
Paypal / Western Union / Moneybookers
7. No maximum call length ( i.e no hang up after 30mins and dial again
business)
8. Last but not the least, a Free incoming number.
This solution is really promising for everyone who don't want to get into the PC to Phone hassle. Afterall our parents are most comfortable using a Phone than a PC :-)
If you happen to use the service, Lets us know your feedback on Call Quality, Availability of Service or Issues if any. Tpad guys are great fans of VOIP Guide and read the blog everyday.
Let me give you a background of this solution. I have been in constant touch with Tpad. Tpad when launched wasn’t really upto the mark. I remember sending my initial negative feedback about their slow site and a few bugs in their software. But I must say today, Tpad is one of most interesting VOIP provider in the world. They have come a long way, took criticism seriously and most importantly worked their way up to top. They now have great VOIP bundle.
Tpad recently launched a new Gateway number (Break IN numbers) in multiple countries (including Pakistan).
The service was a instant hit since there is a large bunch of users who still find it comfortable to use traditional phones over SIP device or a web based VOIP service to make calls. I don’t have to tell you the importance of such service in India and Pakistan where our family members find this service very easy to use. No special technical knowledge required. It works like a Calling Card.
From Today, They are covering India as well. They started a new number in India - Mumbai – ( 0 2228665454) and 2 new numbers in Pakistan - Islamabad – ( 0 518080903/0 518080913). They are offering numbers in various countries, check the list.
Before we start the tutorial, it’s essential that you get a Tpad account (you will get a Tpad number, Note it down)
Now Lets see what Tpad is offering us and how we can possibly use this Service.
Tpad Service can be used by your relatives who can ring you for just the price of a Local Call (or what their Telco charges them to ring that area).
1. Your caller rings from a Normal House Phone / Landline or mobile the
Tpad Break IN Local Number (phone must have DTMF tones)
e.g 022286665454 for Mumbai.
2. They will hear an automated message "Thank You for calling, please enter
the number you wish to call" <--------- (Tpad is going to change this
message and make multilingual soon)
3. They then dial YOUR personal 7 digit Tpad Number e.g 1124139 and it will
take 5 - 10 secs to connect (depending on number). Get a Tpad number for yourself
4. You can receive this call on the Free Tpad Softphone for Free.
5. Or you can forward this call (use either the softphone or website to
forward your calls - simply enter the full international code of the
number) to any landline / mobile in the World.
The actual service of call fowarding is Free, but you will be charged
the Tpad Call Rate to whatever country you forward to.
Here are the rates: (all rates are in USD$ and include VAT)
Tpad promises to Offer:
1. No connection charge / no minimum call length
2. Billed per second.
3. Tpad credit never expires.
4. No hidden fees / contracts means If you buy $10 of credit then you get $10 of credit
6. They only accept VISA / Mastercard - we are close to getting
Paypal / Western Union / Moneybookers
7. No maximum call length ( i.e no hang up after 30mins and dial again
business)
8. Last but not the least, a Free incoming number.
This solution is really promising for everyone who don't want to get into the PC to Phone hassle. Afterall our parents are most comfortable using a Phone than a PC :-)
If you happen to use the service, Lets us know your feedback on Call Quality, Availability of Service or Issues if any. Tpad guys are great fans of VOIP Guide and read the blog everyday.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Free Internet Phone Calls to Many Countries
More free internet phone calls are given away. Its up from Grab this summer. If you are not reading VOIP Guide (The only Free VOIP Guide on the internet), you are missing these great offers.
The singapore based VOIP provider, Mediaringtalk has decided to extend their free internet phone calls offer to September 2007. This offer is available since Jan/Feb 2007. In total, its running for almost a year now. They are offering free internet phone calls to some key destinations such as Fixed & Mobile: US, Canada, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Fixed: United Kingdom, Taiwan and Australia.
There are lot of visitors who were looking for a good solution to make free calls to china and Taiwan. If you missed on the earlier promotion, here is a good chance to make the most of this free offer.
The best part is you can make unlimited free calls, however each call is limited to 10 mins. I have been using Mediaringtalk for several months. In my opinion, it does the job, the voice quality is OK (not excellent, but better than other betamax providers). Ocassionally you might get errors such as SIP/Bad Gateway. Just ignore them and try again, it works. The issue could be that SIP proxy couldn't be registered. I hope they will fix that bug soon.
So What are you waiting for, Make free internet phone calls with Mediaringtalk
The singapore based VOIP provider, Mediaringtalk has decided to extend their free internet phone calls offer to September 2007. This offer is available since Jan/Feb 2007. In total, its running for almost a year now. They are offering free internet phone calls to some key destinations such as Fixed & Mobile: US, Canada, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Fixed: United Kingdom, Taiwan and Australia.
There are lot of visitors who were looking for a good solution to make free calls to china and Taiwan. If you missed on the earlier promotion, here is a good chance to make the most of this free offer.
The best part is you can make unlimited free calls, however each call is limited to 10 mins. I have been using Mediaringtalk for several months. In my opinion, it does the job, the voice quality is OK (not excellent, but better than other betamax providers). Ocassionally you might get errors such as SIP/Bad Gateway. Just ignore them and try again, it works. The issue could be that SIP proxy couldn't be registered. I hope they will fix that bug soon.
So What are you waiting for, Make free internet phone calls with Mediaringtalk
Hosted Contact Center provider LiveOps eyeing for Leadership
What does a company which helps prevent Identity Theft do after becoming the only company in the industry with an ISO 27001 certification for data and operational security, backing its service with a million-dollar guarantee, advertising its CEO Social Security Number in National Advertisements, and buying a 5,000 square foot facility only to outgrow it in four months?
Simple. It gets another brainwave and ties up with a hosted contact center solution provider to increase its agent capacity, security, control and results without incurring the increased cost and complexity of additional facilities and equipment.
LifeLock the company famous for giving out its CEO’s Social Security Number in National Advertisements as proof of the security they guarantee – has tied up with LiveOps Inc, the leader in distributed contact center technology and services. LiveOps is essentially a Hosted Call Center Provider, making available enterprise-scale distributed call center infrastructure to businesses and companies unable to afford the high cost of building and maintaining an in-house Call Center. What sets LiveOps apart from traditional contact centers and contact center technology providers is the way it combines Broadband, VoIP, Web Communities and Online Marketplaces to provide solutions that allow greater flexibility, quality, scalability, control and cost-savings than their contemporaries’. The tie-up with LiveOps will enable LifeLock to distribute its call center agents in company offices as well as their own homes. For a company growing as rapidly as LifeLock, LiveOps’ Hosted Contact Center is just the tool needed to allow sales to keep pace with the rapid expansion, and just in case the company outgrows its call center agents, and urgently needs more for a short-term duration, LiveOps’ own network of 10,000 experienced agents have been trained to “quickly represent your company in an effective and professional manner.”
In a way, it’s amazing how LiveOps Hosted Contact Center Platform fits so snugly into LifeLock’s own security and expansion platform. LiveOps’ Platform has been specifically designed to support work-at-home agents, while maximizing call center security at the same time. Basic logic tells us that LifeLock will have an easier time expanding if it has more agents under its belt (not an issue, considering LiveOps support for work-at-home agents) to handle its ever-expanding customer base, while LiveOps ability to record and track every call made by every agent from any location on a dynamic basis on a manager’s desktop will ensure minimization of expansion associated risks – especially those related to the work-at-home and otherwise agents’ credibility. The Platform also provides innovative agent performance management, and includes privacy and accountability features to ensure LifeLock retains its ISO 27001 security certification.
It’s a win-win situation for both companies, and of course, for the ultimate customer. LifeLock has selected LiveOps’ comprehensive Hosted Contact Center Solution to power its own Contact Center Operation, and so far, I only see a bright journey ahead for both of them, and a young Contact Center Agent telling a customer to Live Life, and let them Lock the Ops.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
VOIP Solution for Free Calls - Part 2
VOIP Guide posted the ultimate voip solution Part 1 last week. We received a lot of feedback from readers. One of the important one was difficulty in setting up this free voip solution. Some reported they can't get this working. This second part should answer some of your questions/concerns and Part 2 is lot simpler to understand and setup.
This solution is designed by VOIP Guide's regular reader, Yogesh Chauhan (Germany) with some help from Gtalk2VOIP founder, Ruslan Zalata. I would like to thank both for providing this solution to us.
In the first part, we discussed about using PhoneGnome number with Voxalot. However, many people found this whole setup confusing, especially the voxalot part. In this solution, We are replacing voxalot with Gtalk2voip. Don't worry. This time It's really easy to setup and use.
The best part of using Gtalk2voip is we can use it from any IM (Yahoo messenger, Google Talk or MSN etc) unlike voxalot, which need gateway numbers to access or a SIP client. Gtalk2voip will act like a gateway for us.
1. Setup your account with PhoneGnome (For instruction read our Part 1 Guide for PhoneGnome Setup)
2. logon to your Google talk messenger (Download Google talk if you don't have it already). Add service@gtalk2voip.com in your buddy list.
3. open the chat window with service@gtalk2voip.com (You can register with Gtalk2voip and ask for invitation) and type HELP in that chat window & it will give you the list of text command which u can use, and at the last of this list it will give u Your personal account page URL .
4. Go to your personal account page and click on Define your own SIP providers and click on Add to define your SIP provider.
5. Give your phonegnome information in this.
Username : (ur phonegnome username ex. soft12345678)
password : (ur phonegnome password)
Host: pgp01.televolution.net
Port : 5060
Techprefix : +
select Reg. to SIP and Enable option and save ur information.
6. Now click on "Define your dialing plan "
7. Click on add button and select your provider phonegnome as ur provider (it will be at top of the list ex.soft-12345678@pgp01.televolution.net). leave rest of the options default and save the setting.
8.Now click on "Define your Follow-Me number or SIP URI" and in Follow-Me phone numer or SIP URI: type your complete phone no. with + & countrycode which u have given in phonegnome account. ( ex. +4921712345678 where +49 is countrycode for germany).
9.After some time in your SIP provider list, the status of your sip provider status should be Registered, if not so logoff from your gtalk, and login after few sec.
10.On right hand side, under the tab "Your Profile" change Your Codec to G.711-High Bitrate for better sound quality, after clicking the change button twice. above this u can see Your SIPBroker Id is *018XXXXX. This numer in red is your SIP Phone no or SIPBroker id.
11. Now Add *018XXXXX@gtalk2voip.com in your gtalk messenger (where XXXXX is your 5 digit SIP No. or is Your SIPBroker ID provided by gtalk2voip.com).
12. To test if everything is working fine call *018XXXXX from any Sip phone or any SIP PSTN gateway phone.(where XXXXX is your 5 digit SIP No. or is Your SIPBroker ID provided by gtalk2voip.com).and you should receive this call 1st on your gtalk and if u do not pick this call for 20 sec this will be fwd to your phone. Remember that u can't call urself from gtalk2voip. so for testing u can ask one of ur friend to add *018XXXXX@gtalk2voip.com in their gtalk and call u for trial.
13. If everything works fine give *018XXXXX@gtalk2voip.com to your friends and after adding this in their Gtalk they can call u, if u r online on gtalk u will receive call on ur gtalk, and if u do not pick call for 20 sec call will be fwd to ur phone. If u r offline then u will get call directly on ur phone in few secs.
14. Making a Call with Google Talk is easy. Just open *018XXXXX@gtalk2voip.com IM window and click CALL.
Although the process involves 14 steps, I personally found it lot easier to setup The best part about the service is We don't need to dial any numbers etc. People from India can also use this service for FREE. Some softphones don't work in India or doesnt allow Indians to make calls to other countries. You can easily bypass this by using this ultimate voip solution.
Again, I am not confident if this will work to make calls to India since PhoneGnome doesnt provide service for India. Although, I would be happy if someone can try and let us know.
Please post your questions/concerns/suggestions/success stories.
This solution is designed by VOIP Guide's regular reader, Yogesh Chauhan (Germany) with some help from Gtalk2VOIP founder, Ruslan Zalata. I would like to thank both for providing this solution to us.
In the first part, we discussed about using PhoneGnome number with Voxalot. However, many people found this whole setup confusing, especially the voxalot part. In this solution, We are replacing voxalot with Gtalk2voip. Don't worry. This time It's really easy to setup and use.
The best part of using Gtalk2voip is we can use it from any IM (Yahoo messenger, Google Talk or MSN etc) unlike voxalot, which need gateway numbers to access or a SIP client. Gtalk2voip will act like a gateway for us.
1. Setup your account with PhoneGnome (For instruction read our Part 1 Guide for PhoneGnome Setup)
2. logon to your Google talk messenger (Download Google talk if you don't have it already). Add service@gtalk2voip.com in your buddy list.
3. open the chat window with service@gtalk2voip.com (You can register with Gtalk2voip and ask for invitation) and type HELP in that chat window & it will give you the list of text command which u can use, and at the last of this list it will give u Your personal account page URL .
4. Go to your personal account page and click on Define your own SIP providers and click on Add to define your SIP provider.
5. Give your phonegnome information in this.
Username : (ur phonegnome username ex. soft12345678)
password : (ur phonegnome password)
Host: pgp01.televolution.net
Port : 5060
Techprefix : +
select Reg. to SIP and Enable option and save ur information.
6. Now click on "Define your dialing plan "
7. Click on add button and select your provider phonegnome as ur provider (it will be at top of the list ex.soft-12345678@pgp01.televolution.net). leave rest of the options default and save the setting.
8.Now click on "Define your Follow-Me number or SIP URI" and in Follow-Me phone numer or SIP URI: type your complete phone no. with + & countrycode which u have given in phonegnome account. ( ex. +4921712345678 where +49 is countrycode for germany).
9.After some time in your SIP provider list, the status of your sip provider status should be Registered, if not so logoff from your gtalk, and login after few sec.
10.On right hand side, under the tab "Your Profile" change Your Codec to G.711-High Bitrate for better sound quality, after clicking the change button twice. above this u can see Your SIPBroker Id is *018XXXXX. This numer in red is your SIP Phone no or SIPBroker id.
11. Now Add *018XXXXX@gtalk2voip.com in your gtalk messenger (where XXXXX is your 5 digit SIP No. or is Your SIPBroker ID provided by gtalk2voip.com).
12. To test if everything is working fine call *018XXXXX from any Sip phone or any SIP PSTN gateway phone.(where XXXXX is your 5 digit SIP No. or is Your SIPBroker ID provided by gtalk2voip.com).and you should receive this call 1st on your gtalk and if u do not pick this call for 20 sec this will be fwd to your phone. Remember that u can't call urself from gtalk2voip. so for testing u can ask one of ur friend to add *018XXXXX@gtalk2voip.com in their gtalk and call u for trial.
13. If everything works fine give *018XXXXX@gtalk2voip.com to your friends and after adding this in their Gtalk they can call u, if u r online on gtalk u will receive call on ur gtalk, and if u do not pick call for 20 sec call will be fwd to ur phone. If u r offline then u will get call directly on ur phone in few secs.
14. Making a Call with Google Talk is easy. Just open *018XXXXX@gtalk2voip.com IM window and click CALL.
Although the process involves 14 steps, I personally found it lot easier to setup The best part about the service is We don't need to dial any numbers etc. People from India can also use this service for FREE. Some softphones don't work in India or doesnt allow Indians to make calls to other countries. You can easily bypass this by using this ultimate voip solution.
Again, I am not confident if this will work to make calls to India since PhoneGnome doesnt provide service for India. Although, I would be happy if someone can try and let us know.
Please post your questions/concerns/suggestions/success stories.
Virtual PBX Inc acquires Open Communication Systems
Before I took this job, I never knew how many acquisitions take place in the world everyday. Just last week, I covered Google’s takeover of phone-management tool GrandCentral, and even before I can rest my poor brain and fingers, here’s another one staring at me in the face, shamelessly asking me to turn on my word processor and begin typing. Well… it’s not as if I have a choice… so let’s begin.
On this side of the ring, we have Open Communication Systems (Radio Handi) – a San Francisco based privately held company, which has now been acquired by our other candidate. OCS deals in advanced telecommunications applications and software development tools based on open standards, and its most popular claim to fame is its Radio Handi communication service, which lets organized and ad-hoc groups of people to communicate with each other in a mixed media environment that blends live voice, web, email and SMS messaging.
On the other side, is Virtual PBX Inc the pioneer of the hosted PBX market – introducing the first product in its class in 1997 – and the company that has acquired the other.
PBX, or Private Branch eXchange operate connections between private organizations – usually businesses – and the public switched telephone network, incorporating telephones, fax machines, modems and more in the process. PBX handles calls between these extensions as well as connects to PSTN via trunk lines, but the hardware acquisition and maintenance cost is usually beyond the scope of small companies, giving rise to the idea of Hosted PBXs, in which a customer desists from buying expensive hardware and merely signs up for PBX service with a telephone service provider, who manage their own PBX setup and outsource its features via the Internet.
To quote the three primary uses for Virtual PBX as per the press release of the acquisition by Virtual PBX Inc –
1) For small businesses that want full PBX functionality without the capital and support expense of installed equipment.
2) For companies of any size that need to route calls to telecommuters or other employees outside of a main office.
3) For enterprises looking for phone disasters recovery solutions (Essentially, this means the ability to route calls to alternate numbers in case you experience phone failure)
So now you’re through with your ‘Beginners Guide to PBX.’ Good. Now as I’ve been taught since Grade I in my English class, ‘Two companies are better than one,’ so let’s take a look at how this acquisition will benefit Virtual PBX Inc.
As with any other acquisition, the deal will effectively add OCS’ customers to Virtual PBX Inc’s, expanding its market and paving the way for new and deeper market penetration, while alongside adding a range of VoIP, mobile, text and mixed-media communication services to their product line. Integrating OCS’ next-gen cross-platform telecommunications technology into their own network will also lead to quite a few fancy innovations in Virtual PBX Inc’s Hosted PBX network, not to mention increase the likelihood of reducing operational costs. Virtual PBX Inc has announced that it plans to provide a suite of virtual office telecommunications services that can be purchased separately or together, and that these new offerings will begin to appear by the fourth quarter of this year.
All very good, and all very nice. Virtual PBX Inc already had the ability to boast of being the inventor of the Hosted PBX setup, and this acquisition has firmly reinforced their already strong market position. The freedom of the customer to choose from an increasing list of services will give Virtual PBX Inc a trump card that will help attract new customers to the company, resulting in smiles for everyone – especially Virtual PBX Inc’s bank book. And yes, there’s another good thing resulting out of this acquisition – it enlightened some people living in ignorant bliss (like me) about the marvels of PBX and the wonders of modern technology.
This post is written by Samarth Chandola, Full time VOIP news editor at Free VOIP Guide.
On this side of the ring, we have Open Communication Systems (Radio Handi) – a San Francisco based privately held company, which has now been acquired by our other candidate. OCS deals in advanced telecommunications applications and software development tools based on open standards, and its most popular claim to fame is its Radio Handi communication service, which lets organized and ad-hoc groups of people to communicate with each other in a mixed media environment that blends live voice, web, email and SMS messaging.
On the other side, is Virtual PBX Inc the pioneer of the hosted PBX market – introducing the first product in its class in 1997 – and the company that has acquired the other.
PBX, or Private Branch eXchange operate connections between private organizations – usually businesses – and the public switched telephone network, incorporating telephones, fax machines, modems and more in the process. PBX handles calls between these extensions as well as connects to PSTN via trunk lines, but the hardware acquisition and maintenance cost is usually beyond the scope of small companies, giving rise to the idea of Hosted PBXs, in which a customer desists from buying expensive hardware and merely signs up for PBX service with a telephone service provider, who manage their own PBX setup and outsource its features via the Internet.
To quote the three primary uses for Virtual PBX as per the press release of the acquisition by Virtual PBX Inc –
1) For small businesses that want full PBX functionality without the capital and support expense of installed equipment.
2) For companies of any size that need to route calls to telecommuters or other employees outside of a main office.
3) For enterprises looking for phone disasters recovery solutions (Essentially, this means the ability to route calls to alternate numbers in case you experience phone failure)
So now you’re through with your ‘Beginners Guide to PBX.’ Good. Now as I’ve been taught since Grade I in my English class, ‘Two companies are better than one,’ so let’s take a look at how this acquisition will benefit Virtual PBX Inc.
As with any other acquisition, the deal will effectively add OCS’ customers to Virtual PBX Inc’s, expanding its market and paving the way for new and deeper market penetration, while alongside adding a range of VoIP, mobile, text and mixed-media communication services to their product line. Integrating OCS’ next-gen cross-platform telecommunications technology into their own network will also lead to quite a few fancy innovations in Virtual PBX Inc’s Hosted PBX network, not to mention increase the likelihood of reducing operational costs. Virtual PBX Inc has announced that it plans to provide a suite of virtual office telecommunications services that can be purchased separately or together, and that these new offerings will begin to appear by the fourth quarter of this year.
All very good, and all very nice. Virtual PBX Inc already had the ability to boast of being the inventor of the Hosted PBX setup, and this acquisition has firmly reinforced their already strong market position. The freedom of the customer to choose from an increasing list of services will give Virtual PBX Inc a trump card that will help attract new customers to the company, resulting in smiles for everyone – especially Virtual PBX Inc’s bank book. And yes, there’s another good thing resulting out of this acquisition – it enlightened some people living in ignorant bliss (like me) about the marvels of PBX and the wonders of modern technology.
This post is written by Samarth Chandola, Full time VOIP news editor at Free VOIP Guide.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Linksys WIP300 G VOIP Phone Review and Setup Guide
VOIP Guide received many requests from visitors about reviewing VOIP Phones. VOIP Phone can be a great alternative to PC to Phone and gives you freedom from PC calls and any software related issues with it. Today, we will review Linksys WIP 300 G VOIP phone and this guide will also detail step by step setup for the phone. A must read for everyone.
One of the regular readers of VOIP Guide is sharing his thoughts on Linksys WIP G-VOIP phone he has been using for some time. This guide is exclusively written by Vishnu Saini (Ireland) for VOIP Guide. Vishnu might soon join VOIP Guide as full time reviewer and will write some exclusive guide on various topics such as IP Phones, PBX setup guides etc.
Vishnu writes,
I recently upgraded to A Linksys WIP300 G-VOIP phone (which now Linksys call iphone). When I got this phone I was amazed by looking at this great phone. Just weighing 120 gms with a color display of 2.2 inch (240x320 pixels), this phone is more than what I had expected.
I inserted the phone battery, charged for about 8 hrs initially (which is required as per manufacturer) and was ready to call friends without limitations. The user configuration is too easy and it took me not more than five minutes to make the first voip call with this great phone. I successfully configured this phone for with my voip providers for incoming and outgoing calls (I use different voip providers for calls to different places).
Note that this phone allows you to configure six voip accounts, but you can use only one at a time, but do not worry I will tell you below how you can configure any number of voip to work at a time.
Below I have described how to configure this phone in minutes and if you follow these steps you should not have any difficulty with using this phone.
When you first switch on the phone and scroll down to profile tab (with the help of joystick) and click OK, phone will ask you to set up a password for you. This is your first time you are using your phone so give a password which you can easily remember (Do not worry even if you can’t remember as you can set the phone back to factory default anytime).
Once you are done with your profile password setup, next is to setup your wireless network and sip account settings, it is up to you, what you want to setup first.
We need to setup a SIP account for the phone so highlight sip account settings and press select key and select edit on next screen. By now you must have sip details for your VOIP provider.
This screen ask you for your user name, sip proxy and auth ID and password. Fill these details under different options and rename this as your voip provider. Remember that you can use only one at a time but you can configure six voip accounts with this phone.
TIP: to use more than one sip account for incoming and outgoing, you can open a free account with voxalot and register / setup you voip provider in the same account and use voxalot as you sip account for this phone. This will give more flexibility for using different services and you can make changes in voxalot account separately and will not need to make any change in your phone sip account.
Now Let us set up Network settings for the phone. In the profile menu, click on the network profile. You have now six predefined network profile names. Do not worry you can rename these anytime and click on any of these as the settings are same for each.
For instance if you click on “open” this means that you will be setting up a profile with name “open”.
So highlight “open” and select to open the profile settings. Click on the edit settings and go to wireless settings on the next screen. If you setup your wireless router with broadcast SSID, this will help you to know your SSID, (if you have not done so please do it before you setup your phone, You might consider to refer to your wireless router setup to enable the SSID broadcast).
When you click on ESSID on next screen you have option for new SSID or site survey. I will recommend to do a site survey, so click on this and your phone shows you the available wireless networks in your phone’s range. Selecting your wireless networks will assign the ESSID automatically (tip : you have your SSID broadcast disabled you can assign it in your phone by new SSID tab, but remember to put in the same SSID as your network).
Now go to security on back screen and this is where you need to put your network details. If your wireless network is without security simply use “open” network and click on back key to go to account settings.
(If you have WAP or WEP settings for your network, choose WEP or WAP-PSK security settings and enter your passwords/ keys for your security settings.)
If you have a fixed IP settings you should go to IP settings and enter it there or if you have your router for DHCP enabled (which in most cases will be), set your IP settings for phone as DHCP.
Highlight Account choice and set it to the sip account you have configured above as you will be using this for your phone connectivity.
TIP : I recommend to set your phone and wireless router with security enabled settings (WAP-PSK or WEP) so as to avoid any unauthorised use. Also set up two or three network profiles as open so as when you move around places you can use different wireless hotspots for your connection, I will give also give some hints below for quick selection of networks.
Now once you are ok with these settings, go back to your phone’s main screen and you phone will try to setup wireless network connectivity… you will see messages coming up like. Getting IP address… and then Registering… and if everything is alright Your phone’s screen will show up the Network SSID and SIP account name.
By this time you will also notice the signal bars on top left corner of your phone, which shows the strength of wireless network in your phone’s range.
Now dial the number and you are ready to go.
You can make and receive calls as long you are in the range of your wireless network.
TIP : When you are out of your network range scroll down to tools tab and do a site survey of the networks available nearby. Each secured network will be shown with a * and open network without *, so you just need to go to your profile as above and in ESSID settings choose, a network found in Site survey without a * and your phone will setup rest for you.
If you impressed with this phone and would like to buy. You will get over $38 discount if you buy from the link below (Discount is not applicable otherwise).
Original price is$167.99 USD , post discount is $129.99 USD.
Go ahead and buy
Linksys WIP300 Wireless-G IP VoIP Phone
One of the regular readers of VOIP Guide is sharing his thoughts on Linksys WIP G-VOIP phone he has been using for some time. This guide is exclusively written by Vishnu Saini (Ireland) for VOIP Guide. Vishnu might soon join VOIP Guide as full time reviewer and will write some exclusive guide on various topics such as IP Phones, PBX setup guides etc.
Vishnu writes,
I recently upgraded to A Linksys WIP300 G-VOIP phone (which now Linksys call iphone). When I got this phone I was amazed by looking at this great phone. Just weighing 120 gms with a color display of 2.2 inch (240x320 pixels), this phone is more than what I had expected.
I inserted the phone battery, charged for about 8 hrs initially (which is required as per manufacturer) and was ready to call friends without limitations. The user configuration is too easy and it took me not more than five minutes to make the first voip call with this great phone. I successfully configured this phone for with my voip providers for incoming and outgoing calls (I use different voip providers for calls to different places).
Note that this phone allows you to configure six voip accounts, but you can use only one at a time, but do not worry I will tell you below how you can configure any number of voip to work at a time.
Below I have described how to configure this phone in minutes and if you follow these steps you should not have any difficulty with using this phone.
When you first switch on the phone and scroll down to profile tab (with the help of joystick) and click OK, phone will ask you to set up a password for you. This is your first time you are using your phone so give a password which you can easily remember (Do not worry even if you can’t remember as you can set the phone back to factory default anytime).
Once you are done with your profile password setup, next is to setup your wireless network and sip account settings, it is up to you, what you want to setup first.
We need to setup a SIP account for the phone so highlight sip account settings and press select key and select edit on next screen. By now you must have sip details for your VOIP provider.
This screen ask you for your user name, sip proxy and auth ID and password. Fill these details under different options and rename this as your voip provider. Remember that you can use only one at a time but you can configure six voip accounts with this phone.
TIP: to use more than one sip account for incoming and outgoing, you can open a free account with voxalot and register / setup you voip provider in the same account and use voxalot as you sip account for this phone. This will give more flexibility for using different services and you can make changes in voxalot account separately and will not need to make any change in your phone sip account.
Now Let us set up Network settings for the phone. In the profile menu, click on the network profile. You have now six predefined network profile names. Do not worry you can rename these anytime and click on any of these as the settings are same for each.
For instance if you click on “open” this means that you will be setting up a profile with name “open”.
So highlight “open” and select to open the profile settings. Click on the edit settings and go to wireless settings on the next screen. If you setup your wireless router with broadcast SSID, this will help you to know your SSID, (if you have not done so please do it before you setup your phone, You might consider to refer to your wireless router setup to enable the SSID broadcast).
When you click on ESSID on next screen you have option for new SSID or site survey. I will recommend to do a site survey, so click on this and your phone shows you the available wireless networks in your phone’s range. Selecting your wireless networks will assign the ESSID automatically (tip : you have your SSID broadcast disabled you can assign it in your phone by new SSID tab, but remember to put in the same SSID as your network).
Now go to security on back screen and this is where you need to put your network details. If your wireless network is without security simply use “open” network and click on back key to go to account settings.
(If you have WAP or WEP settings for your network, choose WEP or WAP-PSK security settings and enter your passwords/ keys for your security settings.)
If you have a fixed IP settings you should go to IP settings and enter it there or if you have your router for DHCP enabled (which in most cases will be), set your IP settings for phone as DHCP.
Highlight Account choice and set it to the sip account you have configured above as you will be using this for your phone connectivity.
TIP : I recommend to set your phone and wireless router with security enabled settings (WAP-PSK or WEP) so as to avoid any unauthorised use. Also set up two or three network profiles as open so as when you move around places you can use different wireless hotspots for your connection, I will give also give some hints below for quick selection of networks.
Now once you are ok with these settings, go back to your phone’s main screen and you phone will try to setup wireless network connectivity… you will see messages coming up like. Getting IP address… and then Registering… and if everything is alright Your phone’s screen will show up the Network SSID and SIP account name.
By this time you will also notice the signal bars on top left corner of your phone, which shows the strength of wireless network in your phone’s range.
Now dial the number and you are ready to go.
You can make and receive calls as long you are in the range of your wireless network.
TIP : When you are out of your network range scroll down to tools tab and do a site survey of the networks available nearby. Each secured network will be shown with a * and open network without *, so you just need to go to your profile as above and in ESSID settings choose, a network found in Site survey without a * and your phone will setup rest for you.
If you impressed with this phone and would like to buy. You will get over $38 discount if you buy from the link below (Discount is not applicable otherwise).
Original price is$167.99 USD , post discount is $129.99 USD.
Go ahead and buy
Linksys WIP300 Wireless-G IP VoIP Phone
Friday, July 6, 2007
Grandcentral Free VOIP Phone Forwarding service bought by Google
First, it scored a home run. Then, it diversified and scored a touchdown. And now, acquisition shark Google has scored a goal – branching out yet again and adding another boogie to its train of acquisitions – phone management tool GrandCentral.
GrandCentral (Google has announced that the name of the company shall remain the same) was formed in 2005 by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet – two executives who had previously worked for Dialpad Communications, a company acquired by Yahoo in 2005. It runs a beta, VoIP powered web-based service that allows users to link and manage multiple phones from a single number and voicemail account which they can use for life. Here are a few reasons why you should be so out-of-your-mind so as to spend $10 a month on this service (It’s free for light users, but most of GrandCentral’s users are paying ones) –
1) It allows you to listen to voicemail messages online, or from any phone. You can also forward them to anybody, add the caller to your address book or tag him as spam and block him.
2) It lets you listen to voicemail messages while they’re being recorded, and let’s you switch a call from your cell phone to your desk-phone and back again.
3) If you have multiple phone numbers (home phone, work phone, cell phone), you can get one phone number that you can set to ring all, some or none of your phones, based on who’s calling. Depending on how he’s set up in your address book, the caller will automatically be routed to the appropriate number. This way, your phone number is tied to you and not your location or job.
4) Services provided by GrandCentral have many features that complement existing phone services. All in all, you’ll have a lot more control over your phones.
Ok, so now you’re asking “Where do I sign up?” Glad to hear you’re out-of-your-mind enough. I have both good, and bad news for you.
Let’s start with the tragedy. GrandCentral has announced that while existing customers will continue to have uninterrupted access to their service, new users will be accepted only by invitation, and that there’re only a limited number of them available. That’s one reason to cry. Another is that you can only sign up for an invitation if you have a US telephone number. Now dry up your tears. Getting a US telephone number ain’t that difficult a job. There are many VoIP providers that provide you with a US number upon registering with them, You can read Vinay's post about Free Incoming Numbers
So effectively, you still have a chance of registering with GrandCentral. Remember, the early bird gets the worm, so the sooner you head over to GrandCentral, and register, the better your chances (though why anybody would want to eat worms is beyond my logical and comprehensive ability).
Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet – founders of GrandCentral – declared that the acquisition (which reportedly cost Google $50 Million) will enable them to add more innovative features to GrandCentral, many of which will remain free. Over on Google’s side, the company refrained from declaring any future plan, which led to lots of speculative speculation by news agencies and bloggers alike. From rumors of Google preparing a mobile device, to talks of Google integrating the service in to Gmail and Google Talk, to tittle-tattles of Google including GrandCentral’s technology in a larger telephony offering similar to Skype, weblogs all over the world have discussed them all, with, naturally, no definitive conclusion. What Google REALLY wants to do with GrandCentral is… well, it’s…. umm…. aah forget it. I’m a News Editor, not an investigative journalist, remember?
And so ends the tale of Google acquiring yet another company. If this trend continues, Google will soon become an octopus – so many services, one brand name. And Google, if someday you decide to adopt an octopus image as your logo, just remember – I thought of it first.
This post is written by Samarth Chandola, Full time VOIP News Editor for Free VOIP Guide, The only Free VOIP Guide on the Internet.
GrandCentral (Google has announced that the name of the company shall remain the same) was formed in 2005 by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet – two executives who had previously worked for Dialpad Communications, a company acquired by Yahoo in 2005. It runs a beta, VoIP powered web-based service that allows users to link and manage multiple phones from a single number and voicemail account which they can use for life. Here are a few reasons why you should be so out-of-your-mind so as to spend $10 a month on this service (It’s free for light users, but most of GrandCentral’s users are paying ones) –
1) It allows you to listen to voicemail messages online, or from any phone. You can also forward them to anybody, add the caller to your address book or tag him as spam and block him.
2) It lets you listen to voicemail messages while they’re being recorded, and let’s you switch a call from your cell phone to your desk-phone and back again.
3) If you have multiple phone numbers (home phone, work phone, cell phone), you can get one phone number that you can set to ring all, some or none of your phones, based on who’s calling. Depending on how he’s set up in your address book, the caller will automatically be routed to the appropriate number. This way, your phone number is tied to you and not your location or job.
4) Services provided by GrandCentral have many features that complement existing phone services. All in all, you’ll have a lot more control over your phones.
Ok, so now you’re asking “Where do I sign up?” Glad to hear you’re out-of-your-mind enough. I have both good, and bad news for you.
Let’s start with the tragedy. GrandCentral has announced that while existing customers will continue to have uninterrupted access to their service, new users will be accepted only by invitation, and that there’re only a limited number of them available. That’s one reason to cry. Another is that you can only sign up for an invitation if you have a US telephone number. Now dry up your tears. Getting a US telephone number ain’t that difficult a job. There are many VoIP providers that provide you with a US number upon registering with them, You can read Vinay's post about Free Incoming Numbers
So effectively, you still have a chance of registering with GrandCentral. Remember, the early bird gets the worm, so the sooner you head over to GrandCentral, and register, the better your chances (though why anybody would want to eat worms is beyond my logical and comprehensive ability).
Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet – founders of GrandCentral – declared that the acquisition (which reportedly cost Google $50 Million) will enable them to add more innovative features to GrandCentral, many of which will remain free. Over on Google’s side, the company refrained from declaring any future plan, which led to lots of speculative speculation by news agencies and bloggers alike. From rumors of Google preparing a mobile device, to talks of Google integrating the service in to Gmail and Google Talk, to tittle-tattles of Google including GrandCentral’s technology in a larger telephony offering similar to Skype, weblogs all over the world have discussed them all, with, naturally, no definitive conclusion. What Google REALLY wants to do with GrandCentral is… well, it’s…. umm…. aah forget it. I’m a News Editor, not an investigative journalist, remember?
And so ends the tale of Google acquiring yet another company. If this trend continues, Google will soon become an octopus – so many services, one brand name. And Google, if someday you decide to adopt an octopus image as your logo, just remember – I thought of it first.
This post is written by Samarth Chandola, Full time VOIP News Editor for Free VOIP Guide, The only Free VOIP Guide on the Internet.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
VOIP in Fiji
It seems everybody’s jumping on the VoIP bandwagon. After the Nepalese government announced its plan of legally introducing VoIP in the country, the latest to join the troupe is the tiny island nation of Fiji, whose VoIP laws are currently under review to allow extensive implementation of VoIP in the country.
Last month, the Cabinet of Fiji approved the VoIP policy, enabling limited, regulatory provision of VoIP services in the country. Soon thereafter, like a good business company responding to changes in its legal environment in what seems like a textbook adaption, wireless internet provider Unwired Fiji announced its intentions to go VoIP, claiming that the technology would allow customers to make calls to popular destinations like Australia, New Zealand and the USA at less than 10 cents per minute. Responding to the declaration, Telecom Fiji Limited’s General Manger Ian Lyons said that the introduction of VoIP in the country was inevitable. Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL) is the sole provider of local and national telephony services in Fiji, and owns the only public switched telephone network in the country. In other words, it has a monopoly on the provision of network services in Fiji.
“The question is not will it happen?” Lyons said. “If you look at every carrier in the developed markets, it has happened. The question is when and how. VoIP will arrive in the country sooner or later and eventually, TFL will have to consider keeping pace with technology.” Smart man. I can see why he made to GM.
Like many other countries in the world, Fiji’s laws are not entirely pro-VoIP, making the economy lose millions of dollars of revenue due to illegal International Long Distance call bypass service offered by VoIP powered public phone booths and cyber cafes. Legal constraints are, in fact, one of the biggest barricades to completely VoIP-ing the telecom industry the world over. Some countries just don’t like the idea of experimenting with a brand new telecom technology (they’re no scientists, I can bet you), while other governments are plain worried that going VoIP will completely uproot the existing telecom industry and render valuable voters jobless (“Down with the governor!”). Lyons however, says that the issue is on the table, and that the concerned regulatory body and the government are exploring the regulatory framework and releasing an interim paper on it (And here I was, thinking that it’s only us students who have to tussle with examinations. All the best, VoIP!)
Coming down to volume and revenue, Lyons believes that going VoIP would increase overall call volumes, and that TFL’s challenge would be to move at an appropriate pace to keep the revenue share that they already have. I think that’s achievable. If I’m calling my best friend and I have to pay something like 75 cents a minute, I’ll talk for about five minutes. Ten at the maximum. That translates into something like $3.75 (I’m talking for five minutes here). However, if I’m calling my best friend and I have to pay something like 5 cents a minute, basic human tendency to fulfill one’s social desires (yeah, I know… heavy psychological stuff) will not only make me talk for fifty minutes, but also make me call three other friends. Translating that into worldly dollars (of course they’re worldly… they make the world go round, don’t they?), I pay $2.50 + $1.50 for talking to three other friends for ten minutes each (they’re not best friends, you know). Now my arithmetic’s pretty weak, but the calculator tells me that that comes out to $4.00, which is only slightly more than what I was paying initially – $3.75. Providing that TFL manages to meet the quality expectations of its customers, it should have no trouble at all in maintaining its existing revenue share.
So if things go right, we’ll be able to classify tiny Fiji as a Green VoIP Zone soon. Another territory won by Internet telephony. A small one, true. But a victory nonetheless.
This post is contributed by Samarth Chandola, full time VOIP news Editor for VOIP Guide.
Last month, the Cabinet of Fiji approved the VoIP policy, enabling limited, regulatory provision of VoIP services in the country. Soon thereafter, like a good business company responding to changes in its legal environment in what seems like a textbook adaption, wireless internet provider Unwired Fiji announced its intentions to go VoIP, claiming that the technology would allow customers to make calls to popular destinations like Australia, New Zealand and the USA at less than 10 cents per minute. Responding to the declaration, Telecom Fiji Limited’s General Manger Ian Lyons said that the introduction of VoIP in the country was inevitable. Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL) is the sole provider of local and national telephony services in Fiji, and owns the only public switched telephone network in the country. In other words, it has a monopoly on the provision of network services in Fiji.
“The question is not will it happen?” Lyons said. “If you look at every carrier in the developed markets, it has happened. The question is when and how. VoIP will arrive in the country sooner or later and eventually, TFL will have to consider keeping pace with technology.” Smart man. I can see why he made to GM.
Like many other countries in the world, Fiji’s laws are not entirely pro-VoIP, making the economy lose millions of dollars of revenue due to illegal International Long Distance call bypass service offered by VoIP powered public phone booths and cyber cafes. Legal constraints are, in fact, one of the biggest barricades to completely VoIP-ing the telecom industry the world over. Some countries just don’t like the idea of experimenting with a brand new telecom technology (they’re no scientists, I can bet you), while other governments are plain worried that going VoIP will completely uproot the existing telecom industry and render valuable voters jobless (“Down with the governor!”). Lyons however, says that the issue is on the table, and that the concerned regulatory body and the government are exploring the regulatory framework and releasing an interim paper on it (And here I was, thinking that it’s only us students who have to tussle with examinations. All the best, VoIP!)
Coming down to volume and revenue, Lyons believes that going VoIP would increase overall call volumes, and that TFL’s challenge would be to move at an appropriate pace to keep the revenue share that they already have. I think that’s achievable. If I’m calling my best friend and I have to pay something like 75 cents a minute, I’ll talk for about five minutes. Ten at the maximum. That translates into something like $3.75 (I’m talking for five minutes here). However, if I’m calling my best friend and I have to pay something like 5 cents a minute, basic human tendency to fulfill one’s social desires (yeah, I know… heavy psychological stuff) will not only make me talk for fifty minutes, but also make me call three other friends. Translating that into worldly dollars (of course they’re worldly… they make the world go round, don’t they?), I pay $2.50 + $1.50 for talking to three other friends for ten minutes each (they’re not best friends, you know). Now my arithmetic’s pretty weak, but the calculator tells me that that comes out to $4.00, which is only slightly more than what I was paying initially – $3.75. Providing that TFL manages to meet the quality expectations of its customers, it should have no trouble at all in maintaining its existing revenue share.
So if things go right, we’ll be able to classify tiny Fiji as a Green VoIP Zone soon. Another territory won by Internet telephony. A small one, true. But a victory nonetheless.
This post is contributed by Samarth Chandola, full time VOIP news Editor for VOIP Guide.
Nepal VOIP to get legalised?
They say one man’s meat is often another man’s poison, and for us VoIP lovers – especially the Nepali VoIP lovers – this couldn’t be truer. What came as a rude shock to the Nepalese Government is a celebration cause for all advocates of VoIP. After an estimate revealed that the Government is losing NRS 8 billion annually due to illegal International Long Distance call bypass services offered by VoIP powered public phone booths and cyber cafes, the Nepal Telecom Authority has finally given the green signal to United Telecom Limited and Nepal Telecom to employ VoIP technology. And when you come to think of it, who can blame them? If I was losing that kind of money, I’d want it back too!
United Telecom Limited is a Bangalore based joint venture between India’s MTNL, VSNL and Telecommunications Consultants India. In Nepal, it operates in collaboration with Nepal Venture Private Limited, and is also the country’s first private telecom operator. Nepal Telecom – the other company that has been given the go-ahead – is a state owned enterprise. The VoIP project is still in its initial phases, with UTL only beginning to conduct feasibility studies to identify partners it can ally with overseas to offer the new technology to its subscribers in Nepal. If initial estimates are to be believed, UTL will need to invest about NRS 150 Million (Over $2 Million) to implement the new technology.
I like the fact that the government has granted licenses to two companies to negate the possibility of a monopoly. But even though everything seems bright and positive so far, I won’t be surprised if hitches crop up in the plan concerning the rights and licenses of the two telecom operators. Discrimination against the privately owned UTL is not unheard of in Nepal, and petty politics could spoil the whole thing. An example of the prejudice would be that even though both UTL and Nepal Telecom have identical licenses to offer phone service based on the wave technology employed by cellular phones, the Nepal Telecom Authority has allowed Nepal Telecom to offer full mobility to their customers, while UTL has been restricted to limited mobility.
This means that while a UTL subscriber can use his phone as a mobile only up to a certain area, Nepal Telecom’s phones using the same technology can be used anywhere in the country. If such discrimination seeps into the new VoIP plan, it can be a heavy setback to the development of a strong, robust VoIP network in Nepal.
This post is written by Samarth Chandola. Samarth is full time VOIP News Editor for VOIP Guide.
United Telecom Limited is a Bangalore based joint venture between India’s MTNL, VSNL and Telecommunications Consultants India. In Nepal, it operates in collaboration with Nepal Venture Private Limited, and is also the country’s first private telecom operator. Nepal Telecom – the other company that has been given the go-ahead – is a state owned enterprise. The VoIP project is still in its initial phases, with UTL only beginning to conduct feasibility studies to identify partners it can ally with overseas to offer the new technology to its subscribers in Nepal. If initial estimates are to be believed, UTL will need to invest about NRS 150 Million (Over $2 Million) to implement the new technology.
I like the fact that the government has granted licenses to two companies to negate the possibility of a monopoly. But even though everything seems bright and positive so far, I won’t be surprised if hitches crop up in the plan concerning the rights and licenses of the two telecom operators. Discrimination against the privately owned UTL is not unheard of in Nepal, and petty politics could spoil the whole thing. An example of the prejudice would be that even though both UTL and Nepal Telecom have identical licenses to offer phone service based on the wave technology employed by cellular phones, the Nepal Telecom Authority has allowed Nepal Telecom to offer full mobility to their customers, while UTL has been restricted to limited mobility.
This means that while a UTL subscriber can use his phone as a mobile only up to a certain area, Nepal Telecom’s phones using the same technology can be used anywhere in the country. If such discrimination seeps into the new VoIP plan, it can be a heavy setback to the development of a strong, robust VoIP network in Nepal.
This post is written by Samarth Chandola. Samarth is full time VOIP News Editor for VOIP Guide.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Mobivox offers Free international Calls on July 4
VOIP Guide loves summer time, more free calls offers and some great cheap voip service available in the market up for grab. It's time for consumers to get the best deal. We posted about Skype cheaper calls and now another provider offering free international calls on July 4 (US Independence day Special promotion).
It's kinda late for me to post this but still about 12 hrs left for USA to celebrate Independence Day. Whats so special about July 4? Well Mobivox is offering free international calls from USA to anywhere in the world on mobile or fixed lines anytime from midnight EDT to 11:59:59 pm EDT July 4 for a value up to 10$ US of MOBIVOX credit.
Since we never discussed Mobivox on VOIP Guide earlier, its a good time to explain how it works.
Mobivox doesn't require you to download any softphone or even tiny application to use their services. This frees you from the compatibility issues, perhaps the greatest advantage over other voip providers.
One way is to access MOBIVOX through a local access number provided to you free by MOBIVOX. When you call your local number, MOBIVOX recognizes your phone number, Voxgirl (automated) helps you to make calls.
Those who do not have access numbers in their country , for e.g: India can use mobivox from Web. Just enter your party number in Your Account-Web call. Mobivox will first call you and then call your party.
So make free and cheap call with Mobivox
It's kinda late for me to post this but still about 12 hrs left for USA to celebrate Independence Day. Whats so special about July 4? Well Mobivox is offering free international calls from USA to anywhere in the world on mobile or fixed lines anytime from midnight EDT to 11:59:59 pm EDT July 4 for a value up to 10$ US of MOBIVOX credit.
Since we never discussed Mobivox on VOIP Guide earlier, its a good time to explain how it works.
Mobivox doesn't require you to download any softphone or even tiny application to use their services. This frees you from the compatibility issues, perhaps the greatest advantage over other voip providers.
One way is to access MOBIVOX through a local access number provided to you free by MOBIVOX. When you call your local number, MOBIVOX recognizes your phone number, Voxgirl (automated) helps you to make calls.Those who do not have access numbers in their country , for e.g: India can use mobivox from Web. Just enter your party number in Your Account-Web call. Mobivox will first call you and then call your party.
So make free and cheap call with Mobivox
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