It seems this September is going to be a big month for VOIP and telecom industry overall. A possible Gphone announcement(will cover more news on Gphone) and Cubic Telecom's likely role in this release is gonna keep me busy this September. Hopefully the news come out good and its favourable for the consumers.
Cubic telecom however are a bit ahead of google and already started dishing out their plans on what we can expect from then in the coming years. Cubic plans to become the world’s first truly global mobile service provider. They have raised over 5 million Euro in VC funding. Cubic is founded by fellow blogger Pat Phelan of Roam4Free. Pat has already promised VOIP Guide of some exciting news coming up in the next 2-3 weeks. We are all ears.
The most prominent sentence in the whole PR release was "Cubic is working towards free speech." They also promised to cut down the cost of mobile communication to significantly low or nil.
According to Pat (I take it highly official), We want a world in which you can pick up your mobile phone anywhere and call anyone for as long as you like and not worry about the price. When most people think about driving down the cost of telephone calls, they think of calling from computer-to-computer. We don’t. We deliver simple, high quality, high value telephone services direct to the devices that people like to use - their mobile phones. There’s no software to download, nothing to configure, nothing new to learn. Our service is straightforward and our network caters to all.
Way to go, I dont want to jump to conclusions but does that mean Cubic is trying to minimise the international mobile call charges to extremely low or probably FREE?
I suspect Cubic is trying to operate this Maxroam model?
Cubic also going to launch this service in over 160 countries. I hope they are taking Asia seriously. The "Chindia" region can make this service more interesting.
So great job Pat. We seriously hope you kick a$$ of traditional facist telecom operators :-) and finally can we expect free international calls at all?
Friday, August 31, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Raketu offers free calls to 40 countries
Looks like the summer slump is over and VOIP Providers are back in action with some great free voip calling offers. Raketu, a known VOIP provider is now offering a great offer for making free calls to over 40 destinations.
Raketu is a VOIP provider with a little twist. They not just offer VOIP calling services but also do range of other stuff including IPTV and their softphone is more of a information center rather than a pure VOIP softphone client. Raketu tried marketing their services with a bundled softphone with IPTV, which did well for them. They are now primarily eyeing the frustrated post-skype mortem customers :-)
Effective from 20th Aug (We got the news today), any Raketu user who makes a payment of $9.95 or $24.95 is eligible for: Up to 1200 minutes per month free calling to locations in 40 countries for 3 months from the day you pay. This is purely limited to Rakout services and not Rakweb, which is their web based alternative. This means if you are going to use this service then ensure that you only use Raketu softphone to make calls.
3 months free calling with 1200 minutes (each month for 3 months) for $9.95 sounds good. Over and above, Raketu will charge you at normal rate. The locations in 40 countries are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea South, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, US Virgin Islands, Vatican City State, Venezuela
Furthermore, Raketu has slashed their calling rates for India and now offering calls at 0.06 USD (6 cents per minute).
Tips for Calling with Raketu:
Many providers ask to dial number starting from country code, however for raketu you need to dial 011+(country code)+(city code)+(phone number)format.
We never tested Raketu personally, however they have a good reputation in the market. Before someone asks a question, they are not affiliated with Betamax.
Happy Calling and yeah go register at Raketu.
Raketu is a VOIP provider with a little twist. They not just offer VOIP calling services but also do range of other stuff including IPTV and their softphone is more of a information center rather than a pure VOIP softphone client. Raketu tried marketing their services with a bundled softphone with IPTV, which did well for them. They are now primarily eyeing the frustrated post-skype mortem customers :-)
Effective from 20th Aug (We got the news today), any Raketu user who makes a payment of $9.95 or $24.95 is eligible for: Up to 1200 minutes per month free calling to locations in 40 countries for 3 months from the day you pay. This is purely limited to Rakout services and not Rakweb, which is their web based alternative. This means if you are going to use this service then ensure that you only use Raketu softphone to make calls.
3 months free calling with 1200 minutes (each month for 3 months) for $9.95 sounds good. Over and above, Raketu will charge you at normal rate. The locations in 40 countries are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea South, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, US Virgin Islands, Vatican City State, Venezuela
Furthermore, Raketu has slashed their calling rates for India and now offering calls at 0.06 USD (6 cents per minute).
Tips for Calling with Raketu:
Many providers ask to dial number starting from country code, however for raketu you need to dial 011+(country code)+(city code)+(phone number)format.
We never tested Raketu personally, however they have a good reputation in the market. Before someone asks a question, they are not affiliated with Betamax.
Happy Calling and yeah go register at Raketu.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Google Phone in 2008 will it have VOIP?
iPhone has created the biggest buzz in last 10 years in telecom industry. Now Google is all set to release their Google Phone by Quarter 1 in 2008. We at VOIP Guide have written several aricles in the past about Google phone and its existence.
CrunchGear reports that "A HTC insider sent them a tip this weekend about an upcoming gPhone coming out of Taiwan that should launch Q1 2008. Google is currently assessing over twenty HTC models and refining its final handset design and will create a special version of Google Maps, compatible with built-in GPS, and compatibility with Gmail and the calendar app."
We strongly believe that google Phone would also support VOIP along with full SIP support for SIP-SIP and SIP-PSTN calls, maybe a Google Talk mobile VOIP client.
It would be interesting to see how Google will leverage SIP to offer PSTN calls? There were also strong rumours that google will enable PSTN calls in the exisiting Google talk application but there is no official news yet. Maybe Pat Phelan can answer this, he keeps roaming around at googleplex :-)
If ever that happens then what will be the future of our friendsGtalk2voip? Maybe Ruslan can answer it better than me.
Lets hope the Mobile OS is more customer friendly and we can play around with google phone instead of bitching around with iphone. We also heard the phone calls will be free with Google Phone. Huh? Will that be ever possible when we have our most wonderful telecom uncles trying to rip you off? lol
Now Call India for Free with Jaxtr VOIP
Many users were asking for a VOIP service provider which allows to call from India for free. We discussed many voip services in the past, however almost all stopped offering free calls. Today, we will be discussion this solution to call india for free or for that matter it works for many countries.
We did post about Jaxtr back in March 2007. We got some great responses and some people were able to make free calls, however there were apparent issues. It seems Jaxtr has matured into a more flexible VOIP solution.
Hemant Jain from IIT Madras has today contributed this article. Hemant has been instrumental in testing various VOIP services for VOIP guide in the past. The article is edited by Vinay for minor changes.
Jaxtr is a Voice 2.0 startup in VOIP space. Jaxtr was launched back in Jan/Feb 2007. Jaxtr offers free calls to over 51 countries around the globe including India and Pakistan. It works with any landline or mobile phone.
You can receive/call up to 100 minutes per month of incoming jaxtr calls to your existing phone if you are in one of the following 51 countries (the number of minutes will depend on your country and the kind of phone you use(For India it provides some 16 mins per months).
Let see how you can use Jaxtr:
1) Signup at Jaxtr
2) Verify your email address
3) Add your phone number by selecting add/drop option in the drop menu
4) You will receive a call from jaxtr team. Answe the call and press the verification code shown on the computer screen.
5) After that computer will show the message that your account is verified.(Sometimes the call from jaxtr team will get disconnected before You enter the verification code. Don't worry in that case your phone number will be added automatically)
Note: Uncheck the privacy shield before making any calls.
You will get a jaxtr link for receiving calls using this registration. That link will be (www.jaxtr.com/user_name) where username is the screen name which you have given while registering at the jaxtr.
How to call using Jaxtr:
1) Open your jaxtr link
2) A widget will appear on the computer screen.
3) Enter the phone no of your friend in the gadget shown
4) First ring will go to your friends phone number and after then your phone will ring.
5) Receive the call and enjoy talking.
Jaxtr will connect the two numbers only once after that a special local number is created. Special local number will be of the country from where your friend is calling (Mumbai's number in case of India).Your friend can call you using that number by dialing at that number from his phone as many times as you want at the cost of local phone.
How to earn Extra Jax (Getting more talk time)
Like most of the VOIP service provider jaxtr also believe in gorilla marketing. It gives you talk time for each user you invite and he/she signs up. Earn 20 jax for each new jaxtr user you sign up.
Happy calling to the World and espcially India.
We did post about Jaxtr back in March 2007. We got some great responses and some people were able to make free calls, however there were apparent issues. It seems Jaxtr has matured into a more flexible VOIP solution.
Hemant Jain from IIT Madras has today contributed this article. Hemant has been instrumental in testing various VOIP services for VOIP guide in the past. The article is edited by Vinay for minor changes.
Jaxtr is a Voice 2.0 startup in VOIP space. Jaxtr was launched back in Jan/Feb 2007. Jaxtr offers free calls to over 51 countries around the globe including India and Pakistan. It works with any landline or mobile phone.
You can receive/call up to 100 minutes per month of incoming jaxtr calls to your existing phone if you are in one of the following 51 countries (the number of minutes will depend on your country and the kind of phone you use(For India it provides some 16 mins per months).
Let see how you can use Jaxtr:
1) Signup at Jaxtr
2) Verify your email address
3) Add your phone number by selecting add/drop option in the drop menu
4) You will receive a call from jaxtr team. Answe the call and press the verification code shown on the computer screen.
5) After that computer will show the message that your account is verified.(Sometimes the call from jaxtr team will get disconnected before You enter the verification code. Don't worry in that case your phone number will be added automatically)
Note: Uncheck the privacy shield before making any calls.
You will get a jaxtr link for receiving calls using this registration. That link will be (www.jaxtr.com/user_name) where username is the screen name which you have given while registering at the jaxtr.
How to call using Jaxtr:
1) Open your jaxtr link
2) A widget will appear on the computer screen.
3) Enter the phone no of your friend in the gadget shown
4) First ring will go to your friends phone number and after then your phone will ring.
5) Receive the call and enjoy talking.
Jaxtr will connect the two numbers only once after that a special local number is created. Special local number will be of the country from where your friend is calling (Mumbai's number in case of India).Your friend can call you using that number by dialing at that number from his phone as many times as you want at the cost of local phone.
How to earn Extra Jax (Getting more talk time)
Like most of the VOIP service provider jaxtr also believe in gorilla marketing. It gives you talk time for each user you invite and he/she signs up. Earn 20 jax for each new jaxtr user you sign up.
Happy calling to the World and espcially India.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
DirecTV to offer VoIP services
Two weeks after Canada based Cogeco Cable announced its plans to deploy high-speed Internet and VoIP in Ontario, a company based in neighbor USA has announced the same in its own region. DirecTV has signed a wholesale distribution agreement with CURRENT Group that will allow it to offer high-speed Internet and VoIP services. The services will premiere in Dallas, Texas, at the end of 2007 or early 2008.
DirecTV is one of America’s leading satellite television service providers, reaching out to more than 16.3 million customers. It has reached a wholesale distribution agreement with the CURRENT Group, a company which builds an internet overlay on to existing electric wires worldwide, and provides sensing technology, two-way high-speed communication, 24/7 monitoring and analytic software and related services to provide location-specific and real-time actionable data. CURRENT’s solutions also allow consumers and business users to access high-speed Internet access and voice services from virtually any electric outlet. On top of that, the solutions also improve the reliability of the electric grid and reduce its environmental impacts.
Under the terms of the agreement, DirecTV will now be able to sell BPL (Broadband Over Powerline) high-speed Internet and VoIP services as part of their bundles in Dallas, even as The CURRENT Group continues to build its network.
"Our agreement with CURRENT gives our customers another high-quality, easy- to-use option to pair broadband services with DIRECTV’s video offerings," said Evan Grayer, vice president of Broadband for DIRECTV. “By choosing this bundled option, DIRECTV customers will now be able to enjoy fast, reliable and secure high-speed Internet service anywhere they have a power outlet in their homes.
DirecTV customers will be able to access the Internet by plugging a BPL modem (which, incidentally, is faster than a typical cable modem) into virtually any outlet in their home. The Dallas area has a potential market of approximately 1.8 million homes and business over the next several years. That means 1.8 Million potential VoIP users, who will all have access to free/cheap internet calling all over the world. Of course, with basic Internet and VoIP services already in line, there’s always the possibility of other companies trying to build on that VoIP facility – conference calls, call waiting, video calling, and the like. Who knows, maybe someday, there might even be Hosted PBX through the BPL.
Commenting on the deal, Tom Casey, CEO of CURRENT, said that the company is pleased to partner with DirecTV and to offer them the ability to bundle their world-satellite video services together with BPL high-speed Internet and VoIP services.
"Consumers in Dallas will have a compelling new choice for their broadband service and, at the same time, feel good about the fact that the same Internet network is helping to improve the efficiency and reliability of the electric grid while reducing its environmental impact." He said.
So now, we even have VoIP over electric lines… what will they think of next?
This article is written by Samarth Chandola. This is his last article. Today, I would like to announce that Samarth has resigned from the position of VOIP News Editor. This position is now OPEN and we are actively looking for a VOIP News editor. This is a paid position. If anyone is interested,you can contact me at ut.godmode(at)gmail.com.
A short note for Samarth: He excelled at his job as a VOIP News editor. I am sure all readers are going to miss him and hopefully we have someone as good as Samarth to take this forward.
DirecTV is one of America’s leading satellite television service providers, reaching out to more than 16.3 million customers. It has reached a wholesale distribution agreement with the CURRENT Group, a company which builds an internet overlay on to existing electric wires worldwide, and provides sensing technology, two-way high-speed communication, 24/7 monitoring and analytic software and related services to provide location-specific and real-time actionable data. CURRENT’s solutions also allow consumers and business users to access high-speed Internet access and voice services from virtually any electric outlet. On top of that, the solutions also improve the reliability of the electric grid and reduce its environmental impacts.
Under the terms of the agreement, DirecTV will now be able to sell BPL (Broadband Over Powerline) high-speed Internet and VoIP services as part of their bundles in Dallas, even as The CURRENT Group continues to build its network.
"Our agreement with CURRENT gives our customers another high-quality, easy- to-use option to pair broadband services with DIRECTV’s video offerings," said Evan Grayer, vice president of Broadband for DIRECTV. “By choosing this bundled option, DIRECTV customers will now be able to enjoy fast, reliable and secure high-speed Internet service anywhere they have a power outlet in their homes.
DirecTV customers will be able to access the Internet by plugging a BPL modem (which, incidentally, is faster than a typical cable modem) into virtually any outlet in their home. The Dallas area has a potential market of approximately 1.8 million homes and business over the next several years. That means 1.8 Million potential VoIP users, who will all have access to free/cheap internet calling all over the world. Of course, with basic Internet and VoIP services already in line, there’s always the possibility of other companies trying to build on that VoIP facility – conference calls, call waiting, video calling, and the like. Who knows, maybe someday, there might even be Hosted PBX through the BPL.
Commenting on the deal, Tom Casey, CEO of CURRENT, said that the company is pleased to partner with DirecTV and to offer them the ability to bundle their world-satellite video services together with BPL high-speed Internet and VoIP services.
"Consumers in Dallas will have a compelling new choice for their broadband service and, at the same time, feel good about the fact that the same Internet network is helping to improve the efficiency and reliability of the electric grid while reducing its environmental impact." He said.
So now, we even have VoIP over electric lines… what will they think of next?
This article is written by Samarth Chandola. This is his last article. Today, I would like to announce that Samarth has resigned from the position of VOIP News Editor. This position is now OPEN and we are actively looking for a VOIP News editor. This is a paid position. If anyone is interested,you can contact me at ut.godmode(at)gmail.com.
A short note for Samarth: He excelled at his job as a VOIP News editor. I am sure all readers are going to miss him and hopefully we have someone as good as Samarth to take this forward.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
MTNL launches VOIP Service to make cheap international calls
Finally the day has come and Indian PSU telecom giant is listening to VOIP. The biggest PSU telecom company in India, MTNL has officially launched VOIP for their residential customers in Metro Cities.
At VOIP Guide, we wrote several articles on how India is lagging behind the world in VOIP and why its important to have our very own Legal VOIP provider to stop illegal voip outfits. It seems the indian government is finally listening, MTNL (hopefully BSNL would too)has introduced voice overt internet protocol- (VoIP) international voice calls at Re1 per minute, without having to use a PC. The service shall be available to about 150 countries.
This a BIG news for indians calling all over the world since there is a massive NRI crowd. Literally billions of international calling minutes are served each month from India. This market is getting massive and MTNL don't want to loose capitalising on those minutes.
This new Netfone VOIP service that will be operational over its broadband network will allow international subscriber dialling (ISD) subscribers to make calls at this rate to to landlines and mobiles the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and many other countries. and for Japan, Malaysia and many other countries Rs2 per minute.
The service will initially launched as prepaid cards service at MTNL PCO holders. MTNL's broadband customers subscribing to the VoIP service will be able to make international calls from a normal telephone without a PC.
VOIP Guide noted a very important point in MTNL's official press release. MTNL has tied up with Aksh Optifibre and they will be providing this VOIP service via SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). Anyone dreaming of a greatest ever VOIP Hack ? :-)
According to the PR release, the service will provided via a Analog telephone adapter (ATA). The customer can make two types of calls SIP to SIP for local, national and international calls and SIP to PSTN / mobile for international calls only. Does that mean we can connect to MTNL SIP even from PC? Yes, We guess so. Do i need to tell you that we will find a hack for the same?
This makes MTNL one of key telecom providers in the circle and puts them ahead of competition. With IPTV and VOIP bundled with regular telephone, MTNL will soon be a leader. Its about time to ring the bells for Reliance/Bharati? I guess so.
At VOIP Guide, we wrote several articles on how India is lagging behind the world in VOIP and why its important to have our very own Legal VOIP provider to stop illegal voip outfits. It seems the indian government is finally listening, MTNL (hopefully BSNL would too)has introduced voice overt internet protocol- (VoIP) international voice calls at Re1 per minute, without having to use a PC. The service shall be available to about 150 countries.
This a BIG news for indians calling all over the world since there is a massive NRI crowd. Literally billions of international calling minutes are served each month from India. This market is getting massive and MTNL don't want to loose capitalising on those minutes.
This new Netfone VOIP service that will be operational over its broadband network will allow international subscriber dialling (ISD) subscribers to make calls at this rate to to landlines and mobiles the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and many other countries. and for Japan, Malaysia and many other countries Rs2 per minute.
The service will initially launched as prepaid cards service at MTNL PCO holders. MTNL's broadband customers subscribing to the VoIP service will be able to make international calls from a normal telephone without a PC.
VOIP Guide noted a very important point in MTNL's official press release. MTNL has tied up with Aksh Optifibre and they will be providing this VOIP service via SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). Anyone dreaming of a greatest ever VOIP Hack ? :-)
According to the PR release, the service will provided via a Analog telephone adapter (ATA). The customer can make two types of calls SIP to SIP for local, national and international calls and SIP to PSTN / mobile for international calls only. Does that mean we can connect to MTNL SIP even from PC? Yes, We guess so. Do i need to tell you that we will find a hack for the same?
This makes MTNL one of key telecom providers in the circle and puts them ahead of competition. With IPTV and VOIP bundled with regular telephone, MTNL will soon be a leader. Its about time to ring the bells for Reliance/Bharati? I guess so.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
skype offering free calls
We all know skype has major issues on Aug 16 & Aug 17. The news was spread all across the world damaging Skype' reputation as a leading Free VOIP Company. Skype had to fight back with something and of course most importantly, gain back the reputation as a good VOIP company with highest customer focus.
we at VOIP Guide covered the skype outage but still believe skype can come back strong.
Skype is now offering free calls for 2 weeks, although this week has already started, we still have 1 more week to get free calls. However to get free calls you need to be paid customer. You can be a paid customer if you have any of skype paid services such as Skype Pro, Skype Unlimited, SkypeIn or Skype Voicemail customers.
That means all skype premium customers can now make calls all over the world for FREE for this entire week? Well it seems so. I am gonna give it a try tonight, am currently writing this article from Starbucks :-) and my wifi is too slow.
Now some of you might have been confused that you have been using skype but not a paid customer, how can you be a paid customer and get this offer.
Do remember to download the latest version of Skype: download it now.
and then,
Buy a Skype Credit (Quick and easy way to gain free worldwide calling) or Skype Pro, Skype Unlimited, SkypeIn or Skype Voicemail service to make Free calls.
we at VOIP Guide covered the skype outage but still believe skype can come back strong.
Skype is now offering free calls for 2 weeks, although this week has already started, we still have 1 more week to get free calls. However to get free calls you need to be paid customer. You can be a paid customer if you have any of skype paid services such as Skype Pro, Skype Unlimited, SkypeIn or Skype Voicemail customers.
That means all skype premium customers can now make calls all over the world for FREE for this entire week? Well it seems so. I am gonna give it a try tonight, am currently writing this article from Starbucks :-) and my wifi is too slow.
Now some of you might have been confused that you have been using skype but not a paid customer, how can you be a paid customer and get this offer.
Do remember to download the latest version of Skype: download it now.
and then,
Buy a Skype Credit (Quick and easy way to gain free worldwide calling) or Skype Pro, Skype Unlimited, SkypeIn or Skype Voicemail service to make Free calls.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Nonoh VOIP Billing Update
This is a must read post for everyone who had issues with Nonoh billing and charges. After a lot of buzz from VOIP Guide and some negative comments here, finally betamax is listening.
We at VOIP Guide are happy to see that our negative comments have actually shaken up betamax. Laura at Betamax has sent me an email apologising for the screw up at nonoh which resulted into 5 cents charge for each call placed through nonoh. Laura has clarified in the email that there was some issue in the VOIP Billing module which triggered the 5 cents connect charge.
If you haven't read our review of Nonoh VOIP, then please read it first.
I would suggest people who already brought credit at Nonoh to give another try and report if the call connect charges of 5 cents are withdrawn.
I will be in touch with Laura henceforth to report any issues/bugs/billing errors. This will help our readers get more reliable and prompt answers.If you have any specific questions for Betamax or Nonoh, please drop comments.
I will be discussing the following issues on a priority:
1) Download of Nonoh client
2) Nonoh SIP availability- If yes then SIP server settings.
3) Can we use Nonoh as standalong VOIP service- PC to Phone on top of Phone to Phone.
Again, I would like to thank everyone for treating VOIP Guide as preferred destination for FREE VOIP reviews.
We at VOIP Guide are happy to see that our negative comments have actually shaken up betamax. Laura at Betamax has sent me an email apologising for the screw up at nonoh which resulted into 5 cents charge for each call placed through nonoh. Laura has clarified in the email that there was some issue in the VOIP Billing module which triggered the 5 cents connect charge.
If you haven't read our review of Nonoh VOIP, then please read it first.
I would suggest people who already brought credit at Nonoh to give another try and report if the call connect charges of 5 cents are withdrawn.
I will be in touch with Laura henceforth to report any issues/bugs/billing errors. This will help our readers get more reliable and prompt answers.If you have any specific questions for Betamax or Nonoh, please drop comments.
I will be discussing the following issues on a priority:
1) Download of Nonoh client
2) Nonoh SIP availability- If yes then SIP server settings.
3) Can we use Nonoh as standalong VOIP service- PC to Phone on top of Phone to Phone.
Again, I would like to thank everyone for treating VOIP Guide as preferred destination for FREE VOIP reviews.
Voice Over Internet Protocol VoIP 911 Location Services
A lot is happening about E911 and VoIP these days. While Britain made it mandatory for VoIP providers to offer E911 to their customers as part of their package last month.
we now have US-based TeleCommunication Systems coming up with an invention that provides HotSpot E911 (Enhanced 911) Location Information to Public Safety Answering Points. In simpler terms, it allows VoIP WiFi E911 calls to be routed to the correct Public Safety Answering Point while automatically providing the location of the caller at the time the call was established.
TeleCommunication Systems is a provider of wireless data communication technology solutions that require high levels of reliability. TCS provides wireless and VoIP E911 network-based services, secure deployable communication systems and engineered satellite-based services, and commercial location applications, like traffic and navigation, using the precise location of a wireless device. This precision of location is exactly what TCS is employing in this new system of providing Public Safety Answering Points the precise location of the Wi-Fi VoIP caller. The invention allows for a VoIP call to be established, requests a location update associated with the movement of a VoIP Wi-Fi device, and transmits the location information of the associated movement of the device. The location of the device can be automatically determined by the VoIP Wi-Fi device, or the updated information can be input by the user.
"Providing E9-1-1 service to VoIP Wi-Fi calls is an essential service as cellular carriers and VoIP providers increasingly are providing nomadic and mobile VoIP service through dedicated and dual-mode devices," stated Drew Morin, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for TCS. "Hybrid VoIP/cellular service, often referred to as Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), is starting to be rolled out in North America, with operators such as T-Mobile initiating service this year."
TeleCommunication Systems has filed a patent (# 7,260,186) for the same with the US Patent and Trademark Office, titled “Solutions For Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) 911 Location Services.” The invention is seen as a boon to mobile VoIP calls providers in the US, who were facing increased difficulties in complying with the FCC mandate requiring all wireless providers to provide E911 services, the basic argument being the difficulty to pinpoint the exact location of a moving VoIP caller as he moves from one Public Safety Answering Point Zone to another.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, VOIP News Editor for VOIP Guide.
we now have US-based TeleCommunication Systems coming up with an invention that provides HotSpot E911 (Enhanced 911) Location Information to Public Safety Answering Points. In simpler terms, it allows VoIP WiFi E911 calls to be routed to the correct Public Safety Answering Point while automatically providing the location of the caller at the time the call was established.
TeleCommunication Systems is a provider of wireless data communication technology solutions that require high levels of reliability. TCS provides wireless and VoIP E911 network-based services, secure deployable communication systems and engineered satellite-based services, and commercial location applications, like traffic and navigation, using the precise location of a wireless device. This precision of location is exactly what TCS is employing in this new system of providing Public Safety Answering Points the precise location of the Wi-Fi VoIP caller. The invention allows for a VoIP call to be established, requests a location update associated with the movement of a VoIP Wi-Fi device, and transmits the location information of the associated movement of the device. The location of the device can be automatically determined by the VoIP Wi-Fi device, or the updated information can be input by the user.
"Providing E9-1-1 service to VoIP Wi-Fi calls is an essential service as cellular carriers and VoIP providers increasingly are providing nomadic and mobile VoIP service through dedicated and dual-mode devices," stated Drew Morin, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for TCS. "Hybrid VoIP/cellular service, often referred to as Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), is starting to be rolled out in North America, with operators such as T-Mobile initiating service this year."
TeleCommunication Systems has filed a patent (# 7,260,186) for the same with the US Patent and Trademark Office, titled “Solutions For Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) 911 Location Services.” The invention is seen as a boon to mobile VoIP calls providers in the US, who were facing increased difficulties in complying with the FCC mandate requiring all wireless providers to provide E911 services, the basic argument being the difficulty to pinpoint the exact location of a moving VoIP caller as he moves from one Public Safety Answering Point Zone to another.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, VOIP News Editor for VOIP Guide.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Skype and P2P VOIP Future?
On Monday, Skype officially released what actually went wrong which triggered a worldwide outage of their P2P VOIP Service. Although their statement makes some sense, it leads to one universal question whats the future of Peer to peer VOIP networks and services.
We all know Skype is and even today a leading VOIP solution company. Literally millions of users around the world are dependent on Skype and their 2 days outage has again proved that VOIP is not secure. We have seen lately VOIP Solution/Services companies are having too much to handle and end up flat on face. Do i need to mention Sunrocket?
Skype however is backed by Ebay and its a very strong company. However a financial rich company isnt the only thing people look for in a service. Quality of service and creditibility of its uptime is one of the most important factors in choosing a VOIP Service. Imagine what businesses running Skype must have gone through during the 2 days outage. Personal users can switch to other services but business users are highly dependable on one service however they have disaster recovery plan in place which is not always full proof.
Lets see what exactly went wrong as per skype's Official statement,
"On Thursday, 16th August 2007, the Skype peer-to-peer network became unstable and suffered a critical disruption. The disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users’ computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update.
The high number of restarts affected Skype’s network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact.
Normally Skype’s peer-to-peer network has an inbuilt ability to self-heal, however, this event revealed a previously unseen software bug within the network resource allocation algorithm which prevented the self-healing function from working quickly. Regrettably, as a result of this disruption, Skype was unavailable to the majority of its users for approximately two days."
That means the latest windows update triggered a hidden security bug in Skype. Fair enough? We agree but does that gurantee that there are no more bugs? Well no one could guarantee you that and not even skype. But one very important issue has surfaced after this event. The very basic identity of P2P VOIP Network. Basically, when windows update triggered the skype known bug it spread across the networked peers as Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service. RPC calls well known and they are mainly used in Virus/Worms to spread across and restart user's machine indefinately.
That means in a Peer to peer network, 1 PC can harm multiple computers at once. Imagine the Risk, Its like a viral Virus spread, faster than you can even think of. Tommorow if there is a DoS (Denial of Service) attack on Skype network, imagine the kinda of disaster it can result into.
The whole insecure architecture of peer to peer VOIP networks has again surfaced. Now there are more providers on the similar lines, the latest VOIP provider is Ooma. Are they secure? They also use p2p to connect peers and transmit data.
The future doesnt seem too secure for P2P VOIP network. Ooma and Skype will have to keep their eyes open before its too late. That could be another end of a "Sun"
We all know Skype is and even today a leading VOIP solution company. Literally millions of users around the world are dependent on Skype and their 2 days outage has again proved that VOIP is not secure. We have seen lately VOIP Solution/Services companies are having too much to handle and end up flat on face. Do i need to mention Sunrocket?
Skype however is backed by Ebay and its a very strong company. However a financial rich company isnt the only thing people look for in a service. Quality of service and creditibility of its uptime is one of the most important factors in choosing a VOIP Service. Imagine what businesses running Skype must have gone through during the 2 days outage. Personal users can switch to other services but business users are highly dependable on one service however they have disaster recovery plan in place which is not always full proof.
Lets see what exactly went wrong as per skype's Official statement,
"On Thursday, 16th August 2007, the Skype peer-to-peer network became unstable and suffered a critical disruption. The disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users’ computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update.
The high number of restarts affected Skype’s network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact.
Normally Skype’s peer-to-peer network has an inbuilt ability to self-heal, however, this event revealed a previously unseen software bug within the network resource allocation algorithm which prevented the self-healing function from working quickly. Regrettably, as a result of this disruption, Skype was unavailable to the majority of its users for approximately two days."
That means the latest windows update triggered a hidden security bug in Skype. Fair enough? We agree but does that gurantee that there are no more bugs? Well no one could guarantee you that and not even skype. But one very important issue has surfaced after this event. The very basic identity of P2P VOIP Network. Basically, when windows update triggered the skype known bug it spread across the networked peers as Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service. RPC calls well known and they are mainly used in Virus/Worms to spread across and restart user's machine indefinately.
That means in a Peer to peer network, 1 PC can harm multiple computers at once. Imagine the Risk, Its like a viral Virus spread, faster than you can even think of. Tommorow if there is a DoS (Denial of Service) attack on Skype network, imagine the kinda of disaster it can result into.
The whole insecure architecture of peer to peer VOIP networks has again surfaced. Now there are more providers on the similar lines, the latest VOIP provider is Ooma. Are they secure? They also use p2p to connect peers and transmit data.
The future doesnt seem too secure for P2P VOIP network. Ooma and Skype will have to keep their eyes open before its too late. That could be another end of a "Sun"
Saturday, August 18, 2007
China VOIP growing faster than PSTN Phone lines
Aah… China… Land of the Dragons; Land of the Dynasties; in modern times, the land of the fastest growing economy in the world; and now, in more modern times, the land of the VoIP boom. Ladies and gentlemen, China’s VoIP growth rate now exceeds its PSTN growth.
For those not familiar with the acronym I just used, PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone Network. In simpler terms, it’s the ordinary wired/fixed wireless telephone present in every ordinary house, and which – when compared to VoIP – leads to big bills.
The research was carried out by ResearchLinker– a market research engine – and the many-faceted results were astounding. I shall present the details to you in points so as to make the picture as clear as possible and reduce any chance of confusion.
1)The volume of IP calls in China was almost 110 billion minutes up to September last year. This is an 11.8% increase over last year. Do take into account that the statistics are only till September, and people just don’t stop making VoIP calls after September, meaning more minutes of IP calls than the actual data.
2)VoIP growth rate might be more than PSTN, but the latter still enjoys the greater market share. IP calls accounted for 43% of long distance calls last year. However, the share of VoIP in the long-distance market is expected to exceed the total long-distance PSTN and mobile calls in the next two to three years.
3)Like all other countries, China is also seeing an increase in illegal VoIP calls, which have been growing at a whopping 30% every year from 2003 to 2006. Last year, illegal international call volume was approximately 500 million minutes.
4)Traditional telecom operators have become more open to the idea of VoIP and a next-generation network, and are participating more actively in the construction of such networks. Additionally, business in China now have a deeper understanding of VoIP, and view it as an opportunity for combining voice and data applications rather than only lowering their call costs.
5)The maturity and decrease in the cost of VoIP equipment has also prompted small and medium sized business to adopt the technology, consequently increasing the sale and scale of VoIP equipment.
6)It is expected that the compound annual growth rate of VoIP equipment spending by Chinese business will amount to 48% in the next five years. They will spend 4.2 billion Chinese Yuan Renminbi in 2009. Last year, large VoIP equipment suppliers such as Cisco and Avaya accounted for the majority of sales.
7)As China yields to the World Trade Organization’s requirements, it will experience increased foreign presence, giving rise to aggressive competition in the country’s VoIP market.
And there you have it! All major, amazing facets of the reports spelled out clearly in seven points. Now I don’t know much about Chinese immigration laws, but if this trend continues, I’ll immigrate to China by hook or by crook. It’s just across the border from my country, India (whose telecom laws doesn’t even allow it to qualify as a free destination), and if this is the price I have to pay for getting good VoIP… so be it! And yes, I AM threatening you Indian ministers. Change the VoIP laws soon, or you’ll soon be losing an extremely handsome, extremely charming, and extremely intelligent individual to the VoIP-drain, I mean, the brain-drain.
For those not familiar with the acronym I just used, PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone Network. In simpler terms, it’s the ordinary wired/fixed wireless telephone present in every ordinary house, and which – when compared to VoIP – leads to big bills.
The research was carried out by ResearchLinker– a market research engine – and the many-faceted results were astounding. I shall present the details to you in points so as to make the picture as clear as possible and reduce any chance of confusion.
1)The volume of IP calls in China was almost 110 billion minutes up to September last year. This is an 11.8% increase over last year. Do take into account that the statistics are only till September, and people just don’t stop making VoIP calls after September, meaning more minutes of IP calls than the actual data.
2)VoIP growth rate might be more than PSTN, but the latter still enjoys the greater market share. IP calls accounted for 43% of long distance calls last year. However, the share of VoIP in the long-distance market is expected to exceed the total long-distance PSTN and mobile calls in the next two to three years.
3)Like all other countries, China is also seeing an increase in illegal VoIP calls, which have been growing at a whopping 30% every year from 2003 to 2006. Last year, illegal international call volume was approximately 500 million minutes.
4)Traditional telecom operators have become more open to the idea of VoIP and a next-generation network, and are participating more actively in the construction of such networks. Additionally, business in China now have a deeper understanding of VoIP, and view it as an opportunity for combining voice and data applications rather than only lowering their call costs.
5)The maturity and decrease in the cost of VoIP equipment has also prompted small and medium sized business to adopt the technology, consequently increasing the sale and scale of VoIP equipment.
6)It is expected that the compound annual growth rate of VoIP equipment spending by Chinese business will amount to 48% in the next five years. They will spend 4.2 billion Chinese Yuan Renminbi in 2009. Last year, large VoIP equipment suppliers such as Cisco and Avaya accounted for the majority of sales.
7)As China yields to the World Trade Organization’s requirements, it will experience increased foreign presence, giving rise to aggressive competition in the country’s VoIP market.
And there you have it! All major, amazing facets of the reports spelled out clearly in seven points. Now I don’t know much about Chinese immigration laws, but if this trend continues, I’ll immigrate to China by hook or by crook. It’s just across the border from my country, India (whose telecom laws doesn’t even allow it to qualify as a free destination), and if this is the price I have to pay for getting good VoIP… so be it! And yes, I AM threatening you Indian ministers. Change the VoIP laws soon, or you’ll soon be losing an extremely handsome, extremely charming, and extremely intelligent individual to the VoIP-drain, I mean, the brain-drain.
VoipWise offers free calls
Betamax VOIP is back in action. They are launching more and more new VOIP Services every quarter. We all know they are not that reliable when it comes to billing. However today, we are going to discuss another betamax outfit, VoipWise.
Unlike its sister companies, VoipWise seems much more friendly at the first look. A direct download link on their homepage to get their VOIP softphone client is handy. People are still struggling to get Nonoh client download link, so VoipWise atleast scores over nonoh.
As most of the other betamax services which are known to give free calls to many destinations, VoipWise is also offering free calls (unlimited as per their website) to many key destinations. However, as we all know We can't trust betamax so easily. We all know what they promise they never deliver, so this time i decided to look at Whats the catch for Free Calls.
Under FAQ on Voip Wise, they mentioned that "Buying credits entitles you to 120 Freedays (unless stated otherwise). This means you can call all countries in the free* destinations list for 120 days at no costs. When the 120 days are over, you will keep your credit, and the normal rate will be charged for these destinations."
This means they want you take a credit and keep the credit positive in order to make calls. The free calls will be limited to 120 days only. After that, you need to pay for even FREE destinations. I wasn't surprised to see this information was hiding somewhere in FAQ which i bet 90% won't bother to read.
On a Quick note, the following countries are included in FREE CAllS promotion:
Australia
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece Greenland
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Singapore
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States (+mobile)
Go checkout VoipWise
So i would suggest caution in buying credit for Voip Wise and please let us know your experience on this service since we all know Betamax just doesnt give what they promise. We love to hear your opinion about VoipWise.
Unlike its sister companies, VoipWise seems much more friendly at the first look. A direct download link on their homepage to get their VOIP softphone client is handy. People are still struggling to get Nonoh client download link, so VoipWise atleast scores over nonoh.
As most of the other betamax services which are known to give free calls to many destinations, VoipWise is also offering free calls (unlimited as per their website) to many key destinations. However, as we all know We can't trust betamax so easily. We all know what they promise they never deliver, so this time i decided to look at Whats the catch for Free Calls.
Under FAQ on Voip Wise, they mentioned that "Buying credits entitles you to 120 Freedays (unless stated otherwise). This means you can call all countries in the free* destinations list for 120 days at no costs. When the 120 days are over, you will keep your credit, and the normal rate will be charged for these destinations."
This means they want you take a credit and keep the credit positive in order to make calls. The free calls will be limited to 120 days only. After that, you need to pay for even FREE destinations. I wasn't surprised to see this information was hiding somewhere in FAQ which i bet 90% won't bother to read.
On a Quick note, the following countries are included in FREE CAllS promotion:
Australia
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece Greenland
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Singapore
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States (+mobile)
Go checkout VoipWise
So i would suggest caution in buying credit for Voip Wise and please let us know your experience on this service since we all know Betamax just doesnt give what they promise. We love to hear your opinion about VoipWise.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Skype Outage Special Update
Your favorite VOIP Softphone/service, Skype is currently facing a outage. It's already a breaking news in the media and across the VOIP world. We got some latest updates on Skype Outage.
since yesterday night (singapore time), Skype started facing issues related to login. Earlier some people spread rumours such as Skype's server aint working, Skype is out of business but once the picture was clear it wasnt the case. People just love to hype the scene.
The Real issue was because of a deficiency in an algorithm within Skype networking software. This controls the interaction between the user’s own Skype client and the rest of the Skype network. We at VOIP Guide feel, the issue was related to authentication algorithm used on their P2P networ which uses a very speculative "supernodes" technology. If anyone of you have read our very interesting article on "skype supernodes and vulnerability", you would probably know how insecure skype could be.
What possible went wrong at Skype:
All Skype users possess digital credentials, it is possible for any Skype user to verify the identity of any other Skype user. This process is called authentication: the proving of each party's true identification to the other.
Now Since Skype uses Hybrid P2P, its essential to know identification for each party in order to verify a user and transmit data as legitimate packet. If skype server side authetication algorithm is broken, the authentication can't be completed and that could lead to anyone breaking into skype system and acting as a "Skype" user and send unencrypted data over skype network leading to more serious hacking event.
To avoid such thing from happening, Skype has currently disabled authentication for all users and working to fix the algorithm.
How they are recovering:
Villu Arak At Skype posted on their blog, that We’re on the road to recovery. Skype is stabilizing, but this process may continue throughout the day.
Latest Update from VOIP Guide:
Here in singapore, we still can't access Skype. Even after repeated attempts, can't login to Skype. I suggest everyone to give your latest update and let us know if skype is working for you.
Although, Skype had disabled the downloads. It seems the downloads are working now, If you don't have a latest version of skype maybe you can download it now
Like this article, Digg It
since yesterday night (singapore time), Skype started facing issues related to login. Earlier some people spread rumours such as Skype's server aint working, Skype is out of business but once the picture was clear it wasnt the case. People just love to hype the scene.
The Real issue was because of a deficiency in an algorithm within Skype networking software. This controls the interaction between the user’s own Skype client and the rest of the Skype network. We at VOIP Guide feel, the issue was related to authentication algorithm used on their P2P networ which uses a very speculative "supernodes" technology. If anyone of you have read our very interesting article on "skype supernodes and vulnerability", you would probably know how insecure skype could be.
What possible went wrong at Skype:
All Skype users possess digital credentials, it is possible for any Skype user to verify the identity of any other Skype user. This process is called authentication: the proving of each party's true identification to the other.
Now Since Skype uses Hybrid P2P, its essential to know identification for each party in order to verify a user and transmit data as legitimate packet. If skype server side authetication algorithm is broken, the authentication can't be completed and that could lead to anyone breaking into skype system and acting as a "Skype" user and send unencrypted data over skype network leading to more serious hacking event.
To avoid such thing from happening, Skype has currently disabled authentication for all users and working to fix the algorithm.
How they are recovering:
Villu Arak At Skype posted on their blog, that We’re on the road to recovery. Skype is stabilizing, but this process may continue throughout the day.
Latest Update from VOIP Guide:
Here in singapore, we still can't access Skype. Even after repeated attempts, can't login to Skype. I suggest everyone to give your latest update and let us know if skype is working for you.
Although, Skype had disabled the downloads. It seems the downloads are working now, If you don't have a latest version of skype maybe you can download it now
Like this article, Digg It
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Web Based Calling Service Trueroots by VSNL
VSNL had been a leader in Indian Telecommunication market with extensive global fibre optic network, one of the world's largest global submarine cable infrastructure. VSNL is now clearly eyeing the VOIP market and especially NRI's in USA.
VNSL announced that they will be launching a Web Based Calling service from August 21. The service is named as "'Trueroots International Calling Service" and will alow people from USA to call india, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at competitive rates. However the rates are not out yet we can safely assume they would be competing with Reliance rates.
We can also safely assume that VSNL would routing cals via VOIP rather than their high end Telecom lines to cut cost. Of course, at some stage it would hit the PSTN gateway and transmit over to normal landlines or mobiles. In our opinion, this would trigger a alarm in calling card industry. Calling cards are still the most preferred way to make calls especially with NRI living abroad who have little or no knowledge about VOIP. Calling card are also easy to use but not necessarily give better rate and sometimes the quality is not upto the mark. I hope VSNL can atleast improve the quality of the call if not a cheaper rate to lure more customers.
Trueroots service will also offer instant recognition of calling line ID for PIN-less dialling from up to 5 registered phone numbers, the ability to make up to three follow-on calls without having to redial the access number, speed dial capabilities for up to 5 frequently dialed numbers, and last number redial.
Unfortunately this is limited to USA. I hope in future Indian telecom giant take other countries seriously, coz NRI's live in all part of the world and not just USA.
before winding up, Let me ask everyone a Question. Please answer honestly.
Would you pay for a service which gives a cheapest rate to India with a good voice quality?
1)Yes (I am ready to pay for a good quality call)
2)No means (I want FREE Calls)
Please drop comments and be honest :-)
VNSL announced that they will be launching a Web Based Calling service from August 21. The service is named as "'Trueroots International Calling Service" and will alow people from USA to call india, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at competitive rates. However the rates are not out yet we can safely assume they would be competing with Reliance rates.
We can also safely assume that VSNL would routing cals via VOIP rather than their high end Telecom lines to cut cost. Of course, at some stage it would hit the PSTN gateway and transmit over to normal landlines or mobiles. In our opinion, this would trigger a alarm in calling card industry. Calling cards are still the most preferred way to make calls especially with NRI living abroad who have little or no knowledge about VOIP. Calling card are also easy to use but not necessarily give better rate and sometimes the quality is not upto the mark. I hope VSNL can atleast improve the quality of the call if not a cheaper rate to lure more customers.
Trueroots service will also offer instant recognition of calling line ID for PIN-less dialling from up to 5 registered phone numbers, the ability to make up to three follow-on calls without having to redial the access number, speed dial capabilities for up to 5 frequently dialed numbers, and last number redial.
Unfortunately this is limited to USA. I hope in future Indian telecom giant take other countries seriously, coz NRI's live in all part of the world and not just USA.
before winding up, Let me ask everyone a Question. Please answer honestly.
Would you pay for a service which gives a cheapest rate to India with a good voice quality?
1)Yes (I am ready to pay for a good quality call)
2)No means (I want FREE Calls)
Please drop comments and be honest :-)
VoIP Calls on Virgin Flight
Vyke Communications’ 10,000 hotspots to make VoIP calls from was a breathtaking idea. HelloSoft and WiMAX’s daring prospect of VoWiMAX (Voice over Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) – which essentially aims at spreading Wi-Fi and VoIP over entire cities – was even more breathtaking. And just when you thought you could finally release that breath, here’s something to make you inhale like you’ve never done before – VoIP in the Sky! VoIP from HotSpots, VoIP from entire cities… and finally, VoIP in Virgin America Aircrafts.
But wait, release that breath. Here’s the sad part – there’s absolutely no chance of VoIP getting implemented in the flights till at least 2008. But like me, you can picture it, can’t you? No, not the dreamy picture of making VoIP calls from halfway around the sky – that will come later. I’m talking about the big team of think tanks that must have got together, racked their brains collectively, discussed ideas and angles, and had strenuous discussions over how to further improve their service, eventually leading to the brainwave of enabling VoIP over their flights. Well, if you can’t, then bully for you –because unlike what I used to think, that is NOT how brilliant ideas are born. Brilliant ideas are formed when your company chairman almost misses the inaugural flight of the company airlines because of rain and traffic, and then – despite being on the verge of losing his voice– decides to give an interview anyway, in which the idea comes up in the course of the conversation. Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson had to fight against Rain and New York Traffic to reach the airport for the inaugural flight, and then in a voice that was about to be lost because of sore throat, decided to answer a few questions for Paul Miller for Engadget. And voila! While discussing about Internet in Virgin America flights, VoIP suddenly frays into the picture!
It happened like this. Sir Branson was talking about the non-existent of quality service in American Airlines, which led to talks about Virgin’s previously announced declaration of Internet coming in Virgin Flights by 2008. Sir Branson then commented about how – once the Internet was in place – in-flight cellphone usage would become non-existent, as people could use the Internet to communicate with people on the ground. And when Miller discussed the option of ‘technologies like VoIP that would be enabled by the Internet’ becoming a nuisance to a passenger who was not interested in his fellow passenger’s loud talks with his family, Sir Brandon hinted at the possibility of having a couple of rows at the back dedicated to in-flight VoIP calling.
While the interview did not make it specifically clear whether Virgin would install its own IP telephones that would be compatible with major VoIP Service Providers, or whether passengers would be using their own equipment (laptops, VoIP-enabled cell phones etc), one thing is for sure – Internet is definitely coming to Virgin America in 2008, and wherever there’s Internet, there’s cheap, even FREE VoIP.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our Full time VOIP News Editor.
But wait, release that breath. Here’s the sad part – there’s absolutely no chance of VoIP getting implemented in the flights till at least 2008. But like me, you can picture it, can’t you? No, not the dreamy picture of making VoIP calls from halfway around the sky – that will come later. I’m talking about the big team of think tanks that must have got together, racked their brains collectively, discussed ideas and angles, and had strenuous discussions over how to further improve their service, eventually leading to the brainwave of enabling VoIP over their flights. Well, if you can’t, then bully for you –because unlike what I used to think, that is NOT how brilliant ideas are born. Brilliant ideas are formed when your company chairman almost misses the inaugural flight of the company airlines because of rain and traffic, and then – despite being on the verge of losing his voice– decides to give an interview anyway, in which the idea comes up in the course of the conversation. Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson had to fight against Rain and New York Traffic to reach the airport for the inaugural flight, and then in a voice that was about to be lost because of sore throat, decided to answer a few questions for Paul Miller for Engadget. And voila! While discussing about Internet in Virgin America flights, VoIP suddenly frays into the picture!
It happened like this. Sir Branson was talking about the non-existent of quality service in American Airlines, which led to talks about Virgin’s previously announced declaration of Internet coming in Virgin Flights by 2008. Sir Branson then commented about how – once the Internet was in place – in-flight cellphone usage would become non-existent, as people could use the Internet to communicate with people on the ground. And when Miller discussed the option of ‘technologies like VoIP that would be enabled by the Internet’ becoming a nuisance to a passenger who was not interested in his fellow passenger’s loud talks with his family, Sir Brandon hinted at the possibility of having a couple of rows at the back dedicated to in-flight VoIP calling.
While the interview did not make it specifically clear whether Virgin would install its own IP telephones that would be compatible with major VoIP Service Providers, or whether passengers would be using their own equipment (laptops, VoIP-enabled cell phones etc), one thing is for sure – Internet is definitely coming to Virgin America in 2008, and wherever there’s Internet, there’s cheap, even FREE VoIP.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our Full time VOIP News Editor.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Fring VOIP integrates ICQ
Fring, a leading mobile VOIP provider is on the roll. They just keep getting better. They already integrated MSN, Google talk, skype into Fring and now they grabbed ICQ.
Fring has consistently making an effort to prove that they are the best mobile VOIP providers. We all know that truphone is taking fring very seriously and after some good news in the T-mobile case, truphone is out to get Fring. However truphone has to think beyond mainstream features to start giving some serious competition to Fring.
Now Fring VOIP gives you a option to add your ICQ buddies to Fring and chat with them while you are roaming. You can use fring on 3g, Wifi, GPRS or EDGE. To add your ICQ buddies, simply go to Options –> Settings –> Configure Services, scroll down to select ICQ. Just add your ICQ number and password.
If you still didnt try Fring, you are seriously missing one of the best mobile VOIP application. I strongly recommend you get Fring if you have one of latest symbian/Nokia/Windows mobile handset.
At the same time, We at VOIP Guide feel Fring should give Free Calls to certain destinations like truphone is giving away free calls to 40 countries. Don't we all love free calls? You reading Jon (from Fring) :-)
Fring has consistently making an effort to prove that they are the best mobile VOIP providers. We all know that truphone is taking fring very seriously and after some good news in the T-mobile case, truphone is out to get Fring. However truphone has to think beyond mainstream features to start giving some serious competition to Fring.
Now Fring VOIP gives you a option to add your ICQ buddies to Fring and chat with them while you are roaming. You can use fring on 3g, Wifi, GPRS or EDGE. To add your ICQ buddies, simply go to Options –> Settings –> Configure Services, scroll down to select ICQ. Just add your ICQ number and password.
If you still didnt try Fring, you are seriously missing one of the best mobile VOIP application. I strongly recommend you get Fring if you have one of latest symbian/Nokia/Windows mobile handset.
At the same time, We at VOIP Guide feel Fring should give Free Calls to certain destinations like truphone is giving away free calls to 40 countries. Don't we all love free calls? You reading Jon (from Fring) :-)
Monday, August 13, 2007
NoNoh offers free calls to various countries
This offer is just outstanding. The best free calls offer in a long time. This is a must read post on VOIP Guide, so don't miss it. This service will let you call most of the countries in Europe and Asia which are never given away for FREE.
Some great news for guys in Malaysia, Brazil, Japan and some other readers in various countries who always used to ping us on FREE VOIP. Are there any VOIP providers offering free calls to my country? Well your wait is over. We found this brand new establishment from Betamax called NoNoh (and it seems they love Jajah, lol). I would like to thanks thaiindian, our regular reader for letting us know about this. We are extremely proud of the fact that our readers love to share the news with us first. Of course, they know VOIP Guide is no.1 FREE VOIP blog and when its on here its everywhere :-) So you got any news, share it with us.
Getting back to the story, Nonoh bluntly says we offer better rates than Jajah and well they seriously do. Who on earth gives free calls to countries like Brazil, Japan and Malaysia? I have some countries which can't even dream to be in the free VOIP country list. NoNoh has simply cracked the market with this FREE VOIP calling service.
Lets see how we can use this service. Its a simple Phone to Phone service unlike other PC to Phone service. People simply go wild on Phone to Phone coz it's lot more friendly to use a Phone rather than sitting next to PC holding microphone.
1) Go to Nonoh and register.
2) Now You need to enter your number. Select your country. Country code will be auto-selected, now just type in your number.
3) Similarly enter your party's number (the one you are calling)
4) Click Call.
5) Call will be initiated and Nonon will first call you.
6) Once you pickup the call, nonoh will connect your party.
After some initial testing, we found that each call last about 5 minutes (non-registered call. if you are registered it could be more) which is pretty decent and you can call back on the same number again and again. We tried 3 times(singapore to Germany) and it worked great.
Nonoh is also offer a great rate for India, its only about 0.24 cents. Prolly the lowest across VOIP providers? Can anyone confirm? if yes, that means Nonoh is officially the cheapest voip provider for india.
Now who is in for a treat? Nonoh is offering free calls to following destinations:
Argentina (Landline), Australia (Landline) , Austria (Landline),Belgium (Landline), Bolivia (Landline), Brazil (Landline), Bulgaria (Landline), Canada (Landline & Mobile), China (Landline & Mobile), Croatia (Landline),Czech Republic (Landline),Denmark (Landline),Estonia (Landline),Finland (Landline),France (Landline),Germany (Landline),Greece (Landline),Hong Kong (Landline),Hungary (Landline),Ireland (Landline),Japan (Landline),Latvia (Landline),Malaysia (Landline),Netherlands (Landline),New Zealand (Landline),Norway (Landline),Panama (Landline),Peru (Landline),Poland (Landline),Portugal (Landline),Puerto Rico (Landline), Romania (Landline) , Russian Federation (Landline) ,Singapore (Landline),Slovak Republic (Landline),Slovenia (Landline),South Korea (Landline),Spain (Landline),Sweden (Landline),Switzerland (Landline),Taiwan (Landline), Thailand (Landline & Mobile), Turkey (Landline),United Kingdom (Landline),United States (Landline),Venezuela (Landline)
So now making free calls to turkey or free call to china is FREE. Guys enjoy this offer and lets hope it lasts long.
Some great news for guys in Malaysia, Brazil, Japan and some other readers in various countries who always used to ping us on FREE VOIP. Are there any VOIP providers offering free calls to my country? Well your wait is over. We found this brand new establishment from Betamax called NoNoh (and it seems they love Jajah, lol). I would like to thanks thaiindian, our regular reader for letting us know about this. We are extremely proud of the fact that our readers love to share the news with us first. Of course, they know VOIP Guide is no.1 FREE VOIP blog and when its on here its everywhere :-) So you got any news, share it with us.
Getting back to the story, Nonoh bluntly says we offer better rates than Jajah and well they seriously do. Who on earth gives free calls to countries like Brazil, Japan and Malaysia? I have some countries which can't even dream to be in the free VOIP country list. NoNoh has simply cracked the market with this FREE VOIP calling service.
Lets see how we can use this service. Its a simple Phone to Phone service unlike other PC to Phone service. People simply go wild on Phone to Phone coz it's lot more friendly to use a Phone rather than sitting next to PC holding microphone.
1) Go to Nonoh and register.
2) Now You need to enter your number. Select your country. Country code will be auto-selected, now just type in your number.
3) Similarly enter your party's number (the one you are calling)
4) Click Call.
5) Call will be initiated and Nonon will first call you.
6) Once you pickup the call, nonoh will connect your party.
After some initial testing, we found that each call last about 5 minutes (non-registered call. if you are registered it could be more) which is pretty decent and you can call back on the same number again and again. We tried 3 times(singapore to Germany) and it worked great.
Nonoh is also offer a great rate for India, its only about 0.24 cents. Prolly the lowest across VOIP providers? Can anyone confirm? if yes, that means Nonoh is officially the cheapest voip provider for india.
Now who is in for a treat? Nonoh is offering free calls to following destinations:
Argentina (Landline), Australia (Landline) , Austria (Landline),Belgium (Landline), Bolivia (Landline), Brazil (Landline), Bulgaria (Landline), Canada (Landline & Mobile), China (Landline & Mobile), Croatia (Landline),Czech Republic (Landline),Denmark (Landline),Estonia (Landline),Finland (Landline),France (Landline),Germany (Landline),Greece (Landline),Hong Kong (Landline),Hungary (Landline),Ireland (Landline),Japan (Landline),Latvia (Landline),Malaysia (Landline),Netherlands (Landline),New Zealand (Landline),Norway (Landline),Panama (Landline),Peru (Landline),Poland (Landline),Portugal (Landline),Puerto Rico (Landline), Romania (Landline) , Russian Federation (Landline) ,Singapore (Landline),Slovak Republic (Landline),Slovenia (Landline),South Korea (Landline),Spain (Landline),Sweden (Landline),Switzerland (Landline),Taiwan (Landline), Thailand (Landline & Mobile), Turkey (Landline),United Kingdom (Landline),United States (Landline),Venezuela (Landline)
So now making free calls to turkey or free call to china is FREE. Guys enjoy this offer and lets hope it lasts long.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Mobik offers Free SMS
At VOIP Guide, we exclusively concentrate on VOIP and FREE Calls but lately many of our readers have asked us about FREE SMS service. Especially a good service that works for India. So today we feature this great service which not only gives you FREE SMS but lets you earn point and exchange those points for real life goodies.
Mobik is offering worldwide free SMS, their country list is really extensive. There could be some countries missing but at first look we found Mobik much ahead of its competitors. Above all, Its FREE and then mean it when they say FREE.
Mobik runs their as AD-based FREE SMS service. We have noticed that sometimes when we try to send FREE SMS it displays a weird message "No advertisers founds, please try again later". That gets a bit annoying at times however that clearly shows that Mobik is passing all the cost to the advertisers. So each single SMS you send from Mobik is sponsored.
The most important thing is Mobik works for India. VOIP Guide gets the most visitors from USA geographically but most of the readers are more focused on making free calls to india or free sms to india.
Mobik lets you send SMS from either their website or from your registered mobile phone. However, This requires you to have a phone that supports Java and that you have downloaded and installed the mobiK Java applet.
On top of it all, Mobik gives you K dollars a unique points system which lets you earn points by inviting others or participating in surveys. You can redeem these points from Mobik store and get yourself a ipod Video, Nokia mobile phones etc. Its really great to see that Mobik is trying to give something back besides FREE SMS. We really loved the look and feel of the site. Looks very Web 2.0.
Overall Mobik puts FREE SMS ahead of the competition.
If you haven't been mobiked yet, then go regiser yourself at Mobik
Mobik is offering worldwide free SMS, their country list is really extensive. There could be some countries missing but at first look we found Mobik much ahead of its competitors. Above all, Its FREE and then mean it when they say FREE.
Mobik runs their as AD-based FREE SMS service. We have noticed that sometimes when we try to send FREE SMS it displays a weird message "No advertisers founds, please try again later". That gets a bit annoying at times however that clearly shows that Mobik is passing all the cost to the advertisers. So each single SMS you send from Mobik is sponsored.
The most important thing is Mobik works for India. VOIP Guide gets the most visitors from USA geographically but most of the readers are more focused on making free calls to india or free sms to india.
Mobik lets you send SMS from either their website or from your registered mobile phone. However, This requires you to have a phone that supports Java and that you have downloaded and installed the mobiK Java applet.
On top of it all, Mobik gives you K dollars a unique points system which lets you earn points by inviting others or participating in surveys. You can redeem these points from Mobik store and get yourself a ipod Video, Nokia mobile phones etc. Its really great to see that Mobik is trying to give something back besides FREE SMS. We really loved the look and feel of the site. Looks very Web 2.0.
Overall Mobik puts FREE SMS ahead of the competition.
If you haven't been mobiked yet, then go regiser yourself at Mobik
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Owtalk VOIP offers free calls to Hong Kong
VOIP Guide received many comments from our chinese readers about free calls to china and mainly Hong Kong. currently Mediaringtalk offers free calls to China (some provinces), however the calls are limited. Today, we feature another VOIP provider offering free calls to Hong Kong.
I would like to thanks to Yogesh Chauhan From Germany for writing this article for VOIP Guide.
Owtalk, a Hong Kong based VOIP provider is offering totally free calls to Hong Kong. The calls will be routed via Owtalk's SIP network.
Lets see how we can setup Owtalk:
1.Sign up with owtalk
2.After verifying your email, owtalk.com will give you Owtalk eyeBeam License Key and your SIP account Information. Take the backup of your SIP account details.
3.Download the Free eyebeam soft phone from here and configure it with your SIP information given by Owtalk.
Those users who do not want to use Soft phone they can use Gtalk for making free calls to Hong Kong.
STEPS TO CONFIGURE Gtalk2voip(Gtalk/Yahoo/MSN messenger)
1.Logon to your Google talk/Yahoo/MSN messenger.
2.Subscribe to the service in one of the possible ways:
a) Open your IM messenger and invite new recipient whose user id is service@gtalk2voip.com.
b)Go to the Gtalk2voip of this site and submit your user id by pressing "Invite!" button, then accept the invitation from service@gtalk2voip.com.
3. Open the chat window with service@gtalk2voip.com 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 SIP Account Information
Username :(your Owtalk SIP username)
Password :(your Owtalk SIP password)
Host : sipb02.owtalk.com
Port : 5060
Teleprefix :+
select the both "Register to SIP" and "Enable" option.
Save it and come back to homepage.
6. Now click on "Define your dialling plan ".
click on "Add" and under "Edit dial plan" give following information.
Order : use the default value
Prefix(optional) : 852 (where 852 is country code of Hong Kong)
Provider :username@sipb02.owtalk.com ( where username is your sipb02.owtalk.com username)
select "Enable"
Truncate digits :0
Add prefix : (leave blank)
Save the information. This Step will enable gtalk2voip to always route your calls via Owtalk whenever you call Hong Kong.
Now to make calls to Hong Kong phone follow the text command of gtalk2voip.com.
For example to make call to +85295XXXXXXX type "call +85295XXXXXXX" in chat window of service@gtalk2voip.com.
For more help about command list of gtalk2voip.com type "HELP" in chat window of service@gtalk2voip.com.
VOIP Guide will be exploring more such FREE VOIP SIP providers offering free calls to various destinations. When we build a good list, we will make one global settings for all countries. That will be our ultimate free voip solution for free worldwide calls.
If you know any SIP provider offering free calls certain destinations, please let us know. You can drop comments or contact us at ut(dot)godmode@gmail.com.
I would like to thanks to Yogesh Chauhan From Germany for writing this article for VOIP Guide.
Owtalk, a Hong Kong based VOIP provider is offering totally free calls to Hong Kong. The calls will be routed via Owtalk's SIP network.
Lets see how we can setup Owtalk:
1.Sign up with owtalk
2.After verifying your email, owtalk.com will give you Owtalk eyeBeam License Key and your SIP account Information. Take the backup of your SIP account details.
3.Download the Free eyebeam soft phone from here and configure it with your SIP information given by Owtalk.
Those users who do not want to use Soft phone they can use Gtalk for making free calls to Hong Kong.
STEPS TO CONFIGURE Gtalk2voip(Gtalk/Yahoo/MSN messenger)
1.Logon to your Google talk/Yahoo/MSN messenger.
2.Subscribe to the service in one of the possible ways:
a) Open your IM messenger and invite new recipient whose user id is service@gtalk2voip.com.
b)Go to the Gtalk2voip of this site and submit your user id by pressing "Invite!" button, then accept the invitation from service@gtalk2voip.com.
3. Open the chat window with service@gtalk2voip.com 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 SIP Account Information
Username :(your Owtalk SIP username)
Password :(your Owtalk SIP password)
Host : sipb02.owtalk.com
Port : 5060
Teleprefix :+
select the both "Register to SIP" and "Enable" option.
Save it and come back to homepage.
6. Now click on "Define your dialling plan ".
click on "Add" and under "Edit dial plan" give following information.
Order : use the default value
Prefix(optional) : 852 (where 852 is country code of Hong Kong)
Provider :username@sipb02.owtalk.com ( where username is your sipb02.owtalk.com username)
select "Enable"
Truncate digits :0
Add prefix : (leave blank)
Save the information. This Step will enable gtalk2voip to always route your calls via Owtalk whenever you call Hong Kong.
Now to make calls to Hong Kong phone follow the text command of gtalk2voip.com.
For example to make call to +85295XXXXXXX type "call +85295XXXXXXX" in chat window of service@gtalk2voip.com.
For more help about command list of gtalk2voip.com type "HELP" in chat window of service@gtalk2voip.com.
VOIP Guide will be exploring more such FREE VOIP SIP providers offering free calls to various destinations. When we build a good list, we will make one global settings for all countries. That will be our ultimate free voip solution for free worldwide calls.
If you know any SIP provider offering free calls certain destinations, please let us know. You can drop comments or contact us at ut(dot)godmode@gmail.com.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Skype extends half rate calls to India
With more and more VOIP providers offering free or cheaper voip calls around the globe, its putting a lot of pressure on veteran VOIP provider, Skype. Best known for being making VOIP popular to the masses, Skype is surely lagging behind on the new VOIP scene.
Every VOIP provider today is taking the Indian market way too seriously, well they have to take Indian voip market seriously if they want to survive in this competitive market. Why? Simply because India will literally call shots in the next decade. Every single consumer product, retail outlet will have to keep the indian consumer in mind and make products. VOIP can't be an exception and it seems VOIP companies have realised the potential of india market and huge Non resident indian population living abroad.
Skype had been offering 50% cheaper calls to India and Pakistan since last month and now that promotion is over. However, Skype has decided to extend the promotion for India only. It seems their pakistan offer wasn't that successful. So now users can continue to get 50% cheaper rate to anywhere in india including mobile phones. This is a good news for people who already have credit and if you don't have this could be a good excuse to start making calls with Skype.
Skype is still regarded one of the best VOIP softphones in the market. Their voice quality surpasses most of the other VOIP providers and with 50% discounted rates, it seems all good for a try.
So go wild and make Skype calls to india at 50% cheaper rate.
Every VOIP provider today is taking the Indian market way too seriously, well they have to take Indian voip market seriously if they want to survive in this competitive market. Why? Simply because India will literally call shots in the next decade. Every single consumer product, retail outlet will have to keep the indian consumer in mind and make products. VOIP can't be an exception and it seems VOIP companies have realised the potential of india market and huge Non resident indian population living abroad.
Skype had been offering 50% cheaper calls to India and Pakistan since last month and now that promotion is over. However, Skype has decided to extend the promotion for India only. It seems their pakistan offer wasn't that successful. So now users can continue to get 50% cheaper rate to anywhere in india including mobile phones. This is a good news for people who already have credit and if you don't have this could be a good excuse to start making calls with Skype.
Skype is still regarded one of the best VOIP softphones in the market. Their voice quality surpasses most of the other VOIP providers and with 50% discounted rates, it seems all good for a try.
So go wild and make Skype calls to india at 50% cheaper rate.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Cogeco to deploy SIP-based VoIP services
Very soon, Voice-over-Internet-Protocol will become Voice-over-Cable-Protocol in Ontario, Canada. Cogeco Cable Рthe second largest cable system operator in Ontario, Qu̩bec and Portu Рis going to employ technology from Sigma Systems Рa Texas based IT solutions provider Рto deliver SIP-based VoIP services all across Ontario.
Cogeco will leverage Sigma’s Service Management Platform (SMP) and Voice Service Package for it purpose. Sigma’s SMP is a real-time, J2EE-based intelligent service control engine that provides the foundation to manage subscription, on-demand and real-time VoIP, High Speed Internet, Wireless, Commercial Services, IPTV and Video services across any network technology, on any functional device. Sigma’s Integrated Solutions span high-speed data, ISP, voice, video and converged multimedia services and will –
1)Increase Revenue Opportunities for Cogeco.
2)Increase Customer Satisfaction
3)Increase Data Integrity.
4)Decrease Operating Costs.
5)Decrease Average Call Handling Time.
6)Provide Cogeco with the appropriate platform to support the increase in their VoIP customer base.
7)Provide Cogeco with Order Management and Resource Management.
8)Provide access to Service Provisioning and Inter-Carrier Gateway Integration
Capabilities for VoIP such as Dial Tone, Voice Mail, Long Distance Service Provider Selection and CLASS calling features. The solution is also flexible and is designed to easily accommodate future features. Sigma has a good track record of deploying complex VoIP solutions; to date over 20 VoIP deployments worldwide – one of the prime reasons why it was chosen by Cogeco to deploy its own VoIP service.
'The time is ripe for cable operators to offer an enhanced user experience as a differentiatior over traditional telcos,' said Tim Spencer, President and COO of Sigma. 'They must be able to exercise precise control over the delivery of complex services like VoIP that involves tightly managing the overall business/operational process and network integration. With Sigma’s solutions, service providers can capitalize on the benefits of the end-to-end automation which allows them to deliver and manage their growing product and subscriber base more efficiently than ever before.'
Ironically, in 2005, Rogers Cable – Canada’s largest cable television company, which makes it Cogeco’s #1 Rival – selected Sigma for the deployment of its own digital telephony system. Makes me believe in those fairy tales I used to hear when I was little – the two cats fight, and the monkey gains all along.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, VOIP News editor for VOIP Guide.
Cogeco will leverage Sigma’s Service Management Platform (SMP) and Voice Service Package for it purpose. Sigma’s SMP is a real-time, J2EE-based intelligent service control engine that provides the foundation to manage subscription, on-demand and real-time VoIP, High Speed Internet, Wireless, Commercial Services, IPTV and Video services across any network technology, on any functional device. Sigma’s Integrated Solutions span high-speed data, ISP, voice, video and converged multimedia services and will –
1)Increase Revenue Opportunities for Cogeco.
2)Increase Customer Satisfaction
3)Increase Data Integrity.
4)Decrease Operating Costs.
5)Decrease Average Call Handling Time.
6)Provide Cogeco with the appropriate platform to support the increase in their VoIP customer base.
7)Provide Cogeco with Order Management and Resource Management.
8)Provide access to Service Provisioning and Inter-Carrier Gateway Integration
Capabilities for VoIP such as Dial Tone, Voice Mail, Long Distance Service Provider Selection and CLASS calling features. The solution is also flexible and is designed to easily accommodate future features. Sigma has a good track record of deploying complex VoIP solutions; to date over 20 VoIP deployments worldwide – one of the prime reasons why it was chosen by Cogeco to deploy its own VoIP service.
'The time is ripe for cable operators to offer an enhanced user experience as a differentiatior over traditional telcos,' said Tim Spencer, President and COO of Sigma. 'They must be able to exercise precise control over the delivery of complex services like VoIP that involves tightly managing the overall business/operational process and network integration. With Sigma’s solutions, service providers can capitalize on the benefits of the end-to-end automation which allows them to deliver and manage their growing product and subscriber base more efficiently than ever before.'
Ironically, in 2005, Rogers Cable – Canada’s largest cable television company, which makes it Cogeco’s #1 Rival – selected Sigma for the deployment of its own digital telephony system. Makes me believe in those fairy tales I used to hear when I was little – the two cats fight, and the monkey gains all along.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, VOIP News editor for VOIP Guide.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
MTNL to provider Cheap VOIP Service in Indian Sub-continent
The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited is on an expansion run, and in more than one ways. The PSU is conducting feasibility studies to start VoIP in Nepal, is planning to start VoIP services in Delhi and Mumbai, and is close to purchasing a Sri Lankan fixed-wireless operator. Let’s take all of these up one by one.
If you’re a regular reader of VoIP Guides, we don’t need to tell you about the first bit. You already know that, because we’ve already covered that… LAST month. While other VoIP Guides are scrambling to cover the news about UTL’s license in Nepal now, we at VoIP Guides finished and filed the story way back on July 4.
But here’s the short version of it, anyway – after annual losses of more than NRS 8 billion, the Nepal government has finally given the green signal to the state owned Nepal Telecom and United Telecom Limited – the joint venture between MTNL, VSNL, TCI and Nepal Venture Private Limited – to offer Voice over Internet Protocol Services as part of their telecommunication packages). We also said that the VoIP project in Nepal was still in its initial phases, with UTL beginning to conduct feasibility studies to identify partners it could ally with overseas to offer to the new technology to its subscribers.
There’s an update to the same. UTL – which operates a CDMA-based telecom service and an ILD service for around 100,000 customers – has now started with its viability and feasibility studies, and initial estimates hint that its international VoIP tariff could be as low as Re. 1 a minute.
MTNL is not only expanding its domain in Nepal, but here in India too, planning to start VoIP services in India which will allow ISD calls @ Re. 1/min, making it very much like the One India Plan, which offers STD calls at the same rate. The company – which was the first to bring true, affordable broadband and IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) to the average consumer – is also planning to revamp its entire IPTV service, adding 100 more channels to it by Independence Day, August 15.
And finally, proceeding yet a bit more south, we hear whispers of the PSU’s activities in Sri Lanka. According to regional press reports, MTNL is close to completing the purchase of Sri Lankan fixed-wireless operator Suntel (What’s with Telecom Operators about this Sun thing anyway? SunRocket, Suntel… is it some kind of tradition?), having already sent a high-level delegation to conduct due diligence on the company. MTNL is believed to have emerged as the highest bidder for Suntel – which has a customer base of around 300,000 and offers fixed line services based on CDMA WiLL technology – with a bid of between USD 160 million and USD 180 million.
So, am I expected to comment on all this? Of course I am! So clearing my throat, I’ll say in the deepest baritone I can muster up… “It’s one small step for MTNL… One giant leap… for Internet Telephony.” Lets hope MTNL manage to provide cheap VOIP service in Indian sub-continent.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our VOIP news Editor.
If you’re a regular reader of VoIP Guides, we don’t need to tell you about the first bit. You already know that, because we’ve already covered that… LAST month. While other VoIP Guides are scrambling to cover the news about UTL’s license in Nepal now, we at VoIP Guides finished and filed the story way back on July 4.
But here’s the short version of it, anyway – after annual losses of more than NRS 8 billion, the Nepal government has finally given the green signal to the state owned Nepal Telecom and United Telecom Limited – the joint venture between MTNL, VSNL, TCI and Nepal Venture Private Limited – to offer Voice over Internet Protocol Services as part of their telecommunication packages). We also said that the VoIP project in Nepal was still in its initial phases, with UTL beginning to conduct feasibility studies to identify partners it could ally with overseas to offer to the new technology to its subscribers.
There’s an update to the same. UTL – which operates a CDMA-based telecom service and an ILD service for around 100,000 customers – has now started with its viability and feasibility studies, and initial estimates hint that its international VoIP tariff could be as low as Re. 1 a minute.
MTNL is not only expanding its domain in Nepal, but here in India too, planning to start VoIP services in India which will allow ISD calls @ Re. 1/min, making it very much like the One India Plan, which offers STD calls at the same rate. The company – which was the first to bring true, affordable broadband and IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) to the average consumer – is also planning to revamp its entire IPTV service, adding 100 more channels to it by Independence Day, August 15.
And finally, proceeding yet a bit more south, we hear whispers of the PSU’s activities in Sri Lanka. According to regional press reports, MTNL is close to completing the purchase of Sri Lankan fixed-wireless operator Suntel (What’s with Telecom Operators about this Sun thing anyway? SunRocket, Suntel… is it some kind of tradition?), having already sent a high-level delegation to conduct due diligence on the company. MTNL is believed to have emerged as the highest bidder for Suntel – which has a customer base of around 300,000 and offers fixed line services based on CDMA WiLL technology – with a bid of between USD 160 million and USD 180 million.
So, am I expected to comment on all this? Of course I am! So clearing my throat, I’ll say in the deepest baritone I can muster up… “It’s one small step for MTNL… One giant leap… for Internet Telephony.” Lets hope MTNL manage to provide cheap VOIP service in Indian sub-continent.
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our VOIP news Editor.
Ooma VOIP to offer Worldwide Free Calls?
Ooma VOIP was in the news more than any other VOIP provider since late July. We at VOIP Guide purposely didnt cover the story to get the most juice out before we publish our thoughts on this intriguing VOIP Startup who plan to offer totally free calls.
So whats all this hype about ooma VOIP? Who are they? according to their Press release received from their PR agency, The Silicon-Valley start-up, Ooma has intentions of disrupting the telephone experience -- with ooma you'll never pay for long distance again. Their executive team and board members include some big names like Sean Parker (Napster, Facebook) and Mike Ramsey (Founder of TiVo). Founder and CEO Andrew Frame was recently named one of BusinessWeek’s Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs. Well above all, They got Ashton Kutcher, the famous hollywood actor. What is he doing here?
Alright Ooma got big names but does that mean they would succeed in making ooma a totally free voip alternative PSTN service? Let see what they exactly are trying to do.
Ooma works as a Peer to Peer service (similar to Kazaa) People will share their bandwidth for routing calls via their Ooma Boxes. Currently Ooma is giving away Free Ooma boxes to 1500 people in USA since Ooma is currently limited to USA only and no one really knows whether they would look beyond USA. Those 1500 people are chosen by Ooma under invitation only beta. Although I was suppose to get the invite, I am not in USA and can't participate in the beta. I hope once they start looking at other countries, I would be the first one to get a ooma box :-)
Now How Ooma would actually operate. Well just like most other FREE VOIP/Free Call startups (most of them close down within 1 year), Ooma is banking on a loophole in US telecommunication rules. Any calls made within 12 mile radius are free in USA. Ooma is now pushing those 1500 boxes to people who can link each other so that there is always 1 ooma box within 12 mile distance in entire USA, so on paper Ooma has full coverage across USA.
Of course Ooma to ooma calls are free, however ooma gives you a choice to call normal landline phones (no mobile free yet) for FREE. Still not sure how its going to help?
Lets consider an example. I live in New york and my friend is in Los Angeles. I have a ooma box but my frd doesnt have one. So i dial his number from my Ooma box, the call is then routed via peer to peer network (over internet) to the nearest Ooma box user (within 12 miles) from my friend's house and then terminated to his landline via local PSTN line. So ooma to ooma is FREE then it routes through normal PSTN which is also FREE since its within 12 mile radius. Sounds like a good idea but well its totally based on the loophole. What if tommorow governtment changes the policy? lol
Well, Ooma will probably push this product (priced at $399) so hard in the market that everyone will eventually have a ooma box. Thats what they hope, however if they got closed down, will the service continue to run?
Some people reportedly said, ooma won't work if they got closed down without understanding how they exactly work? No one really knows whether they use a Hydrid P2P or pure P2P.
if they use hybrid p2p, then They have a central server that keeps information on peers and responds to requests for that information. I guess this could be required since regulation might require companies to know about their customers and some quality/security issues related to it.
If they use pure P2p, they could have serious legal issues but ooma will continue to run irrespective of the company, coz the peers are responsible for data transfer and there is no central server.
Overall ooma sounds like a great idea. However the loopholes they are using is a huge concern and of course these loopholes wont do any good when they look beyond USA. Lets hope at the end of the day, the consumers WIN
Ooma is now open to public. VOIP Guide has special arrangement with Ooma to give you a massive $200 discount on Retail price now you can buy ooma box at $399 instead of $599. Use our coupon code:ooma coupon to redeeem this special discount offer.
So whats all this hype about ooma VOIP? Who are they? according to their Press release received from their PR agency, The Silicon-Valley start-up, Ooma has intentions of disrupting the telephone experience -- with ooma you'll never pay for long distance again. Their executive team and board members include some big names like Sean Parker (Napster, Facebook) and Mike Ramsey (Founder of TiVo). Founder and CEO Andrew Frame was recently named one of BusinessWeek’s Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs. Well above all, They got Ashton Kutcher, the famous hollywood actor. What is he doing here?
Alright Ooma got big names but does that mean they would succeed in making ooma a totally free voip alternative PSTN service? Let see what they exactly are trying to do.
Ooma works as a Peer to Peer service (similar to Kazaa) People will share their bandwidth for routing calls via their Ooma Boxes. Currently Ooma is giving away Free Ooma boxes to 1500 people in USA since Ooma is currently limited to USA only and no one really knows whether they would look beyond USA. Those 1500 people are chosen by Ooma under invitation only beta. Although I was suppose to get the invite, I am not in USA and can't participate in the beta. I hope once they start looking at other countries, I would be the first one to get a ooma box :-)
Now How Ooma would actually operate. Well just like most other FREE VOIP/Free Call startups (most of them close down within 1 year), Ooma is banking on a loophole in US telecommunication rules. Any calls made within 12 mile radius are free in USA. Ooma is now pushing those 1500 boxes to people who can link each other so that there is always 1 ooma box within 12 mile distance in entire USA, so on paper Ooma has full coverage across USA.
Of course Ooma to ooma calls are free, however ooma gives you a choice to call normal landline phones (no mobile free yet) for FREE. Still not sure how its going to help?
Lets consider an example. I live in New york and my friend is in Los Angeles. I have a ooma box but my frd doesnt have one. So i dial his number from my Ooma box, the call is then routed via peer to peer network (over internet) to the nearest Ooma box user (within 12 miles) from my friend's house and then terminated to his landline via local PSTN line. So ooma to ooma is FREE then it routes through normal PSTN which is also FREE since its within 12 mile radius. Sounds like a good idea but well its totally based on the loophole. What if tommorow governtment changes the policy? lol
Well, Ooma will probably push this product (priced at $399) so hard in the market that everyone will eventually have a ooma box. Thats what they hope, however if they got closed down, will the service continue to run?
Some people reportedly said, ooma won't work if they got closed down without understanding how they exactly work? No one really knows whether they use a Hydrid P2P or pure P2P.
if they use hybrid p2p, then They have a central server that keeps information on peers and responds to requests for that information. I guess this could be required since regulation might require companies to know about their customers and some quality/security issues related to it.
If they use pure P2p, they could have serious legal issues but ooma will continue to run irrespective of the company, coz the peers are responsible for data transfer and there is no central server.
Overall ooma sounds like a great idea. However the loopholes they are using is a huge concern and of course these loopholes wont do any good when they look beyond USA. Lets hope at the end of the day, the consumers WIN
Ooma is now open to public. VOIP Guide has special arrangement with Ooma to give you a massive $200 discount on Retail price now you can buy ooma box at $399 instead of $599. Use our coupon code:ooma coupon to redeeem this special discount offer.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Ring 9 launched Hosted PBX & Call Conference Bundle
The Ring – Ring 9 that is – has opened up to encompass yet more within it. From ringing one IP phone at a time, Ring 9 has now entered the web conference market to ring several IP phones at a time.
The company which boasts of a scalable, cost-effective, zero-maintenance communications solution has also announced a Web Meeting/Hosted PBX Bundle, which will effectively allow Ring 9 users access to Web Meeting, unlimited local and long distance calls, and a fully featured IP phone system for a flat monthly fee of $49.95. In case you decide not to go for the IP phone system, then you can get Web Meeting without Hosted PBX – as a stand-alone product – for $29.95.
Ring 9 Web Meeting lets businesses host and attend collaborative and interactive meetings, sales presentations, demonstrations, webinars, remote support, training and marketing events using a standard Internet browser. Attendees can share screens, documents, spreadsheets and even applications, and pass control to other attendees to enable real-time information sharing and collaboration. And as if all these business features weren’t enough, there’s also whiteboards and drawing tools, desktop recording and playback, email and instant messaging, polling, document sharing, and video. In short, it connects multiple computers users via video and leaves the rest to their imagination.
Bob McCarthy, CEO of Ring 9, said that Web Meeting was a natural next step in their mission to increase productivity, reduce cost structures, and enhance business relationships for their customers.
“Like our VoIP services, the Web Meeting product is provided over a hosted platform.” He said. “Ring 9 customers do not need to make large, on-site capital investments to take advantage of IP technology. In addition, Web Meeting bundled with our hosted PBX delivers phenomenal value to our customers”.
Considering that a typical business cabin class flight – even Economy cabin class – from one corner of America to another would cost much, much, much more than $50 (I checked American Airlines, and it’s all above $200 WITHOUT taxes), I think Ring 9’s offering a pretty neat deal. Instead of flying executives all around the country to make them see each other and make presentations and have brainstorming sessions, companies can simply pay $50 a month and make everybody happy – the company will be happy because it will be saving money on travel AND telephony expenses (Hosted PBX, remember?), the employee will be happy because he wouldn’t have to leave his family, and of course, Ring 9 would be happy. But when you come down to think of it, The Frequent Flyer Miles Program might bear a grudge or two against it.
This article is written by samarth chandola, full time VOIP news editor for VOIP Guide.
The company which boasts of a scalable, cost-effective, zero-maintenance communications solution has also announced a Web Meeting/Hosted PBX Bundle, which will effectively allow Ring 9 users access to Web Meeting, unlimited local and long distance calls, and a fully featured IP phone system for a flat monthly fee of $49.95. In case you decide not to go for the IP phone system, then you can get Web Meeting without Hosted PBX – as a stand-alone product – for $29.95.
Ring 9 Web Meeting lets businesses host and attend collaborative and interactive meetings, sales presentations, demonstrations, webinars, remote support, training and marketing events using a standard Internet browser. Attendees can share screens, documents, spreadsheets and even applications, and pass control to other attendees to enable real-time information sharing and collaboration. And as if all these business features weren’t enough, there’s also whiteboards and drawing tools, desktop recording and playback, email and instant messaging, polling, document sharing, and video. In short, it connects multiple computers users via video and leaves the rest to their imagination.
Bob McCarthy, CEO of Ring 9, said that Web Meeting was a natural next step in their mission to increase productivity, reduce cost structures, and enhance business relationships for their customers.
“Like our VoIP services, the Web Meeting product is provided over a hosted platform.” He said. “Ring 9 customers do not need to make large, on-site capital investments to take advantage of IP technology. In addition, Web Meeting bundled with our hosted PBX delivers phenomenal value to our customers”.
Considering that a typical business cabin class flight – even Economy cabin class – from one corner of America to another would cost much, much, much more than $50 (I checked American Airlines, and it’s all above $200 WITHOUT taxes), I think Ring 9’s offering a pretty neat deal. Instead of flying executives all around the country to make them see each other and make presentations and have brainstorming sessions, companies can simply pay $50 a month and make everybody happy – the company will be happy because it will be saving money on travel AND telephony expenses (Hosted PBX, remember?), the employee will be happy because he wouldn’t have to leave his family, and of course, Ring 9 would be happy. But when you come down to think of it, The Frequent Flyer Miles Program might bear a grudge or two against it.
This article is written by samarth chandola, full time VOIP news editor for VOIP Guide.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Free Calls to Russia
Almost when you got a feeling that suddenly there is not much happening in Free VOIP space, VOIP Guide present to you another great way to make free calls to Russia. I can assure that this is just a start, we will be on hunt for more such as free calling SIP networks and using them as our backbone for free calling.
I received numerous comments and emails regarding people all over the world trying to call Russia mostly Moscow and St Petersberg. Besides couple of Betamax softwares no one offers free calls to russia and unlimited free calls to these cities no ONE. However that wait is over. We found a great russian SIP provider doing just that.
Its called SIPNET, a russian SIP provider offering free calls to moscow and St. Petersberg, well two most important cities in Russia. However the calls are unlimited they are limited to area codes 495, 499 and 812. Well that covers good bunch of numbers in these 2 cities.
Now Lets see how do we use SIPNET. We are giving you 2 alternatives to make free calls to Russia.
Before we start the tutorial, Lets first get an account with SIPNET. This was really tricky for me. Since the whole site is in russian and google was not able to translate it properly. I had to translate each single word :-(
But you dont have to do that hard work :-)
A) Go to SIPNET Registration Page.
B) Now dont worry. Let me tell you each field.
1) Field 1: Username
2) Field 2: Password
3) Field 3: Confirm Password
4) Field 4: Date of Birth E.g: 15/05/1980
5) Field 5: Floor (Dont know have a clue but select any option)
6) Field 6: Floor Description (Dont know have a clue but select any option)
7) Field 7: Email
8) Field 8: Your name (Put anything you like :-)
9) Field 9: Country (Put Russia)
10) Field 10: City (Out Moscow)
11) Field11: Verification Code (Enter code your see below. Its a number for verification)
Now Hit the button below, there is only one thats Submit in Russian. You will get a message in Russian on a next Screen, if you get any other error check that error with any translation service.
Now SIP NET will send you activation email. Remember to click on it, it will then activate your account. You are registered and the hard part is over.
Now lets see how we can use this to make free calls to Russia.
The first method is good for new or novice users:
1) Download X-lite (Its one of the most powerful SIP softphones available for FREE and will be handy in future as well)
2)Now Open X-lite and Right Click anywhere in the Main window.
3)Select SIP Account Settings
4)That opens another window to Add your SIP providers.
5)Select Add. This will open another window.
6) Put anything in Display Name.
7)
Username= SIPNET Username
Password= SIPNET Password
Authorisation Username = SIPNET Username
Domain= sipnet.ru
Keep rest of setting as is and OK/Apply.
8)X-lite will try to connect to SIPNET server.
9)Once connected, you will message such as Your Username is: XXXXX. That means you are connected to SIPNET.
10) Now Dial number such as +74951111212
For more Advanced Users, Yogesh from Germany has worked on a great setup to use this from Google Talk with Gtalk2voip gateway.
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.if you already have service@gtalk2voip.com in your Gtalk,no need to add it again.
2. open the chat window with service@gtalk2voip.com (You can also 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. Put following details
Username : (your www.sipnet.ru username)
Password : (your sipnet.ru password)
Host : sipnet.ru
Port : 5060
Teleprefix : +
select the both "Register to SIP" and "Enable" option.
Save it and come back to homepage.
5. Now click on "Define your dialing plan ".
click on "Add" and under "Edit dial plan" give following information.
Order : use the default value
Prefix(optional) : 7 (where 7 is country code of Russia)
Provider : username@sipnet.ru ( where username is your sipnet.ru username)
select "Enable"
Truncate digits : 0
Add prefix : (leave blank)
Save the information. This Step will enable gtalk2voip to always route your calls via SIPNET whenever you call Russia.
Now to make calls to Russian phone (area codes 495, 499 and 812) follow the text command of gtalk2voip.com.
For example to make call to +7495XXXXXXX type "call +7495XXXXXXX" in chat window of service@gtalk2voip.com.
for more help about command list of gtalk2voip.com type "HELP" in chat window of service@gtalk2voip.com.
Happy free calling to Russia!
I received numerous comments and emails regarding people all over the world trying to call Russia mostly Moscow and St Petersberg. Besides couple of Betamax softwares no one offers free calls to russia and unlimited free calls to these cities no ONE. However that wait is over. We found a great russian SIP provider doing just that.
Its called SIPNET, a russian SIP provider offering free calls to moscow and St. Petersberg, well two most important cities in Russia. However the calls are unlimited they are limited to area codes 495, 499 and 812. Well that covers good bunch of numbers in these 2 cities.
Now Lets see how do we use SIPNET. We are giving you 2 alternatives to make free calls to Russia.
Before we start the tutorial, Lets first get an account with SIPNET. This was really tricky for me. Since the whole site is in russian and google was not able to translate it properly. I had to translate each single word :-(
But you dont have to do that hard work :-)
A) Go to SIPNET Registration Page.
B) Now dont worry. Let me tell you each field.
1) Field 1: Username
2) Field 2: Password
3) Field 3: Confirm Password
4) Field 4: Date of Birth E.g: 15/05/1980
5) Field 5: Floor (Dont know have a clue but select any option)
6) Field 6: Floor Description (Dont know have a clue but select any option)
7) Field 7: Email
8) Field 8: Your name (Put anything you like :-)
9) Field 9: Country (Put Russia)
10) Field 10: City (Out Moscow)
11) Field11: Verification Code (Enter code your see below. Its a number for verification)
Now Hit the button below, there is only one thats Submit in Russian. You will get a message in Russian on a next Screen, if you get any other error check that error with any translation service.
Now SIP NET will send you activation email. Remember to click on it, it will then activate your account. You are registered and the hard part is over.
Now lets see how we can use this to make free calls to Russia.
The first method is good for new or novice users:
1) Download X-lite (Its one of the most powerful SIP softphones available for FREE and will be handy in future as well)
2)Now Open X-lite and Right Click anywhere in the Main window.
3)Select SIP Account Settings
4)That opens another window to Add your SIP providers.
5)Select Add. This will open another window.
6) Put anything in Display Name.
7)
Username= SIPNET Username
Password= SIPNET Password
Authorisation Username = SIPNET Username
Domain= sipnet.ru
Keep rest of setting as is and OK/Apply.
8)X-lite will try to connect to SIPNET server.
9)Once connected, you will message such as Your Username is: XXXXX. That means you are connected to SIPNET.
10) Now Dial number such as +74951111212
For more Advanced Users, Yogesh from Germany has worked on a great setup to use this from Google Talk with Gtalk2voip gateway.
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.if you already have service@gtalk2voip.com in your Gtalk,no need to add it again.
2. open the chat window with service@gtalk2voip.com (You can also 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. Put following details
Username : (your www.sipnet.ru username)
Password : (your sipnet.ru password)
Host : sipnet.ru
Port : 5060
Teleprefix : +
select the both "Register to SIP" and "Enable" option.
Save it and come back to homepage.
5. Now click on "Define your dialing plan ".
click on "Add" and under "Edit dial plan" give following information.
Order : use the default value
Prefix(optional) : 7 (where 7 is country code of Russia)
Provider : username@sipnet.ru ( where username is your sipnet.ru username)
select "Enable"
Truncate digits : 0
Add prefix : (leave blank)
Save the information. This Step will enable gtalk2voip to always route your calls via SIPNET whenever you call Russia.
Now to make calls to Russian phone (area codes 495, 499 and 812) follow the text command of gtalk2voip.com.
For example to make call to +7495XXXXXXX type "call +7495XXXXXXX" in chat window of service@gtalk2voip.com.
for more help about command list of gtalk2voip.com type "HELP" in chat window of service@gtalk2voip.com.
Happy free calling to Russia!
Friday, August 3, 2007
Unified Contact Center platform for Call Centers
Two heads are better than one, and Florida based Internet application service provider Promero, seems to have taken well to the proverb. Promero – a member of the Oracle Partner Network – has successfully integrated Oracle’s award winning call center software – Contact Center Anywhere – with Promero’s ProStar, ProStar CRM and Lead Manager and Nexogy’s VoIP softphone solution.
Oracle Contact Center Anywhere (formerly Telephony@Work CallCenterAnywhere) is a pre-integrated, multichannel contact center platform that takes communications from anywhere and routes them to anywhere. Promero has integrated the platform with ProStar – its intelligent call routing service; with Lead Manager – its customer relationship management and proprietary intelligent lead distribution software titles; and with Nexogy’s VoIP solution – Nexogy is a Promero preferred channel partner offering cost effective line solutions for small business, call centers, and work at home agents, allowing them to expand rapidly. Promero markets the new integrated turnkey solution as ProStar OnDemand
Essentially, OnDemand is the combination of the best software solutions that Promero offers in one single hosted platform. The winning combination provides the ability to make or take calls in a blended call center seat, compile customer information, and route callers to the most skilled agents Outsourced call centers can provide lead generation services with ease.
As with any other hosted contact center platform, OnDemand eliminates the need for the end-user to purchase expensive hardware, and works with existing phone system.
The successful certification of the unified platform provides call center owners and managers with access to best of breed award winning technology for a fraction of the cost of other hosted solutions, said Gregg Troyanowski, president of Promero. “In the past, poor voice quality via VOIP has been a recurring issue. With Nexogy and Oracle, the voice quality is exceptional and the stability is virtually 100%.
Not being speculative or anything, but the moves comes just within a few days of Microsoft announcing the completion of its own software-based VoIP program. And Promero is a part of the Oracle Partner Network. Who knows… maybe this is the first step in a bigger, much deeper project…
Oracle Contact Center Anywhere (formerly Telephony@Work CallCenterAnywhere) is a pre-integrated, multichannel contact center platform that takes communications from anywhere and routes them to anywhere. Promero has integrated the platform with ProStar – its intelligent call routing service; with Lead Manager – its customer relationship management and proprietary intelligent lead distribution software titles; and with Nexogy’s VoIP solution – Nexogy is a Promero preferred channel partner offering cost effective line solutions for small business, call centers, and work at home agents, allowing them to expand rapidly. Promero markets the new integrated turnkey solution as ProStar OnDemand
Essentially, OnDemand is the combination of the best software solutions that Promero offers in one single hosted platform. The winning combination provides the ability to make or take calls in a blended call center seat, compile customer information, and route callers to the most skilled agents Outsourced call centers can provide lead generation services with ease.
As with any other hosted contact center platform, OnDemand eliminates the need for the end-user to purchase expensive hardware, and works with existing phone system.
The successful certification of the unified platform provides call center owners and managers with access to best of breed award winning technology for a fraction of the cost of other hosted solutions, said Gregg Troyanowski, president of Promero. “In the past, poor voice quality via VOIP has been a recurring issue. With Nexogy and Oracle, the voice quality is exceptional and the stability is virtually 100%.
Not being speculative or anything, but the moves comes just within a few days of Microsoft announcing the completion of its own software-based VoIP program. And Promero is a part of the Oracle Partner Network. Who knows… maybe this is the first step in a bigger, much deeper project…
Thursday, August 2, 2007
EasySpeak PBX 15-minute VoIP PBX
VoIP isn’t popular enough yet for me to say that it’s basking in its fifteen minutes of fame, but so what if it isn’t? It’s accomplished other things in the fifteen minutes time span – like EasySpeak.
Simicomm – a provider of hassle free VoIP solutions for small and medium sized businesses – has announced the release of EasySpeak PBX – a software based low-cost VoIP PBX. EasySpeak can be completely installed and be up ready to run in only 15 minutes, thus earning it the nickname ‘EasySpeak 15-minute VoIP.’
Specifically designed for enterprises without the technical abilities to implement and maintain phone systems, EasySpeak provides companies with a low cost, reliable solution to migrate slowly into a VoIP infrastructure. Based on the Asterisk open source PBX, EasySpeak works with both VoIP and analog phones (a line card is required to use analog phones), and even though it’s made for small and medium sized businesses, it contains the features of high-end solutions – Auto Attendant, Web Access to Voicemail, Music-on-Hold, Blind Transfer, T-38 Fax support, Call Forward/Forward on Busy, Call Parking, Call Queuing, Call Routing (DID & ANI), Call Transfer, Call Waiting, Caller ID, Caller ID Blocking, Caller ID on Call Waiting, Roaming Extensions, Assisted Transfer, Three-way Calling and high-end Voicemail functionality.
Now that’s a whole lot of bunch if I ever saw one. Kudos for EasySpeak. And double kudos because it’s only a 300 MB file, and a 14-day trial version is available for download from SimiComm . Once you download the file, burn it on a CD, load the disk on a server, plug the phone and internet lines into the Ethernet ports, and that’s it, you’re done! A virtual PBX system set up in less than 15 minutes!
We recognize there are many solutions targeting small businesses, said Dennis Barnum, CEO of Simicomm. 'Our goal was to create something that removes the complexity for a non-technical audience and make it affordable.'
Of course, the best part of the EasySpeak is that it’s completely software based. Apart from a line card for analog phones, there is absolutely no need to purchase any external hardware. The software handles everything, including automatically registering and assigning extensions in the order they are connected. A web-based toolbox allows for changing of extensions and management of other features.
Like I said earlier, a 14-day trial version is available for download from SimiComm. If you’re thinking of getting the trial version though, you better act fast as it’s available for download for a limited period only. The clock’s ticking…
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our VOIP News Editor.
Simicomm – a provider of hassle free VoIP solutions for small and medium sized businesses – has announced the release of EasySpeak PBX – a software based low-cost VoIP PBX. EasySpeak can be completely installed and be up ready to run in only 15 minutes, thus earning it the nickname ‘EasySpeak 15-minute VoIP.’
Specifically designed for enterprises without the technical abilities to implement and maintain phone systems, EasySpeak provides companies with a low cost, reliable solution to migrate slowly into a VoIP infrastructure. Based on the Asterisk open source PBX, EasySpeak works with both VoIP and analog phones (a line card is required to use analog phones), and even though it’s made for small and medium sized businesses, it contains the features of high-end solutions – Auto Attendant, Web Access to Voicemail, Music-on-Hold, Blind Transfer, T-38 Fax support, Call Forward/Forward on Busy, Call Parking, Call Queuing, Call Routing (DID & ANI), Call Transfer, Call Waiting, Caller ID, Caller ID Blocking, Caller ID on Call Waiting, Roaming Extensions, Assisted Transfer, Three-way Calling and high-end Voicemail functionality.
Now that’s a whole lot of bunch if I ever saw one. Kudos for EasySpeak. And double kudos because it’s only a 300 MB file, and a 14-day trial version is available for download from SimiComm . Once you download the file, burn it on a CD, load the disk on a server, plug the phone and internet lines into the Ethernet ports, and that’s it, you’re done! A virtual PBX system set up in less than 15 minutes!
We recognize there are many solutions targeting small businesses, said Dennis Barnum, CEO of Simicomm. 'Our goal was to create something that removes the complexity for a non-technical audience and make it affordable.'
Of course, the best part of the EasySpeak is that it’s completely software based. Apart from a line card for analog phones, there is absolutely no need to purchase any external hardware. The software handles everything, including automatically registering and assigning extensions in the order they are connected. A web-based toolbox allows for changing of extensions and management of other features.
Like I said earlier, a 14-day trial version is available for download from SimiComm. If you’re thinking of getting the trial version though, you better act fast as it’s available for download for a limited period only. The clock’s ticking…
This article is written by Samarth Chandola, our VOIP News Editor.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Gizmo Call VOIP will again offer Free calls?
Didnt we all love Gizmo Call when they were offering Free 10 mins Calls Worldwide? Just after they launched, VOIP Guide cracked into Gizmo Call to give 20 mins and later 40 mins Call with that ultimate Gizmo Call hack. Rest was History, Thousands of calls were made with our ultimate Gizmo Call hack.
Finally Michael Robertson (Gizmo Call CEO) couldn't take it anymore. Free Calls + Hack was way too much to handle for Gizmo Call and then the day has come. They suddenly cut the call limit to 3 per min. However they didnt stop there, the day finally came when they reduced free calls to 1 min per call. What did they expect people to do? It takes 20 secs to connect the call and then about 5-15 secs to pickup the call, that leaves us with about 30 secs to say Hi? lol. What a Joke!I didnt bother to go back to Gizmo Call again. That was it for me.
They later offered a Gizmo Call incoming Calling number, another uselss feature coz When i was calling to India from Singapore, it assigned me a US number. Did they expect a guy in India to Call USA and then connect to me. I didnt bother to get into more details.
The Free Calling wave is all over the internet with more VOIP providers offering free calls to multiple nations. Gizmo Call has lost all the ground they gained back in early 2007. They had a golden chance to capitalise on their initial success, but they were lost half-way.
Now they seem to get back on track with 50% cheaper calls to around the world (landline/mobile). Still there rates are a bit high, I won't say Gizmo Call is great in terms of Voice Quality however they aint bad. They are offering 13c per min to India, which is not a great rate either. However a few calls will do to check the voice quality which I consider as the first parameter in using a VOIP service and I totally ignore providers offering cheaper calls with pathetic voice quality. Isnt VOICE the most important aspect of a Phone Call. The reason we call someone coz we want to TALK to that person.
I have a strong feeling that Gizmo Call at some stage has to offer free calls to sustain in this competitive market or say Goodbye soon. This market is going to be more and more competitive in future and the future is about FREE VOIP CALLS. People would argue that FREE CALLS is a distant dream but well if you know how to make money in VOIP besides being a traditional telecom carrier, you can pull it off. There are various ways to make money from FREE VOIP and I hope Gizmo Call can think of some.
Micheal once discussed on his blog, "My plan with Gizmo Call is to offer phone calls that will feel free because they are paid for with advertising. The popularity of free email services, news services and community sites demonstrates that people will often choose ad sponsored services over paid ones. Because Gizmo Call is written in flash we can insert advertisements into the experience in a helpful manner. If you call 1-800-FLOWERS we can tell you about the great San Diego-based company".
He needs more hints or specific consultation on making Gizmo Call run as a FREE VOIP Service? Maybe he should hire me :-)
Finally Michael Robertson (Gizmo Call CEO) couldn't take it anymore. Free Calls + Hack was way too much to handle for Gizmo Call and then the day has come. They suddenly cut the call limit to 3 per min. However they didnt stop there, the day finally came when they reduced free calls to 1 min per call. What did they expect people to do? It takes 20 secs to connect the call and then about 5-15 secs to pickup the call, that leaves us with about 30 secs to say Hi? lol. What a Joke!I didnt bother to go back to Gizmo Call again. That was it for me.
They later offered a Gizmo Call incoming Calling number, another uselss feature coz When i was calling to India from Singapore, it assigned me a US number. Did they expect a guy in India to Call USA and then connect to me. I didnt bother to get into more details.
The Free Calling wave is all over the internet with more VOIP providers offering free calls to multiple nations. Gizmo Call has lost all the ground they gained back in early 2007. They had a golden chance to capitalise on their initial success, but they were lost half-way.
Now they seem to get back on track with 50% cheaper calls to around the world (landline/mobile). Still there rates are a bit high, I won't say Gizmo Call is great in terms of Voice Quality however they aint bad. They are offering 13c per min to India, which is not a great rate either. However a few calls will do to check the voice quality which I consider as the first parameter in using a VOIP service and I totally ignore providers offering cheaper calls with pathetic voice quality. Isnt VOICE the most important aspect of a Phone Call. The reason we call someone coz we want to TALK to that person.
I have a strong feeling that Gizmo Call at some stage has to offer free calls to sustain in this competitive market or say Goodbye soon. This market is going to be more and more competitive in future and the future is about FREE VOIP CALLS. People would argue that FREE CALLS is a distant dream but well if you know how to make money in VOIP besides being a traditional telecom carrier, you can pull it off. There are various ways to make money from FREE VOIP and I hope Gizmo Call can think of some.
Micheal once discussed on his blog, "My plan with Gizmo Call is to offer phone calls that will feel free because they are paid for with advertising. The popularity of free email services, news services and community sites demonstrates that people will often choose ad sponsored services over paid ones. Because Gizmo Call is written in flash we can insert advertisements into the experience in a helpful manner. If you call 1-800-FLOWERS we can tell you about the great San Diego-based company".
He needs more hints or specific consultation on making Gizmo Call run as a FREE VOIP Service? Maybe he should hire me :-)
Foonz launches FoonzMobile free VOIP solution
Lately many VOIP provider have been trying out few new things such as VOIP Call Widgets, Group Calling features etc. Today, we are discussing about this VOIP service providing Group Calling at local rates.
Foonz was once very popular service for free international calls, however they stopped operating in other countries and now only operate in USA/Canada, which is kinda sad. However, they are one of the very few services who offer Txt To Call feature along with Group Calling.
Foonz now announced a new service called FoonzMobile. Foonz is actually a Group Calling service. With FoonzMobile you can send Txt command such as START friends, -Ted to 36669. This will make a call out to Ted on his stored number in your Foonz contact list. That means you need to have a working contact list for your friends or a group. You can send group call Txt to 36669 and Foonz will connect you to the whole group.
Now you must be wondering whats great about it? I can use a local telephone to make calls to my friends then why use Foonz? Well simply becuase you can call a whole group with one single call. Its like cheap conference call. However this whole idea is not totally awesome and it will take some time to register in people's mind.
Foonz earlier used to provide this service for free worldwide calls including India but they stopped it. I would say if they start it all over again that would be a big hit and the service could actually reach the masses.
I doubt if Foonz will gain any significant market share with this text to call feature. however Lets wish them good luck and yeah, if you are in USA/Canada, then why not check them out?
Foonz was once very popular service for free international calls, however they stopped operating in other countries and now only operate in USA/Canada, which is kinda sad. However, they are one of the very few services who offer Txt To Call feature along with Group Calling.
Foonz now announced a new service called FoonzMobile. Foonz is actually a Group Calling service. With FoonzMobile you can send Txt command such as START friends, -Ted to 36669. This will make a call out to Ted on his stored number in your Foonz contact list. That means you need to have a working contact list for your friends or a group. You can send group call Txt to 36669 and Foonz will connect you to the whole group.
Now you must be wondering whats great about it? I can use a local telephone to make calls to my friends then why use Foonz? Well simply becuase you can call a whole group with one single call. Its like cheap conference call. However this whole idea is not totally awesome and it will take some time to register in people's mind.
Foonz earlier used to provide this service for free worldwide calls including India but they stopped it. I would say if they start it all over again that would be a big hit and the service could actually reach the masses.
I doubt if Foonz will gain any significant market share with this text to call feature. however Lets wish them good luck and yeah, if you are in USA/Canada, then why not check them out?
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