It seems VOIP Companies are going one step ahead and extending their free calls offers to promote their services further. They are expecting that paid customers would pay off for free calls.
Mediaringtalk is one such company that extended their free calls offers to US, Canada, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Taiwan and Australia. They have further extended their offers till end of November.
So if you have someone in China, Do download MediaringTalk and make a quick 10 mins call. Why 10 mins? coz under their fair usage policy, each call is limited to 10 mins so people don't abuse the free calls offers. You can however call the same number again unlimited times. At the end of day, you get unlimited free calls with each 10 mins call limit.
Although, MediaringTalk uses SIP it seems we can't connect to their service from other SIP devices, SIP phones or SIP softphones.
A bit of investigation revealed, that mediaring has a SIP server. We could ping to their SIP server. Atleast, it seems they have one. We didnt test it, if you did let us know.
Pinging sip.mediaring.com [202.8.40.76] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 202.8.40.76: bytes=32 time=272ms TTL=244
Reply from 202.8.40.76: bytes=32 time=259ms TTL=244
On the sidenote, if you want to Call someone in Hong Kong, you might want to try OwTalk. If you are calling someone in USA, Try Earthcaller. For the rest of the countries, mediaringtalk is still our prefered voip service.
Happy Calling the Dragon Nation!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wi-Fi for VOIP and Beyond
Well most of you folks might have used Wi-Fi for voip and other messaging services. When we integrate the existing functionality of Wi-Fi and cellular, you could achieve different levels of convergence.
What I mean by Wi-Fi and cellular integration is a dual mode handset that supports both Wi-Fi and cellular technology. This makes the handset more powerful and you could integrate lot of different applications on the handset.
We are seeing lot of convergence happening in this space. However, voice convergence of Wi-Fi and cellular was something the operators were hesitant to embrace. Partly, this could be because, voice over Wi-Fi could dent the operator’s voice revenue. Also, QOS is another important thing operators were more concerned. Many carriers indeed offer some kind of Wi-Fi in various phone models they offer. However, for the most part, the Wi-Fi is designed for data, not voice. Currently, this trend is tilting towards the Wi-Fi and cellular voice convergence. With UMA support, user’s voice call can be seamlessly transferred from cellular to Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi to cellular based on the signal strengths. Enabling the dual-mode convergence is technology known as Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) developed by Kineto Wireless, which is now accepted by 3GPP’s industry standards. I guess dual mode voice convergence was hyped up as the first entry of FMC type application.
So here are some advantages I see with Wi-Fi cellular convergence.
1)Use Wi-Fi as transport for voice calls at home or office with good Wi-Fi coverage. Saves lot of money on the mobile minutes. Perfect for conference and group calls. Reduced prices for voice calls made from public Wi-Fi hotspots.
2)Strong in-home signal coverage. Weak home signal strength is one of the major complains customer have to the operators.
3)Faster data downloads.
4)Replace the landline with the Wi-Fi routers at home. ( I’m a little skeptical about this when it comes to emergency calling; you have workarounds, not sure how its gone pan out)
5)With the power of Wi-Fi on the handset, it can be used to run a lot of different applications that require data access. You could run some of the mobile voip applications like fring, truphone and mig33 from your handset.
6) Based on the Wi-Fi signal strength on the handset, applications can enable or disable different features that require more bandwidth. For e.g.: online gaming, video streaming etc.
7)Wi-Fi connectivity in a dual mode phone can offer five times the throughput versus 3G networks.
8)Convergence can provide an opportunity to the operator to build subscriber loyalty by allowing users to access applications such as email, web browsing, gaming and multimedia streaming.
So let’s look at how the operators are embracing this convergence. Apparently, T-Mobile USA was one of the first operators to harness the power of WiFi. Though T-Mobile doesn’t have its own landline service, they can boast about the Hotspots. Looks like HotSpot has become a crucial part of the company’s wireless broadband strategy. For the past couple of months, T-Mobile has launched three dual mode handsets that support Wi-Fi cellular convergence.
The latest being the Blackberry Curve 83200. ABI Research forecasts that in 2011, more than 325 million converged Wi-Fi / cellular phones will be shipped. This represents a 183% annual growth rate from the 2006 shipment total of 1.8 million. Wi-Fi / Mobile Convergence is expected to be a significant part of the Wi-Fi industry in the next few years, as the industry in total continues to grow at an estimated 25% per year. Other operators supporting this kind of service are Orange, Telecom Italia and TeliaSonera.
This article is written by Guest blogger Ravi. Ravi has been working for startups for more than 10 years now. mostly telecommunication and wireless. Ravi maintains a technology blog.
What I mean by Wi-Fi and cellular integration is a dual mode handset that supports both Wi-Fi and cellular technology. This makes the handset more powerful and you could integrate lot of different applications on the handset.
We are seeing lot of convergence happening in this space. However, voice convergence of Wi-Fi and cellular was something the operators were hesitant to embrace. Partly, this could be because, voice over Wi-Fi could dent the operator’s voice revenue. Also, QOS is another important thing operators were more concerned. Many carriers indeed offer some kind of Wi-Fi in various phone models they offer. However, for the most part, the Wi-Fi is designed for data, not voice. Currently, this trend is tilting towards the Wi-Fi and cellular voice convergence. With UMA support, user’s voice call can be seamlessly transferred from cellular to Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi to cellular based on the signal strengths. Enabling the dual-mode convergence is technology known as Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) developed by Kineto Wireless, which is now accepted by 3GPP’s industry standards. I guess dual mode voice convergence was hyped up as the first entry of FMC type application.
So here are some advantages I see with Wi-Fi cellular convergence.
1)Use Wi-Fi as transport for voice calls at home or office with good Wi-Fi coverage. Saves lot of money on the mobile minutes. Perfect for conference and group calls. Reduced prices for voice calls made from public Wi-Fi hotspots.
2)Strong in-home signal coverage. Weak home signal strength is one of the major complains customer have to the operators.
3)Faster data downloads.
4)Replace the landline with the Wi-Fi routers at home. ( I’m a little skeptical about this when it comes to emergency calling; you have workarounds, not sure how its gone pan out)
5)With the power of Wi-Fi on the handset, it can be used to run a lot of different applications that require data access. You could run some of the mobile voip applications like fring, truphone and mig33 from your handset.
6) Based on the Wi-Fi signal strength on the handset, applications can enable or disable different features that require more bandwidth. For e.g.: online gaming, video streaming etc.
7)Wi-Fi connectivity in a dual mode phone can offer five times the throughput versus 3G networks.
8)Convergence can provide an opportunity to the operator to build subscriber loyalty by allowing users to access applications such as email, web browsing, gaming and multimedia streaming.
So let’s look at how the operators are embracing this convergence. Apparently, T-Mobile USA was one of the first operators to harness the power of WiFi. Though T-Mobile doesn’t have its own landline service, they can boast about the Hotspots. Looks like HotSpot has become a crucial part of the company’s wireless broadband strategy. For the past couple of months, T-Mobile has launched three dual mode handsets that support Wi-Fi cellular convergence.
The latest being the Blackberry Curve 83200. ABI Research forecasts that in 2011, more than 325 million converged Wi-Fi / cellular phones will be shipped. This represents a 183% annual growth rate from the 2006 shipment total of 1.8 million. Wi-Fi / Mobile Convergence is expected to be a significant part of the Wi-Fi industry in the next few years, as the industry in total continues to grow at an estimated 25% per year. Other operators supporting this kind of service are Orange, Telecom Italia and TeliaSonera.
This article is written by Guest blogger Ravi. Ravi has been working for startups for more than 10 years now. mostly telecommunication and wireless. Ravi maintains a technology blog.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
ThePudding VOIP Service worth your money?
NYTimes had yesterday announced the launch of yet another VoIP service, ThePudding. Pudding Media, the company behind ThePudding, plans to offer free VoIP calls to those who allow the company to monitor their calls and are willing to see advertisements based on their conversation. The offering is still in closed beta and is currently available in North America only (I am still waiting for the invite :-)). To make the advertisements more relevant, Pudding Media asks the Zip Code, sex, age range and the language at the time of registration. The advertisers pay on the basis of the number of clicks, something similar to Google Adsense. The company is in the process of adding other payment models.
The concept of ad-supported calling is not new. Globe7 did it earlier( Edit by Vinay- They stopped giving away ad-supported free voip calls once they got enough members) But Pudding Media plans to do it differently. The approach is similar to what Google did to text advertising. The company will employ voice recognition software to monitor calls, select advertisements on the basis of the keywords recognized and show them on the screen. Mr. Ariel Maislos, chief executive of Pudding Media, mentioned that relevant advertisements had the ability to influence the conversation, as their tests highlighted.
Pudding Media seems to have created quite a stir in the blog world and lot of articles have been written about how the concept is creepy and how is it a direct assault on privacy. While, I respect the comments of the fellow VOIP bloggers, I think they are overreacting and taking it too further. Recall that there was a similar furor when Google launched Gmail, which was to be supported by relevant text based ads according to the content of the mail. The community was quick to conclude that this idea is doomed. But Google is still here and is slowly moving toward the number one position.
Online privacy is a myth. We have always been monitored when we are online, with or without our explicit consent. (Edit by Vinay: In fact, google toolbar even records your every mouse movement and your search pattern). We are more comfortable posting our details, including photographs on social networking sites, blogs, etc. At least Pudding Media is giving an option to use its services or not. Also, the company claims that they will not save the call history and the advertisements will be based on the content of the current call only. Contrast this with some other companies, which save your history and often sell it to others for a price.
You have one more option now, so you decide for yourself. If you are OK with a little more invasion on your privacy, go sign up for an invite at Pudding Media and make free calls, otherwise keep using the other VoIP services that we have told you earlier to make cheap/free calls!!!
This article is written by Alok Saboo. Alok is PHD student at Pennsylvania State University.
Note: Do check our review of Ooma VOIP
The concept of ad-supported calling is not new. Globe7 did it earlier( Edit by Vinay- They stopped giving away ad-supported free voip calls once they got enough members) But Pudding Media plans to do it differently. The approach is similar to what Google did to text advertising. The company will employ voice recognition software to monitor calls, select advertisements on the basis of the keywords recognized and show them on the screen. Mr. Ariel Maislos, chief executive of Pudding Media, mentioned that relevant advertisements had the ability to influence the conversation, as their tests highlighted.
Pudding Media seems to have created quite a stir in the blog world and lot of articles have been written about how the concept is creepy and how is it a direct assault on privacy. While, I respect the comments of the fellow VOIP bloggers, I think they are overreacting and taking it too further. Recall that there was a similar furor when Google launched Gmail, which was to be supported by relevant text based ads according to the content of the mail. The community was quick to conclude that this idea is doomed. But Google is still here and is slowly moving toward the number one position.
Online privacy is a myth. We have always been monitored when we are online, with or without our explicit consent. (Edit by Vinay: In fact, google toolbar even records your every mouse movement and your search pattern). We are more comfortable posting our details, including photographs on social networking sites, blogs, etc. At least Pudding Media is giving an option to use its services or not. Also, the company claims that they will not save the call history and the advertisements will be based on the content of the current call only. Contrast this with some other companies, which save your history and often sell it to others for a price.
You have one more option now, so you decide for yourself. If you are OK with a little more invasion on your privacy, go sign up for an invite at Pudding Media and make free calls, otherwise keep using the other VoIP services that we have told you earlier to make cheap/free calls!!!
This article is written by Alok Saboo. Alok is PHD student at Pennsylvania State University.
Note: Do check our review of Ooma VOIP
Monday, September 24, 2007
VoIP calls to India may become costlier
VoIP companies offering services to India may soon find themselves scrutinized for service tax evasion from the Government of India. The Indian government is acting on the complaint filed by the ISP Association of India (ISPAI). ISPAI had filed a complaint earlier with the Ministry of Finance alleging that some companies are offering internet telephony in India without appropriate licenses.
Indian telecom laws require that any company offering telephony services in India needs to have either the ISP license or the Unified Access Service License. Telecom firms also have to pay service tax and a revenue share to maintain their license. Also, the license conditions require monitoring calls, especially the international calls, in the interest of national security. ISPAI has pointed out that a lot of companies like Skype, MSN, Yahoo, Net2phone, etc. do not have any such license and hence they are offering their services illegally in India and compromising the national security and also not paying their dues to the exchequer.
If the Indian government pays heed to ISPAI's demand, the VoIP providers may have to pay service tax for calls terminating in India, which will be passed on to the consumers. This is not very good news for the Indian junta relying on VoIP for calling home (I am one of them). There is not an easy solution for this problem and we may be in for a surprise.
Do you have an answer to this problem? Post your suggestions.
This article is written by our VoIP news editor, Alok R Saboo. Alok is pursuing his PhD in Marketing at the Pennsylvania State University.
Indian telecom laws require that any company offering telephony services in India needs to have either the ISP license or the Unified Access Service License. Telecom firms also have to pay service tax and a revenue share to maintain their license. Also, the license conditions require monitoring calls, especially the international calls, in the interest of national security. ISPAI has pointed out that a lot of companies like Skype, MSN, Yahoo, Net2phone, etc. do not have any such license and hence they are offering their services illegally in India and compromising the national security and also not paying their dues to the exchequer.
If the Indian government pays heed to ISPAI's demand, the VoIP providers may have to pay service tax for calls terminating in India, which will be passed on to the consumers. This is not very good news for the Indian junta relying on VoIP for calling home (I am one of them). There is not an easy solution for this problem and we may be in for a surprise.
Do you have an answer to this problem? Post your suggestions.
This article is written by our VoIP news editor, Alok R Saboo. Alok is pursuing his PhD in Marketing at the Pennsylvania State University.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Call India Free with our new hack
Just when you thought the talkplus party is over, we are building the tempo at VOIP Guide with more voip hacks to make free calls. Yeah, you heard it right this time we have India on our hit list.
Again, our regular readers love VOIP Guide and always think of contributing exclusive hacks first. This is another exclusive hack for Free calls to india. Thanks to Sriram V for sending in this great hack.
You all are aware of a new blog service called ibibo, its very similar to blogger. ibibo has started a free service through which registered members can call each other for free. Looks very similar to Jaxtr
They are currently offering 10 mins free call to other registered users with maximum 2mins for one call; that makes up to maximum of 5 calls monthly, free!! (Don't get upset by this figure, we'll come up with a hack at the end!! :-)
To get free calls do the following1) First you have to register at http://cafe.ibibo.com/
2) Register your mobile number in the site.
3) Invite friends to join cafe.ibibo. Ask them to do the same.
4) When you want to call a friend goto his/her Cafe profile and click the "Call Me Free" button. If he/she has enabled receiving calls then your calls will get connected. Ibibo will call your mobile first and then your friend gets a ring. Talk for 2 mins free!!
5) When your free 10mins are over you have to wait for 1month to get that recharged.But don't worry, Ibibo is trying to increase the call time at the earliest.
Now, the hack.
1) Register another account in cafe. (You can register as many account as you want, the email id should be different)
2) De-register your mobile from your first account. And register it here. (Ibibo allows this!!)3) Call your fiends free for another 10mins. :-)
4) Do this as many times as you want.
5) Every month all your accounts will be recharged with 10 free minutes. So you don't have to create new accounts to call your friends if you have many accounts created the previous month!!
e.g: If you have registered 10 accounts, you get 100 free minutes every month!!
From the hack, you can understand that this hack will only work if you live in India. However we know a huge number of readers here wanted this free calls solution for India to India free calls.
I hope this exclusive hack will help you make call India free from india. If anybody can think of a better hack with this method, please do let us know.
Again, our regular readers love VOIP Guide and always think of contributing exclusive hacks first. This is another exclusive hack for Free calls to india. Thanks to Sriram V for sending in this great hack.
You all are aware of a new blog service called ibibo, its very similar to blogger. ibibo has started a free service through which registered members can call each other for free. Looks very similar to Jaxtr
They are currently offering 10 mins free call to other registered users with maximum 2mins for one call; that makes up to maximum of 5 calls monthly, free!! (Don't get upset by this figure, we'll come up with a hack at the end!! :-)
To get free calls do the following1) First you have to register at http://cafe.ibibo.com/
2) Register your mobile number in the site.
3) Invite friends to join cafe.ibibo. Ask them to do the same.
4) When you want to call a friend goto his/her Cafe profile and click the "Call Me Free" button. If he/she has enabled receiving calls then your calls will get connected. Ibibo will call your mobile first and then your friend gets a ring. Talk for 2 mins free!!
5) When your free 10mins are over you have to wait for 1month to get that recharged.But don't worry, Ibibo is trying to increase the call time at the earliest.
Now, the hack.
1) Register another account in cafe. (You can register as many account as you want, the email id should be different)
2) De-register your mobile from your first account. And register it here. (Ibibo allows this!!)3) Call your fiends free for another 10mins. :-)
4) Do this as many times as you want.
5) Every month all your accounts will be recharged with 10 free minutes. So you don't have to create new accounts to call your friends if you have many accounts created the previous month!!
e.g: If you have registered 10 accounts, you get 100 free minutes every month!!
From the hack, you can understand that this hack will only work if you live in India. However we know a huge number of readers here wanted this free calls solution for India to India free calls.
I hope this exclusive hack will help you make call India free from india. If anybody can think of a better hack with this method, please do let us know.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
VOIP on Nokia E51
Nokia is planning to launch yet another business phone in its E series (E51). So, what is the news and why is it figuring on this site?
Well, in addition to the usual business applications like email, calendar, etc. it features a VoIP application called Gizmo. You may say that installing a VoIP application on a mobile is trivial. True, a lot of third-party services like WiFiMobile, Truphone, Fring, etc. will offer applications to be installed on your sleek handset. But, remember they are all 3rd party applications and may not be fully integrated with your mobile OS.
This is probably the first time that a big mobile handset manufacturer has incorporated a VoIP application as a part of standard product. The application will use the WiFi capabilities to complete the calls, but that is really not the point of this article. This product is important from two standpoints. Firstly, this acknowledges the importance of VoIP as a part of the telecom industry. Secondly, it makes it easier for the consumer to use the VoIP functionality as it is preconfigured. I had learnt during my stint as a Product Manager that if you can explain to your grandmother how to use your product, it would be easily adopted.
How does it help Nokia? Beyond proving Nokia's ability to innovate, it also serves another purpose. A lot of features that handset manufacturers offer are subject to the carrier's capabilities. Carriers often disable or reduce some functionality to prevent their revenues. VoIP is one such example. We have Vodafone and Orange disable the VoIP functionality of the handsets being sold under the contract. Unfortunately, in a lot of markets, it's the carrier who influences the purchase of your handset. Nokia wants to offer a compelling reason to the consumers to buy their handsets outside the contract and hence move itself away from the control of the carriers. What better than offering a cheap/free way to make calls (using VoIP)?
This article is written by Alok Saboo, our VOIP news editor. Alok is PhD Student in Marketing at Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University.
Well, in addition to the usual business applications like email, calendar, etc. it features a VoIP application called Gizmo. You may say that installing a VoIP application on a mobile is trivial. True, a lot of third-party services like WiFiMobile, Truphone, Fring, etc. will offer applications to be installed on your sleek handset. But, remember they are all 3rd party applications and may not be fully integrated with your mobile OS.
This is probably the first time that a big mobile handset manufacturer has incorporated a VoIP application as a part of standard product. The application will use the WiFi capabilities to complete the calls, but that is really not the point of this article. This product is important from two standpoints. Firstly, this acknowledges the importance of VoIP as a part of the telecom industry. Secondly, it makes it easier for the consumer to use the VoIP functionality as it is preconfigured. I had learnt during my stint as a Product Manager that if you can explain to your grandmother how to use your product, it would be easily adopted.
How does it help Nokia? Beyond proving Nokia's ability to innovate, it also serves another purpose. A lot of features that handset manufacturers offer are subject to the carrier's capabilities. Carriers often disable or reduce some functionality to prevent their revenues. VoIP is one such example. We have Vodafone and Orange disable the VoIP functionality of the handsets being sold under the contract. Unfortunately, in a lot of markets, it's the carrier who influences the purchase of your handset. Nokia wants to offer a compelling reason to the consumers to buy their handsets outside the contract and hence move itself away from the control of the carriers. What better than offering a cheap/free way to make calls (using VoIP)?
This article is written by Alok Saboo, our VOIP news editor. Alok is PhD Student in Marketing at Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Is Ooma really worth it?
Ooma is the latest kid on the block and seems to generating lot of attention. Almost, every VoIP blog worth its salt has given its perspective on ooma VOIP. We will not cover the details of the service but will try to evaluate the offer vis-à-vis other providers. You can read about the service here and here. For the time being it suffices to say that Ooma offers unlimited free calls within the US. Good person, that I am, let me first highlight the positive side of the service.
1. Free local number in your area (or close to it).
2. Convenience to combine your old traditional phone with Ooma.
3. Second line at no additional charge
4. International calls at low rates, using VoIP
5. Value added services like answering machine, call waiting, DND, three-way conferencing, caller-id and call blocking.
Let us look at it a little closer, to see if it really deserves your dollars ($399 now and $599 starting 2008). Ooma saves a lot by routing your calls through other phone lines (other Ooma users) instead of using normal exchanges and thus avoids the termination charges. This leads to a huge security issue as your phone line can be used by anybody without your knowledge and can land you in trouble. With increasing threat perception, this is not a risk you may want to take. For the time being assume that Ooma manages to bridge the security issue, is it still worth it?
While, lot of websites and blogs are claiming that Ooma offers unlimited free calling within USA forever, the fine print at ooma seems to suggest that there will be no monthly charges for at least 3 years. This means that Ooma can charge you after a period of three years. Also, Ooma mentions that some numbers like the emergency services would be charged separately. Next, Ooma is not competitive in terms of international calling. Their site mentions that the rates for international calls are as low are five cents, which is way too high for a lot of international destinations as compared to other providers.
Let us do some numbers to evaluate the commercials of the service. Ooma is currently offering their hardware for around $400. A lot of VOIP companies, Raketu, Nonoh, etc. offer free calling to around 40 countries including US for about 90-120 days if you pay them $10, which can be used to call the non-free countries. Some of them even support SIP and hence can be used with a VoIP adapter. You can easily get a VoIP adapter from ebay for around $30 or you can get a used Sunrocket gizmo and unlock the same for even less. Even if you assume that $10 gives you 3 months of free calling to 40 countries, you get free calling for 10 years, which is not so bad. Also, you are avoiding the risk of Ooma closing down in the near future. With what happened to Sunrocket, this possibility cannot be neglected. To receive incoming calls you can set up your adapter to use any of the free incoming numbers services.
To be fair, Ooma has bought two of the most revolutionary concepts (VoIP and P2P) together. I would call this disruptive innovation, as it has the potential to turn the traditional phone model on its head. The idea is promising but little ahead of time. It needs a little more research and fine tuning.
But till that happens, I think the ooma VOIP offer does not cut the ice and $400 is a big commitment for a product which is not mature, fraught with risk and not fully tested as yet.
We lately update this post with a new fresh review and special coupon offer by Ooma. Please check our latest Ooma Review
Quick Update: Ooma is offering a special coupon code which will give you this enticing VOIP service for $349 instead of $599 (Retail Price). You can use our coupon : ooma coupon
This article is written by Alok Saboo, Alok is a PHD Student in Marketing at Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University.
1. Free local number in your area (or close to it).
2. Convenience to combine your old traditional phone with Ooma.
3. Second line at no additional charge
4. International calls at low rates, using VoIP
5. Value added services like answering machine, call waiting, DND, three-way conferencing, caller-id and call blocking.
Let us look at it a little closer, to see if it really deserves your dollars ($399 now and $599 starting 2008). Ooma saves a lot by routing your calls through other phone lines (other Ooma users) instead of using normal exchanges and thus avoids the termination charges. This leads to a huge security issue as your phone line can be used by anybody without your knowledge and can land you in trouble. With increasing threat perception, this is not a risk you may want to take. For the time being assume that Ooma manages to bridge the security issue, is it still worth it?
While, lot of websites and blogs are claiming that Ooma offers unlimited free calling within USA forever, the fine print at ooma seems to suggest that there will be no monthly charges for at least 3 years. This means that Ooma can charge you after a period of three years. Also, Ooma mentions that some numbers like the emergency services would be charged separately. Next, Ooma is not competitive in terms of international calling. Their site mentions that the rates for international calls are as low are five cents, which is way too high for a lot of international destinations as compared to other providers.
Let us do some numbers to evaluate the commercials of the service. Ooma is currently offering their hardware for around $400. A lot of VOIP companies, Raketu, Nonoh, etc. offer free calling to around 40 countries including US for about 90-120 days if you pay them $10, which can be used to call the non-free countries. Some of them even support SIP and hence can be used with a VoIP adapter. You can easily get a VoIP adapter from ebay for around $30 or you can get a used Sunrocket gizmo and unlock the same for even less. Even if you assume that $10 gives you 3 months of free calling to 40 countries, you get free calling for 10 years, which is not so bad. Also, you are avoiding the risk of Ooma closing down in the near future. With what happened to Sunrocket, this possibility cannot be neglected. To receive incoming calls you can set up your adapter to use any of the free incoming numbers services.
To be fair, Ooma has bought two of the most revolutionary concepts (VoIP and P2P) together. I would call this disruptive innovation, as it has the potential to turn the traditional phone model on its head. The idea is promising but little ahead of time. It needs a little more research and fine tuning.
But till that happens, I think the ooma VOIP offer does not cut the ice and $400 is a big commitment for a product which is not mature, fraught with risk and not fully tested as yet.
We lately update this post with a new fresh review and special coupon offer by Ooma. Please check our latest Ooma Review
Quick Update: Ooma is offering a special coupon code which will give you this enticing VOIP service for $349 instead of $599 (Retail Price). You can use our coupon : ooma coupon
This article is written by Alok Saboo, Alok is a PHD Student in Marketing at Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Talkplus hack for free worldwide calls
Its been a long time since we released VOIP hack for free calls, but the wait is over. This ultimate talkplus hack will let you make worldwide calls (including india) for FREE.
VOIP Guide would like to thank Raju Hemnani for sending in this original hack and Hardik for testing it from USA.
Note:
a) Some countries with defined dialing plan might not work with this hack. India has variable numbers in each state. Some numbers can be of 10 digits and more, so it works for India.
b) The hack only works for landlines. If you can get mobile numbers working, let us know.
Lets see how we can use this talkplus hack to make worldwide free calls. There are in fact 2 different ways to achieve this. First the most simplest way.
1) Go to Talkplus Trial Call Page
2) Now put your number and other party number in respective fields and make your FIRST call.
3) You were talking for 10 mins and the call got cut? No problem, our hack begins now.
In the Your Friends number, just add any digit in the end. For e.g: if you friends number is +912225991212 , then add 0 in the end. Now the number would be +9122259912120. notice the 0 added in the end. Now call. Woot your call is through since talkplus thinks its a new number :-)
4) Now you can change the last digit from 0 to 9. Effectively you can get about 110 minutes calls.
Now second solution. Extremely good for USA residents.
1) Just follow step step 1 and step 2 in the above example. But just before you make a call, select the option "Call through instead of call back" and then click Dial.
2) Talkplus will assign a number, its a USA number.
3) Note it down and use your normal landline phone to call that number which will redirect your call to destination number.
We can think of multiple possiblities to extend this hack. However we wanted to get this out as fast as we can.
Go wild make free calls to your loved ones! Almost forgot to mention, the call Quality is GREAT! Outstanding clarity!
VOIP Guide would like to thank Raju Hemnani for sending in this original hack and Hardik for testing it from USA.
Note:
a) Some countries with defined dialing plan might not work with this hack. India has variable numbers in each state. Some numbers can be of 10 digits and more, so it works for India.
b) The hack only works for landlines. If you can get mobile numbers working, let us know.
Lets see how we can use this talkplus hack to make worldwide free calls. There are in fact 2 different ways to achieve this. First the most simplest way.
1) Go to Talkplus Trial Call Page
2) Now put your number and other party number in respective fields and make your FIRST call.
3) You were talking for 10 mins and the call got cut? No problem, our hack begins now.
In the Your Friends number, just add any digit in the end. For e.g: if you friends number is +912225991212 , then add 0 in the end. Now the number would be +9122259912120. notice the 0 added in the end. Now call. Woot your call is through since talkplus thinks its a new number :-)
4) Now you can change the last digit from 0 to 9. Effectively you can get about 110 minutes calls.
Now second solution. Extremely good for USA residents.
1) Just follow step step 1 and step 2 in the above example. But just before you make a call, select the option "Call through instead of call back" and then click Dial.
2) Talkplus will assign a number, its a USA number.
3) Note it down and use your normal landline phone to call that number which will redirect your call to destination number.
We can think of multiple possiblities to extend this hack. However we wanted to get this out as fast as we can.
Go wild make free calls to your loved ones! Almost forgot to mention, the call Quality is GREAT! Outstanding clarity!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
VOIP Industry Outlook - Special Feature
The VoIP industry is still evolving and its still some time before it matures like its traditional counterpart. At this point, we can only try to predict what the future will look like. This article tries to do exactly that. Let me caution you that the thoughts are purely based on the publicly available information and the writer's judgment; the same are not verified by any of the companies mentioned in the article.
The VoIP industry today is clearly divided in to three camps:
Enterprise VoIP – This is dominated by the likes of Cisco, Avaya, etc. They provide VoIP service to the companies, who are looking at reducing the telecom cost without compromising on the quality/features. The most important parameter for this category is quality, reliability and ease of use.
Residential VoIP – This is the other set dominated by Comcast, AT&T, Packet8, etc. They provide a substitute to the traditional landlines for personal use at a low cost. The important parameters for this category are quality and reliability at an affordable price.
Others – This category is highly fragmented and includes players with different strengths. They provide VoIP facility to casual users, usually without any commitments. This category includes players like GrandCentral, FreeWorldDialup, Voxalot, Tpad , Jajah,Rebtel, Nonoh, etc. The most important parameters here are price and quality.
The first two category are slowly stabilizing, whereas, the last category is witnessing a lot of action. This just goes to show that there is still some scope for improving the existing offerings. The assumption being companies will not just launch products if their products are not different (read better) than others already in the market. A lot of companies are coming up with good services separately, but are not able to offer a comprehensive solution. This is the area, I feel, that has potential to make the maximum impact on the VoIP industry. This category will define the services that would be present in tomorrow's VoIP offerings. This can be treated as a test bed for future comprehensive solutions. We already have features like web-callback, SMS-callback, IM-callback, VoIP on mobile, etc.
The real push for VoIP would come from outside the industry as this industry currently does not have any major player, who will go for disruptive innovation. All the existing players have vested interests in maintaining status quo or are not big enough to make a substantial impact. This is surely set to change in the near future.
Google's acquisition of GrandCentral, bid for wireless spectrum signals its seriousness about getting in the voice arena. Yahoo had acquired Dialpad long time back, but has not been able to make much headway. If Google enters voice seriously, can Yahoo be far behind? Microsoft has already started talking about voice. These players have only to gain from disruptive innovation and they are capable of doing that. If that happens, it will be very good news for the industry in general and consumers in particular. An entry of a serious player is always good as it gives a direction to the industry, which is desperately lacking.
The entry of a big player will trigger consolidation in the industry and many small players will wind up. It will also impact the other two categories, which do not have a serious competition currently.
We are surely in for some real excitement in the future. But, for the time being, let's wait and watch how everything unfolds.
This article is written by our VOIP News editor, Alok Saboo. Alok is student of PhD in Marketing at Smeal College of Business.
The VoIP industry today is clearly divided in to three camps:
Enterprise VoIP – This is dominated by the likes of Cisco, Avaya, etc. They provide VoIP service to the companies, who are looking at reducing the telecom cost without compromising on the quality/features. The most important parameter for this category is quality, reliability and ease of use.
Residential VoIP – This is the other set dominated by Comcast, AT&T, Packet8, etc. They provide a substitute to the traditional landlines for personal use at a low cost. The important parameters for this category are quality and reliability at an affordable price.
Others – This category is highly fragmented and includes players with different strengths. They provide VoIP facility to casual users, usually without any commitments. This category includes players like GrandCentral, FreeWorldDialup, Voxalot, Tpad , Jajah,Rebtel, Nonoh, etc. The most important parameters here are price and quality.
The first two category are slowly stabilizing, whereas, the last category is witnessing a lot of action. This just goes to show that there is still some scope for improving the existing offerings. The assumption being companies will not just launch products if their products are not different (read better) than others already in the market. A lot of companies are coming up with good services separately, but are not able to offer a comprehensive solution. This is the area, I feel, that has potential to make the maximum impact on the VoIP industry. This category will define the services that would be present in tomorrow's VoIP offerings. This can be treated as a test bed for future comprehensive solutions. We already have features like web-callback, SMS-callback, IM-callback, VoIP on mobile, etc.
The real push for VoIP would come from outside the industry as this industry currently does not have any major player, who will go for disruptive innovation. All the existing players have vested interests in maintaining status quo or are not big enough to make a substantial impact. This is surely set to change in the near future.
Google's acquisition of GrandCentral, bid for wireless spectrum signals its seriousness about getting in the voice arena. Yahoo had acquired Dialpad long time back, but has not been able to make much headway. If Google enters voice seriously, can Yahoo be far behind? Microsoft has already started talking about voice. These players have only to gain from disruptive innovation and they are capable of doing that. If that happens, it will be very good news for the industry in general and consumers in particular. An entry of a serious player is always good as it gives a direction to the industry, which is desperately lacking.
The entry of a big player will trigger consolidation in the industry and many small players will wind up. It will also impact the other two categories, which do not have a serious competition currently.
We are surely in for some real excitement in the future. But, for the time being, let's wait and watch how everything unfolds.
This article is written by our VOIP News editor, Alok Saboo. Alok is student of PhD in Marketing at Smeal College of Business.
Monday, September 17, 2007
WiFiMobile launches oneFone VoIP service
If you are worried that you will not be able to use your latest wi-fi enabled cellphone to make cheap calls using VoIP (because your network operator has disabled the telephone client), don't fret, help is at hand.
WifiMobile a leading mobile VoIP player, has launched oneFone service just for you. oneFone is a standalone proprietary application which enables you to make unlimited* VOIP calls to the countries, currently supported. Calls to countries not supported are automatically routed through your carrier, so no need to keep checking whether the number you want to call is supported or not. oneFone can be downloaded on your cellphone and it is currently available for the Nokia ESeries or NSeries phones. If you have an unlimited data plan, then the calls can also be made over 3G. Customers in US/UK can also use the service by dialing a local number where they can enter the number to be reached.
Using its own client, instead of relying on the carrier, gives WiFiMobile the ability to provide VoIP service even if the carrier has disabled the service. This is definitely a step in the right direction as more and more network operators are disabling the VoIP service from the handsets. The OMTP (Open Mobile Terminal Platform) had mentioned earlier in June that the operators can do this on the subsidized handsets during the contract period. The customer, however, can get the handset unlocked at the end of the contract period. WiFiMobile will definitely motivate others to bring out a similar application, which can work even when the operator has disabled the service.
The service is a priced at $15.99 or €11.99 per month and you get 14 days of free trial to evaluate the service. There is no contract and you can cancel the subscription, if you do not like the service. WiFiMobile claims that their service works perfectly even on handsets crippled by Vodafone and Orange.
This service seems to be targeted towards heavy users as most of the destinations supported by oneFone are the "VoIP countries", which can be called free/cheaply by using other providers. Providers like Jajah and Rebtel, for instance, can be used to complete the call without using a PC and at very low prices.
But if you make a lot of calls to countries supported by WiFiMobile and you do not want to be constrained by the availability of a PC to connect your calls, you should definitely consider oneFone.
This article is written by our VOIP News Editor, Alok Saboo.
A brief about Alok: Alok is currently pursuing PHD in marketing at Pennsylvania State University. Alok will be out full time VOIP News Editor.
We are still looking for more people who can contribute to the blog. Please let us know.
WifiMobile a leading mobile VoIP player, has launched oneFone service just for you. oneFone is a standalone proprietary application which enables you to make unlimited* VOIP calls to the countries, currently supported. Calls to countries not supported are automatically routed through your carrier, so no need to keep checking whether the number you want to call is supported or not. oneFone can be downloaded on your cellphone and it is currently available for the Nokia ESeries or NSeries phones. If you have an unlimited data plan, then the calls can also be made over 3G. Customers in US/UK can also use the service by dialing a local number where they can enter the number to be reached.
Using its own client, instead of relying on the carrier, gives WiFiMobile the ability to provide VoIP service even if the carrier has disabled the service. This is definitely a step in the right direction as more and more network operators are disabling the VoIP service from the handsets. The OMTP (Open Mobile Terminal Platform) had mentioned earlier in June that the operators can do this on the subsidized handsets during the contract period. The customer, however, can get the handset unlocked at the end of the contract period. WiFiMobile will definitely motivate others to bring out a similar application, which can work even when the operator has disabled the service.
The service is a priced at $15.99 or €11.99 per month and you get 14 days of free trial to evaluate the service. There is no contract and you can cancel the subscription, if you do not like the service. WiFiMobile claims that their service works perfectly even on handsets crippled by Vodafone and Orange.
This service seems to be targeted towards heavy users as most of the destinations supported by oneFone are the "VoIP countries", which can be called free/cheaply by using other providers. Providers like Jajah and Rebtel, for instance, can be used to complete the call without using a PC and at very low prices.
But if you make a lot of calls to countries supported by WiFiMobile and you do not want to be constrained by the availability of a PC to connect your calls, you should definitely consider oneFone.
This article is written by our VOIP News Editor, Alok Saboo.
A brief about Alok: Alok is currently pursuing PHD in marketing at Pennsylvania State University. Alok will be out full time VOIP News Editor.
We are still looking for more people who can contribute to the blog. Please let us know.
Gizmo5 Mobile VOIP offers free mobile calls
Michael is back on the VOIP scene with a great offering. We already know Gizmo Project and Gizmo Call, now SIP Phone has added Gizmo5 a mobile VOIP service to its much respected VOIP service offering.
The first thing that came to my mind. Is it any better than Fring or Truphone? We all know Fring is currently the best mobile VOIP provider with due respect to other good mobile voip client namely Truphone and Yeigo. They definately come 2nd and 3rd. So in this established mobile VOIP scene, where does Gizmo5 stand?
Well I was really suprised to see that Gizmo 5 has infact done a marvelous job with their mobile voip service. The best part of course would be their selling point is it supports wide number of mobile phones. I would say almost all of them that people would be using in 2007, I hope you guys got a decent phone :-)
Lets see whats Gizmo 5. Well its basically a extended Gizmo Project service on Mobile. You can continue to use your Gizmo Project ID on Gizmo5.
Some Quick features:
1) Chat with Gizmo, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, and Jabber contacts
2) Call any number and Gizmo contacts from your mobile phone - Of course charged based on Gizmo out rates.
3) Share files between any phone and PC.
4) Use your exisiting account and if you have remaining balance you can use it from Gizmo 5.
The best of the lot: You don't need INTERNET connection to make calls. All calls are routed via your existing plan.
So Whats good about it? Well more mobile compatibility can lead to more audience. More users means more coverage and it all boils down to viral usage of Gizmo 5.Well atleast thats what Michael is hoping for.
How to use it?
1) You can go to Gizmo 5 Website from your phone's browswer (you need to be connected to internet) or you can download the file from their website and transfer it to your phone.
2) Now connect to Gizmo 5 with your Gizmo Project ID. If you dont have one then register for it.
3) Now start making calls.
It wasn't clear, how Gizmo5 will work without internet. Well, after digging into more details, i found it uses "callback" system.
So, I tried it from Singapore to call the US. What happens is a message is sent to Gizmo's callback system which generates a phone call to your mobile phone. When you answer you hear something close to, "Please wait while we connect your call." Then the second leg of the call is connected, the call to the person you want to call. So there are two calls, one to your phone and one to the party you are calling. There is no SMS.
I also read somewhere that SMS will be free for Gizmo users.
Gizmo to Gizmo Calls are FREE but i fear that its using my data connection (3G/GPRS) to first send a small data message to Gizmo server for callback. I would love to hear your opinion on this. Unfortunately, there website has little or no explanation on how this works in relation to connectivity. They seriosly need to clear this up or they gonna loose some initial buzz.
Overall Gizmo 5 looks good if its giving your Gizmo to Gizmo calls free across the world without needing any special subscription.
Please post your comments and let us know how you managed to get Gizmo 5 working. This should work good for all indians since you guys can get flat rate GPRS in india and make unlimited calls with Gizmo :-) Way to go guys!
The first thing that came to my mind. Is it any better than Fring or Truphone? We all know Fring is currently the best mobile VOIP provider with due respect to other good mobile voip client namely Truphone and Yeigo. They definately come 2nd and 3rd. So in this established mobile VOIP scene, where does Gizmo5 stand?
Well I was really suprised to see that Gizmo 5 has infact done a marvelous job with their mobile voip service. The best part of course would be their selling point is it supports wide number of mobile phones. I would say almost all of them that people would be using in 2007, I hope you guys got a decent phone :-)
Lets see whats Gizmo 5. Well its basically a extended Gizmo Project service on Mobile. You can continue to use your Gizmo Project ID on Gizmo5.
Some Quick features:
1) Chat with Gizmo, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, and Jabber contacts
2) Call any number and Gizmo contacts from your mobile phone - Of course charged based on Gizmo out rates.
3) Share files between any phone and PC.
4) Use your exisiting account and if you have remaining balance you can use it from Gizmo 5.
The best of the lot: You don't need INTERNET connection to make calls. All calls are routed via your existing plan.
So Whats good about it? Well more mobile compatibility can lead to more audience. More users means more coverage and it all boils down to viral usage of Gizmo 5.Well atleast thats what Michael is hoping for.
How to use it?
1) You can go to Gizmo 5 Website from your phone's browswer (you need to be connected to internet) or you can download the file from their website and transfer it to your phone.
2) Now connect to Gizmo 5 with your Gizmo Project ID. If you dont have one then register for it.
3) Now start making calls.
It wasn't clear, how Gizmo5 will work without internet. Well, after digging into more details, i found it uses "callback" system.
So, I tried it from Singapore to call the US. What happens is a message is sent to Gizmo's callback system which generates a phone call to your mobile phone. When you answer you hear something close to, "Please wait while we connect your call." Then the second leg of the call is connected, the call to the person you want to call. So there are two calls, one to your phone and one to the party you are calling. There is no SMS.
I also read somewhere that SMS will be free for Gizmo users.
Gizmo to Gizmo Calls are FREE but i fear that its using my data connection (3G/GPRS) to first send a small data message to Gizmo server for callback. I would love to hear your opinion on this. Unfortunately, there website has little or no explanation on how this works in relation to connectivity. They seriosly need to clear this up or they gonna loose some initial buzz.
Overall Gizmo 5 looks good if its giving your Gizmo to Gizmo calls free across the world without needing any special subscription.
Please post your comments and let us know how you managed to get Gizmo 5 working. This should work good for all indians since you guys can get flat rate GPRS in india and make unlimited calls with Gizmo :-) Way to go guys!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Earthcaller VOIP resumed with Free USA Calls
We noticed about 2 days back, that Earthcaller VOIP service vanished overnight. When we tried to visit their homepage, it was showing a parked page. oops, What was wrong. I guess someone messed up at Network Enhanced Telecom changed the DNS settings? Well only they know it better. Its back now, so finally my most favorite Free USA Calling service is back and working great!
If you missed calling your friends and family in USA, maybe its a good time to give them a call with Earthcaller.
What we seriously like about Earthcaller which lacks in other FREE VOIP services:
1) Easy to use - Just put a USA number (without +1 dial code) and Call
2) Lightweight Active X control- Only one time download
3) Browser based- However works only on Internet Explorer
4) No big files downloads or softphones to run- Less memory consumption.
On other side, Earthcaller guys are running one of the most brilliant VOIP service called Jaduka. Those of you who never heard of Jaduka, here is a quick plug.
Jaduka still works great for other nations including USA, Singapore etc. I suggest you try making 60 mins free calls to various destinations and let us know which country worked for you. I tried singapore and it worked great. You can of course make multiple accounts to get more free minutes.
Happy Earth Calling :-)
If you missed calling your friends and family in USA, maybe its a good time to give them a call with Earthcaller.
What we seriously like about Earthcaller which lacks in other FREE VOIP services:
1) Easy to use - Just put a USA number (without +1 dial code) and Call
2) Lightweight Active X control- Only one time download
3) Browser based- However works only on Internet Explorer
4) No big files downloads or softphones to run- Less memory consumption.
On other side, Earthcaller guys are running one of the most brilliant VOIP service called Jaduka. Those of you who never heard of Jaduka, here is a quick plug.
Jaduka still works great for other nations including USA, Singapore etc. I suggest you try making 60 mins free calls to various destinations and let us know which country worked for you. I tried singapore and it worked great. You can of course make multiple accounts to get more free minutes.
Happy Earth Calling :-)
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Totally Free incoming and outgoing calls to USA
This guide will be extremely helpful for people who want to have a FREE incoming USA number and make calls to other USA resident/receive calls from anywhere in the world. We can achieve this with any free incoming USA number service and teaming it up with GrandCentral.
Today we are going to use multiple VOIP services to make this whole setup work for USA and non-USA residents. That means it should work from anywhere in the world including India (most people are concerned with this)
Lets see how we can achieve this.
1) First Read this list of Free Incoming Geographic numbers
Now you have a Free USA number. You can also get one from AIM Phoneline
Remember the following while getting AIM Line.
1) You can pick a specific area code.
2) Atleast receive 1 call per month to keep the phoneline active.
3) Has Voicemail service.
4) Dont forget to download AIM messenger.
2)Now register at GrandCentral (Needs invitation)
3)Now Register at Talkdigits
4)In Talkdigits, setup forwarding to your USA DID number (For outside USA, use your incoming free number)
Now you can receive calls for FREE from anyone who calls your GrandCentral or AIM Phoneline.
Making Outgoing Calls with GrandCentral:
1) Login to GrandCentral
2) Go to click2call feature
3) Dial any USA number
4) It will first call you and then connect you to the party!
5) For non-USA residents, If you have setup everything correctly, you can also receive this call on your AIM phoneline.
Happy calling to USA and yeah don't forget to give you USA number. Show it off as if you live in USA :-)
Last but not the least, please share your GrandCentral invitation with others. I will try my best to give it to others. Please post your email address for a invite.
Today we are going to use multiple VOIP services to make this whole setup work for USA and non-USA residents. That means it should work from anywhere in the world including India (most people are concerned with this)
Lets see how we can achieve this.
1) First Read this list of Free Incoming Geographic numbers
Now you have a Free USA number. You can also get one from AIM Phoneline
Remember the following while getting AIM Line.
1) You can pick a specific area code.
2) Atleast receive 1 call per month to keep the phoneline active.
3) Has Voicemail service.
4) Dont forget to download AIM messenger.
2)Now register at GrandCentral (Needs invitation)
3)Now Register at Talkdigits
4)In Talkdigits, setup forwarding to your USA DID number (For outside USA, use your incoming free number)
Now you can receive calls for FREE from anyone who calls your GrandCentral or AIM Phoneline.
Making Outgoing Calls with GrandCentral:
1) Login to GrandCentral
2) Go to click2call feature
3) Dial any USA number
4) It will first call you and then connect you to the party!
5) For non-USA residents, If you have setup everything correctly, you can also receive this call on your AIM phoneline.
Happy calling to USA and yeah don't forget to give you USA number. Show it off as if you live in USA :-)
Last but not the least, please share your GrandCentral invitation with others. I will try my best to give it to others. Please post your email address for a invite.
VOIP Guide Special: Download iPhone unlocking Software
Today we are announching a great little utility to unlock your iphone and use it on any network you want. Thanks to guys at iphone dev team for releasing this for FREE.
Now everyone can unlock their iphones for free and use it with any network anywhere in the world. Use VOIP on top of iphone and make calls totally free. There are other great tools for iphone to make your life easier and exiciting of course. Till the big daddy Google releases their GPhone, i guess apple will still enjoy the market. Then its gonna be a mad rush hoping that Gphone would be good enuff.
However currently iphone mostly support browser based programs, so any web based VOIP should work good for you, like Jajah Mobile for example. However i would love to see third party apps such as Fring, Truphone or Yeigo on iphone. Lets just hope GPhone supports SIP and VOIP in general.
So guys got a iphone, lets unlock it: Download iphone unlocker - iunlock
Now everyone can unlock their iphones for free and use it with any network anywhere in the world. Use VOIP on top of iphone and make calls totally free. There are other great tools for iphone to make your life easier and exiciting of course. Till the big daddy Google releases their GPhone, i guess apple will still enjoy the market. Then its gonna be a mad rush hoping that Gphone would be good enuff.
However currently iphone mostly support browser based programs, so any web based VOIP should work good for you, like Jajah Mobile for example. However i would love to see third party apps such as Fring, Truphone or Yeigo on iphone. Lets just hope GPhone supports SIP and VOIP in general.
So guys got a iphone, lets unlock it: Download iphone unlocker - iunlock
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Voxeo to get International DID Numbers from Voxbone
Voxbone, a leading provider of international VoIP origination services to carriers, ITSPs, calling card operators, call centers and other businesses around the world, today announced that Voxeo Corporation has selected Voxbone as one of its primary carriers to supply international DID numbers.
This will enable Voxeo customers/developers to receive calls using dedicated direct local number. Voxeo offers hosted VoIP and IVR services, premise VoIP and IVR systems and maintains one of the most active voice application customer and developer portals in the world.
Voxbone leases international VoIP virtual phone numbers and worldwide origination services via, VoIP to organizations in North and South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific regions. It delivers high-quality call origination and provides the global infrastructure that enables its customers to expand to international markets quickly and efficiently. Using direct inbound dial (DID) also called virtual numbers from Voxbone, customers may receive inexpensive, locally dialed phone calls. Using standard VoIP hardware, customers utilize the Voxbone API or web portal for the configuration of the acquired DIDs and to choose to which IP appliance the calls are diverted.
If your company is in need of DID number services, we feel Voxbone is definately emerging as a strong market competitor in this niche. Besides reducing signifant cost by deploying DID numbers, you can leverage on expertise of Voxbone in VoIP origination services.
This will enable Voxeo customers/developers to receive calls using dedicated direct local number. Voxeo offers hosted VoIP and IVR services, premise VoIP and IVR systems and maintains one of the most active voice application customer and developer portals in the world.
Voxbone leases international VoIP virtual phone numbers and worldwide origination services via, VoIP to organizations in North and South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific regions. It delivers high-quality call origination and provides the global infrastructure that enables its customers to expand to international markets quickly and efficiently. Using direct inbound dial (DID) also called virtual numbers from Voxbone, customers may receive inexpensive, locally dialed phone calls. Using standard VoIP hardware, customers utilize the Voxbone API or web portal for the configuration of the acquired DIDs and to choose to which IP appliance the calls are diverted.
If your company is in need of DID number services, we feel Voxbone is definately emerging as a strong market competitor in this niche. Besides reducing signifant cost by deploying DID numbers, you can leverage on expertise of Voxbone in VoIP origination services.
Monday, September 10, 2007
VOIP Guide Free VOIP movement achieves record growth
We are proud to announce that VOIP Guide now has over 5000 feed subscribers. One of the largest in the VOIP niche.VOIP Guide was launched in December 2006 and was a instant hit among people looking for Free international calls.
VOIP Guide was a unique VOIP blog targeted towards the free calls & Free voip community. People were always interested in knowing new free voip providers offering free international calls but all they could get was VOIP News. No consolidated info about where they can call for Free, how to make free calls, What are the various hacks/workarounds to make free VOIP Calls. We answered it all.
VOIP Guide today gets over 7000+ visitors each day mainly from USA, UK, India and Singapore but we are confident that the Free VOIP word was spread across the world by our website. It was an experiment which became successful. Today after about 8 months of existence we are a leading VOIP website/Blog. We get over 18000+ Page views each day on average.
We would like to thank each and everyone who contributed to VOIP Guide by sharing tips/hacks/workaround to make free calls. Together we made a difference.
Get it First at VOIP Guide
Today, VOIP companies look (read everyday) at VOIP Guide as a strong medium to advertise/promote their free calling/free voip offers.
We had some exclusive stories/ Beta launches in the past. Some of the best VOIP hacks ever to hit the internet. If you didn’t read the ultimate Jaduka hack, you missed the most sensational post on VOIP Guide. We removed it on request from Jaduka Guys, coz it was leading to lot of abuse.
Some notable Free VOIP hacks which forced the companies to change the way they work.
1) Gizmo Call- Hack for making 40 minutes Calls instead of the standard 10 minutes Call. Fixed later by Gizmo Call Team. Worked for around 1 month.
2) Jaduka Worldwide Free Calls (Link Removed)- This hack let everyone to make unlimited free calls anywhere in the world. This worked for about 15 days! Literally thousands of minutes were used.
3) Free Calls to India: Ultimate VoipCheap hack for making free calls to India. Fixed later in the newer version of voipcheap.
We wrote some of the best VOIP Tutorials
Our Readers love us. They always sent in some great tips/ideas/tutorials and always inspired us to write more. We wrote some good tutorials on SIP Call Forwarding and VOIP in General. The following tutorial might be handy for most of you.
1)SIP Call Forwarding
2)My SIP Switch: VoxAlot Alternative
3)How to convert analog phone into VOIP phone
4)Skype Free Wake up Call
Of course, there is a wealth of information in the Archives information, so do check it out.
Last but not the least, we are actively looking for a VOIP News Editor. If you are interested in being a part of VOIP Guide, please send your application at ut.godmode@gmail.com
VOIP Guide was a unique VOIP blog targeted towards the free calls & Free voip community. People were always interested in knowing new free voip providers offering free international calls but all they could get was VOIP News. No consolidated info about where they can call for Free, how to make free calls, What are the various hacks/workarounds to make free VOIP Calls. We answered it all.
VOIP Guide today gets over 7000+ visitors each day mainly from USA, UK, India and Singapore but we are confident that the Free VOIP word was spread across the world by our website. It was an experiment which became successful. Today after about 8 months of existence we are a leading VOIP website/Blog. We get over 18000+ Page views each day on average.
We would like to thank each and everyone who contributed to VOIP Guide by sharing tips/hacks/workaround to make free calls. Together we made a difference.
Get it First at VOIP Guide
Today, VOIP companies look (read everyday) at VOIP Guide as a strong medium to advertise/promote their free calling/free voip offers.
We had some exclusive stories/ Beta launches in the past. Some of the best VOIP hacks ever to hit the internet. If you didn’t read the ultimate Jaduka hack, you missed the most sensational post on VOIP Guide. We removed it on request from Jaduka Guys, coz it was leading to lot of abuse.
Some notable Free VOIP hacks which forced the companies to change the way they work.
1) Gizmo Call- Hack for making 40 minutes Calls instead of the standard 10 minutes Call. Fixed later by Gizmo Call Team. Worked for around 1 month.
2) Jaduka Worldwide Free Calls (Link Removed)- This hack let everyone to make unlimited free calls anywhere in the world. This worked for about 15 days! Literally thousands of minutes were used.
3) Free Calls to India: Ultimate VoipCheap hack for making free calls to India. Fixed later in the newer version of voipcheap.
We wrote some of the best VOIP Tutorials
Our Readers love us. They always sent in some great tips/ideas/tutorials and always inspired us to write more. We wrote some good tutorials on SIP Call Forwarding and VOIP in General. The following tutorial might be handy for most of you.
1)SIP Call Forwarding
2)My SIP Switch: VoxAlot Alternative
3)How to convert analog phone into VOIP phone
4)Skype Free Wake up Call
Of course, there is a wealth of information in the Archives information, so do check it out.
Last but not the least, we are actively looking for a VOIP News Editor. If you are interested in being a part of VOIP Guide, please send your application at ut.godmode@gmail.com
Sunday, September 9, 2007
AdCalls launches Ad based Free international voip calls
California based internet ad company, Ad Calls has launched Ad Supported VoIP with CRM features for business class VOIP companies. Their VOIP dialer can be used by businesses and individuals to make free international calls by watching Ads served by them.
Many companies in the past, have tried this model but couldn't succeed. The most prominent example is globe7. They started off by giving a promise that just watch our videos and get calling minutes. However it seems you can't really support or subsidise the VOIP call by watching videos or ads. Adcalls although has a different strategy. They are involving businesses by giving them incentives such as User's information etc. Adcalls will allow businesses to get personal information about users and in turn ask them to advertise their business on Adcalls. These leads could be lucrate for some businesses. They might not just be VOIP companies but other insurance, banking, finance companies are always looking for your personal information to be converted into a potential lead.
However the dialer will collect other senstive information such as Credit card details etc and share with advertisers. Its a perfect CRM model for advertisers and Adcalls. However for users, this could be a nightmare. Imagine you just made a call to India and you started getting calls from various travel companies about your potential visit to india :-) They will read your mind and pocket at the same time.
It would be interested to see how this VOIP service shape up and in fact in the end, offers truly free international voip calls to users. Most promises are ignored once the voip service is established. One more interesting point could be about their Terms of Service, how sneaky it could get to put sensitive information in TOS and get customers agree to it. I am sure 99% dont bother to read TOS. Many companies then steal the data for their own benefit.
Lets hope it all turns out good and in favour of the consumers and we get a truly free international voip calls service.
Many companies in the past, have tried this model but couldn't succeed. The most prominent example is globe7. They started off by giving a promise that just watch our videos and get calling minutes. However it seems you can't really support or subsidise the VOIP call by watching videos or ads. Adcalls although has a different strategy. They are involving businesses by giving them incentives such as User's information etc. Adcalls will allow businesses to get personal information about users and in turn ask them to advertise their business on Adcalls. These leads could be lucrate for some businesses. They might not just be VOIP companies but other insurance, banking, finance companies are always looking for your personal information to be converted into a potential lead.
However the dialer will collect other senstive information such as Credit card details etc and share with advertisers. Its a perfect CRM model for advertisers and Adcalls. However for users, this could be a nightmare. Imagine you just made a call to India and you started getting calls from various travel companies about your potential visit to india :-) They will read your mind and pocket at the same time.
It would be interested to see how this VOIP service shape up and in fact in the end, offers truly free international voip calls to users. Most promises are ignored once the voip service is established. One more interesting point could be about their Terms of Service, how sneaky it could get to put sensitive information in TOS and get customers agree to it. I am sure 99% dont bother to read TOS. Many companies then steal the data for their own benefit.
Lets hope it all turns out good and in favour of the consumers and we get a truly free international voip calls service.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Taiwan earthquake affecting Internet VOIP
Just a Quick update on Todays headline news about Taiwan Earthquake. Although it wasn't powerful enough like we seen last time leading to a major outage for internet and voip traffic across asia pacific.
This one was 6.6 on the Richter scale jolted Taiwan at 01:51 Singapore Time.
As i see some ISP are hit. ANC Internet services covering HK, SEL, TOK and SIN regions. This might possible lag VOIP traffic covering HK/SG areas.
If you facing any issues today related to Internet/VOIP, I would suggest don't blame it on your ISP or try to fix anything. Its most probably to do with low latency between you and your SIP or VOIP server.
I will update everyeone on the next update sometime in the evening.
This one was 6.6 on the Richter scale jolted Taiwan at 01:51 Singapore Time.
As i see some ISP are hit. ANC Internet services covering HK, SEL, TOK and SIN regions. This might possible lag VOIP traffic covering HK/SG areas.
If you facing any issues today related to Internet/VOIP, I would suggest don't blame it on your ISP or try to fix anything. Its most probably to do with low latency between you and your SIP or VOIP server.
I will update everyeone on the next update sometime in the evening.
MTNL VOIP service to charge for SIP Calls
Isnt the title Too lame? However yes its True. We all got excited when the one of the largest Telecom provider in India, MTNL launched their very own VOIP Service few weeks back. We received some feedback from visitors that enough information is still not available.
We got some detail information now and it seems their offer is too lame to consider at this stage. Lets look at what MTNL is offering in their VOIP packages:
-non-refundable registration and installation charges of Rs. 500
Now lets look at their plans:
1) Plan VoIP 200 : with a monthly rental of Rs. 200 with having 400 minutes of SIP-SIP calls free and 20 paise per minute thereafter.
2) Plan VOIP 400: monthly rental of Rs. 400 with 800 minutes of SIP-SIP calls free and 10 paise per minute. This service will be provided through an Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA), which is connected to Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) modem. The refundable security deposits for this will be Rs. 1, 000 with a fixed quarterly rental of Rs. 243 (inclusive of service tax).
A lifetime plan for ATA is also available for Rs. 1,460, and the registration and provisioning will start from 27 August. Users can book VoIP connection by dialing 1500/26990000.
Customers can make 2 types of calls - SIP to SIP for local, national, and international calls and SIP to PSTN / mobile for international calls only.
Now lets look at these plans from a customer perspective. It looks lot crowded in my opinion. Old fashioned way of bundling services and cost to a primary service is a known habit of MTNL/BSNL. Rs.500 for VOIP service registration, then you need to buy ATA. Now its not very clear if we already have a ATA can we work with it?
Why on earth we should buy a ATA provided by MTNL? Too lame! Secondly, SIP to SIP calls are free however limited to certain minutes based on plans? lol.
I know whats the plan here. 80% of the existing customers don't know Whats VOIP? 20% of those who know VOIP possibly 90% of them don't know Whats SIP :-)
If they ever come to know and decide to switch, What will happen to MTNL PSTN network? They don't want to replace their PSTN but instead give you additional hardware to play with.
Honestly, this service is only useful (i can still debate on this) to people who want to make cheap international calls or you can crack their SIP service and make SIP to SIP calls totally free :-)
Stay away from MTNL-SIP VOIP service unless you have any specific needs to make cheap international calls. Its just not worth it!
We got some detail information now and it seems their offer is too lame to consider at this stage. Lets look at what MTNL is offering in their VOIP packages:
-non-refundable registration and installation charges of Rs. 500
Now lets look at their plans:
1) Plan VoIP 200 : with a monthly rental of Rs. 200 with having 400 minutes of SIP-SIP calls free and 20 paise per minute thereafter.
2) Plan VOIP 400: monthly rental of Rs. 400 with 800 minutes of SIP-SIP calls free and 10 paise per minute. This service will be provided through an Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA), which is connected to Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) modem. The refundable security deposits for this will be Rs. 1, 000 with a fixed quarterly rental of Rs. 243 (inclusive of service tax).
A lifetime plan for ATA is also available for Rs. 1,460, and the registration and provisioning will start from 27 August. Users can book VoIP connection by dialing 1500/26990000.
Customers can make 2 types of calls - SIP to SIP for local, national, and international calls and SIP to PSTN / mobile for international calls only.
Now lets look at these plans from a customer perspective. It looks lot crowded in my opinion. Old fashioned way of bundling services and cost to a primary service is a known habit of MTNL/BSNL. Rs.500 for VOIP service registration, then you need to buy ATA. Now its not very clear if we already have a ATA can we work with it?
Why on earth we should buy a ATA provided by MTNL? Too lame! Secondly, SIP to SIP calls are free however limited to certain minutes based on plans? lol.
I know whats the plan here. 80% of the existing customers don't know Whats VOIP? 20% of those who know VOIP possibly 90% of them don't know Whats SIP :-)
If they ever come to know and decide to switch, What will happen to MTNL PSTN network? They don't want to replace their PSTN but instead give you additional hardware to play with.
Honestly, this service is only useful (i can still debate on this) to people who want to make cheap international calls or you can crack their SIP service and make SIP to SIP calls totally free :-)
Stay away from MTNL-SIP VOIP service unless you have any specific needs to make cheap international calls. Its just not worth it!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Fring VOIP enables Mobile VOIP Auto Roaming
The developer brains at Fring are back to work (well they always have been). This time they cracked the auto roaming feature. This is very handy for all Nokia fans who know how annonying it could be when you get out of Wifi Range.
I have a Nokia N95 and have been testing Wifi Signals around my house. It always disconnects me in the middle of a something when i am out of range. I am still not able to figure out a way to automate Wifi Switchover on Nokia N95. Anyone knows?
However it seems, Fring is reading my mind. Imagine, you travelling at the same time talking on Fring VOIP. At one stage you are out of your favorite Free Public Wifi network range, oops connection gone and you lost a important call? Now you have to find another network, Define a point. Now, never again with Fring.
fring now supports auto-roaming, switching between Wi-Fi and 3G networks (regardless of the provider) without any manual user involvement! It works because fring is now able to recognise, store and instantly access all Wi-Fi points you have used. In practice fring will automatically log you into a friendly Wi-Fi connection (one you've used before) when it is available. So whenever you walk into your favourite Wi-Fi café, fring will use their Wi-Fi access without you even asking for it. Where there is no Wi-Fi, fring will automatically revert back to the cellular network.
Now from today, I am going to whore around my daily walk area and find as many Free Wifi hotspots I can and define them as Access points and enjoy Free VOIP Calls with Fring.
The auto-roaming feature is currently supported on fring compatible Nokia devices although the service will be available on all phones very soon!
If you still haven't experienced the best mobile VOIP applications a.k.a Fring, you prolly can start today. Go Fringing!
I have a Nokia N95 and have been testing Wifi Signals around my house. It always disconnects me in the middle of a something when i am out of range. I am still not able to figure out a way to automate Wifi Switchover on Nokia N95. Anyone knows?
However it seems, Fring is reading my mind. Imagine, you travelling at the same time talking on Fring VOIP. At one stage you are out of your favorite Free Public Wifi network range, oops connection gone and you lost a important call? Now you have to find another network, Define a point. Now, never again with Fring.
fring now supports auto-roaming, switching between Wi-Fi and 3G networks (regardless of the provider) without any manual user involvement! It works because fring is now able to recognise, store and instantly access all Wi-Fi points you have used. In practice fring will automatically log you into a friendly Wi-Fi connection (one you've used before) when it is available. So whenever you walk into your favourite Wi-Fi café, fring will use their Wi-Fi access without you even asking for it. Where there is no Wi-Fi, fring will automatically revert back to the cellular network.
Now from today, I am going to whore around my daily walk area and find as many Free Wifi hotspots I can and define them as Access points and enjoy Free VOIP Calls with Fring.
The auto-roaming feature is currently supported on fring compatible Nokia devices although the service will be available on all phones very soon!
If you still haven't experienced the best mobile VOIP applications a.k.a Fring, you prolly can start today. Go Fringing!
Monday, September 3, 2007
Cheap Calls to India by TrueRoots
There are considerable number of people who visit VOIP Guide looking for cheaper providers and not necessarily FREE voip service. Today we will discuss a great new service by VSNL, which is now officially launched.
While lurking around some older posts, I noticed some people in the USA have already tried and tested this new VOIP/PhoneCard based calling service called TrueRoots (A VSNL product). We also posted their early release a few days back saying this will be interesting service for consumers in USA, UK and Canada. It seems they will be head on with Reliance who provides a similar calling service to make cheaper calls to India (about 7 cents).
Althought there is no major difference in price factor. Reliance has more countries covered when it comes to origination of calls. Reliance services can be used from NZ, Australia however VSNL is more USA focused. Trueroots however offers toll-free numbers in UK and Canada.
Looking at the some of quick reviews and overall history of VSNL, we feel its a good value for money. I can bet the call quality will be nearly local call quality. VSNL is known to be a leader in Indian telecom markets and we expect it to have higher call quality than some cheap local VOIP service trying to route calls via heaven :-)
I guess all USA NRI might like to give VSNL a try and let us know your feedback on Trueroots. Mainly Call Quality/Billing/Customer Service are the primary factors. Voice your views and let others know if its a good service to go for.
While lurking around some older posts, I noticed some people in the USA have already tried and tested this new VOIP/PhoneCard based calling service called TrueRoots (A VSNL product). We also posted their early release a few days back saying this will be interesting service for consumers in USA, UK and Canada. It seems they will be head on with Reliance who provides a similar calling service to make cheaper calls to India (about 7 cents).
Althought there is no major difference in price factor. Reliance has more countries covered when it comes to origination of calls. Reliance services can be used from NZ, Australia however VSNL is more USA focused. Trueroots however offers toll-free numbers in UK and Canada.
Looking at the some of quick reviews and overall history of VSNL, we feel its a good value for money. I can bet the call quality will be nearly local call quality. VSNL is known to be a leader in Indian telecom markets and we expect it to have higher call quality than some cheap local VOIP service trying to route calls via heaven :-)
I guess all USA NRI might like to give VSNL a try and let us know your feedback on Trueroots. Mainly Call Quality/Billing/Customer Service are the primary factors. Voice your views and let others know if its a good service to go for.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Gizmo Project VOIP $10000 Call out Giveaway
The summer VOIP freebies are not yet over and it seems Gizmo Project is trying to grab some much needed attention from already crowded VOIP market.
Gizmo Project had some unbelievable free calling offers when they were launched. You could simply add the numbers in your Gizmo Project account and if you are in one of the Free Zones, you could get call forwarded to your mobile/landline. They had some unbelievable countries in the list. However, it didnt last long. The offer was taken back, then came Gizmo Call with the promise to give 10 minutes each day FREE anywhere in the world. That perhaps was abused by over enthusiastic crowd and our Gizmo Call hack prolly contributed to the abuse party. They later fixed the hack and reduced the free calls to mere 1 min per call. Ridiculous offer for even a trial call :-)
We at VOIP Guide at that stage stopped following Gizmo Project and Micheal Robertson. However it seems the competition is hitting hard on Gizmo and they need to gain those new VOIP enthusiast to their accounts by giving something free.
Gizmo Project is offering $10000 free credit to 1000 lucky winners. That's insane and thats a lot of credit. I would probably spend 2-3 years on that easily lol.
So How to do enter this Contest?
You need to dial Dial 611 from Gizmo to automatically enter for the chance to win!
Step 1: Dial 611 from any Gizmo client.
Step 2: Listen to the voice menu and choose an option to: (Either of the following)
Check Voicemail
Check new or saved voicemails and customize your greeting.
Buy Call Out
Buy Call Out and check your account balance.
Forward Calls
Enable call forwarding and receive calls on any landline or mobile.
Find out Why did the chicken cross the road? - Press 5 (Ok, we're joking about this one.) Hear answers from visionaries like Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, and John Lennon.
Winners of $10 Call Out credit will be contacted no later than September 15th via email.
If you don't have Gizmo Project, then you can download now. You can access the same service from Gizmo Call.
Gizmo Project had some unbelievable free calling offers when they were launched. You could simply add the numbers in your Gizmo Project account and if you are in one of the Free Zones, you could get call forwarded to your mobile/landline. They had some unbelievable countries in the list. However, it didnt last long. The offer was taken back, then came Gizmo Call with the promise to give 10 minutes each day FREE anywhere in the world. That perhaps was abused by over enthusiastic crowd and our Gizmo Call hack prolly contributed to the abuse party. They later fixed the hack and reduced the free calls to mere 1 min per call. Ridiculous offer for even a trial call :-)
We at VOIP Guide at that stage stopped following Gizmo Project and Micheal Robertson. However it seems the competition is hitting hard on Gizmo and they need to gain those new VOIP enthusiast to their accounts by giving something free.
Gizmo Project is offering $10000 free credit to 1000 lucky winners. That's insane and thats a lot of credit. I would probably spend 2-3 years on that easily lol.
So How to do enter this Contest?
You need to dial Dial 611 from Gizmo to automatically enter for the chance to win!
Step 1: Dial 611 from any Gizmo client.
Step 2: Listen to the voice menu and choose an option to: (Either of the following)
Check Voicemail
Check new or saved voicemails and customize your greeting.
Buy Call Out
Buy Call Out and check your account balance.
Forward Calls
Enable call forwarding and receive calls on any landline or mobile.
Find out Why did the chicken cross the road? - Press 5 (Ok, we're joking about this one.) Hear answers from visionaries like Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, and John Lennon.
Winners of $10 Call Out credit will be contacted no later than September 15th via email.
If you don't have Gizmo Project, then you can download now. You can access the same service from Gizmo Call.
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