Skype VOIP Billing system messed up gives me free calling credit

Skype VOIP, world's most popular PC to Phone VOIP Phone Service has serious issues with their VOIP billing software/module. Skype issues me free $69.95 credit :-) You must read this story.

I first noticed this skype billing mishap a couple of days back but thought it could be a bug in their VOIP billing system and ignored it. However everyday I check, I still see my balance is $69.95. I know I should be happy about this free calling credit which came from nowhere. I tried making a call with skypeout, DUH here is the worst part, I see a message saying "Account Blocked".

WOW, so basically Skype is saying,

1) We give you free calling credit becuase you seem like a nice guy :-)
2) We block your skype account so you can't use it lol.

Please note that my skype ID is still working and I can still make PC to PC calls, all that is blocked is PC to Phone calls which is using http://www.kqzyfj.com/click-2245874-10576637 service.

I did some more investigation to find out where this skypeout credit actually came into my account. I verified all my paypal transactions, none are sent to skype. my credit Card doesnt have any such transaction either. I then went to Skype online account management interface and verified the transaction. I indeed see a $50 USD in my account saying, "Credit allocation from Control Panel". No idea what this means.

So has someone abused my account? Does skype has any trace on this billing activity? Why innocent skype users are being blocked? I believe skype needs to clarify this matter. Hope someone from Skype is reading this.

Here are some screenshots of my Skype account for verification/Proof (losing my ID)







This could potentially mean this could have happened to many Skype accounts. Are you one of them? Let us know

Free Calls from Philippines

Philippines is one of the costliest destinations for making VOIP calls and also remains as one of the most controlled telecom countries making it difficult for people to make calls to USA and Canada any cheaper than the market.

That means if you want to make cheap or free calls to USA or canada using your mobile phone or landline phone in Philippines, the rates are way off. However, it seems that the government is trying to resolve that issue by starting its very own Toll Free Service in Manila in partnership with Pacific Network Inc., will be offered until February 2009. Although at this stage, there isn't much information available about the toll free service, however you may inquire with the local authorities.

All we know is this toll free service (likely running on VOIP), is a toll free access number from where people can call and then dial out. Currently the service is limited to calling USA and Canada for FREE. There are no details on how long you can talk, but we believe it should be good enough for quick chit chat. We are not sure if you can have access to the toll free number from outside and then dialout. This should be a good offer.

The toll-free booth is located at the ground floor of City Hall building and is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. This free calling service to usa and canada will be available till February 2009.

Nymgo VOIP offers Cheap International Calling Plans

With new VOIP Providers jumping on the cheap international calls market, the calling rates to many international destinations is dropping massively. Thanks to VOIP.

We noted a new VOIP Provider on the scene called Nymgo, A UK based VOIP Service managed by Splendor Telecom UK Limited. Nymgo offers various country calling plans and pay as you go plans under its belt.


Nymgo offers following Calling Plans:

1) America and Europe: For just $14.50 per month, you can talk for a total of up to 10,000 minutes per month.

2) Asia and Australia: For just $20 per month, you can talk for a total of up to 1750 minutes per month

3)Middle East: For just $20 per month, you can talk for a total of up to 300 minutes per month. (Isn't 300 minutes too less? )

One of the most striking plan is of course, Asia and Australia plan which covers almost the entire Asia Pacific and mainly India, Malaysia, Singapore,China,Thailand,Austrlia, NZ and Taiwan. That means if you subscribe to the Asia Pacific plan you will get upto 1750 minutes per month to these destinations. The cost of this package is $20 flat per month. You pay that money and enjoy calling to these destinations at almost 1.2 cents per minute (e.g. India), which is a good rate. Please note they do not allow calls to entire india only a few STD codes are allowed. Please check details here. Under Pay as you go package, the India calling rate is apporx 2.5-3 cents per minute.

However, since the VOIP Provider is new, we probably do not have a lot of information about Nymgo in temrs of Quality of Service. Nymgo offers their services via Nymgo softphone. There doesn't seem to be any information related to SIP. However they would more likely to provide that if a subscriber asked for it?

If anyone is currently using Nymgo, your feedback is appreciated. If anyone knows Nymgo SIP address, please drop under comments. SIP address is very important so that we can drop their softphone and instead use our softphone or use via SIP Phone or VOIP Adapter.

Heyotto offers free conference calls

Conference calling has really gone to bigger level during last 1-2 years with many more small companies trying out conferencing calling services to improve efficiency and communication.

HeyOtto is web conferencing solution which promises to deliver much more than conference calls. Otto is a human-like robot that follow commandes from its users. For an example, if someone wants to tell Otto to mute their phone line, they would say something like “Mute my line.” Or if you want to start the conference, you will have to say “Please start my conference.

Otto has built-in voice recognition intelligence. Currently, HeyOtto conference call service is offering 200 toll-free minutes free for your conference calls. You will also lock in a rate of 9 cents a minute, for each minute after those 200 minutes.

HeyOtto is extremely simple to use. Just give every conference call participant, access number : 1-888-Otto-123. Each participant will have a PIN based on which heyotto will automatically add them to your conference call bridge.

The following features are included in HeyOtto conference calling service:
-Roll Call feature
-Mute/Unmute all or some lines
-Lock confrerence option
-Dial-out option
-Volume adjust option
-Conference password for added privacy
-Transfer line

Start testing HeyOtto conference call system with 200 minutes of free conference calls.

Rebtel offers cheap international calls to India

Holiday season is around the corner and more VOIP Providers are coming out with new offers. Rebtel, a leading VOIP Provider is offering extremely cheap calling rates to India.

We share great relationship with Rebtel and have worked together before on a special offer for cheap calls to India. Today's offer will even beat that.

Rebtel is slashing their international calling rates to over 23 countries by 50%. This also includes India, that means you can now call India at 2.8 cents per minute till 18th December 2008. I know a lot of people who love to use Rebtel, especially because of ease of use and Mobile VOIP technology.

Please note This offer is only available for new signups.

Many people have used Rebtel VOIP service before, but some of you probably not aware of how Rebtel works. I am giving a quick explanation of the service.

1)You give them the phone number of a friend in another country, and Rebtel gives you a local number for them.
2)Save this number on your mobile so you can call your friend whenever you want, for a fraction of your normal international rate. It becomes a local call for you.

Video Demonstration of How Rebtel Works:



We strongly suggest you signup for Rebtel

Unblock VOIP in Middle East

Millions of people in Middle East are fed up with new VOIP Providers being blocked. Every new VOIP service provider launched is blocked in these countries within 1 week. Today we most likely found a solution.

All thanks to one of the comments on another post, which forced me to check this tiny little utility called HotSpotShield.

This program adds another layer between you and your ISP which is often called as VPN. When you have hotspotshield on, you will be using USA IP address and your service provider in UAE would never be able to impose VOIP blocking feature. You should be able to use all your existing popular VOIP Providers such as Nonoh, VOIPRaider, VOIPcheap, VOIPax etc

How to use this program to unlock VOIP in Middle East?
1) Download Hotspot Shield (Mirror)
2) Click “Run Hotspot Shield”
3) The auto search VPN server, and connects

You can then try visiting some of your favorite VOIP Providers and check if they are now working properly. We do not gurantee that this method will work for you however it's worth a try. You can always discontinue using the program if its fails to work.

Good Luck unblocking VOIP in Middle East! Its time to start enjoying VOIP calls once again and make some free international calls

DeFi offers Mobile VOIP Unlimited International Calls

Mobile VOIP space has seen tremendous momentum during 2008, However most of it was in the mobile voip application development. However it seems VOIP Providers are now looking at making mobile VOIP their next best selling point.

DeFI a mobile VOIP Provider has announced ambitious plan to give unlimited international calls at $40-$50 per month. Please note that DEFI has fair usage policy in place and they only allow max 3000 minutes per month. There doesn't seem to be any restriction on where you can call, so you can call anywhere in the world. We believe premium numbers would be blocked and satellite calls will be blocked too :-)

You need to have a Nokia N or E series phone in order to use Defi Mobile VOIP. There are no surcharges for any number you might call or the WiFi network to which you're connected. DeFi has signed contracts directly with operators of hotspot and cellular networks worldwide to allow it to offer this quantity of flat-rate calling.

The DeFi service is bundled with all the PBX options and features like call waiting, call forwarding, voicemail etc. At $40 per month, you get a single PSTN (public switched telephone network) phone number with the DeFi Global Access service. The number can be assigned in any of 30 countries. For $50 per month (Global Access Plus), you can choose three inbound numbers.

When any of these numbers are called and you're on a WiFi network, the DeFi software handles the incoming call. With simultaneous ring, DeFi can ring incoming calls on your cell phone's number even when you're not on a WiFi network.

Defi has access numbers in over 30 countries and more than 50 global partnerships involving more than 75 countries for Wifi Access Points.

Cheapest Call to India at 1 cents per minute

The festive season is around the corner and we have once again working with leading VOIP Providers to give you the best deals. We have worked this deal with Pingo Phone Card.

Pingo and VOIP Guide shares the same vision, reducing the calling rate to India to anything close to 1 cent. Is it possible? Yes, why not. We have worked around a great deal for all of you. Pingo is one of the world's biggest Phone company routing billions of call minutes per year. Backed by award winning Telecom infrastructure, they provide excellent call quality.

Here are some details of this exclusive offer:

Pingo and VOIP Guide will offer you DOUBLE CREDIT for all new signups. The signups must be from VOIP Guide blog. You need to use our exclusive coupon code, voipguide10. You need to sign up for min. $20 and will get $10 off. So credit card will be charged for $10 and once you log into your account as a customer you will see the $20 credit. On top of this, Pingo will also give you 50% off normal calling rates for 3 months.

How can you call India at close to 1 cent per minute?

Pingo's calling rates to India is 5.5 cents per minute. Pingo will offer you 50% off on rates for the next three months, so effective rate is 5.5/2 = 2.75 cents per minute. With our offer, you get double credit, so Now you get 2.75/2= 1.37 cents per minute. This is the lowest ever international calling rate to India. we believe 3 months is enough time for someone to use this credit.

Remember to use Pingo Coupon Code: voipguide10

-----Please do not signup for this offer anymore. The coupon has expired. Instead you can take Rebtel 50% off offer-------

Please note this offer is available for limited time only. We have gone to lengths to negotiate this offer with Pingo and give you the best calling rate.

Just For your information, Pingo calling cards are accessible in over 80 countries worldwide with over 300+ Access numbers. Pingo is by far one of the biggest calling card company in the world.

We strongly suggest you signup today and make the most of it. Let us know if you have any suggestions.

-----Please do not signup for this offer anymore. The coupon has expired. Instead you can take Rebtel 50% off offer-------

GrandCentral VOIP on Mac with Vocito

Ever wanted to use GrandCentral VOIP Service via a Softphone? Your wish has come true. You can now use Grandcentral VOIP right from your desktop using a SoftPhone GUI.


Vocito is a desktop UI for GrandCentral for the Mac(All variations of Mac like Macbook etc). It works on Tiger and Leopard, is both PowerPC and Intel native, and is fully open sourced. It allows you to use your existing GrandCentral account to make calls out to anybody in the USA and as Grancentral gives you free calls to USA, you can pretty much call anybody in USA for FREE. Using GrandCentral, Vocito will dial the remote phone and your local phone simultaneously and connect you together.

It integrates into Address Book, Quicksilver, Automater, system services, supports "tel" URLs, and is fully AppleScriptable.



All this integration makes it easy to have Vocito automatically dial your phone from just about any application that supports scripting, html, or Automator actions. For example, you can easily set up your iCal meeting appointment to automatically dial the conference call for you at the correct time.

Vocito for GrandCentral VOIP is available for Download. Try it out if you already have GrandCentral VOIP account and have Mac.

Fring Mobile VOIP testing Trial Ads

With Global recession mounting over every industry including VOIP, VOIP Providers and VOIP Application developers such as Fring are looking for more revenue making ideas than just giving away FREE VOIP or mobile voip calls.

Fring is and will always be the leader in Mobile VOIP, atleast for a few coming years. However mobile VOIP offlate hasn't really took off for two primary reasons. Mobile Companies are still scared to try this out as an alternative business revenue model and shed off their GSM income and secondly, consumers are over the Mobile VOIP hype already. All they want to see now is a good way to save money during this difficult times.

For Fring, this is a great opportunity to build a good revenue model and demonstrate their VC/Partners that Fring can be a long term profitable firm, if at all sold it would get a fair price. With millions of downloads of Fring Mobile VOIP, the trial ads might work well. However can they sustain this?

With companies all over the world cutting down their ad budgets( Foolish move), its very unlikely that Fring would make loads of money. However better today than later, Fring could easily penetrate this market and keep on improving on their already solid Mobile VOIP platform. All they need now to go mainstream and hit a few deals with operators such as Verizon, Vodafone and T-Mobile and that could as well be the most successful VOIP business model world has even seen. Imagine operators pushing your product into the market is the dream of any VOIP Provider.

Fring however faces stiff competition from Nimbuzz. Do check them out, they are worth your time. I still remember talking to fring VP over a quick coffee, that their biggest rival in the current market is nimbuzz. I feel nimbuzz should be proud of the fact. Nimbuzz recently announced Partner agreement with leading VOIP Providers around the world to support SIP Calls across the network.

Good time ahead from Fring but as I always say, If you want to be successful during Recession, Stop thinking about Profits and start thinking about innovation. This innovation will eventually make you loads of money when the market is back in action.

iNum launches +883 VOIP Code numbers

Do you fancy having a very own VOIP Phone number Country Codes? Then your wish has been granted by iNum. Although, sounds extemely similar to the concept of ENUM, iNum provides much more than ENUM.

Electronic Numbering (ENUM) is a protocol developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to allow the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Internet to interoperate. iNum is an initiative of VoxBone and Voxeo.

iNum takes the ENUM concept to next level by actually assigning a +883 Country Code Global Phone number to you. That means, it doesnt matter where in the world you are you would continue to receive calls to your +883 number and without any roaming charges. This is still very new so routing your calls via other telecom carriers will be a challange for iNum.

One of the most important information lacking at the moment is how someone is able to use the iNum? Via VOIP (most common guess)? So still need VOIP Softphone or iNum SIP details on your SIP enabled phone and then someone can call you. However they could might as well call you using a SIP Softphone with an extension. Secondly, they can also call using ENUM provided by VoxAlot. This vital information is currently extremely confusing. I am sure 90% people would never even thought about how to port this to your phone?
iNum has however partnered with leading VOIP Providers to route calls via their networks and allow cross-network calling. VOIP Providers like Rebtel, Gizmo5 are already leveraging on this opportunity to connect and get more people on their platform. I am sure more VOIP Providers will jump into this madness :-). You can check the current list of iNum Partners. They have also released the local phone numbers in order to reach a iNum.

How do you test iNum? You can either register yourself at their website and wait for them to assign you an iNum. Remember currently iNum is in closed beta.

Where do I see iNum Going?

1) Mobile operators will jump on this as iNum goes mainstream. Of course, although the word 'Free VOIP' sounds too good, it won't be free. iNum will be issues for FREE however calling the iNum will be charged by respective telecom operators. Might be cheaper than usual.
2) iNum will extend it's service to deliver Video Conferencing, File sharing etc in future.
3) iNum can be called using SIP, direct 883 dialing (need operator intervention once it hits PSTN).

Either way, I am still wondering why iNum is better than SIP broker's ENUM . If ENUM is already doing this for years, iNum is potential a copycat? Can somoene enlighten me?

Free VoIP Long Distance Calls during Holidays

We discussed about Poketalk a few weeks back. We have noticed they made significant improvement in call quality and call length.

You can now make free VOIP Long distance calls for upto 10 minutes to over 55 destination. The only limitation, the calls can originated from specific locations about 10 countries only.

Since the holidays are approaching, PokeTalk is now offering customers double the amount of free calls — 100 calls per month from November 24th through December 31st. That adds up to more than 16 hours of free calls from landline or mobile phones.

Poketalkallows per call to be upto 10 minutes.

If you don't know how PokeTalk works, here is the simple explanation:

1) Register at PokeTalk
2) Enter your Phone Number
3) Enter Party's number
4) Your phone will ring
5) Then PokeTalk will call your party.
6) Both are connected and can talk upto 10 minutes.

PokeTalk is a good option to call countries like Brazil etc and of course thailand (mobile) :-). Make the most of these offers coz they don't last long.

VOIPZoom offers free international calls

Betamax has yet again launched another VOIP service before the holiday VOIP traffic reaches it momentum. Typically during novembeer-December, VOIP and Telecom providers around the world see massive increase in VOIP traffic.

Thanks to RameshKumar for heads up on this one. VOIPZoom is currently offering free international calls to over 41 destinations around the world at a flat monthly fee of € 2.50/month(Euro)/3.19 USD. That means as long as you pay the flat monthly free you would be able to make free international calls to these 40 destinations.

For Other countries, you need to top-up more credit. Currently they are offering calls to India at 2.5 USD Cents for both landline and mobile. Not the cheapest but not bad.

Please note VOIPZoom FUP (Fair Use Policy) is registered users get max 300 minutes per week of free calls, measured over the last 7 days and per unique IP address.

We couldn't find any SIP info, however strongly feel they are using one of the existing infrastructure for VOIPZoom, most likely voipraider or voipbuster SIP server. Anyone knows VOIPZoom SIP info? do let us know or post under comments.

3.19 USD for 1200 minutes of calls per month to 40+ destinations works great. If you are already using VOIPzoom, do let us know if you are satisfied with them. I am most likely going to buy some credit this weekend to try this out.

You can download VOIPZoom directly using this link..

Jaduka DukaUS launched Free Conference Calls

Jaduka is back with another VOIP app, this time for making Web based Conference Calls. They have launched another Labs product to make totally free conference calls in USA and Canada.

Jaduka is known for VOIP applications such as EarthCaller, DukaDial etc. One of the most innovative and quality driven approach to build world class VOIP application has always been their motive. We have always supported them.

DukaUS, the new free conference call service will let you make totally free conference calls to upto 5 participants. dukaUS automatically calls each guest and invites them to join your conference. Just like any other Jaduka apps, DukaUS is easy to use. No Reseveration based conference calls, no tedious conference bridge settings. You are good to go with a few mouse clicks.

At this time, DukaUS conference calling service supports United States and Canadian telephone numbers ONLY. Each account is allocated a maximum of 30 minutes per day of group calling. Not bad really.

. Call quality is very good because they are not using VOIP, but the regular telephone network to connect calls—and no one gets charged for minutes—you don’t get charged and neither do the people you conference. You can create and moderate free telephone conferences for up to 5 people.

How to use DukaUS Free Conference Call Service?
1) In order to use DukaUS Free Conference Call service, you need to register an account at Jaduka Labs
2) In Conference Leader, Put your name and Phone Number.
3) Under Participant, Put their name and Phone number.
4) You can do conference call with upto 5 people.
5) Then click Start Conference. The Call will be placed to you first and then to rest of the 5 conference call participants. Everyone will be connected and conference call can then begin for 30 minutes.

Future of HD Video Conferencing

As we said earlier, Video Conferencing Market is growing rapidly and will continue to grow at 20%-30% YOY growth when companies are switching to Video Conference callFacilities instead of flying around people to their offices.

The annual savings on Travel can surely contribute towards building a in-house Video Conferencing system. The leaders being Tandberg and Polycom for Video Conference Facilities and in Web Based commercial conference systems, WebEx and GoToMeeting has significant share. However don't yet rule out interesting Conference2.0 Products such as DimDim(built by Indians).

Once companies move to Video Conferencing and with the latest craze about HDTV Video, more and more video conferencing companies are looking to make HD Video conferencing a possibility. Companies such as Vidyo claim to offer HD Video conferencing at 60 frames/second over the internet. Of course, all thanks to the latest technology H.264 standard for video compression which allows you tranfer compressed data over Video conference. In VOIP, companies like FlashPhone are implementing Video Conference Calls over SIP using H.263.

HD Video Conferencing physical facilities are however scarce at the moment and its very unlikely that companies would invest considering global slowdown. It would take some time for companies like Vidyo, Lifesize, Polycom and Tandberg to actually make a bigger headway in this market. However, this would become a huge market by 2012 and would most likely overtake the Traditional Video Conference facilities.

Innovation is the key. There are Workgroups already working on improving H.264 to H.265. H.265 would be desired to be 50% more efficient than H.264 in delivery a Video Conference. Either way, Video Conferencing would be huge in the coming days.

FreeBuzzer offers free international VOIP Calls

It seems once again the FREE VOIP space is heating up with new free international voip calls providers. With Betamax joining the FREE VOIP movement once again, its even more interesting.

VOIPax is a betamax subsidiary(?) has launched FreeBuzzer, a totally free international VOIP calls. FreeBuzzer claims that they offer free international calls to over 40 countries around the world. The best part is it doesn't need a VOIP softphone. Just use it from the web as a Phone to Phone Service.

Enter your phone number and enter other party's number and Click Call. FreeBuzzer will call you phone and then connect you to the other party. However I noticed they radomly limit your call limit, probably based on the destination you call. There is a limit per IP. They also ask you to signup for VOIPax :-(

I only managed to make a few minutes of calls within Singapore. However when trying later, it throws an error that Free Trial calls are limited. It seems they only allow upto 10-20 minutes of free trial calls in a day.

Cheap VOIP International Calls to India at 2.95 Cents

Finally We can confirm that VOIP Providers have started the pricewar in VOIP industry. With every other VOIP service Provider is lowering calling rates,Its the best time for the consumer and we aint complaining :-)

Tringme, VOIP Provider from India has lowered calling rates to as low as 1 cents per minute and you can now call India at 2.95 cents per minute. Possibly the best rate available in the market today. Don't compare Tringme with Betamax, there are many hidden charges with Betamax and obviously the risk of loosing your account :-(

Some new Calling Rates by Tringme, are as follows:

India: 2.95 cents
US: 1 cent
Uk: 1 cent
Singapore: 1 cents
China: 1.3 cents

This offer is applicable to existing and new customers both.

I have also noticed that lately, Tringme has improved a lot on their call quality. Nothing much to say here, Just give them a try, and save some money in this economy. Penny saved is penny earned.

Tringme Calling Rates is possibly a trigger in this highly competitive Cheap International call market, we might possibly see reactions from other providers such as Local Phone etc. Wait and watch and lets hope that calling India will become 1 cents per minute soon.

Voxox offers Free VOIP and Video Conferencing

While lurking around to find the next big VOIP Provider, we noticed a new Free VOIP Calls and Video Conferencing Provider who is giving away 1200 mins of Free VOIP calls.

VoxOx is a Free Phone Service and Video Conferencing Service. A San Diego-based telecom provider, Telcentris, Inc has launched their public beta of a web-based calling service, VoxOx. Interesting they also offer a VoxOx Phone number (USA Phone number) which you can take with you anywhere and forward calls to your regular phone. This service is called VoxOx Reach Me.

VoxOx is aiming for the big fish Skype. They are trying to get you out of the Skype hangover and get your settled within their Free VOIP application. As a part of the beta, they are offering 2 Hours of Free international calls. Please note they are still have issues with their Web Portal Login however their VoxOx application works fine which will let you call and make Video conference calls.

On a whole, Looks like a good application but needs some quick dirty fixes to get it running smoothly. I can say, A long way to go to get Skype out of the market. Many people tried without any luck, you are the next one in the pipeline.

I always Skype won't be beaten by anyone but themselves. MARK MY WORD.

No more consolidation in VOIP Industry?

Have you noticed recently no more consolidation, takeover or mergers happening in VOIP space? What is the reason? Where is the Venture Capital Money going?

I have read many post recently who talk about Future of VOIP, VOIP is no more interesting kinda stuff. You hear that from Skype, which makes me mad. Who says there is no more innovation in VOIP? There is indeed and i am confident it won't be coming from the good old VOIP providers like Skype or Vonage. These companies are going to enjoy their retirement time soon.

After the Ribbit takeover by British Telecom couple of months back, we haven't really seen any action in VOIP industry. No more takeover, mergers, buy-outs, its suddenly a quiet space. Besides of course, companies spending more time for technology improvements. For that matter and for a change, lot less news from Jajah (i call them media monster, they release PR more than I write articles lol).

So where is all the money going? Why Venture Capitalist or Large Telecom companies are shying away from buying VOIP companies? Don't give me the obvious answer: Credit Crunch and Recession. I know this time around, Its different. Its all about the Money and it's hurting from bottom up. I spoke to a CEO of large telecom company in India and he said, they are targetting to cut down expediture by 50% by May by reducing employees and ad budgets. I personally think both are wrong choices.

Let me tell you why? I personally do not believe in the so called concept of "Cost Cutting by the way of employee lay-offs and Ad budget curbing". You lose the asset in either way. If you stop spending ads during recession, You will most likely to lose customers when the markets comes back to normal, coz the brand awareness is washed out. The best way to look at it is by buying ads when the rest of the market is doing the obvious. Venture Capitalist on the other hand waiting for the right "investment", which they will mostly likely not to find :-)

Unfortunately, you will see more fallouts in the VOIP industry than ever. There are many VOIP firms who will actually do well if they know how to exactly promote their services to consumers. It doesn't matter if its recession or not, every market has its potential and you need to understand it well.

I hope some of the younger companies actually focus more on building better technology during this tough time and expect to reap rewards when the market is back-up. Either way, VOIP is destined to replace your good old telephony line and even GOD can't stop it. PERIOD!

Sify Talk offers unlimited Calls to USA UK Canada

While reading Earnings Report as part of my daily reading, I noticed that Sify has a interesting VOIP service called Sify Talk which seem to be offer unlimited Free international calls to USA, UK and Canada.

Sify Talk is part of Satyam-Sify venture and monthly VOIP plans. For about Rs.499, you can make unlimited calls to one number in US, UK (LandLine only) or Canada. In USA and Canada, you can call mobile phones as well. In addition to the inlimited calls, You will also get Rs.300 worth calling to other international numbers.

Don't yet jump all over, You MUST read the fine print before you signup for this service.

1) You can make unlimited calls ONLY to 1 number, which you must choose while signing up.Request to change the "unlimited number" can be made only after 30 days .
2) SifyTalk at present can be used for only outgoing calls to international destination. However if you know their SIP address, you might as well be able to receive calls. Hint: Check ATA configuration which should technically have SIP address, then try making calls via any other SIP provider. Just use SIP URI to make the calls to verify the SIP service is working, then expriment with other mechanism such as ENUM.
3)Sify Talk is only available in Chennai, Bangalore, Vizag, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh,Hyderabad and Ludhiana.
4)There is a one time Fee for ATA Rs.1599/-. Try finding out if they allow you to use your own ATA, i doubt
5)Rs. 499/ is a recurring fee in order to continue to use the service.

If anyone is currently using Sify Talk, your feedback is appreciate so readers can make a proper decision.

How to Call RingPlus Free VOIP International Call Gateway

Ring Plus is definately the most read post on VOIP Guide last week, primarily because they offer the best free international voip call anywhere in the world. However I noticed some people are confused about How to use Ring Plus from outside USA or call their USA number via one of the free international call program to save on local call cost.

Let's look at various options to call RingPlus Access numbers:

1) Gizmo5 Backdoor Dialing: Gizmo5 has one of the best feature which keeps me with them, the backdoor dialing. Its just like good ol' VOIP hacking, well sorta. Since there are lot of Digital home phone providers like PhonePower, Lingo etc which run on VOIP and obviously there are numbers are ported on the VOIP network, easily accessible for In-Network calling or SIP-SIP calling. Gizmo5 uses this loophole (or should i say technology) to dial these numbers out for FREE, coz SIP to SIP is always a free call.

However not all ?USA numbers are not under backdoor dialing, there are about 11% phone provider in usa are covered under Gizmo5 backdoor dialing. We need to find out which Ring Plus number is always for backdoor dialing. You can check it out at Gizmo 5.To give you one quick ready number which works on Gizmo5 is +12024460316. Wait, you need to dial with a prefix like call this number for free by dialing 0101-2024460316. This way you can call this number without any restriction and it does not have any limit on time. Once you are connected to Ring Plus Gateway, validate your login and start making calls.

2) DukaDial: This works only for americans. If you don't have unlimited USA phone plan with your home phone line, you would end up paying some money while calling Ring Plus. Let's avoid it, I am assuming there are no cost for receiving calls.
Use DukaDial to make free calls to any usa number, its a phone to phone service. Enter your number and then enter destination number (Ring Plus Gateway). DukaDial will first call you and then call ringplus number this way you would save on the local call cost as well :-)

3)EarthCaller: Works for anywhere in the world. However you need IE7 for earthcaller to work. Extremely simple, login and start making calls to Ring plus gateway.

4)Mediaringtalk: You need to download their softphone. Gives you 10 min per call, you can dial the same number again and again upto 4-5 times max within a day.

Let me know if i missed out a VOIP Provider which can possibly give free calls to ring plus gateway.

Now it doesn't matter where you live you can use Ring Plus and make calls anywhere in the world including India. The call quality can make some of the large VOIP provider think twice about their infrastructure :-)