Free Calls from Net

Voixio offers free voip international calls

2008-07-11T05:01:00.002-07:00

We discussed a new free voip international calls service called Voixio. This can potential work for unlimited calls to India.

Unfortunately as always we found them when they were in closed beta and not ready to make free voip calls. However It seems now Voixio is all set to be used as free voip international calls service. Voixio is very similar to other Flash based VOIP services such as Tringme. However their free voip services is based on Ad-based model.

Lets see what exactly do they offer.

1) Ad-based Free VOIP Service: Vioxio offers ad-based free voip service. When you first try using the service, they would ask for your interest in topics. Once you select that, every time you try to make a free international call, it would trigger a AD based on the options you selected. Once the advertisement is over, your free international call is connected. We found that the call time varies, sometimes 10 minutes and sometimes it was only 2 minutes. Unfortunately Voixio doesn't explicitly mention the upper limit to free calling minutes per day. However its definately restricted on per day basis. Maybe you can try and make multiple Ids and make more free international calls :-)

2)Cheap International Calls using Voixio Plus: Voixio has another option called Voixio plus which let you skip advertisements and make cheap international calls. Of course these calls are charged and you need to top-up your account. Rates are fine but not the cheapest available in the market.

3)Click to Call: Voixio allows you to take your calling widget to any website and let people call you for FREE. You can use Call forwarding however It's not very clear if this will be charged. We thought this could be deducted from daily Free international calls credit.

4) Video Conferencing: Voixio also offers Video Conferencing via web. You don't need to download heavy video conferencing applications. It seems you can video conference with upto 4 people simulataneously.

Note: Please remember Voixio offers daily credit which can be used for either VOIP Calls, video conference calls or SIP Calls. Don't waste your credit on SIP Calls which can be made FREE via X-lite or any other SIP network.

If you are able to make free voip international calls to India or any other country, do let us know. We would like to know the number of minutes you can use everyday. Does this work with multiple IDs? Of course, send a Voixio Hack if any? :-)

Cheap VOIP International Calls to India

2008-07-11T05:01:00.001-07:00

Good old days of making free voip international calls to India are over. We hardly find any VOIP Provider offering this service anymore. However we are always on the lookout for cheap voip providers to india.

Today we are going to compare voip providers who offer cheap international voip calls to India.

1) CallEasy: CallEasy is a part of Betamax services. Calleasy currently offers calls to india at 2 cents per minute which is the lowest in the market.

2)WebCallDirect: They are also a part of betamax VOIP services. Offering 2 cents per minute to India.

3)Intervoip: Intervoip started off with 1.5 cents and was the cheapest call provider for India. However they increased their rates almost immediately and now for landline calls they offer 2.5 cents and for mobile, its 2 cents per minute.

4)VOIP Raider: VoipRaider also offers cheap calls to India at around 2.5 per minute for landline calls. VoipRaider was a big hit when they were offering free calls to south africa.

There are more cheap VOIP Providers (mostly betamax services) who offer international voip calls to India in the range of 3-6 cents per minute. However currently CallEasy and WebCalldirect seem like the best offers available.

Let us know if you are aware of a provider offering anything less than 2 cents per minute to India.

Free Conference Call Service Providers

2008-07-11T04:59:00.000-07:00

After discussing Low Cost Conference Callsand Video Conference Calls last week, as promised we today present Free Conference Call Services which will save you huge amount of money on conferencing services.

This post is mainly for SOHO or small business or Individual users who do not like to spend $$$ on Conference Call Services. If you are a professional business users with more than 50-100 employees, we strongly suggest you use one of the Low Cost Conference Calls services.

With the advent of Web 2.0, Conference calling has become virtually FREE. Easy Access number availablity, IP Networks and SIP based telephony has made it easier than ever.

Lets look at conference calling companies which offer free conference calls services. This list has web and non-web based services.

1) FreeConferenceCalls.com: A leading free conference call provider from USA. They offer hassle-free conference calls.

Features:
a) 6 hours per conference, including recording, and there is no limit on how many hours you wish to conference each month.
b)Offer is on continous basis. No deadline for free conference calls.
c) You can record your conference calls.
d) Service available anywhere in the world as long as you can dial their conference bridge number based in USA.

2) CalliFlower (iotum): This is one awesome Free Conference Call service. Developed by fellow blogger, Alec Saunders. It works via Facebook App or calling their conference bridge numbers.

Features:
a) Your phone number is the personal PIN that seamlessly connects you to every call from anywhere in the world.
b) Conference Bridge numbers avilable in USA and France.
c) Powered by reliable Truphone network.
d) Record your conference calls.

3) Rondee: We discovered Rondee when they were not even ready with their free conference calls service. However it seems now their free conference call service is going on well. Its web based free conference service.

Features:
a) Upto 100 participants can use free conference call service.
b) Works via Conference Bridge number and personal PIN (issued when you create a new conference call).
d) Ability to set up a conference call on future dates.

4) OoVoo: Oovoo is a video conference and free conference call service however you need to download their application. We found OoVoo has clean interface and can beat many similar conference call softwares at ease.

Features:
a) Multi people conference
b) Works on Windows and Mac

5) Foonz: Foonz is a basically a group conference call service. When you start a group call, foonz instantly “invites” people to join your call by sending a text message to their cell phones. Every participant gets a Foonz number which they need to dial in order to get connected to the free conference call.

Features:
a) Easy to use
b) Works via Mobile/Landline
c) Connect as many participant as you can.

6) Other Free Conference Call Services: The good old Skype still does great conference calling. You can also use Paltalk or WebEx Free Trial to make conference calls. WebEx has many more features.

If you know any free conference calls service not discussed here but worth making to the above list, do let us know.

Free Voip International Calls

2008-06-26T04:58:00.000-07:00

As Promised, we are kicking off the free international calls series. Today we are discussing various ways to make free calls to Singapore.

As most of you know, I live in singapore. There are huge number of people abroad who make international calls to Singapore. Almost 80% of these users are totally unaware of VOIP Providers who offer free international calls to Singapore. Lets make there life easier.

Lets look at VOIP Providers who offers free calls to Singapore:

1) MediaRingTalk: Mediaring is a Singapore based VOIP/Telecom provider. Mediaring offers totally free calls to any singapore landline or mobile number via their service MediaRingtalk. They offer unlimited calls but each call only last for 10 mins. You can however call the same number unlimited times. No need to add any credit to your account.

2)There are host of other Betamax Services which offers free calls to Singapore. a)VoipWise b) VoipDiscount c)VoipBuster

3)Peterzahlt:If you live in Germany, then you can use PeterZhalt to make totally free international calls to Singapore. Its a interesting service which offers almost 30 mins per call using Phone to Phone in lieu of Advertisements. Works only in Germany.

4)If you are not interested in Free International Calls to Singapore but rather get cheap international calls at good price, you might like to try Skype International calling plans starting at 4.54 Euro incl. VAT. They will let you make 10000 minutes of free international calls to Singapore landline + Mobile.

There were many other VOIP Providers offering free calls to singapore but later stopped the service.

Free Calls to Pakistan

2008-06-26T04:56:00.001-07:00

VOIP Guide has always been a no.1 resource for finding Free calls to India or Free International calls or even Free VOIP. We not only found a place in google but also in your heart :-) However we never blogged about Free Calls to Pakistan.

Thankfully we got some great audience who not only read the blog but share great voip services, hacks and much more on a regular basis. Our regular reader, Aboo Hamid has sent in a tip that Lowratevoip(another betamax product) is offering free calls to pakistan (landline+ mobile) and free calls to Jordan.

Of course always remember one thing, with betamax you need to atleast top-up minimum credit in order to make free calls or continue to make free calls. Its definately a great news to pakistani friends who always have been on the lookout to make free calls. Now for a minimum credit purchase you can make free calls to pakistan.

With lowratevoip, Registered users get max 200 minutes per week of free calls, measured over the last 7 days and per unique IP address. Unused free minutes cannot be taken to the following week(s). Do remember this fair use policy before buying credit.

One more important thing not necessarily related to lowratevoip, but I would like to share. With any betamax product, if you do not belong to a free calling country, don't use Phone to Phone for free destinations. If you use, the callback to your phone will be charged. There is no point in blaming betamax that they charged you since your origination country isnt free and it costs money to call you back.

All pakistani friends, go checkout Lowratevoip and make free calls to pakistan.

Sgoope- Free Calls (Ads supported) to the world

2008-06-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

Sgoope is a new alternative to Skype. It's using Ad-supported VOIP model, similar to Globe 7. I have already discussed Globe 7 and posted a short review as a part of "future Of VOIP" post.

The most unique thing about Sgoope is the way it credits back talktime. By talking online you earn more credits for phone calls. Each time you call a Sgoope or Skype user it gives you some FREE CREDIT to make more calls. You earn 2 minutes of free talktime by talking 5 minutes with a SKYPE or SGOOPE user.

It works as follows to give you an example:

You call a Skype user from your SGOOPE phone for 15 minutes whereby you earn 60 CIMs. Afterwards you call a land line phone in Australia. The first 4 minutes are free, and for the 60 CIMs you have earned you can talk for another 5 minutes free of charge.

To see the list of free countries, Check here. Surprisingly, this list also has India and some other countries which are typically not offered under the FREE Calls scheme by providers such as Voipcheap, VOipbuster, jajah etc

With free calls to landline and mobile phones, Sgoope will soon be conquering all competitors. The calls are ad-supported. When you accept ads you get free phone time.

Additionally, you can SMS, Email and even use it as a answering machine.

you can download this application here...

1 hour of Free Calls to India

2008-06-26T04:50:00.001-07:00

As promised earlier, we are always on the lookout for Free Calls, especially India or other asian countries. Extremely sorry for not posting this for some time. Don't miss this great free calling offer to India.

Thanks to Rohin for sending us the tip.Rebtelis currently offering 60 minutes of free calls to India for their New customers. Yes, this will only work for new registrations. If you are a old customer, you might want to try registering again :-).

Few things to remember, Free Calls talktime will be credited to your only when you use the rebtel voucher code : freepctophone. You have to use it while registering. On the registration page, there is a option Have a voucher code?: Enter the voucher code here.

Although, we agree that Rebtel is a good service. We had several issues with them in the past. As per our analysis, Almost 5000+ members were signed up through VOIP Guide till date but Rebtel kept on telling us that all the users were using fraud credit cards?. This was one of the reason, we decided not to promote Rebtel offers anymore. However due to overwhelming demand for Free calls to India, we thought about posting this article.

We hope you make the most of the free calls to India offer.

NetQOS---VOIP--Just Read

2008-06-26T04:35:00.001-07:00

AUSTIN, Texas (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) June 24, 2008 -- As network traffic grows in volume and complexity so do the jobs of network engineers, who must maintain optimal network and application performance while faced with a constant and diverse set of challenges such as data center consolidation, virtualization, WAN optimization, and VoIP management. The new NetQoS® Inc. Managed Services offering helps customers maintain high service levels and maximize ROI amid these challenges, especially as resources are stretched thin and specialized skill sets become essential to tackling the latest project.

“Many IT organizations do not have the resources to take full advantage of the latest technologies or implement new projects and often lose critical knowledge when personnel change roles,” said Robert Machnacki, senior vice president of services for NetQoS. “Relying on NetQoS performance experts for Managed Services will help customers maintain continuity in the face of change and free up their time to focus their core competencies on meeting business goals.”

News Image Acting as an extension of the IT organization, NetQoS Professional Services experts deliver NetQoS Managed Services using best practices and operational methodologies to provide customers with:

* Techniques to fully utilize NetQoS products to optimize network and application performance
* Interpretation of network performance metrics and anomalies
* Customized reporting packages
* Application traffic analysis
* Ongoing feedback on the network
* Integration capabilities with Help Desk workflows
* Training and consulting

For more information about NetQoS Managed Services, visit http://www.netqos.com/services/managed_services.html.

About NetQoS Professional Services

In addition to Managed Services, NetQoS Professional Services programs include product-based and vendor-neutral service offerings designed to optimize the network for application performance, including Critical Problem Resolution, Network Health Check, Application Impact Analysis, NetQoS DocuNet™, and VoIP readiness. In addition, NetQoS Professional Services offers customized onsite training programs as well as NetAnalyst® training and certification courses. The NetQoS NetAnalyst training program provides comprehensive instruction in the specific troubleshooting and problem-resolution skills required for measurable network and application performance improvements. The NetQoS Professional Services organization is fully staffed with consultants internationally renowned for their network performance management experience and knowledge. For information about the full range of NetQoS Professional Services, visit http://www.netqos.com/services/network_performance_management.html.

About NetQoS Inc.

NetQoS provides network and application performance management software and services that improve application delivery across the world’s most complex networks. More than 800 service providers, government agencies, and large enterprises – including half of the Fortune 100 – use the NetQoS Performance Center to monitor application service levels, troubleshoot problems quickly, and plan for change. Representative NetQoS customers include Chevron, Lockheed Martin, American Express, Hilton Hotels, Siemens, Boeing, Deutsche Telekom, NASA, and Barclays Global Investors. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NetQoS has R&D centers in Austin and Raleigh, N.C., and regional sales offices in London and Singapore. For more information, visit www.netqos.com or call 877-835-9575.

RSS Feed to NetQoS Press Releases: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NetqosPressReleases

Follow NetQoS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NetQoSLive

NetQoS is a registered trademark of NetQoS Inc. All other trade names, trademarks, and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Telanetix Expands VoIP Presence

2008-06-25T19:04:00.002-07:00

Telanetix, Inc., a leading IP solutions provider offering telepresence and VoIP services to the SMB and SME markets, has signed an agreement with the nation's largest sales lead capture provider. The new customer provides an innovative service that allows their clients to capture vital intelligence about prospects and customers.

Telanetix is to provide their VoIP business solution for the organization's contact center. The agreement has a two-year term, with an estimated value of approximately $4,000,000 .

Telanetix's AccessLine offers its VoIP Volume Service at a discount of 30 to 40 percent from that of traditional phone companies. The service is specifically designed for high volume applications and includes local, long distance, toll free and international calling.

VIVOphone Deploys Paradial RealTunnel(r)

2008-06-25T19:04:00.001-07:00

Paradial of Oslo, Norway, and VIVOphone of Miami, Florida, have announced that VIVOphone has enhanced their VoIP service with Paradial's RealTunnel(r) firewall and NAT traversal solution. RealTunnel, which supports ICE, STUN, TURN and SSL tunnelling techniques, enables VIVOphone to deliver VoIP services that otherwise are prevented from working due to firewalls, NATs and web proxies.

STUN, TURN, ICE and SSL tunnelling in RealTunnel(r) enables VIVOphone's customers to access VIVOphone's VoIP services from anywhere, even if users are located behind strict corporate firewalls and web proxies.

VIVOphone is a VoIP service provider based in Miami, with offices in Latin America. VIVOphone focuses on the US and Latin American markets. A developer of softphones and VoIP related technology, VIVOphone provides communications services, and solutions to customers across the globe.

Based on a IP-PSTN translation network, VIVOphone systems handle outbound and inbound calls both to and from the PSTN via a highly integrated softphone and multi-protocol gateway managed by the company.

VIVOphone has won several industry awards, and collaborates closely with Fortune 100 corporations to provide OEM VoIP solutions at both the software and device level.

Paradial RealTunnel is a traversal product for FW/NAT (Firewall / Network Address Translation) and web proxies.

RealTunnel works with virtually any SIP, H.323 and H.460 clients as well as any FW/NAT device, including strict corporate firewalls, without requiring FW/NAT or network reconfiguration.

RealTunnel consists of RealTunnel clients and RealTunnel Servers.

A Review of Skype 4.0

2008-06-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

A Review of Skype 4.0

The Skype 4.0 is a beta is the latest version of highly popular Skype voip client and its an improved version that comes with modified features to serve its users better. Skype believes that this improved version would make communication via its medium a lot more fun and a platform to be desired at all time.

One of the improvements made is the IM style layout consisting of multiple small windows which has been replaced with a single, full-screen video chat window which facilitates navigation. The tabbed "buddy list" window prominent since the very beginning of the product, has been replaced by a simple left-hand toolbar with the contact list as the primary feature, and buttons for "Call Phones," "Directory," and "Shop."

Although, "Call Phones" retains the keypad layout of previous versions, it has a banner across the top listing Skype rates (currently starting at €.017), and now features an SMS button where the "end call" button logically should be. "Directory" is similar to the Skypefind search engine in prior versions. It is a search engine geared toward finding local businesses within the "what" and "where" criteria, or individuals in the "Find People" category. Like Skypefind, the criteria for searches may currently be a little bit loose and data a bit irregular.

Under Directory are buttons for "Chat Rooms" and "Skype Prime." The latter does not yet work, but the Chat Rooms tab links to the service known as Skypecast beta in previous versions of Skype. Undoubtedly one of the oddest-sounding things that can be done with Skype, these audio chat rooms provide an international platform for cross-linguistic conversations. The audio quality is realy great as usual with Skype and this new version enhance video communication greatly.

The redesign looks to take the emphasis off of simple IM and VoIP calling, and refocus on video conferencing. Audio and video sync are adequate, given the participants are using suitable hardware. The new skype 4.0 is really what a look-in, download the new skype here now and see for yourself. Dont forget to leave comments here to let us know how you feel about the latest skype version.

Skype Boom Stimulates Reactions from IT Enterprises

2008-06-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

The rate at which Skype is growing left many IT managers in some very decisive situations, they no longer have to sit on the fence; those that want to continue using it should bring it in-house to fully manage and control the application and those that don't need to figure out how to block its use outright.

It is crystal clear many advantages Skype has to offer them among which is the provision of cheap long-distance calling, particularly for those who frequently travel abroad. Skype also enables quick collaboration via conferencing for small groups. Best of all, it's easy to use and has a broad user base.

Little wonder Michael Jackson, Skype's vice president of mobile and telecom services, announced at the European IT Forum Sept. 25-26, that Skype has 113 million registered users, 30 percent of which use Skype for business.

By its nature, Skype wants to be on the network and wants to work under any network conditions. The Skype protocol is so well-engineered that it can't be denied access by simply blocking users' access to foreign IP address blocks or to network protocols. Skype also will readily leak out of the network, using high-numbered ports—either TCP or UDP (User Datagram Protocol). As a last resort, it will use ports 80 and 443, which are most commonly used for Web traffic.

Another interesting point is that a firewall that blocks inbound traffic or uses NAT (Network Address Translation) also won't stop Skype. When a Skype client starts, it opens a session with a supernode in the Skype network. If the client cannot be contacted from the Internet, the supernode will notify the client when a call comes in—via the open connection. If the recipient cannot directly contact the sender, the supernode or a relay agent can then act as a proxy between the two callers.

These supernode proxies can be located anywhere on the Internet. In Section 4 of Skype's EULA (end-user license agreement), its revealed that Skype can use any user's computer processor and network resources to help facilitate performance. With enough processing power and network bandwidth at its disposal, any Skype client could be a supernode or a relay agent.

Almost all Skype communications are strongly encrypted with AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), and some setup traffic is obfuscated with RC4 encryption, so the proxies cannot decipher any third-party traffic that crosses through. But this encryption also means that network administrators have no insight into what data is contained within the encrypted stream.

Check out the all new Skype 4.0

IOGEAR's USB Speaker Phone

2008-06-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

IOGEAR's novel USB VoIP Speaker Phone is a high quality and portable USB device with DSP voice processing technologies. It is designed for Internet telephony applications such as Instant Messenger (e.g. AOL, MSN, and Yahoo) or Voice over IP Softphone (e.g. Skype, ,voipbuster, gizmoproject, Vonage, or Webex). The USB Speaker Phone is the ideal communication solution for any mobile worker or IM chatter to engage in hands-free conversation or conference calls. Features Full duplex speaker phone with 110dB peak volume Use with IM software (AOL, MSN, Yahoo, etc) Use with VoIP software (Skype, ,voipbuster, gizmoproject, Vonage,Webex, etc) Speaker: 2w peak, 40mm,4ohm, 500Hz to 5KHz 8KHz input sampling rate USB Audio 2.5mm headset jack Dimensions: 3.2 x 2.2 x 0.8 inches (8.1 x 5.5 x 2.0 cm) Weight: 1.5 ounces (42 grams) DSP voice Processor 40 mm mylar speaker and Electret Condenser omni-directional microphones.Click Here for more information about IOGEAR's USB VoIP Speaker Phone.

AIM Phoneline VoIP Service - Get free US phone, make free unlimited calls and more!

2008-06-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

With the AIM Phoneline voip service the popular AOL Instant Messenger application has been transformed to an advanced voip application with lot of great features. The AIM Phoneline is the latest furray into the voip market by AOL. The AIM Phoneline voip application is very easy to install and configure, much thesame with AOL instant messenger. One very interesting feature about this voip service from AOL is that they are given away what others are selling, for example when you sign up for AIM Phoneline you get a free US phone line (nicknamed AIM Digits ) on which people can call you from any phone in the world. Receiving call on this number is free and unlimited. Also you get a free subscription to AIM phoneline voicemail which automatically answers your call and record audio messages when you are not available. It took me just some few minutes to download, install and setup AIM Phoneline. Both the voicemail and phone-in number worked very fine and the audio quality for both pc-to-pc and pc-to-phone calls were excellent. You can also subscribe to an interesting monthly plan for just $9.95 per month. With this monthly plan you can make unlimited free calls to landline and mobile phones in US, Canada, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Also calls to landlines in about 30 other countries are free and unlimited with this monthly plan subscription. You can download and sign-up for AIM Phoneline at www.aimphoneline.com.

Recording calls with voipbuster, voipcheap... etc

2008-06-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

A reader sent me an e-mail requesting to know how he can record calls with his voipbuster and voipcheap user clients, so after replying his e-mail i decieded to make a post about it here also for the benefit of other readers. The best way to record calls made using voipbuster, voipcheap, voipstunt, internetcalls etc is to use Express Talk softphone. Just configure any of those applications you are using on Express Talk and then use the Record call feature on express talk to record the call. You can also select automatic record call option on express talk so that your calls are recorded automaticall whenever you call. This can also be used with any SIP based voip service.

ICall to Offer Authorized iPhone Wifi VoIP Application

2008-06-09T19:03:00.002-07:00

A lot of iPhone VoIP applications have come out of the woodwork recently, and for good reason. Apple Inc. is holding its annual Worldwide Developers Conference this week; there are strong rumors that it will introduce a 3G iPhone; and it will soon open the App Store, which will distribute third-party iPhone applications.

But many of the recent VoIP applications deliver calls over wifi using "jailbroken" iPhones — that is devices that have been unlocked, in violation of Apple's rules, in order to run unauthorized third-party apps. Recently announced applications by fringland Ltd. and sipgate fall into that category. ICall Inc., by contrast, has just announced a VoIP-over-wifi iPhone app that promises to work within Apple's rules. That will be a relief for users who don't want to risk accidentally incapacitating their iPhones or incurring Apple's disfavor.

ICall is a Greenwich, Conn.-based Internet VoIP provider. The company offers, among other things, free inbound and outbound PC calling via headsets and softphones, which currently run only on Windows computers. The company also offers a Pro service with extra features for $5 per month for unlimited North American calling; overseas calls costs extra. ICall also has a carrier-services business that offers inbound and outbound calling on a wholesale basis.

ICall's iPhone wifi VoIP application will be simple to use, allowing you to merely launch the client software that you have downloaded and installed on the device. You won't be able to do that, of course, until Apple makes the software available at its App Store — iCall isn't distributing the current beta version on its own. The software will work whenever you're near a wifi hotspot, and it will tell you when you are. An icon on the iPhone's screen will also tell you when you're near a hotspot if the iCall software doesn't happen to be running.

If you're already talking on an incoming cellular call when you are near the hotspot, the iCall software will display a window asking whether you'd like to switch the call to VoIP. If you choose to switch, the transfer takes less than a second, according to iCall CEO Arlo Gilbert. Although he won't reveal the technology that iCall uses to make the switch, Gilbert said that the transfer is unnoticeable to the person on the other end.

You can also initiate and receive wifi VoIP calls independently of the cellular network. To make a call, you simply launch the iCall software and dial as usual. The interface is designed to work like the standard iPhone dialer. If you leave the software running, you can also receive calls, using inbound numbers that you get once you've registered as an iCall user.

ICall hasn't yet decided how it's going to make money from the service, according to Gilbert. Three possibilities, though, are charging a flat monthly rate for service; providing metered calling; or offering free, ad-supported service, he said. However the company decides to make money, users should find its software more reassuring than services that depend on jailbroken iPhones.

Realseekr.com, a New Web Technology for VoIP Users

2008-06-09T19:03:00.001-07:00

Realseekr is a new website that combines release searching for a home with social networking and VoIP technology to provide a full-service experience. This website connects real estate agents to buyers using Skype, Twitter and SMS texting.

According to a statement made by Founder and CEO of Real Seekr, Grant Freer, the company has been able to utilize the newest Web technologies to make home search - Social, Useful & Fun(SM) with Real Seekr(SM). In order to encourage interaction among users, they have also incorporated a number of ways for buyers, sellers and agents to communicate.

He also stated that, "by working in harmony with MLS's and REALTOR(R) Associations, as well as partnering with brokers and agents on a local and regional level throughout North America, utilizing IDX raw data feeds, we are making sure that the quality, reliability and integrity of the listing data available to Real Seekr(SM) users is of the highest caliber".

Another great feature is that, Real Seekr also allows video conferencing and includes virtual tours and photos of the properties listed.

Truphone Announces Mobile VoIP Service through Cellular

2008-06-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

Truphone launches a new product that transports calls between handset and gateway over the local cellular voice network. The new service, called Truphone Anywhere, requires downloading Truphone software to your handset.By doing this, it transport the calls between handset and gateway over the local cellular voice network.

It currently works on a number of Nokia E- and N-series devices. Once installed, the software recognizes when you're dialing an international number, and asks if you want to use Truphone Anywhere. (You can turn off the query and make the choice automatic if you wish.) If you decide to use it, the software instructs the handset to dial a local Truphone gateway. From there, the call travels over the Truphone VoIP network to the international destination. Truphone refers to this method as "call through."

On the other hand, there is an alternative method called callback. When you dial, the software doesn't route the call to a local gateway. Instead, it sends a text message to a Truphone server in the U.K. or U.S. The server sets up a call from a gateway close to your handset. It then sets up a call from a similar gateway to the number you're trying to reach, and connects the two calls via cheap VoIP circuits. The callback method works best when dialing even a local number can be expensive, such as when you're traveling overseas or using a pay-as-you-go plan at home.

One interesting thing is that the callback and call-through methods can both reduce the cost of international calls by a factor of 10 or more. Unsurprisingly, a variety of other companies besides Truphone are using similar if not identical approaches to accomplish the same thing.

Truphone's move reinforces the likelihood that transporting international VoIP calls locally over cellular voice networks will prove the most popular and practical approach for some time to come. Using cellular data networks alone to carry calls can get particularly complicated. For one thing, it requires uniform high-speed coverage, usually 3G, to work consistently. Carriers may also object to this usage, or even try to block calls.

When the calls use the local voice network, by contrast, the carriers will at least get paid for cellular minutes. And when the alternative is no compensation when calls go through wifi hotspots, it will hard for them to object to services like Truphone's new offering.

Use Jaxtr to Receive Free Mobile VoIP Calls From Any Location

2008-06-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

VoIP is best known as a method for calling people cheaply or for free. It's equally attractive as a way to let other people call you at little or no cost. But people trying to make a VoIP call from a mobile phone often won't find it convenient. They may, for example, have to download software to their handsets, or at least be a registered user of a given service. Nevertheless, one service, offered by jaxtr Inc., makes free inbound VoIP calling from mobile phones easy. Here's how to make it work for you.

Start by going to the jaxtr Web site and clicking the "sign up free!" button. Enter your name, screen name, password, email address and age, and click the "Terms of Service" link. If everything looks good to you, click the "Signup" button to add friends either from the email account you entered or from other accounts. You can also immediately invite your friends to call you for free, or skip that step for now. The emailed invitation sends them a link to your jaxtr home page, which will be http://www.jaxtr.com/username. Your home page displays a "call me" button, as well as "text me" and other buttons.

Adobe Introduces Free Web Conferencing

2008-06-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

Holding meetings via the Web can be useful and convenient. But online conferencing is a lot more helpful when you can share things besides spoken words, such as documents, text chats and whiteboards. Though many Web-conferencing solutions offer such features, they can be expensive, complicated or both. A cheaper option is now available with Adobe System Inc.'s Acrobat ConnectNow, a free Web-conferencing service for very low-end use. It's part of a set of free online applications that the company has just introduced in beta, collectively called Acrobat.com.

Getting Started

Using the application starts by signing up at the sipgate Web site with your email address, password and name. Next comes downloading and installing the handset software, which works only with "jailbroken" iPhones — handsets that have been unlocked in violation of Apple Inc.'s rules so that they can run third-party software. Getting started requires launching the client software and clicking the "configure account" button. After entering your sipgate username and password, you're ready to go. The service provider gives you 111 free minutes of calls to start.
How the Service Works

The application routes calls exclusively through wifi links, not over cellular voice or data networks. It thus uses a method Apple will permit once it officially allows the iPhone to run third-party applications. Currently, though, you can't buy any more minutes from sipgate because the application is not a commercial service itself. Rather, it's meant to provide an introduction to the VoIP offering sipgate will soon roll out in the U.S., according to CEO Thilo Salmon.

If you want more calling time, you'll have to get it through another SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based VoIP service, such as Gizmo5 or Free World Dialup, Salmon said. That will require entering enter a username, password, SIP server and SIP realm for the service you want to use.
Plans for the US Market

Salmon won't discuss sipgate's plans for the U.S., except to say that the company is currently setting up the infrastructure to offer a VoIP service targeting SMBs (small- to medium-sized businesses). It could be in operation within months.

By then, of course, Apple will be well into its plan to not only allow but actually distribute third-party iPhone apps, including VoIP ones. That plan is part of its high-profile campaign to make the iPhone a business as well as a consumer device. As a result, sipgate's iPhone application could prove a good way to bring its new VoIP service to the attention of U.S. businesses at just the right time.

How VoIP can help your career

2008-06-07T19:19:00.002-07:00

Wanna be a hero at your company? Propose a switch to Voice over IP! VoIP has the potential to save costs, simplify tasks, and increase productivity. Read on for more of the info you need to sell your boss on a VoIP system at VoIP News.

Watch out though, because it could also get you fired. A corporate communication system is no game. If you buy into a flawed system, you would probably get singled out as the scapegoat. Don't let it happen. Be sure to fully research your proposal, starting with the guide and resources mentioned in the article.

Oh, and when you get that raise, don't forget who gave you the initial push ... ;-)

AussieCall offers free international calls

2008-06-07T19:19:00.001-07:00

After Yupee Phone and SwiftCom, we were eager to find the next big VOIP provider who can give us free international calls to India and many other countries. We finally found one who would give totally free calls. However It's important you read our guide.

AussieCall is a australian free international callsprovider and its a part of FreeCallPlanet, a US based free calls company. Although FreeCallplanet offers India at around 5 cents per minute on average on various plans, AussieCall is the real deal for now.

Let me clarify a few points before you jump all over :-) AussieCall will only work for Australia. Currently they do not allow calls coming from SIP Softphones/VOIP Phones etc. However you might want to give it a try using a Callback number, Services such as Nonoh. Remember their access number is australian mobile, It could be costly.

Lets understand how we can use aussiecall to make free international calls from australia. Many of us have mobile plans which often have included free minutes bundle. You can use this to callng minutes to dial their access number.

1) Dial 0424 215 122
2) When prompted, dial 0011 and the international number (including the country code)
3) DONT hit SEND/CALL button or else you call will be diverted via your mobile provider

Now you can talk as much as you want. With this, You can make Free International Calls to 74 Countries including India (Landline+ mobile). Enjoy till this works.

Wengo launches star destinations - Wengophone users can call all 26 star destinations free

2008-06-01T05:13:00.001-07:00

The France based Wengo Limited, developer of wengophone has launched 26 free destinations tagged star destinations. Users of wengophone can call the star destinations free of charge but only users with at least 10 euros credit can make unlimited free calls to the star destinations while users without any credit can make unlimited number of free calls but the duration of the calls are limited to 2 minutes. The rates to other destinations are very low too. The star destinations are Belgium, Guadeloupe, India, Martinique, Poland, Vietnam,Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Moscow, Netherlands, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA. Also a beta version of wengophone 2.0 has also been launched with more improved features for advanced users. Wengophone is an open source SIP based softphone and its features include, free PC-to-PC calls, free and cheap PC-to-PSTN calls, conference calling, IM and video calling. Want to know more about wengophone? check out http://www.wengo.com/

New Release of trixbox Pro

2008-06-01T05:12:00.001-07:00

Business systems provider Fonality has released trixbox Pro 2.0, a second-gen IP-PBX solution that can be scaled for companies with 20 to 200 employees. It offers hands-free phone provisioning of IP-PBX products, making for quick and easy set-up of new phones.

“Resellers live and die by two things: margin and the time spent on site. trixbox Pro offers 50 percent margins and our hands-free provisioning reduces or eliminates on-site visits,” said Fonality CEO Chris Lyman. “We continue to lead the open source telephony market by introducing innovative and time-saving features.”

The new trixbox Pro also has BRI support and new support for E1 circuits.

According to Fonality:

trixbox Pro now has all the enhanced end user features available in Fonality’s turnkey offering. PBXtra 4.0®. FindMe^® with Boomerang^®Mobile Integration uses presence detection to automatically find employees on their mobile devices, allowing them to answer the call or bounce it to another extension. It allows employees to decide when and how they will be found according to their personal schedule and rules. trixbox Pro automatically observes a person’s keyboard and mouse activity and routes calls to their mobile phone or another number when they are inactive on their computer. FONcall^® is a new plug-in for the Firefox web browser and is the first one-click dialing application for business telephony. By clicking the link, trixbox Pro will automatically take an Aastra or Polycom phone off the hook and dial out to the number hands-free. New branch office integration merges spell-by-name directories, allowing callers to dial into one branch and find an employee at any other branch anywhere in the world.

Skype For Sale?

2008-06-01T05:11:00.000-07:00

What’s in store for the future of Skype?

Word has it, it could have a four-letter future: S-A-L-E.

The Financial Times reported this week that eBay might be considering a sell off of its VoIP business.

Here’s a snippet:

While the acquisition of Skype has widely come to be seen as a blunder for Ebay, the phone service itself has continued to grow fast, adding another 33m registered users in the first three months of this year to reach 309m. Although most use it for free internet phone calls, the addition of extra paid services helped Skype to increase its revenues to $126m in the first three months of this year, up 61 per cent from the year before.

“What we know is, Skype is a great stand-alone business,” Ebay’s CEO said. Its revenues this year are set to top $500m and the service will be profitable, he added.

Thoughts?

VoiceEngine IP Phone to Be Used in China

2008-06-01T05:10:00.001-07:00

Juphoon, a Chinese company, is going to use Global IP Solutions (GIPS) Voice Engine IP Phone for its new VoIP Phone Reference Design.

“Implementing GIPS VoiceEngine technology has enabled us to successfully deal with challenges such as quality, network jitter, latency and echo, as well as multiple audio codec support,” said Vik Qian, General Manager at Juphoon. “Integration of GIPS’ technologies means our customers will enjoy an enhanced user experience with quality superior to PSTN and many other VoIP Phones currently on the market.”

VoiceEngine IP Phone meets the highest voice processing requirements of hardware today.

“VoiceEngine IP Phone takes advantage of our patented technology and expertise in providing the highest voice and video quality on the market,” said Steve Rust, Vice President Business Development at GIPS. “Juphoon now has a solution that solves the complex voice processing functions with one integral piece of software that offers wide-band voice quality.”

Uplink - The Skype to SIP Adapter

2008-06-01T05:04:00.000-07:00

Lots of voip applications are based on the SIP protocol. SIP protocol has now become an industry standard. Skypeon the other hand use a proprietary protocol and has been very successful in the voip business with millions of subscribers and have a kind of cult following in the voip market. So the need always arise when you want to call from your sip based voip service or softphone to a contact on skype and vice versa. Since SIP and Skype dont interoperate ( i hope they will one day) you need an adapter that acts like a gateway between the two protocols so that calls can be made from one to the other. One of such adapters is the Uplink from NCH Swift Sound. Uplink connects the SIP protocol based voip calls to the proprietary Skype network and it works in both direction. Uplink can be downloaded free from NCH website. Its very easy to configure and use, you will get going within minutes. After installing the uplink software just go to options to give the path to your skype executable, enter you SIP service settings and the dial options when Skype call sip and vice versa. If configured correctly it worked very fine and does not interface with the call quality.

VoIP enhances Home based Call Centers

2008-06-01T05:03:00.001-07:00

Sure, voice over IP technology could help U.S. corporations move even more of their customer contact centers overseas than they have already. After all, VoIP, like the Internet itself, makes a user's physical location irrelevant. But the same technology can also help those same businesses keep more of that work at home. The reason: it'll let them extend the full capabilities of their contact centers to domestic workers who can't, or won't, commute to physically centralized facilities — not for $13 or $14 an hour. The change could come fairly quickly. A new Yankee Group report finds that 47 percent of agent seats in U.S. contact centers will have VoIP capability by the end of 2007. That's up from a mere 17 percent last year. The numbers are even higher with the real contact center pros, the ones that provide outsourced services to enterprises that don't want to do it themselves. In that group, 50 percent are already using VoIP, and 75 percent will in another 12 months, according to senior analyst Ken Landoline, author of the report. The report is the result of interviews with 351 "contact center decision makers." Transporting the voice call to the agent over IP links is actually the least important aspect of the advance. VoIP-based contact centers — the updated term, to reflect their broader capabilities, for what used to be called call centers — can work just as well, or perhaps even better, if the calls travel through a gateway and over the PSTN to agents, particularly if the agents are working remotely. What's more important is that the calls travel as IP packets through the heart of the system. That lets enterprises transform their contact centers from physical to virtual operations, in which agents can perform exactly the same functions no matter where they are located. "There is still a shadow of doubt about VoIP's quality of service," notes Landoline. "The real advantage of the VoIP application is the ability to use the unified application distributed throughout the enterprise." A VoIP system also gives those agents a lot more — and a lot more powerful — capabilities than they would have in traditional call centers using automated call distribution (ACD) equipment. The capabilities, based on IP-based features the older systems couldn't provide, are familiar. Presence awareness is one. Agents often receive calls they are not equipped to deal with, and need to bring in someone better qualified. "In a new VoIP system, they can look on screen at a buddy list and see who's available for the call, and just click on it," explains Landoline. "In the old days they would have had to call ahead to find out who is available, and then bridge in the call." VoIP also brings contact centers the usual benefits like unified voice mail, e-mail and fax capabilities, accessible through on-screen interfaces. And it allows managers to see, and gather data about, the status and performance of virtually any agent working for them anywhere, as easily as if they were all in the same building. It's that "agents anywhere" capability, as Landline puts it, that has companies excited. "More and more, people want to connect remote agents working from home, so that they can tap into some of the labor pools they haven't been able to use effectively in the past," he explains. "All they would need is a high-speed Internet connection and a telephone and a browser. You literally can work from your kitchen table on your laptop." A recent development will make it even easier for U.S. corporations to use domestic call agents. On August 18, Sprint Nextel began offering hosted contact center services, providing IP-based network and data center infrastructure. The service will allow enterprises to run VoIP call centers using their own agents, without having to shell out for equipment or facilities. The service, which runs on an Avaya platform, targets a variety of enterprises and needs, according to Susan Winter, product marketing manager. These include organizations whose customer contact needs vary by season or day of week. They could be financial services companies, particularly those with tax-related activities; companies with internal benefit enrollment deadlines; government agencies with weekly or monthly registration deadlines; and travel-related businesses. Companies just getting started are also potential customers. But Winter, too, sees the service's VoIP component as playing into the larger picture. "An industry trend is that there are going to be a lot more remote agents, with companies utilizing more domestic resources," she says. Being able to tap local workers without having to build a brick-and-mortar site is a significant advantage, she claims. The flexibility that remote work offers makes it easier to is get and retain high-quality agents, she adds. All of this could put a major damper on what seems almost a knee-jerk impulse among U.S. corporations to send customer contact work overseas. It's not just that it'll increase the pool of agents, by making available those who for one reason or another can't commute to centralized facilities. It's also that those agents can be in places like Idaho rather than India. That will help alleviate issues like "correcting" accents and overcoming cultural differences. It'll also change the cost equation. No longer will the choice be between equal-sized buildings in the U.S. and overseas. It'll be, rather, between smaller facilities in the U.S., with a lot of remote workers, and larger facilities overseas, where few workers are set up to work at home. That's important because even in developing countries, modern office buildings with state-of-the-art communications systems can be expensive. The impact on highly English-literate countries like India and the Philippines could be significant. Both have taken advantage of advanced telecom technology to transform themselves into major customer-contact outsourcing destinations. In a way, of course, it's just a new twist on an old story: what technology gives, technology can take away. The only difference now is how far it takes it, and how fast.

Qwest Offers VOD, not Ready for IPTV

2008-06-01T05:02:00.001-07:00

Qwest, a reseller of DirectTV direct broadcast satellite service has revealed that it will soon be offering its customers with Video on Demand (VOD) services using broadband connections.

This telecommunication company based in the US also made it known that is not yet ripped to offer IPTV service to its customers because of the high cost in providing such service. However, with the number of companies offering such services, the company believes that any of their customers who might one such service could as well find online video content.

In a chat with Telephone Online, Edward A. Mueller who is the CEO at Qwest said that "I don't want to do IPTV – it's too expensive, and there's not enough scale. We won't be able to keep up on content. I love DirectTV. We have more subscribers that we've signed up to DirectTV than Verizon has on FiOS or AT&T has on U-Verse. We believe [consumers] will want a customized ability to get HD Video on Demand. And the only way to that is to have enough bandwidth so it's real time.

"The young consumers of the future will want broadband on demand, and they are more interested in interaction and in the symmetry of the service. We have a great relationship with DirecTV, and they have a core competency in content. What we want is to be able to provide is that 20-Megabit Internet connection that is more important to the younger consumers of today. They not only don't want a wire line phone, they also don't want to have a TV – because they use Video on Demand."

It is however being rumored that the company wants to invest a huge sum of $300million in order to provide on-delivering 20Mbps VDSL to about 1.5million customers over the next two years.

Silynx Communications Launches C4OPS

2008-06-01T05:01:00.000-07:00

The C4OPS just announced by Sillynx Communications might be the first and only combat headset system able to provide GPS and force tracking capabilities to the dismounted soldier.

The built-in GPS receiver can help C4OPS locate soldiers' position and help them navigate to the target via voice prompt indications. A look at their website makes on think that re looking at an accessory for your PS3 or XBOX but in reality Sillynx is a government contractor only selling to US government buyers or to US government primes who can provide a US government contract number - which explains why their shopping cart is not quite functional.

The company has, however, not revealed the price but it is expected to cost around $1000 to $1500 with the optional GPS add-on.

Lycos Phone Beta Launched

2008-05-25T21:40:00.001-07:00

The internet search engine company Lycos has entered the voip market. They have launched Lycos Phone in partnetship with Idia-based Global7. Lycos Phone is a softphone that can be used to make both PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone calls. PC-to-PC calls are free and PC-to-phone calls are at low rates. When you sign up as a Gold member you get 100 free minutes of PC-to-phone calls and you also get a free US phone number as "Lycos In" number on which you can receive unlimited free incoming calls. The service is supported by advertisment, so if you sign up for Netflix or credit card promotional offers and see banner-ads you can make unlimited free calls to phones in the United States. The GUI also supports instant messaging and streaming media content. Additional features include Video calls, voicemails, online video streaming and fax to e-mail service. I got my 100 free minutes yesterday and call a friend in the US, the audio quality was quite good. I am now waiting to receive my free Lycos In number. Click here to download Lycos phone

VoIPTalk's iaxtalk

2008-05-25T21:39:00.001-07:00

The iaxtalk service from voiptalk is an Asterisk-based voip service. With iaxtalk you will get your own incoming number that will reach your Asterisk PBX and once you purchase call credit you will be able to call PSTN numbers from your Asterisk PBX at VoIPTalk competitive rates. To start you have to register for free voiptalk account and get a Voiptalk ID and password. Initially your account will be setup as a SIP account and will be converted to IAX account as soon as you buy IAX call credit. All you need to enjoy this service is a broadband internet connection and Asterik PBX. There are no activation fees, recuring charges and no hidden cost of any sort. This represent a cost effective way to bring your Asterisk PBX to life. Information on how to configure your Asterisk PBX for VoIPTalk can be found HERE and more information about this and other services from VoIPTalk is available at www.voiptalk.org.

All about IP-PBX

2008-05-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

IP-PBX, In regular telephone systems, a PBX (private branch exchange) is the switching system that manages calls between internal or local users. It also shares a number of lines that connect to the external, public phone system and parcels them out as needed to the local users. In addition, enterprise PBX systems have other features that allow them to take incoming calls, send them to the correct extensions, connect calls to answering services, etc. A typical PBX consists of a set of external phone lines, a computer server system that manages call switching, a set of internal phone lines and some form of console for manual control. In VoIP or IP telephony systems, the IP-PBX does all this and more. It performs all the switching and connecting of VoIP calls. In many cases it does the same for regular telephone calls (in systems that can handle both kinds of phone system). It is also highly programmable and can perform advanced functions including voice menu systems, automatic call conferencing, click-to-call (click on a contact record on a PC screen to initiate a voice call), call logging and tracking and much more. Using an IP-PBX system and VoIP telephone service allows an organization to combine (or converge) voice and data networks into a single system for cost-savings, simpler management and greater functionality. Typically an IP-PBX system is a piece of software running on a server . Depending on the workload, that server can also be performing other tasks, but usually it is dedicated and also acts as the VoIP system's connection to the internet. IP-PBX systems can come as software for you to install on an existing server of your own, or as preconfigured software on a server, or even as a turnkey box that is completely set up in advance to just connect to your existing network. Why you need an IP-PBX Any IP telephony setup that is for more than two or three lines needs a switching system to make it more efficient, allow internal calling and switching between users and to provide more advanced features like voicemail, call forwarding, call hold, conferencing and more. Typically IP-PBX systems become economically sensible with as few as 5 users and a good rule of thumb is that if you want an IP telephony system with extensions for your users than you will want an IP-PBX. In addition, market and analyst estimates show that there is a rapid migration to IP telephony underway because of cost, efficiency and performance advantages. Any organization, even a small one that migrates to VoIP or IP telephony will need an IP-PBX system. In the past PBX systems for organizations and enterprises cost so much that only large enterprises could afford to make use of them, but recent technological advances and pressure from open source solutions has brought the cost of IP-PBX systems down to as low as well under $1000. What you need in an IP-PBX There are dozens of IP-PBX systems and most of them can do an adequate job. Regardless of the size of your organization, any IP-PBX should be able to do the following: -Automated attendant-an automatic system to answer phones with the ability to build phone menu systems, add call menus, transfer to voicemail and create flexible and programmable rules to handle all of these features. -Call menus-flexible call management menus with user selectable options -- a more advanced version of the traditional phone tree/menu systems. A better quality system will allow you to have multiple sets of menus and even change them based on time or on information gleaned from caller ID. -Managing extensions-features to help the phone system administrator by allowing the addition of new extensions, removal of unneeded extensions, change of extension locations and much more from a web-based control panel -Voicemail and voice mailboxes-any IP-PBX should allow an almost infinite number with far more flexibility than regular phone systems -- more advanced features would include the ability to record ALL incoming and outgoing conversations automatically. -Call forwarding-automatic, programmed or manual call forwarding to any number -Call hold-placing callers properly on hold with no drop off in queues with user selectable hold music and programmable options about handling hold time length. -Conference calling-handling multi-party conference calls -- internally and externally -Branch office support-the ability to manage and remotely administer extensions at other offices just as easily as if they were local -Web-based management and administration-to make it quick and easy to manage your phone system directly from a web browser -- this can include the ability to add end-user configuration and management functions as well -Some form of integration into your basic data network so that 'click-to-call' functionality can be added or even full blown CRM systems. Who makes IP-PBX Systems? Some of the manufacturers and vendors for IP-PBX include: Alcatel, Avaya, Cisco, Dialexia, Digium, Fonality, Mitel, Nortel, Pingtel, Shoretel, Siemens and Talkswitch.

Fusion Telecommunications launches efonica (R) VoIP Service

2008-05-25T21:37:00.001-07:00

Fusion Telecommunications International, Inc. , a provider of advanced VoIP services worldwide has launched internet phone service called efonica. Users of this service will be able to call one another for free no matter where they are in the world using the efonica softphone, ip phone or their regular phones. All subscribers to the efonica internet phone service will be immediatelly after sign up assigned a eNumber with which other users can reach them on the efonica softphone (which can be downloaded for free on the efonica website) or their prefered hardware (ip phone, ATA or other SIP enabled device). eNumbers are telephone numbers starting with 10 the internet area code. With efonica it is possible to use your present telephone number as your eNumber so that your contacts do not need to remember a new number to reach you on efonica. For security the numbers are verified before they can be used as efonica eNumber. The efonica service is in three categories namely efonica free, efonica plus and efonica pro. With efonica free users can call other members for unlimited time free and also enjoy phone features such as Call hold, 3-way calling and Do not disturb. Efonica plus gives users all the benefits of efonica free and other interesting features such as efo out, web callgate, efo in, efonifax, efonicash and voicemail. Efo out enables users of efonica plus to call any regular phone in the world at the highly competitive efonica rates. Web callgate enable users to use the web to establish phone calls between two landline or mobile numbers in the world ( web activated telephony). Only efo out and web callgate are available now other features, the company says will be available soon. I have used this service and voice quality is really good thesame thing applies to efo out and web callgate. Efonica pro is business communications products, and services that can be customized to a companies communication needs enabling them to communicate more effectively and efficiently. My first impression about efonica is that its a more complete service and by the time all the features a fully available it will cater for the communication needs of individual users and businesses. More information about efonica can be obtained at www.efonica.com.

Wengo launches star destinations - Wengophone users can call all 26 star destinations free

2008-05-25T21:36:00.001-07:00

SingTel customers can now call over GSM/WCDMA and WLAN using VoIP technology

2008-05-25T21:35:00.002-07:00

Nokia and SingTel (the main Singapore Telco) have announced a collaboration to bring together 2G/3G cellular and WLAN (Wireless LAN) in a single integrated dual-mode telephony solution in three Nokia phones, the Nokia E60, Nokia E61 and Nokia N80 Internet Edition. Selected SingTel Mobile subscribers will be invited for a service trial which will allow them to use voice and data services from home when mobile via SingTel's WiFI hotspots called SingNet Wireless Surf Zones. The full commercial launch of the service is expected to be later this year. The Nokia E60, Nokia E61 and Nokia N80 Internet Edition are the first Nokia devices that are able to support VoIP using the SIP protocol. All three devices will work on 2G, 3G and WLAN networks. The Nokia N80 Internet Edition also allows for streaming video and audio over WiFi and can be used as a media distribution system for a home network by connecting to audio and video systems using WiFi and streaming content to them. SingTel's VoIP on mobile service will be available to non-business customers on postpaid mobile plans, allowing them to make unlimited local calls using their SIP-enabled VoIP devices. The service can be accessed using a home WiFi networkor through more than 330 SingTel Wireless Hotspots across the island. The subscription fees for the service will be announced later. "Nokia is pleased to co-operate with SingTel on this industry leading initiative on our range of multiradio mobile devices", said Chris Carr, General Manager, Customer Market and Operations, Nokia Singapore, "Consumers can now experience the power of mobility and benefit from accessing Internet services and calls without being connected to a computer." Vicki Brady, Vice President (Consumer Marketing), SingTel said, "SingTel is proud to be one of the first operators globally working with Nokia to bring VoIP services over Wireless LAN to our customers using Nokia devices. With SingTel's VoIP on mobile service, our customers can make local calls over the Internet with their VoIP handsets for a fixed monthly fee."

ViaTalk Broadband Phone Service Review

2008-05-25T21:35:00.001-07:00

ViaTalk's VoIP service has been getting very good reveiews on the internet of recent. Infact not a few voip ranking websites ranked ViaTalk as number one among all the popular voip service providers. During my recent visit to the United States of America i have the opportunity to use their service directly and speak to one of their subscriber who is a friend of mine. In terms of audio quality ViaTalk is great, it quite match if not exceed the quality of regular PSTN telephone. They give 24/7 customer support, they are always there when you call and ready to give you all neccessary assistance to make your broadband phone working perfectly. ViaTalk monthly subscription ranges from just $9.95 to $15.95 per month for 500 free minutes to US and Canada to unlimited free minutes to US and Canada respectively. Features of ViaTalk include Enhanced Voicemail, Call Hunt,Call Recording,BYOD Service Access,ViaTalk On-The-Go, Incoming Caller ID w/ Name, Soft Phone Access, Call Forwarding, e911 Support, etc. You also get free equipment, shipping and installation. For detailed information about viatalk's products and services visit www.ViaTalk.com.

Morodo Offers Low Call Rate for iPhone Users

2008-05-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

Morodo Limited,a London-based VoIP company, recently announced that it has launched a new application that enables Apple iPhone owners to make international phone calls at a low cost using an existing Web-based "virtual Mobile Nework".
Morodo has a product branded MO-Call, is a Virtual Mobile Network facilitates cost of making international calls from mobile phones. MO-Call works by means of a software plug-in that is installed on a mobile phone using the Safari browser and each international call is redirected through the MO-Call network, eliminating international roaming charges for mobile phone users. The MO-Call plug-in sends calls to the Morodo network offering substantial savings over Mobile Network Operator tariffs.
By using the iPhone MO-Call service as a stepping stone to its target, Morodo is aiming at becoming a global VoIP service operator. And working towards realizing this dream, the company stated that it has developed an OS that can work on multiple platforms and therefore making the usabiity of MO-Call with more than 800 different mobile phones on the market possible.
The new call rate using MO-Call ensures that users spend less for more talk, for instance, a call originating from a US mobile phone to a mobile phone user in Japan will cost $0.23 per minute, while the same calls through Verizon Wireless cost phone owners $1.62 per minute.

Jaxtr-A Free VOIP Phone for Bloggers-Free Beta Invites

2008-05-21T04:42:00.000-07:00

Never mind, but i guess this service is great especially for bloggers when you want to interact with your visitors and even for webmasters when the advertisers want to talk to you directly rather than emailing you. This is a great new way of communicating and adding that interaction to the website/blog. As a webmaster or blogger, you very well know the importance of interaction with the users. I make a point that i reply to all my emails and comments posted on the blog. Although, i hardly miss any, it's still a good idea to provide a directcall function.

One of the few benefits, I can tell without even using the service is masking your own number for callers. Caller will never get to know your real number, they will be calling you from the little widget you put on your website/blog. Additional, features include blocking annoying users. I am sure you will find loads of other competitors who would love to annoy you.lol...just block them.

This is definately a must have for all bloggers/webmasters. Jaxtr currently gives 100 minutes of free incoming calls per month. Facility to forward your calls to Voice mail.

Jaxtr curerently supports Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Guam, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Virgin Islands and they promise to add more countries in future.

MediaRing offers US, Canada, China, Singapore United Kingdom free calls this Chinese New Year Period

2008-05-21T04:40:00.000-07:00

Here in Singapore, CNY is over. I was on a shopping spree till i realised its Chinese new year and not Diwali. I wonder, what my wife has spent on my credit card:P

Oh its yet time to receive my credit card bills. Let me move on with the post. Its time for more and more free VOIP call offers and i love each of them.

This is a huge promotion by MediaringTalk, From Feb1 2007 (oops i totally missed this one, sorry) till 31st March 2007, you can call

United Kingdom- fixed
US, Canada, China, Singapore- Fixed & Mobile

The only downside is, each call is limited to 10 minutes. However, there are no restrictions on calling the same destination multiple times. Well, I don't mind calling my friends for 10 minutes and cut the call to dial again :-)

So if you are eager to know about your Ex-GF (*cough*) in US or Canada, give her a buzz and wish Kung Hei Fat Choi or Gong Xi Fa Cai..or maybe happy holi :-)

Have fun Calling! almost forgot, You need to Register to their service

Still lot of Free Calls with SIPDiscount!

2008-05-21T04:37:00.000-07:00

All the user of voipbuster will notice that lots of countries has been removed from the free calls list, left now are just the landline of about 12 european countries and united states. Two other variation of voipbuster namely netappel of france and voipcheap of uk has also emerged with free calls only for some countries but one has to buy 10 euros credit on each of the different variations to enjoy these free calls. Another variation of voipbuster has emerged with free 1 minute calls to about 39 countries. Called SIPDiscount it allows anybody to test free 1 minute calls to all the 39 countries and when you subscribe and buy 10 euros credit you can enjoy unlimited free calls to 19 countries around the world and very low rates to other countries. Unlike Netapel and voipcheak, sipdiscount does not have its own user interface but could be configured on any SIP softphone. I configured it on X-lite and it worked very fine with audio quality as good as with the original voipbuster. X-lite can also be downloaded free from Xten website.

Finarea launches WebCall Direct with free calls to 46 countries !

2008-05-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

Introducing direct callback feature to all their voip clients seems not to be enough for Finarea and they have decided to launch a full featured web activated voip telephony nicknamed webcall direct. Its much similar to jajahweb the web activated telephony service by Jajah Inc. No download, headset or installation is required to use webcall direct and its very easy to use. After you register for an account, all you have to do is login, enter your telephone number and the destination telephone number and click call, wedcall direct will immediately dial your number and connect you to your destination number. Calls to landlines in 46 countries are free but limited to 300 minutes per week and a connection fee of 3 cents is charged per call. Calls to other destinations are at the Finarea very low rates as in voipcheap or voipbuster. Web activated voip telephony pioneered mostly by Jajah has now become so popular because of its easy of use and the fact that it does not require broadband internet to work. The only disadvantage of web activated voip telephony is the fact that you are charged for two calls, one to call your own phone and the other to call the destination you want to reach but this is not a problem for users of webcall direct who reside in one of the free countries as it costs nothing to call their number. Also if you live in one of the free countries and you are calling a country that is also free then the call is completely free. I have used webcall direct and the voice quality is really good like that of most voip clients from Finarea. You can try out webcall direct at www.webcalldirect.com.

SparVoIP, the latest from FINAREA

2008-05-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Finarea, the company behind the highly popular voipbuster has released another softphone targeted primarily at German users. Its as expected just another variation of voipbuster, the only difference being the slightly different user interface design and the fact that it is in german. At the moment you can call landlines in about 35 countries free for 1 minute for the trial version and unlimited after you buy 10 euros credit. I have tested it and it worked fine with superb audio quality like its predecessors voipbuster, voipcheap and voipstunt. Users of one of sparvoip predecessors that still want to continue enjoying free calls to Germany should download sparvoip and buy 10 euros credit as Germany will seize to be free from all others expect sparvoip soon. This is the way finarea is making to us to somehow pay for the free calls. SparVoIP can be downloaded free from www.sparvoip.de

Voip CHEAP-Free SMS worldwde-WORKING>>>

2008-05-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

FREE CALLS* to regular phones over the internet. Just install the free VoipCheap application, plug a headset in your PC and start calling instantly! Download now!

It also offer free working sms to all over the world..

You can check the site for more details...

Voip Stunt--Free calls worldwide

2008-05-20T01:13:00.000-07:00

Offers FREE CALLS TO:-

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Chile
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany

Hong Kong (+mobile)
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal

Puerto Rico (+mobile)
Russian Federation
Singapore (+mobile)
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Taiwan
United Kingdom
United States (+mobile)

Free* phone calls all around the world: Download the free VoipStunt.

VoipStunt is a free program that uses the latest technology to bring free and high-quality voice communications to people all over the world. When you use the free VoipStunt software, you can call regular phones in various popular destinations for free or call at an incredible low rate to any other phone on the planet.

You can also call all your online friends (peer-to-peer calls) as long as you like, for free. Just click here to download VoipStunt; the download should take only a few moments depending on your connection speed.

Download the FREE software » | Go to the instructions »

Skype worked when all other services don’t !

2008-05-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

For once I feel what could be the only advantage of proprietary nature of the skype technology. Three days ago my internet provider for reasons best known to them decided to implement a system to block all voip applications in order to reduce traffic. I noticed it almost immediately because all the voip applications on my system except skype stopped working. As you can imagine I have lots of them on my system and I used them as frequently as I can so that I can write about them for the benefit of my readers. At the moment I have voipbuster, voipcheap, voipstunt, FWD, dialpad, gizmo, yahoo, iPhone, sipdiscount, Google Talk and skype installed on my system. All of them except skype could not connect to the server, they were all blocked. I then realised that most of the applications are based on the SIP protocol which is an open protocol therefore easy to block if you so wish but skype on the other hand is based on a proprietary technology which is kept secret and since they don’t know how skype operates its difficult to block it or simply that the skype technology is more powerful and could break through whatever firewall they have implemented. Though I have resolved the problems now and all the applications are working fine, this incident makes me feel maybe its nice to keep some things secret.

Express Talk - Free softphone with a difference

2008-05-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

I discovered Express Talk while searching for skype to sip gateways and i must say its a wonderful softphone. Express Talk was developed by NCH Swift Sound, a leading audio technology developer. Express Talk let you call other users pc-to-pc free and you can configure up to four gateway services on it for PC-to-phone calls. It has call holding, call transfer, call recording and do not disturb features. It uses the SIP protocol and is compatible with most major VoIP SIP service providers.Its like having a the features of advanced telephone system in a softphone. You can a hold a call on one line while you make another call using another gateway service on the other line. Its links directly to other nice programms for call recording and On-Hold music. Most of all its very easy to install, configure and use. All the features of Express are summarized below:

1. Lets you make internet phone calls free direct PC to PC, or PC to phone via a VoIP SIP gateway provider. More information on VoIP here
2. Supports up to 4 lines on the one phone with the ability to put calls on hold.
3. Works with a headset or in speakerphone mode with just a standard microphone and set of speakers.
4. Includes data compression (GSM, uLaw, ALaw and PCM), echo cancellation, noise reduction comfort noise and more.
5. Uses the standard SIP protocol so it can link to a broad range of telephone gateways, SIP system or other internet phone software.
6. Also works with the VoIP Virtual PBx - just by installing that software you can create a LAN based PBx for offices or call centers.
7. Can be configured to work behind NATs and Firewalls.
8. Supports caller ID display and logging.
9. Includes a phone book with quick dial.
10. Supports call transfer.
11. Lets you record your phone calls to wav or used in conjunction with the VRS Call Recording Software, will save to MP3, wav and more.
12. Plays on-hold music to callers on hold. Can also link to the IMS On-Hold Messages Player Software to create professional mixes of music and messages on the fly.

I have configured all major voip clients that i use on express talk and they worked
perfectly. In future posts i will give the express talk configuration settings for voipbuster, voipstunt, voipcheap and others. Express Talk can be downloaded for free.

Let us SKYPE!!!

2008-05-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

SKYPE is the KING...

Though many networks are launched..But also SKYPE is used by most of the members..

And it is the first network who introdiced free PC to phone calling.

And it has many offers.and you can also call to another mobile from your mobile also..It had also launched mobiles..

And the voice in skype is the more clear then any other service..

It is much userfriendly with no advertisements..

With many many features let us try skype though it costs..Look their quality../

GIZMO --Just TRY...

2008-05-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

The current version of Gizmo project has been really great in terms of audio quality. Call out rates are also really cheap and the quality is fine. I also like the map it feature. With conference call, chat, P2P, call-out, call-in and call forwarding features Gizmo is really trying to live up to the skype killer status it gave itself sometimes ago.

But the only problem si the advertisements...they will send false advertisements..

So many will not prefer that...

Untimed Free International Calls to India

2008-05-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

We introduced Pennytel services a few months back and received a few good and bad reviews. Today, we look at another australian provider, Pennytel's competitor who offer 3600 minutes of Free International Calls talktime to India and several other countries.

One of our reader, Umesh has shared with us this new VOIP provider called SwiftCom. They seem to be based out of Australia. Although, they have multiple VOIP Calling packages, we highly recommend taking a look at Swift-SAVER package which gives 30 Free International Calls to various countries. Each call has limit of 2 hrs max. Techically they offer you 3600 minutes in total. The SWIFT-Saver plan is $9.95 per month. After the 30 FREE calls have been used up, you can still call those destinations for 20c per call. This rate is similar to Pennytel however Pennytel doesnt offer you any free international calls.

There are however a few things you must know before you actually go ahead and buy the service.

1) The untimed calls are only to Landline in countries (unless mentioned) here. I know many people are interested to know if India is included in the free calling destination. YES, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is included in the free international calls package.

2) Fair Usage Policy will be applied to any free international calls lasting more than 2 hours.

3)Its not very clear on their website on how are we suppose to use their service. Our best guess is SIP however its better to confirm. We suggest you call them.

Swiftcom is just another solution to save your money however we strongly suggest you ensure that you are getting what you are paying for. Lately, we have seen many VOIP providers claiming great service and customers end up getting poor quality of VOIP services. We also suggest that you must know about SIP or SIP Phones before buying this service unless you are interested in buying their VOIP adapter.

Betamax releases almost one new company every two months or so, the latest one was lowratevoip. Voipbuster is however one of the oldest of this whole

2008-05-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

Betamax releases almost one new company every two months or so, the latest one was lowratevoip. Voipbuster is however one of the oldest of this whole bunch.

Ultimately to hammer down their biggest competitor, they have taken a pretty bold step to attack Skype right in their head. Their current campaign on almost all betamax provider websites such as voipcheap, lowratevoip etc is "skype increased the rate, its time to switch to Voipcheap or voipbuster and so on. The campaign might be different on other websites but the idea is the same.

I wouldn't really want to talk much about their anti-skype campaigns, so lets forget it for the time being, unless its inspires me and deserves a post.

So getting back to the topic, Voipbuster is about to release a new PRO version of their software. According to them, Voipbuster Pro will be the easiest and most affordable way to get the best out of Voipbuster. This all-in-one package will be launching very soon for just €1 per month.
With Skype Pro you can ONLY make national calls for €0 per minute, but with Voipbuster Pro you can make NATIONAL as well as INTERnational calls for €0 per minute!

Holy Cow!!!!!!!!!!!! if thats true, it would be interesting to see if they giveaway FREE Calls to countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries known to have fascist VOIP regulations. If it will come into reality, it will definitely become a big hit. 1 euro per month for a unlimited call is worth, a certain free minutes of Gizmocall each day :-)

Currently gizmocall is the best bet though, if you haven't tried it. Go for it

In my recent articles, i have been constantly updating readers with the new VOIP service providers offering FREE calls to various destinations around

2008-05-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

In my recent articles, i have been constantly updating readers with the new VOIP service providers offering FREE calls to various destinations around the world.

I will definately consolidate the list to make it a quick read.

Now lets look at the new VOIP provider who assured to connect your call FREE to more than 40 countries.

Free Call Planet offers a FREE call (from US Landline, means local call charged) to about 40 odd destinations such as china, UK, Singapore, Germany, Mexico, USA, Australia etc. For full country list, Check their website.

If you are in USA and want to Pay for the local calling charge...then this is how you do it.

1. Dial one of the numbers :1712-429-8888 or 1712-338-8288 or 1641-297-8888
2. When the gateway answers, enter your International destination phone number using 011 for international calls and 1 + Area Code for calls to the US, Canada or Guam.

e.g to call UK landline you will dial: 011442526451212 (011 is access code, 44 country code, 252 area code and then landline number).

011 is common for all numbers its their access code must be prefixed for all numbers.

3. Wait a few moments for your call to ring through and then enjoy your free call.

(Mobile users: DO NOT HIT SEND or the green call button to avoid mobile charges. Also do not pull your phone number from your phone’s address book as it will automatically dial your call over the mobile carrier’s network instead.)

Now you must be blaming me that i was a fool to mention thats it a FREE call, when its only for US residence and additionally they will be charged a local calling charge. You are WRONG.
I discovered a HACK for this. Read this hack very carefully.

Even if you are not in USA, You can still make calls using this service.

1. Read my article on making calls with VOIPcheap
2. Download Voipcheap
3. Install & register the app. (Read the article for registering from VOIPcheap available countries hack)
4. Now you can make calls to USA free of cost.
5. Just dial 1712-429-8888 or 1712-338-8288 or 1641-297-8888
6. You will be connected to Free call planet gateway.
7. Now follow instructions for US callers (see above)
8. You can make calls successfully.

If you like my articles espcially hacks, please comments and ask for specific hacks.

GizmoCall - Web Browser Based Free Call

2008-05-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

GizmoCall a SIPphone service has launched a new web-based voice-over-IP (VoIP) service that will allow users making phone calls directly from their web browser. It all based on Flash.

I wonder how many other websites do that. It doesnt seem Jajah used Flash. However, I am not able to find any real difference in using Flash Plugin to make a call. I will do some study and testing and will post some results.

Back to the news, The web based interface allows the users to enter the enter in international format such as (+12221112121) and then click Call. If you dont have a flash plug-in installed (first time users), then it will ask you to install the plug-in. Just install and it will automatically recognise it. Then the call is sent out to the number you wanted to call.

You need to use headphones (or speaker) and mic to talk.

According to the website, Users get five minutes of calling per day to just about any phone number and can double that if they register with an email address. For more calls, users can purchase Call Out minutes. Besides PSTN phones they can call for free google talk users, Windows Live users, Gizmo Project users and any other SIP address/device.

This sounds too good to be true.

Important TIP: when i made a call, the 5 mins timer started running. I wonder if they track users by IP address. What if you use a proxy :D...maybe we can make more calls by using a hack. Let me try and find some solutions. I am currently at office and can't use any proxies here.

Make a Call now

FREE calls from India

2008-05-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

Did u bite your nails when i posted about VOIPcheap and you cant call India PSTN/Mobile lines with it?

Well..here is the solution for that problem and now be happy coz although you cant call them..They can surely call you.

It took me some time to figure out this voipcheap hack...So please read it carefully before you try your hands at it.

Lets see how this voipcheap hack will work

What happens When you register for VOIPcheap?

Voipcheap will track your IP address at the time of registration. for e.g you are registering from USA or UK, the Id will enable you to make FREE calls since these countries fall under the FREE calls Beta version promotion by Voipcheap.

What if I am registering from India?

Voipcheap will trace your IP to india and blocks all outgoing FREE calls. You can however make one call, i heard different reports from people. One of my brother was able to make 30 calls within India. You better check it on your own. It might be possible that they have restricted FREE calls to 30 for non-FREE destinations like India.

Whats the hack?

The hack is to register from a proxy which belongs to the FREE destinations country. Voipcheap will trace your IP to the foreign country and will let you call FREE to these destinations for unlimited time.

Now you can ask your parents/Bro in India to set this up and make calls FREE.

Do drop your views/comments/original hacks etc.

If you like to use my hack or work on this, please LINK me back. I have spent several hours to figure out this hack myself :-) now you can Make free calls to india.

Does that work for you?? Let me know. If you find any issues with this hack or improvements, please drop comments. They are always welcome.

Untimed Free International Calls to India

2008-05-18T05:05:00.000-07:00

UK Personal Numbers for Free International Call For Free

2008-05-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

When we posted about Ether, there were huge number of people who had no idea about Whats a Personal Number. We hope this tutorial helps you in understanding how to use a personal account number to make free international calls and completely free call forwarding.

In UK, There are various types of telephone numbers which can be alloted by providers which include VOIP numbers or UK personal numbers mostly starting with 070. There are various Premium Rate services which also offers 0870 numbers but avoid them cause the cost is enormous when you call those numbers. Lets stick to the 070 Personal Phone numbers.

Since 070 phone numbers are mainly for the purpose of anonymity, they can be forwarded anywhere in the world for FREE. That means if anyone calls up your Personal number, they can reach whatever number you set as per the call forwarding rules in your account. This gives you totally free international call forwarding facility.

Lets see how we can use it to make totally free international calls.

1) Get yourself a free UK Personal number.

Option A: UK Number
Option B: UKnumber4U

There are many more services like these, they all work the same.

2) Remember always get a number starting with 070. AVOID 0870 or 0840 numbers.
3) Now Login to your Control Panel and change call forwarding Settings.
4) Here you need to put the number you want the call to be forwarded to whenever someone calls this UK personal number. Lets assume you set it to India Mobile (+91 9992125121). So wherenever someone calls up your UK personal number, the call will be automatically forwarded to your India Mobile. This service is absolutely FREE.

So where the catch?

The Person who is going to call you must bear the cost associated with the service. Typically a 070 number call might cost your around 20 Pence (GBP) to 50 Pence (GBP) per minute, so its costly.

Now a smart way to save that hefty Price.

You can use one of the VOIP service to make calls to these numbers and pay only a few cents or even Make Free Calls. This way you will be connected to UK personal number for Free or cheap calling rate and call forwarding will anyways work for you for FREE.

You can try this hack with Ether, which lets you use UK Personal number and actually makes a call to the number for FREE. AdPhone also works well with UK personal number however each call is limited to 2 minutes only. You can call back again after 10 minutes.

Let us know if you manage to make free international calls with this workaround.

NimBuzz Mobile VOIP offers free calls

2008-05-18T05:02:00.000-07:00

The Mobile VOIP market has been silent for long. However this scene is about to change a lot with new startups coming up in Mobile VOIP market and existing VOIP providers extending their service to Mobile VOIP platform will make it difficult for exisiting players to retain market share.

NimBuzz is one of the companies whose core focus is Mobile VOIP, a direct competitor to no.1 Mobile VOIP application developer Fring. The rest of the players like Truphone, Tringme are VOIP providers but Nimbuzz will take compete directly to Fring in the coming days.

Nimbuzz offers a solution for free mobile VoIP calling, conference calling, instant messaging, chat and group chat, and photo and file sending across multiple IM communities, including Skype, MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo!, AIM, Jabber and ICQ, plus 23 social networks. Nimbuzz currently supports over 500 handsets, which is really great. That means Nimbuzz is able to bring Mobile VOIP to the masses. It would be interesting to see how this whole thing will actually work.

The Official launch date of Nimbuzz Mobile VOIP is May 13th, thats today. With Mobile VOIP application slowly taking over the whole telecom business from Mobile companies, it would be interesting how this whole thing will work. Sending files and photos using Mobile VOIP for FREE is gonna make life difficult for GSM/CDMA operators across the world. We strongly feel there will be consolidation, takeovers and mergers happening soon in this space.

Just to give you a heads up, Fring is also moving into the same direction. Lets see what next they come out with.

www.nimbuzz.com

Yupeephone offers unlimited calls to India

2008-05-18T05:01:00.001-07:00

Almost 50% people coming to VOIP Guide are always looking for Free Calls to India or Unlimited calls to India Deals. Today we found another VOIP Provider who offers unlimited calls to India.

Anyone remembers joiphone? I am sure most of you do. Unfortunately they received more negative reviews than positive ones. There are however still some people on the unlimited calling plan with joiphone and are happy about it. However most of the unlimited calls to India plan people have either cancelled or quit the contract.

Ramesh Kumar from Bangkok has shared with us another such provider called YupeePhone. YupeePhone seems to be a US based VOIP Provider and they have UNLIMITED calls to over 60 destinations worldwide including India.

The good part is India is included in the Landline + Mobile Unlimited Calling Package. We hope that it includes all the mobile services.

The Monthly Unlimited Calling Package is charged at $19.95 per month + Taxes if any.

It's extremely important that we analyse the hidden cost and Whats being offered by this VOIP Provider. So lets take a quick look at what we will get under this Monthly Unlimited Calling Package.

The complete package includes :

1) a digital telephone device or adapter, you get to choose between the two. They do not lock our devices.

2) a $22 credit to use either with the Monthly Unlimited or Pay As You Go plan. The free credit does not expire and will remain in your account until it is fully used.

3) there is no contract or cancellation fee. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee. Note: These money back gurantees can be debated, so don't get too lured by that.

4)It seems they offer a Grandstream BT102 or a Linksys VOIP Adapter.
5)They also seem to have a Local Access Numbers to make Calls. I guess this would be mostly be used under Pay as you Go plans. More details here

6) The most important point is they also have a Fair Usage Policy but it's not very clear just like everyone else in the VOIP industry. The more confusing fair usage policy a VOIP company would make, its better for them to dispute later for overusage. People might need to check on what are their expectations. Allowing only 1000 minutes per month and saying we give unlimited calls to India will not be any good.

Overall looks like a promising service. Remember you have to shell out $74.95 in the first month and then $19.95 each month. $74.95 includes IP telephone/VOIP Adapter and $22 free international calling credit.

If anyone manages to contact their support team and get any answer of Fair Usage Policy, do post under comments. Looks like another promising VOIP service we can look at.

Yupee Phone clarifies on Unlimited Calls to India Package

2008-05-18T04:59:00.000-07:00

We have been discussing about this Cheap International Call and Unlimited Calls Provider YupeePhone since last 4-5 days. YupeePhone received more eyeballs that we previously thought it would. With increasing number of people buying their VOIP service and a huge number waiting for the clarification on Quality of VOIP Service, Unlimited calls to India Package pricing etc.

Amid major speculations on Pricing and Quality of Service of YupeePhone, we today received a clarification email from YupeePhone on their business practices, What they are going to provide as a part of their VOIP service and What they won't. The email is lengthy but I suggest you all read it. At the EOD, you are the BUYERS so this clarification hopefully help you in taking a stand.

Dear friend,

The reason I am writing this email is because I have heard so many good and bad news on your forum and I can't resist to the idea of answering to some of the "nasty" reviews that are posted. I am currently working for YupeePhone.com and I have been doing so for 12 months, preparing the project from scratch. I have worked before in the field and I am a telecom technician.

1) The first thing I read was that we were not ready to get 2000 customers in a day and 15,0000 emails. No we weren't. However in 3 days most of the orders were sent out, except the ones that were Unverified or paid with an uncleared check. I know the people that work for the billing department and they did their best. I could never do that. I have ordered WOW or Comcast service and it was installed 14 days later and I was happy. I have ordered online calling cards and they came after 1 week.

2) ADRESS : We have a PO BOX as a customer address. However the state and the FCC know where to knock our door. We are an FCC approved company and this is the reason I work for this company. We are not a calling card company with no name and no license. For this I ask anybody to find the address of Comcast or Sprint or any other company's mailing address that is not a mailbox. With the volume of letters we receive our building would be a happy place for anyone who needs a letter to read!

3) PROMO PRICE : The price was a promotional offer. $19.95 was a price that never appeared in the market and never will be back. The $36.95 is a very good price. With the same money you get 600 minutes to India the most and this will be from a gray route (you know... illegal cell phones in a basement in India dialing out).

4) FAIR USE POLICY : Our Fair Use Policy changed! We started with 1200 minutes, we went up to 2000 minutes and now we are to 2400 minutes. We never decreased our residenial limit. The only real reason, appart from cost, is the stolen credit cards and the compromised Paypal accounts that they were used for 5 months now on our web site. Customers want their PIN yesterday, however after 4 DAYS Paypal actually canceled payments because the owner compained he never authorized the payment. In 3 cases we informed the proper authorities for this and we provided real IPs.

5) TERMS OF USE : The Terms Of Use NEVER changed. If someone has a copy of another document from our company I will eat it in public. I sent the pages to the server so I know better!

6) UNLIMITED PACKAGE : We received a banch of emails from people that were agents from Vonage, CallCentric and Time Warner. They were upset we are advertising an Unlimited Package for Residential Use and they threatened to report us to the FCC for unethical practices and faulse advertising. When they received the pages with more strict Fair Use Policies in their respective companies, they name came back to us.

7) TRUE UNLIMITED PACKAGE : The Monthly Unlimited 60 Countries for Residential Use is advertised as one, even with a fair use policy notice, because the in-Network calling is trully unlimited. No limit at all between our devices. If someone who has our device dials to another device in our Network he/she can talk for two days straight. Calls to the PSTN network are covered by the Fair Use Policy. There is no company in the entire world that does not have a Fair Use Policy, even Skype has one and in value is is less than ours.

8) BLOCKED ACCOUNTS : We never cancelled one single account. Ask users how many were cancelled by Vonage. Many of these users are still our clients. The employees of our company offered all their free vouchers to customers with blocked accounts in order to talk to their families. We had to stop issuing Vouchers to the employees because most of them are immigrants and they feal the same way as the clients.

9) QUALITY OF CALLS : The quality of the voice is good in our network. It is not AT&T's quality as I read on a post, however it is actually pretty good compared with other providers. There are two types of problems:

a) users who think they know how to unlock an ATA and use it on our network.
b) users who think they know how to configure X-lite.
c) customers who are calling a cell phone in India and they think it is always our fault the voice quality is not good.

At the technical support department we have answered close to a thousand emails from people who :

a) where using ulaw with our service, while in their accounts there is a notice for using g729a or g723 in the worst case.
b) where using silence suppression, while we asked them not too.
c) where using MagicJack to connect to the Local Access Numbers !
d) did not know that the sip settings are posted in their online account.
e) used linksys ad knew only how to change the username and password, nothing else.

10) EXISTING CUSTOMERS : Yupee Phone LLC honored the price for all the people that signed up while the promo was on. Everyone got the price and will keep it as long as they stay with us. Next month their accounts will have $19.95 less and they will have to add more money to use our service, simple as that.

11) BILLING : We have no contract, no recurring billing, no maintenance fees, no connection fees, no disconnection fees, no strange fees, no this an no that. Our fees are the standard fees that apply in the industry.

12) NEW CUSTOMERS : The $36.95 we offer now is the lowest price in the market. And I mean the lowest price I know of. If someone knows a better price for India, Albania, Iraq, Pakistan let me know. Especially for India we have absolutely the best price galaxy-wide. For Pakistan it is the best price universe-wide when everyone starts from 12 cents / minute. We are not Betamax to change the list of countries every month so people have to spent the money they already deposited

13) INVESTMENT : We are in the middle of an investment in India. Obeying the local strict rules for VoIP in India (ask the Lingo-India employees) we are getting ready to provide even a better quality of voice with the same price. .

14) YUPEEPHONE is going to survive. And it is going to survive for three major reasons :

- It is run by people who know what they are doing. I have never seen anybody panicking. Only smiling!
- it has the best prices in the market
- it does not depend in people from one country only.

Thank god the people who invested in this company have the money to pay us even if they do not get a single customers for months to come. And why do you think our 1800 number has no free lines, even when we (add more lines every day. Orders my friends... We have the hottest product in the market since soap was invented!

Finally, I am sorry for the length od the email but this is how I feel. I would be more than happy to receive your feedback and comments.

Regards,
Steve
Technical Support Dep.
YupeePhone.com

--------------

I just noticed that Yupee Phone prices are now $24.95, If I remember right someone told me it was around $36.95. I would like a clarification on change of Pricing. I strongly suggest Yupee Phone to stick to the prices they can afford and provide a quality service at. Comments Welcome.

IBIBO Make free calls to INDIA

2008-05-18T04:48:00.001-07:00

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 following

1) First you have to register at ibibo.
2) Register your mobile number in the Call for Free Service.
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.
6) You may delink your no here, and register it to another account. Ibibo allows this. This way you get 10 more min of Free Calling.

Free VOIP Phone Calls to Pakistan -LowRates

2008-05-18T04:45:00.000-07:00

" How to Make Free VOIP Phone Calls to Pakistan ".

A betamax program named lowratevoip is providing Free VOIP Phone Calls to Pakistan. Mobile service in Pakistan is included.
Now it is possible to call Pakistan for free from any part of the world. Even you can call from Pakistan to Pakistan. Lowratevoip has both web initiated that is Phone to phone calls as well as Free Pc to Phone Calls. Offcourse you can make Free calls to othfer countries using this voip service. Since there are not many free voip providers for Pakistan so I am concentrating my post on Pakistan.

Now here is the procedure to make Free Phone Calls.

For making Phone to Phone Calls. These include making calls from Pakistan to Pakistan, USA to Pakistan, USA to USA, Canada to Pakistan,USA, Europe to Pakistan etc. Making Calls from India to Pakistan is not possible via phone to phone method. Use pc to phone method for calling Pakistan from India. Read a few lines below for that.

Steps
Visit lowratevoip. Check for Test or Make a Free trial call option on right middle side of Page.

Check out the instruction here.

Pc to Phone Calls
For Making PC to Phone Calls. That is to made Calls from India to Pakistan etc.

Download the softphone or Dailer from here.
The first time you start the lowrate voip, you will be asked to choose a User Name and password. The User Name and password fields are required in order to use the lowrate voip. You can choose any name but it must be at least 6 characters in length. If the name is already in use by someone else you will have to try another name.

For a call to any regular phone, enter the desired number in the text box and click the dial-button. If you are calling a land line in one of the free destinations this include Pakistan,USA,Europe, etc the call will be placed at no costs at all.

I would not recommend purchasing any credits from any betamax provider as they are not trustworthy. However use their free service.

Call India at local rates Rebtel : From any country USA, Canada etc

2008-05-18T04:43:00.000-07:00

Hi Rebtel,

We have not yet covered any post on Rebtel. Rebtel is one of the major voip provider. Their service a bit different from others. You need not to have or use computer, calling cards or even need not to download anything to your phone.

So How do they make your calling free.

You have to register for an account. Which is absolutely free. ( You can try their service without registering also.)

You have to give the phone number of a friend in another country, and they will give you a local number for them. That means you have to first enter your phone number, then the destination number. They even allow countries like India, Pakistan etc. Rebtel will give you a Local number of your country which you have to dail (access number). They will then connect your call.

You can this way make calls to India, Pakistan, UAE at local rates.

Rebtel is now giving away free 10 minutes of calling. So you may try this service for Free. This free service will not be there for long. So enjoy this service before it goes off. You may try calling from another number to get more 10 minutes Free of calling.

They are giving one more offer -: You will get double of your credit when you register for first time and add 10$. They will give you 20$ 8 April 2008.

For more info, visit Rebtel.

Free Calls Worldwide using TRICK - Globe 7

2008-05-18T04:41:00.000-07:00

Globe7 is a tiny application integrated with SoftPhone, IM,Videos, Games, News and many more opt-in Widgets like Live TV,Live Radio, Astrology, Forex, Movies, Pets, Recipes, Sports foryour complete entertainment, information and communication.

Globe7 Phone enables you to make free calling to any landline or mobile across the globe. You can also get the benefit of Instant Messaging!

Download the software.

You are ready to make 5 min call to any no across the world.

500 Minutes to USA offer extends : ooVoo

2008-05-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

Hi,

It is for all those who are looking for making calls to USA and Canada. I had posted about ooVoo few times and their free 500 minutes call offer. First they were giving 120 minutes free calls to USA, canada. Then they extended their offer to 500 minutes, but they mentioned that it will be till 1st April. Then offer was extended till 1st May.

And now, the ooVoo offer is again extended to 13th May.

* FREE calls from ooVoo to a landline or mobile phone in the
USA* or Canada.
* No credit card required.
* Add phone participants to your ooVoo video calls.
* Introductory period includes up to 500 minutes of FREE
phone calls.
* FREE phone calls to the USA and Canada available
through May 13, 2008.

All you need is to download their softphone. This is Free Pc to Phone call offer. So, grab it before it gets over.

You can also use ooVoo to make video calls.

* Talk one-on-one or with up to six people at a time.
* Smooth video displayed in 3D with clear sound.
* No one answering your call? Leave a voice,
video or text message.
* Send files and text messages during the video
conversation.
* Adjust/Mute microphone, speakers or camera.
* Choose your ringtone.
* View call history (missed calls, incoming calls, etc.).

Oovoo Free Phone calling Plans : USA and Canada

2008-05-18T04:36:00.000-07:00

Oovoo Free Phone calling Plans : USA and Canada

Hi,

We have posted about oovoo many a times. They have been giving free calls to USA and Canada from long time. This offer was extended many times. Finally this free calls offer have been terminated. I guess they have built a good customer's base. Personally, I find this service quite good. Oovoo has many features like Pc to Phone calls, video calls, Video messages, text chats, send files, Oovoo me link.

Recently oovoo has started their calling plans to Usa and Canada. ooVoo offers two plans with Phone Calls. Both plans include calls from ooVoo to a landline or mobile phone in the USA or Canada.

ooVoo STANDARD + Phone (5$/month)

* 500 minutes of phone calls* to the U.S. and Canada.
* Unlimited 3-way live video chats.
* Send your friends as many records video messages as you want.
* Unlimited 3-way audio chats (so no worries if you don't have that web cam yet).
* Get silly with a few of our free video effects.
* Send files up to 25MB each.

ooVoo SUPER + Phone (15$/Month)

* Unlimited phone calls (3000 minutes/month) to the U.S. and Canada.
* Unlimited 6-way live video chats.
* Unlimited 6-way audio chats (so no worries if you don't have that web cam yet).
* Unlimited video messages (up to 5 minutes long).
* Unlimited length video chat recordings stored on our servers.
* Up to 1,000 total minutes of video storage and streaming.
* Send files up to 25MB each.
* Lots of fun video effects.