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Tag: mobile-voip

  • Google Launches Free Voice Service


    Google today launched a free service in the US called Google Voice that gives users access to all their phones, voicemail and text messages through one phone number.

    The move is being seen as a threat to Skype – but also to telecom operators and technology firms.

    Initially Google Voice will only be available to existing users of GrandCentral, a service Google acquired in July 2007.

    But it is expected to be rolled out to the general public in the coming weeks.

    Google says the application helps users manage their voice communications better by improving the way they use their phones.

    It provides transcripts of voicemail and allows all SMS text messages sent and received to be archived and searched.

    The service can also be used to make low-priced international calls.

    Google says the new service will be similar to GrandCentral but with many new features.

    GrandCentral gives users a single number to ring their home, work, and mobile phones, a central voicemail inbox that you can be accessed on the web, and the ability to screen calls by listening in live as callers leave a voicemail.

    The service has been invite-only for nearly two years and has a sizeable waiting list.

    It’s too early to say for sure whether Google Voice is the beginning of the end for operators as a "voice pipe".

    What’s certain is that combined with Android it could begin to make life very interesting for them.

    The fact yet more data could soon be passing through Google’s hands is also making privacy activists just a little concerned.

  • Skype Deal With Nokia Stokes Operators' Fears Over Lost Revenue












    Operators O2 and Orange have reacted to plans by Nokia to embed Skype in handsets and may refuse to stock the N97.

    Skype is linking up with Nokia to embed its calling software in the Finnish company’s new handsets.

    Initially this will be the N97 by Q3 2009 and also, later, in other N-series devices.

    However, the deal, which was announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, has angered UK operators Orange and O2, according the Mobile Today.

    It reports that the two operators are considering refusing to stock the N97 unless Nokia strips out the Skype client.

    Key to their concern is ownership of the customer and potential lost revenue from calls from Skype’s VoIP service.

    Rival operators 3 UK and T-Mobile UK are said to be backing Nokia and Skype’s partnership.



  • JAJAH Announces Advanced Solutions for WinMo, BlackBerry and Symbian


    JAJAH is to offer new services enabling VoIP calls to be made either via WiFi or over the cellular network for Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian users.

    They are being offered as white label solution to enable carriers and non-carriers to launch the service under their own brand.

    The new services follow JAJAH’s recent release of a solution for the iPod Touch, which enables it to be used for phone calls.

    JAJAH said its platform has everything a company would need to launch the service immediately under their own brand.

    This includes the application itself, plus the entire suite of management services, from termination of the calls and quality control, right through to billing and processing payments in 200 countries around the world.

    For BlackBerry users, the application adds ‘JAJAH Call’ to the phonebook menu.

    JAJAH for Symbian gives anyone with a phone running Symbian s60 the ability to choose whether international calls route over the JAJAH IP network or the standard cellular network.

    The application automatically detects the presence of a WiFi network and offers the choice to use JAJAH when a long distance phone number is dialed (either manually or via the address book).

    With Windows Mobile, JAJAH is a full SIP over HSDPA/WiFi mobile VoIP solution. Currently deployed by eMobile, one of the leading operator’s in Japan, it turns any device into a VoIP phone.

  • Nokia's New Handsets To Feature Skype


    It seems that eBay-owned Skype has the knack of always living up to its promises – at least if its new deal with mobile giant Nokia is anything to go by.

    Skype is linking up with Nokia to embed its calling software in the Finnish company’s new handsets, writes Aftab Bashir for VoIP.biz-news.

    The pair announced the deal at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday.

    It will see Nokia integrating Skype on its N97 handset by Q3 2009, and also in other N-series devices.

    Skype is to be integrated in handset address books and will give users access to online Skype contacts.

    Callers will also be able to use Skype’s instant-messaging client.

    N97 owners will be able to make low-cost and free calls over the internet, using either Wi-Fi or 3G.

    Skype-to-Skype calls are free while calls to mobile phones and landlines from Skype will be charged at low rates, according to the company.

    Nokia isn’t alone in announcing this type of arrangement at MWC – Sony Ericsson has also revealed that it is to add new Skype panels in its Xperia X1 Windows Mobile device.

    The panel will open Skype on the Xperia and offer presence, IM and calling functionality.

    The addition of Skype in handsets is being seen as a boon for international travelers as well as domestic users.

    As with many other VoIP providers, Skype is intent on driving down rates for international mobile calling.

  • Truphone Unveils First Multi-country Mobile Service


    Truphone has unveiled its plans for a single-SIM, multi-country mobile service that will enable users to make calls in supported countries at local rates.

    The mobile communications company says a key aim of the Local Anywhere service is to eliminate the hassle of switching SIM cards or the expense of often-exorbitant roaming charges when callers use their handsets on foreign trips.

    Truphone claims that the new service, which will launch in September, will offer up to 80 per cent savings on roaming charges when visiting other countries.

    Users can chose from 5 up to a mind-boggling 49 different telephone numbers, with a sliding scale subscription based on how many numbers are chosen.

    Making the announcement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Geraldine Wilson, Truphone’s CEO, said the service was intended to get rid of the need for people to juggle multiple devices and phone numbers to avoid paying roaming charges.

    "Our customers are telling us they want one phone, one SIM and one plan," she said.

    Additional Truphone Local Anywhere features and cost savings include:

    • number portability of existing mobile and landline numbers to Truphone
    • full service multi-language customer support
    • ability to manage their Caller ID (CLI)
    • competitive rates on domestic calls, SMS, and data in home country
    • low-cost international calling to the world from any Truphone Local Anywhere-supported country
    • no roaming surcharges to receive calls in most major destinations
    • TruFriends – providing even lower calling rates to call to other Truphone Local Anywhere customers
    • additional "virtual" country mobile numbers to seem ‘local’ in another country so friends/colleagues can call at local rates.

  • Vopium Launches Mobile VoIP Service In The UK


    Vopium has launched its mobile VoIP service in the UK with the promise of low-cost and free international mobile phone calls.

    The service is a free software program that uses mobile VoIP and Wi-Fi technology to reduce the cost of international phone calls on mobile.

    Vopium integrates directly with the address book on the phone, automatically re-routing all international calls via the least expensive method available.

    The service also offers users the ability to send text messages (SMS) abroad at what it says are low rates – for UK users, 9p.

    Callers are also able to make free and discounted calls using Vopium Wi-Fi.

    Tanveer Sharif, CEO of Vopium

    Tanveer Sharif, CEO of Vopium, said: "We are delighted to be able to offer low-cost and free calling options to UK mobile users who want an affordable and convenient way to make international calls."

    Users have to instal Vopium for free onto their mobile handset.

    To get started, mobile subscribers then have to either visit the Vopium website or send a text message with “Get” to 07781480717.

    The company said that once registered, all new users receive 30 free minutes of talk time and 100 free SMS.

  • Truphone Anywhere Launches on Android G1


    Truphone has announced its Truphone Anywhere application is now available for Android-enabled mobile handsets.

    The offering coincides with T-Mobile’s announcement earlier this week that the G1 mobile phone is be rolled out into various continental European markets.

    A German version of Truphone Anywhere for Android is being made available and will be the first native language multi-communications application in the Android Market in Germany and Austria when it launches at CeBIT in March.

    The application is available now as a download on the Android Market in the UK and the US.

    The company says Truphone Anywhere for Android delivers an all-in-one conversations hub that offers customers low international call rates, in addition to the cost of a local call.

    Truphone customers can also Instant Message their friends across a variety of networks including MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk and Twitter from within one Android application.

    Users can acces Google Talk for the price of a local call, and similarly will soon will be able to Instant Message and call their friends on Skype.

    The launch means that Truphone is now available on Android, the Apple iPhone, the Apple iPod touch, Blackberry and Nokia devices.

  • MyGlobalTalk Adds Symbian And Android – Apple Next?


    i2Telecom has announced that its MyGlobalTalk service is now available for the Symbian S60 operating system.

    The service has just been approved for inclusion on Android’s Marketplace and has been submitted for approval on the iPhone App Store.

    The US company’s MyGlobalTalk is an advanced mobile VoIP application that targets the wireless handset market.

    Symbian is used in mobile phone devices built by Nokia, Samsung and other mobile phone manufacturers.

    Paul Arena, i2Telecom’s chairman and CEO, said MyGlobalTalk will provide Symbian customers with a first-rate calling experience at a fraction of the cost of traditional long-distance calls.

    "We are pleased with initial sign-up rates for the application, and we are offering 20 minutes of free calling for new MyGlobalTalk customers that download the application from the MOSH website," he said.

    MyGlobalTalk is internally developed patent-pending mobile VoIP technology.

    Approval to Apple’s iPhone App Store would be a major step for i2Telecom if the sales success of other third-party apps is anything to go by.

  • Choice of VoIP iPhone Apps Growing


    The options for VoIP calling on the iPhone are expected to continue expanding with both Skype and Truphone expected to join a growing list of VoIP apps for the Apple handset.

    Truphone already provides an app for the iPhone which enables users to make low-priced international calls via the GSM network even when the smartphone is not connected to the Wi-Fi network.

    But the company announced at the recent Macworld 2009 that callers will soon be able to use Truphone to make and receive Skype calls and instant message.

    Not to be left out, Skype itself announced at CES that it is also developing a native client for the iPhone.

    The subsidiary of eBay said that a version of its Internet calling and instant-messaging software is available for Google’s Android cell phone platform as a free download – and an iPhone Skype program is expected shortly.

    Fring also has an app that you make Skype calls using the iPhone.

    Keep them coming?