The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged VOIP
Truphone unveil new ‘funky ringtone’
Jul 19th
Mobile VOIP provider Truphone have unveiled a neat way to tell how whether your call is going via Truphone or your existing mobile operator.
One thing that makes Truphone different (and better, we humbly suggest) is that your phone works as always. No separate application – dial as usual and save pots of cash.
And how do you know your call is going via Truphone? Easy – thanks to our spankingly-innovative ‘Truphone Ring’.
Want to know what it sounds like? Here’s the video:
BREAKING NEWS: Truphone win against T-Mobile
Jul 16th
Link: Truphone press office
Literally just popped into my inbox, is the news that Truphone have won their court injunction against T-Mobile. The judge in the case has instructed T-Mobile to stop blocking calls to Truphone.
An electronic version of the judgement is expected tomorrow – in the meantime you can read the Truphone blog entry for more details.
Congratulations to James Tagg and all at Truphone!
Challenger upgrade Nokia VOIP software
Jul 10th
Internet telephony provider Challenger mobile have announced some new features for their Nokia handset-compatible VOIP service. The service, which works on Nokia Eseries, N80ie and N95 handsets, has gained inbound, outbound and call forwarding features.
Through the new Challenger out feature, Challenger mobile account holders can easily call both landlines and mobiles all over the world at local rates.
Challenger in is a ready-to-buy local phone number that lets people call the subscriber at local rates, no matter where he or she is in the world.
The third new feature, Challenger forwarding, is a call forwarding service that ensures any incoming internet calls are forwarded the Challenger mobile customer’s regular mobile phone number, whenever they are not online.
Truphone launch v3.0 to public
Jun 30th
Link: Truphone Blog – Internet telephony on Nokia mobile phones
Following on from our exclusive coverage on the new version of Truphone, it’s now out of beta and is ready to go.
Some cool new features include:
- VOIP over 3G
- Presence support
- Free SMS to other Truphone users
- Multiple SIM management for travellers
More at www.truphone.com
Blubell makes Skype work with Bluetooth
Jun 27th
Jersey-based company Blubell Technologies have launched their new software app Blubell for Skype - a PC-based application that allows you to make and receive calls on Skype using your Bluetooth headset.
The software also provides mobile-like features such as voice dialing, voice recognition and caller identification.
Lars Nielsen, MD of Blubell Technologies commented, “We wanted to bring to the user a mobile-like experience – without the prohibitive charges associated with mobile telephony. We know that many users regularly initiate calls on mobile phones well within the Bluetooth range of their computer - and by using blubell‚ instead of a mobile phone, they can now do so in the same way but for free by making better use of the standard equipment many users already have rather than investing in dedicated VoIP equipment.”
You can download a free 14-day trial of Blubell for Skype from www.myblubell.com
Vyke Launches New Free Community Mobile Messaging
Jun 19th
Mobile VOIP provider Vyke have just launched their new Java-based text messaging app, called Vyke Pro – which according to the company lets mobile users worldwide send free text messages worldwide, and radically reduce the cost of sending text messages for UK consumers.
It appears to be a similar offering to Hotxt or Tex2. Messaging between Vyke Pro users is free of charge (except for your data charges), and if you’re sending a text to a non-Vyke Pro user it’ll cost you from 1p.
There’s also a ‘dial-back’ service built into the software for cheap international calls. You enter the number you want to call in the Vyke Pro application, and their platform will call you back and connect the call.
Finally, did you know that NASA pay approximately £61.50 per MB for receiving data from the Hubble Space Telescope, whereas UK consumers pay approximately £750 per MB for sending a text? That’s according to Vyke, who actually featured that as the main part of their press release. Another useful fact you’ll be able to share down the pub tonight 
Truphone vs T-Mobile: handsets at dawn
Jun 17th
Link: GigaOM CellCarriers fear mobile VoIP planet
Something interesting is afoot in the world of Truphone. We got the same press statement as Om Malik at Gigaom who wrote this article, and as Om did such a good job writing about it I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. However, here’s something interesting.
In a nutshell, Truphone are claiming T-Mobile is refusing to interconnect with them, nor route their 07978 UK number range. This effectively means that T-Mobile customers calling those Truphone numbers will get number unobtainable. The same statement says “T-Mobile refuses to interconnect with operators offering VoIP as a matter of policy.”
Further down, James Tagg – Truphone’s CEO – is quoted as saying: “T-Mobile will argue that it is not ‘blocking’ Truphone but is merely negotiating on price. T-Mobile receives 35p per minute from its customers but is offering only 0.21p per minute to Truphone even when Truphone’s costs are 9p per minute to terminate the call. T-Mobile is blocking our numbers unless we accept this loss-making offer and, since T-Mobile is the only company that can route calls from its customers it has a complete veto on the Truphone service.”
So, questions questions. Are T-Mobile bluntly refusing to interconnect with Truphone and route its number block as ‘a matter of policy’, or is it down to the cost? Why do Truphone have termination costs of 9p per minute? From April 1st 2007, Ofcom lowered the termination costs for Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, and O2 to 5.1p, with Three set to 5.9p. With Truphone not having to pay for a national GSM, 3G or WiFi network, why are their ‘costs’ so high?
I’ve spoken to some sources – who wish to remain anonymous and therefore can’t be quoted – and there’s more than meets the eye to this issue. However, this one has the potential to run on for a while, it seems.. and when things of this nature inevitably turn legal, the only people that’re guaranteed to win are the lawyers.
Making Skype calls from a Blackberry
Jun 14th
SMS Text News reader Jeremy dropped me a note earlier, with a link to this blog entry. Using a piece of software called Skype IM+, it’s now possible to make Skype calls from a Blackberry. But there’s a twist. It’s not VOIP, it’s a callback service.
The app itself seemed like other IM programs I’ve tried for the Blackberry. Very easy to create chats. See the chats in progress. Get a notification vibration/beep when new chats arrive. You first naturally give it your Skype username and password and it (slowly) loads in your contact list and shows the presence of all of your contacts. After that, it’s rather like a Skype client. You can scroll through your contact list, open up chats, initiate calls, etc.
The calls are interesting. I was initially expecting it to be a true VoIP client and initiate the call via Skype over the data connection from the Blackberry. I wondered how well this would work given the generally limited quality/speed of the data connection. It turns out that it doesn’t work that way. The data connection is used by the IM app to initiate the call, but the actual voice connection occurs over your phone’s regular mobile connection.
IMHO the best mobile app with Skype integration at the moment is Fring. Of course getting it working on a Crackberry is a totally different matter…
Exclusive: News on Truphone 3.0
Jun 14th
Following on from my post yesterday about the new version of Truphone, some interesting information arrived from a source close to the company. Here’s what they had to say:
No, there was no news release or email, we did just put it up on the blog – we felt, as Truphone has been exhibiting at VON in Stockholm this week, that we should show people what we’re up to.
There’s no actual launch date for the final 3.0 version yet – any reporting of ‘this week’ is erroneous. While the SMS and presence stuff is pretty much as it will be, there are (as you’d expect with software) other less visible changes being made to the software, and they all have to be done before it gets submitted to the Symbian signing process. And that is a rigorous process that it must pass first.
So there you go. Another SMS Text News exclusive
New Truphone adds 3G and SMS support
Jun 13th
Link: Truphone enhances its presence | The Register
This one crept out quietly.. haven’t seen a press release, email announcement to current users, or in fact anyone else mentioning it. The story was tucked away halfway down the front page of Sci-Tech news site The Register.
Anyway, to cut to the chase: Truphone have just released a new beta of their Nokia VOIP client, which now adds two ‘most wanted’ features: 3G data support, and SMS. The new version also apparently has better address book integration, and the ability to see the current status of other Truphone users in your contacts (meeting, silent, etc).
Caveat emptor though: this *is* a beta release, and apparently there’s a couple of bugs in this version that should be squashed by the next release, so be careful when installing it to your phone. That said, I haven’t yet heard of a version of Truphone that pawns the cat and empties cornflakes all over your kitchen floor when installed, so you should be ok.
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