Truphone is quick to point out that they support all of the new E-series Nokia handsets unveiled today in 3GSM Barcelona. Luca has a quick look at some of them. Truphone also makes it easier for subscribers to use their service through a new roaming agreement with free-hotspot.com. You’re looking at 700 additional Wi-Fi hotspots in 14 countries.

As a special launch offer, access to free-hotspot.com’s Wi-Fi network will be 100% free to Truphone users, with calls charged at Truphone’s low VoIP call rates. “This agreement makes Truphone mobile VoIP more accessible than ever,” said Chris Isaacs, business development director at Truphone. “We’ve made it very simple for users and the project was quick to implement technically.” 

Luca got the scoop on this one this morning. (Or is it afternoon for him?) Fring now works with SIP services like Gizmo Project, VoipCheap, VoipStunt and Free World DialUp. It’s still in beta mode, but I’m going to download it today and see what’s what (handy to do on my Nokia N80i).

Fring is a free application for your mobile phone that lets you talk with fring, Skype, GoogleTalk, MSN and now SIP-based applications over VoIP, GSM, WiFi and PSTN networks.

I’ve used it most with my Skype buddy list. On my phone, I can see who’s available on Skype and who’s not, etc.

At present, fring is only available on certain Nokia handsets (Symbian 8 - Series 60 and N Series phones). See a visual list of compatible handsets on their web site (look under “Minimum Requirements”).

Phoneboy has a great post on how and why handsets make it to the US market, with special perspective on those from Nokia. It kind of provides an answer to questions I get from time to time from visitors to this blog. Mainly, they’re frustrated when they hear about new mobile VOIP services, especially “free” or “beta” ones that they can’t experience because a) it’s not clear which handsets the services run on b) it’s not clear if the handsets are even available, and c) who the heck knows if the network even supports them. Judging from what Phoneboy says, it’s clear that US carriers probably don’t support (or at least officially authorize) anything bleeding edge.

Such are the trials and tribulations of early adoption. Just hurry up already.

Truphone, one of the first to enable mobile Internet phone calls over Wi-Fi connections, now includes free calls to and from Google Talk users. Here’s a video from their press blog showing Truphone and Google Talk in action. I like this demo because it is low tech, sans marketing shtick, and shows someone actually using the product.

A great example, blogger style, of how video can really communicate the nuts and bolts of a new product or feature. For lots of people, a free 30-day trial isn’t enough. They want to see it before they try it.

Truphone announced its beta software for Wi-Fi-enabled Nokia mobile handsets in September 2006. Currently Truphone is available for Nokia’s E60, E61, E70 and N80 Internet Edition handsets. Truphone for other handsets including Windows Mobile devices will follow soon.
 

Just a phew PhoneGnome tips to pass along:

What if your Internet goes down?

Okay, like my Internet never goes down except that it DID right at the exact moment I went to make a phone call. My PhoneGnome (actually the phone connected to PhoneGnome) wasn’t giving me any dial tone. According to David Bekenmeyer, top gnome over at TelEvolution, PhoneGnome takes a few minutes to detect that Internet has disappeared. DO NOT panic. Wait a few minutes and your PhoneGnome will switch over to PSTN mode and give you dial tone.

But what’s with the Phunky Dial Tone?

If your Internet goes down and your PhoneGnome switches to PSTN mode, you’ll hear a phunky sounding dial tone, higher pitched than normal. It’s not a malfunction. You can make regular landline calls just fine. The PhoneGnome folks thought that a distinct dial tone would be helpful in alerting you to the fact that Internet calling is temporarily unavailable. If you find this feature alarming rather than reassuring, let them know. The TelEvolution support gnomes are very receptive to feedback so your ideas are welcome.

Why is there a ring delay between my PhoneGnome and the other phones in the house?

This I noticed right away. When I receive an incoming call, the upstairs phone rings twice before the PhoneGnome starts ringing. It was bizarre to hear the ringing out of sync. Almost sounded like two separate calls coming in. What’s happening is the PhoneGnome needs a bit of time to collect caller ID and other information before passing the call through. The best way to solve this is to put all your phones in the house on PhoneGnome. For $19.95, you can buy a Whole House Wiring kit that uses the Line 2 wiring to distribute PhoneGnome features to all your phones in the house. If messing with wiring isn’t your thing, an easier and inexpensive option is to buy a cordless telephone with multiple handsets.  Connect the cordless phone base station to PhoneGnome, and deploy the extra handsets around the house.

 

 

This caught my eye today. AvantiMobile in the UK is marketing something called Least Cost Routing for mobile phones. When you make a call, the Avantimobile application in your phone checks to see if it can be routed cheaply through their VOIP network. If it can’t, the call goes through the regular cell network. You don’t have to do a thing except dial. It sounds simple and I like that.

Trying to absorb all my choices when it comes to new VOIP handsets, services and applications makes me feel like I need a flow chart just to make a call. Just look at Andy’s list of what he uses day to day!

From: www.quickstartvoip.com

Free Internet phone service lets you to make free long distance calls over the Internet in three different flavors. The first enables you to make calls from one phone to another as long as both are connected to broadband lines. The second allows you to make calls from one computer to another and the third makes calls possible from a computer to a traditional phone.

But, there are limitations to free services. Let’s take a look.

Phone-to-phone service providers require that you purchase their telephone adaptor (or ATA). As long as you are calling other people who have purchased the same equipment, the call is free. PhoneGnome is one such service. The PhoneGnome adaptor costs about $119. You literally plug it in to your broadband connection and to your regular phone, it configures itself, and you are good to go. You can start calling other PhoneGnome users anywhere for free. You don’t have to switch phone numbers or change telephone companies. Vonage, Packet8, AT&T CallVantage, and others you may have heard of follow the same model.

PC-to-PC service providers allow users to make free calls from one PC to another. Both parties need a PC with an Internet connection and some software easily downloaded from the Net. However, for a call to ring through, both parties have to be online at the same time and have the same, or at least compatible, software. By adding voicemail to a PC-to-PC service though, callers can leave messages even when you’re not online. Unfortunately, voicemail may or may not be free.  Skype, Gizmo Project, and FWD are three typical PC-to-PC services.

PC-to-phone services let you to call a regular phone numbers for free. However, you may be restricted to the locations that you can call or the length of the call. VoipBuster, for example, provides free calls from your PC to landline phones in about 30 countries. The restrictions are a little bit complex, but free is free…Lucky for us, the bigger software-based phone companies are trying hard to entice users so there’s also a current wave of promotions trumpeting free calls to landline phones. Skype for example offers free calls to any phone within North America until the end of the year. Gizmo offers free calls to phones in 60 countries as long as both parties maintain an active Gizmo Project account.

In all of these cases, free Internet telephone services make money by selling credits for calling minutes to landline phones or mobiles, long distance destinations, or phone numbers not on the same VOIP service. Rates are low, however, and you can expect to save significantly over traditional long distance companies. For regular phone users to call you on your free Internet phone account, you must “buy” or subscribe to a conventional phone number. Most services allow you to buy a phone number in different locations, so if your family is in the UK and wants to phone you regularly, you can buy a local UK number that they can call for free or inexpensively.

If you are really looking for the best deals in residential VOIP services, look at providers with annual subscription rates. Most VOIP providers only offer monthly plans. Vonage for example is currently offering $24.99 per month for its basic unlimited service (free unlimited calling to anywhere in NA and Europe).

But as a way to reward and attract customers, VOIP companies are adopting what cell phone companies have been doing for years: offering the latest and greatest gear for free in return for long term committment. 

SunRocket markets a similar package at $24.95 per month or an annual subscription at $199 per year. That works out to about $17 a month. So if you can handle prepaying for your service by the year instead of by the month, then an annual package is a good idea.

Packet8 has also recently adopted the annual package deal. For a flat rate of $199 per year, you get get unlimited calling within North Americal, calling features like voicemail and call waiting and a 100% discount on a Packet-8 enabled UIP1868P 5.8-GHz digital cordless phone system, which can be extended to work with multiple cordless handsets.

One of the things I try to do on this blog is try things–new consumer VOIP products, downloads, etc. You can get commentary on industry news like who’s buying who, or who just closed shop, in places like GigaOm.

Admittedly, I don’t get to try a lot of hardware, just software mostly, but if you’re looking for that kind of thing, VOIP and Gadgets or Smith on VOIP are good bets.

But this week Andy Abramson, in Living with Softphones, posted a neat-and-tidy roundup of some VOIP tools he’s been using, and I like it because he lists only what he’s used (or experimented with), and explains how he uses them. I think this kind of post is really useful. Don’t you really wanna know just how you’re supposed to use all this stuff in the real world? I know I do. Thanks A. Alec Saunders also posts quite often on VOIP adventures with his Blackberry, and Phoneboy writes about handsets he’s using (because all other hardware is just too boring). Check them both out too.

For my part, I use on a regular basis:

Skype: for chat and calls to Skype buddies
Gizmo: for general softphone calling
PhoneGnome: for long distance calling to reg phones
SightSpeed: for video calls
GrandCentral: for simplifying inbound calling. I’m using it to funnel calls through my Gizmo account.
Fring: for mobile calls to Skype buddies (still experimenting mostly)

Since I cancelled Vonage in August, I haven’t signed on with another subscriber service. However, I’ll be trying one soon.

From: www.quickstartvoip.com

Voice over the Internet phone service is no longer an exclusive preserve of techies. Scores of telecom companies, cable companies and young entrepreneurs have set up VoIP services.

Each one claims to offer extra features and benefits. So how do you decide?

If price/cost is your most important deciding factor, VOIP comparison sites are great. They extract all the rate info and display it in a handy chart. Voipreview.org is a good example. Click here to compare the VOIP phone service and prices being charged by different providers.

The services that you should take a close look at are basic services, advanced services, voice mail, faxes, call blocking, web management, special calling, and customer service.

The most common services being offered by VoIP providers under the different service heads are:

1. Basic Features: Call forwarding, international call forwarding, caller id by number, caller id by name, call-waiting, call-waiting caller id, disable call waiting, distinctive ringing, repeat dialing, return dial and three-way calling.
2. Advanced Features: Call Transfer, conference bridging, simultaneous ringing, sequential ringing, secondary virtual phone number, additional service lines, toll-free numbers (incoming), MS Outlook integration and softphone support.
3. Voice Mail: Retrieval of voicemail from telephone handset, phone number for external retrieval, retrieval via web interface and receiving of voice mail via e-mail
4. Fax Functionality: Support outgoing/incoming faxes, receive faxes via voice mail, and a dedicated fax line.
5. Call blocking/filtering: Block outgoing international calls, block outgoing 1-900 calls, block incoming anonymous calls, do not disturb notice. This also includes blocking of telemarketing calls or selective blocking and selective forwarding via e-mail of filtered calls
6. Web Management: Modify basic/advanced features, obtain detailed call logs, activate order/cancel features/services, activate click to call facility, and provision of web interface that is compatible with non-IE browsers.
7. Special Calling: 911 Emergency calling, 411 Information, free in-network calls, free calls to external VoIP networks, Cable box/SatTV/Tivo compatibility
8. Customer service: Technical support via telephone, technical support via email, web-based technical support and account management by telephone.