I recorded this phone blog via the all new, ultra brilliant new VOIP service that’s set to grow like wildfire. It’s called Bababoo and it’s really, really good. I normally don’t have any time for VOIP services that actually make my calling experience shitter. Bababoo uses the exact same dial screen that you’re accustomed to on your iPhone. Of course, user-to-user calls are absolutely free, but if you need to call out of the Bababoo network, the charges are eminently reasonable.

Give it a shot. Let me know what you think.

So that you can judge the quality, the recording below was made via my iPhone running on the hotel WiFi and calling out from the Bababoo network to the iPadio.com phonecasting service.

T-Mobile USA has launched itself onto Facebook, providing free VoIP calls between social networkers though the service is not yet integrated into the operators mobile network.

Bobsled by T-Mobile is a VoIP application integrated with Facebook to provide audio connections between users with a tap of the mouse, along with a voice mail service capable of pasting messages to the receivers wall. Thats far from unique; there are a handful of similar services, but the addition of the T-Mobile brand is a significant development.

via T-Mobile turns Facebook telco • The Register.

Help me, help me.

My USB headset is rubbish. Absolutely dire. It’s made by Gigaware and, if memory serves, I bought it for an outrageous price from one of those airport shops when I was on my way to America. You know when you pay something like £50 for bits of plastic that you know must have been manufactured for pennies? That’s how I felt. But I needed to have a headset as I had several important Skype conferences planned. Plus I didn’t want to rely on the MacBook’s own internal microphone as that can be a bit echoy.

The Gigaware headset, complete with rough plastic ear-muff things and boom mic has been with me for about 2 years now.

I need to do something about it.

When I use it, my Skype calls are fine for about 40-50 minutes before the headset just screws up. Literally it goes haywire and people can’t hear me. It’s like a build-up of static or something. So routinely, when I’ve been talking on Skype for more than 35 minutes I have to apologise to all concerned and briefly take the headset’s USB plug out… wait 5 seconds… plug it back in again and proceed as normal. To avoid this build up of… something.

I don’t know WHY I haven’t done something about this.

So.

Please help me out.

What’s the best USB headset you can buy?

Have you experimented with Bluetooth or infrared/wireless ones?

What do you recommend?

[Update: I found the exact headset model I've got. Must have bought it from Radioshack. $29 it says on their site. I'm sure it was more. Either way, I'm not a big fan.]

I’ll be posting more on this shortly, but in the meantime, here’s the full release. If you’re into SIP and PBX services, do take some time to read.

Research In Motion Limited today announced BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System 5 (BlackBerry® MVS 5) with voice over Wi-Fi® calling. BlackBerry MVS 5 works with Cisco® Unified Communications Manager to provide a business user with the ability to use their regular desk phone number and extension from their BlackBerry® smartphone. With the new version 5, an employee will be able to use a single work phone number shared between their desk phone and BlackBerry smartphone and make and receive enterprise calls on their BlackBerry smartphone over a Wi-Fi connection, adding to the existing capability available over cellular networks.

An increasingly mobile workforce and the growing number of employees working from home present challenges for businesses to keep their staff accessible through their work phone number and keep calling costs under control. With BlackBerry MVS 5, calls made through BlackBerry MVS are routed through the corporate phone system/Private Branch Exchange (PBX)*, which helps with adherence to company policies and enables potential savings on long-distance and international roaming charges. Employees also benefit from the convenience of a single work phone number shared between their desk phone and BlackBerry smartphone. Employees can be more reachable through their work phone number and can even enjoy the convenience of extension dialing from their BlackBerry smartphone as well as the flexibility to move calls from their BlackBerry smartphone to their desk phone. It’s also easy to use since incoming calls ring simultaneously on the employee’s desk phone and BlackBerry smartphone and employees access BlackBerry MVS using the same phone interface that they are already familiar with on their BlackBerry smartphone.

“BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 effectively provides a wireless extension of the corporate phone system to allow voice over Wi-Fi calling at work, public hotspots and home. It presents a great opportunity for companies to enhance the productivity of employees who are often away from their desks or working from home, such as workers in construction, hospitality, sales and professional services,” said Alan Panezic, VP, Platform Product Management at Research In Motion. “This latest release enables businesses to better leverage their investment in the corporate phone system, adapt to the growing demand by employees for more flexible work arrangements, improve workforce productivity and save costs on long-distance and international roaming charges.”

RIM and Cisco have worked closely to integrate BlackBerry MVS 5 with Cisco Unified Communications Manager to deliver an enhanced user experience. The solution has been tested for interoperability and will be supported by both RIM and Cisco.

Laurent Philonenko, vice president and general manager, Unified Communications Business Unit at Cisco: “BlackBerry Mobile Voice System and Cisco Unified Communications Manager provide and extend Cisco’s IP telephony features to BlackBerry smartphone users at companies of any size. With an integrated Cisco Unified Wireless Network, our customers will be able to have highly secure voice over Wi-Fi experiences and high quality phone calls with their BlackBerry smartphones while roaming across the wireless network.”

Advanced IT features built into BlackBerry MVS 5 will help to provide controlled, managed and secure use of BlackBerry smartphones with the corporate phone system. Key features include:

* Wi-Fi network access controls to set which Wi-Fi networks employees can access
* Network preference settings with the option of prioritizing the use of Wi-Fi or cellular for making phone calls
* Authentication to help ensure that only authorized BlackBerry smartphones have access to the corporate phone system
* Incoming call filtering based on allowed and blocked caller lists

A new interoperability platform has also been added to BlackBerry MVS 5 to enable telecommunications companies to offer BlackBerry MVS 5 as part of their corporate phone system offerings. RIM is working with leading companies to make BlackBerry MVS available for a range of PBX systems.

BlackBerry MVS 5 is expected to be available later this year.

Nice.

Very, very smart.

It makes a lot of sense given you can actually purchase on board. The big problems with these kinds of SIM offers is that — when you ACTUALLY want to make use of them, you can’t. You have to get the thing delivered. So you end up roaming as normal.

So if you’re going to Barcelona this weekend, look out for the advertisement from Truphone on your home-printed boarding pass. I understand the advert is live on EasyJet, BMI, British Airways and some short-haul Virgin Atlantic flights.

I think I might well buy a Truphone Local SIM on board tomorrow.

I’m heading to the States shortly — then Barcelona — and I’m therefore strongly considering trying out Truphone’s Local Anywhere package. I’ve a strong affinity to simply walking into a T-Mobile USA shop and picking up some sim cards, but I do think I should check out the service and see what it’s like.

I’ve long been a believer that whilst the Truphone wifi concept was cool and smart, the reality is that I travel quite a lot and am not necessarily always near a useful wifi hotspot.

Truphone-on-a-sim-card makes a lot of sense to me.

Their data rates aren’t too bad either: If you’re in the States and you’ve upgraded to ‘US Local Rates’ ($13/month) data is £0.75 per mb. As apposed to something crazy — Vodafone will charge me up to £15 for 25MB in a given day — that sounds good until you add it up over 7 days (£105 pounds!).

If you assume I would use a minimum of 5mb per day just checking email and so on, Truphone would charge me £26.25 for that. Actually, let’s compare like for like… (although I don’t know if I’d actually *use* 25mb per day)…

25mb x £0.75/mb = £18.75 x 7 days = £131.25.

So Truphone would actually end up more expensive in that regard.

Local sim or Truphone? I’m going to have a think!

I’ve been advising a small company that I guarantee you’ll never have heard of. They’re one of those firms that I suspect will come out of nowhere and run away with their chosen market segments.

The initial launch will be a VOIP/PSTN service like Google Voice mixed with Vonage — and a business PBX.

They’re then going to launch their own SIM cards. Pop one of their SIMs in your handset and it immediately becomes a fully configurable extension on your business PBX. Don’t want desk phones? Simply purchase one of their femtocells for your office and get stupidly low call rates. And don’t worry, when you’re out and about, you get the usual data and telephony functions you expect, just, you’re also connected to your office PBX too. Genius.

If you already have a PBX from someone like Cisco, Avaya or Nortel (chances are, if you have a PBX, it’s one of those) then this new service integrates perfectly… if you don’t have a PBX they have a fully featured “cloud” based Telecoms-As-A-Service (TAAS) platform that’s like a cross between Google Voice, Ribbit and Vonage with enterprise level PBX features. Wow.

It’s fully horizontally scalable (you just add more boxes). It’s also properly secure, unlike most VOIP services.

If this is up your alley, drop me a note and I’ll connect you to the company. They’re looking for one or two choice partners, but I have the feeling they won’t be looking for too long.

If you’re Cisco, Avaya or Nortel, then you should probably buy the company now, it would be a heck of a lot quicker. I’m writing this now so I can do a thoroughly big told-you-so in about 4-5 years time.

Funding wise, this is early stage right now although the technology is functionally more or less done. If you’re typically a later stage investor, get in touch so they can keep you updated.

As always, I’m ewan@mobileindustryreview.com or +44 7769 658104.

- – - – -

Dear Ewan,

You’ve said you’re a “long time fan of Truphone,” so you might be interested in our latest news: Eleven more Nokia handset models – including the N96 and the 5800 – are now compatible with Truphone, for a total of 26. (For the complete list, see here.)

We’ve also expanded the ways that Nokia owners can download the Truphone app. The software is now available through Nokia’s new Ovi store, initially for 14 models, with more to be added soon. The Truphone app also is available now for all 26 models as an SMS over-the-air (OTA) download from the Truphone Web site at www.truphone.com.

All of the 11 new handsets support Truphone Anywhere, and three of them – the N85, N79 and 5630 – are also compatible with the original Truphone Wi-Fi calling service. So when they’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, a call to another Truphone customer is completely free, and their Nokia handset becomes an alternative, inexpensive roaming solution if they choose to only make calls when connected to a Wi-Fi network when abroad or anywhere.

In this economy, those savings are hard to pass up! I hope you’re well and I’d welcome any feedback from you and your readers,

Best regards,

Geraldine

- – - – -

Thanks for that Geraldine. Truphone’s been continuing to set the VOIP market ablaze. If you haven’t checked them out recently, give them a go.

I’m particularly impressed with their nice, clean new website.

I’ve been using Truphone more and more on my Blackberry recently — but now I’m sporting the uber-genius Nokia N97 (and I’ve got Be Unlimited’s super-fast internet being installed) I’m going to be using the service a heck of a lot more.

So how does Agito address these challenges? The Agito solution comes in two parts; the RoamAnywhere Mobility Router plus a handset client in the usual flavours – Nokia S60, Windows Mobile, with BlackBerry and iPhone due shortly. Agito’s goal is to keep calls on in-building WiFi when possible and it does this by using location context intelligence to determine when the handset should be using WiFi and when to fallback to cellular coverage. The location context intelligence ‘fingerprints’ the building access locations and combines this with cellsite triangulation to determine the handset’s location and optimise handover between WiFi and 3G/GSM. Hand-off between WiFi and 3G/GSM is achieved in a sub 100ms time frame and is therefore completely transparent to the user. The location awareness also enables optimisation of handset WiFi to maximise battery life – important as WiFi can be a mobile battery killer. In addition to corporate WiFi access points, the handset can use home or public hotspots when available. A neat example of the benefits of location context intelligence is switching on handset WiFi when you walk into your home. In order to optimise cost savings when out of WiFi coverage, the client will route defined call classes, for example international, via the office so they can be least cost routed to their destination. Whilst this all sounds great in theory it does work in practice; Agito has a number of existing deployments in the USA in both businesses and higher education.

What caught my attention with Agito is how they’ve used technology to deliver a simple, Normob friendly, user experience. Users continue to use their handsets as normal and the ‘clever stuff’ is completely transparent to the user. Agito took the view that their service had to deliver a user experience similar to the existing mobile user experience; meaning no additional complexity for the user and WiFi cellular hand-offs as seamless as regular cellular hand-offs. Users are not interested in the wireless technology behind their calls – the service has to just work.

Agito’s solution is a good example of using the best bits of different wireless technologies to deliver a service that addresses the shortcomings of each of the underlying wireless access methods.

—

Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

So what is Truphone Local Anywhere and why has it got the potential to be a game changer? Truphone Local Anywhere will be a global virtual operator (MVNO) with its own HLR & IN (for the geeks) infrastructure, operating worldwide. Users can have local mobile numbers in all the countries they spend time in and make calls at local rates – not roaming rates. So for the first time one SIM allows you to use your phone worldwide, without being stiiffed for roaming, without having to stick another SIM in your phone and without expecting people to call you on international numbers. Truphone Local Anywhere also addresses a shortcoming of some travel SIMs by including data as well as voice and SMS.

I asked Geraldine Wilson, Truphone CEO, about pricing and whilst no firm details have been announced yet, the intention is to price well below existing roaming rates and slightly above existing in-country tariffs. This is probably a good place to pitch it because Truphone needs local operator co‑operation to get the coverage footprint but needs to keep prices sufficiently competitive so travellers don’t bother switching SIMs. An intriguing feature I’m looking forward to seeing is the ability to change CLI depending where I am. I’m hoping this will allow the CLI to be changed depending who I’m calling. So if I call someone in the UK I’ll want them to see a +44 UK CLI but if they’re in the USA then they should see a +1 US CLI. Not sure if that’s the plan but Truphone, if you’re listening, that’s what I’m looking for!

Truphone’s MWC presentation covered a number of scenarios where a single SIM would make life easier – airline pilot, family international business traveller, homes in more than one country, expatriates with family in the home country, people in the armed forces. The one that caught my eye is the airline pilot; my brother-in-law is a captain with one of Europe’s biggest airlines and therefore spends time in a vast array of countries. A Truphone Local Anywhere SIM would be perfect for him – definitely an early customer!

The Truphone Local Anywhere announcement didn’t go into detail around service value-adds but I’d really like to see a tie-up with SpinVox to convert voice messages into text and deliver as SMS. This would be a significant enhancement to the current ‘traditional’ voicemail setup and crucially, make it easier for international travellers to pick up their voice messages. Number porting is also going to be key. Potential customers will need to be able to port in their existing mobile numbers to make the transition to Truphone as simple as possible.

—

Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

3G mobile data (and its developments) is good but suffers from issues like flaky coverage, cell capacity constraints and backhaul bottlenecks. Public WiFi has coverage limitations but where it does work it generally delivers decent speeds and consistent service. The lack of roaming agreements between the big service providers is a frustration and I’d like to see a move towards ubiquitous coverage via more service provider co-operation, i.e. if you can find a signal you know you can use it, with service differentiation based around price, and value-adds.

Devicescape recently undertook some research into their user base to understand what WiFi users want from service providers and how people use WiFi. Key findings from the report showed:

• An overwhelming number of WiFi users expect WiFi while on the road (91%)
  
• Most respondents want citywide WiFi (84%) and many are willing to pay for it (56%)
  
• When travelling, the most popular device for accessing WiFi was the smartphone, such as an iPhone (vs.laptops)
  
• The overwhelming majority of smartphone users (81%) prefer using WiFi over 3G for browsing Web sites, downloading data, Google searches and sending e-mail
  
• 86% of respondents want manufacturers to build WiFi into their handsets
  
• 82% of respondents want the service provider to provide an overall 3G/WiFi data package

Whilst this research is focused on existing WiFi users it does show that people who already use WiFi don’t see 3G as an alternative wireless access method but as complementary to WiFi. I’ve blogged about Devicescape before; what they do is make WiFi access simple. Devicescape Easy Wi-Fi automates the hotspot login process to create a seamless user experience. Increasingly, this means Devicescape is hidden from the user and the service provider’s software uses Devicescape to manage the WiFi login process. DeFi Mobile uses this model and makes the hotspot login process fast and automatic. This simplicity addresses what has always been a barrier to simple WiFi use – the login process.

The next step for service providers is to create a completely seamless user experience across both 3G and WiFi. Users should not have to decide themselves which wireless access technology to use. The software should determine whether 3G or WiFi is appropriate. For the 3G service providers it makes sense to ship traffic via WiFi where they can, in order to preserve cell capacity for non WiFi users.

Mobile VoIP is an interesting but potentially very confusing (especially for Normobs) part of the WiFi market, so it’s good to see LowCostMob bringing some clarity here. Comparing mobile VoIP is a bit of a black art because each service provider has a slightly different take on the market and it’s not just a simple matter of comparing tariffs. Users need to compare functionality and features as well as prices to determine which service provider to use. Some clarity here will help to drive progress in this part of the WiFi market.

—

Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

Work is also progressing on tariffs, and flat rate tariffs will be launched within a couple of  months to give users a choice of either per call pricing or fixed monthly charges. Truphone users who have multiple devices have found it frustrating to have to manage separate accounts for each device. This will be fixed shortly, allowing a single Truphone account to support multiple handsets. As one of Voxbone’s iNum partners, Truphone is looking at how best to exploit the potential of iNum to support its aim of delivering products for customers with an international lifestyle. Expect to see more on this shortly.

Got another interesting pitch in for Mobile World Congress and published on the MWC Pitch system.

It’s from Skuku and you can vote for them here.

A quick overview:

Skuku puts the power of VoIP into your SIM card. Keep your mobile phone number and pay only local rates from anywhere in the world. International calls are cheap, and calls to any Skuku user are free!

Truphone is now focussing on building a family of products to deliver value to a global customer base that makes international calls or travels to international destinations on a regular basis. At the moment these services complement an existing mobile account by offering cheaper calls over WiFi (Truphone on a Nokia or iPhone), over 3G (Truphone Anywhere) and out of country (Sim4travel travel SIM). More convergence here is the plan with some potentially interesting outcomes, perhaps including a Truphone SIM card. Interestingly, Truphone believes that increasingly it will take business from landline providers, as well as mobile providers, as customers look for a single competitive solution for international calling.

2008 was the year when mobile app stores took off, with the Apple App Store making it easy for the first time, for all users to download new applications to their devices. Whilst other platforms like S60 and BlackBerry offer plenty of scope to find and install new apps, it was Apple that made it easy by putting everything in one place and making it accessible from the handset. The iPhone has also made WiFi on a mobile device mainstream and increasingly popular because it delivers faster ‘broadband’ connectivity than 3G or HSDPA. Increasingly, to deliver a great data experience you need multiple methods, including WiFi. Truphone sees the App Store as the start of a trend that will greatly extend their reach and put Truphone within the grasp of many more users. Plus, Truphone is well placed to exploit the increasing familiarity with WiFi on a mobile device.

2009 has seen Truphone kick off the year with the launch of support for a number of external communications platforms – Skype, Twitter, Live Messenger, Yahoo and Google Talk on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Truphone’s aim here is to make Truphone a communications hub on your device where you can manage more and more of your communications needs in one place. I’ll be coming back to this functionality in the future when I’ve had the opportunity to test it out. This year will also see a greater focus on the corporate BlackBerry market with support for central provisioning and central billing to increase Truphone’s appeal to enterprises. 

As the recent TruSaver tariff showed, future tariffs will increasingly support a flat rate component and Truphone will be looking to offer a range of tariffs to support the requirements of their customer base. I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see a flat rate tariff soon with no, or very limited, event based charging for individual calls. Heavier users are certainly looking for simplicity and predictability in charging.

At the moment some UK operators treat Truphone 079788 numbers as ‘out of bundle’ for voice calls and SMS and charge them at a premium. Resolution of this anomaly is a priority for Truphone so I hope we’ll see this barrier to ubiquitous usage of Truphone numbers resolved before long as it’s a problem that stops many of us handing out our Truphone numbers to contacts.

The launch of new functionality on the iPhone and iPod Touch underlines the point that Truphone increasingly means different things on different devices. A consistent customer experience across all devices is important in delivering a clear message to customers about your proposition and it will be interesting to see how Truphone addresses this point. As a Nokia S60 user, I feel that ‘my Truphone’ is increasingly being left behind.

So, lots of plans and lots to do … 2009 is the year for Truphone to deliver.

—

Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

I am currently reviwing the INQ 1,  and it has a inbuilt Skype client which is heavily promoted in its advertising and some would even say the INQ 1 is simply the Skype Phone version 3.

I have 2 Skype contacts, that’s it! Who actually uses Skype?? This really hit home when reading a post by Jonthan Jensen.

Teenagers don’t seem to be big Skype users so this application didn’t engender as much interest, although adults did show some interest in it.

He is exactly right but its more then teenagers I would say anyone under the age of 25  is probably not a Skype user.  Is it because that Skype is mainly used to contact people abroad?  The only time I haves used Skype, was when one of my friends took a semester in the Czech Republic, this was the easiest way for us all to stay in contact with her for free!

Now I move on to Skype on your Mobile, who uses it?? Hold your hands up now! I am completely at a loss why you would need Skype on your phone??

Am I missing something?

I understand about VOIP, and I think services such as Sipgate are fantastic when on your Home PC, but on your mobile I think they are a complete waste of time. For example if I really wanted to I could use a service like Fring and be able to receive calls on my Sipgate local number on my mobile.  The only I think this would actually be *useful* is when abroad on my holiday and in Wi-Fi coverage!

Maybe I am wrong and Skype is a fantastic resource, for me I think it a waste of time.

I do look forward to reading your comments about Skype!

Ricky

ricky@mobileindustryreview.com

Whilst it may no longer be the latest gadget the 2^nd Generation iPod Touch is still probably (in my view) the best standalone music player out there. I say this in part because it does so much more than just play music and of course gives you access to the App Store where you can find a wealth of free and inexpensive apps to download to your Touch.

When Truphone announced recently that they now support the 2^nd Generation iPod Touch, it got me thinking about the significance of using WiFi in the Touch to turn the device into a phone. It struck me as a hugely innovative way to take advantage of the App Store and extend Truphone’s reach into the consumer space.

To start using Truphone on the Touch all you need to buy is a microphone adaptor, as the software is a free download from the App Store. You don’t even need to buy an expensive Apple accessory to get a microphone, as Truphone has produced their own Truphone branded microphone adaptor which will shortly be available in the shops. What is neat about the Truphone microphone adaptor is that you continue to use your existing iPod headphones (or any other headphones you choose) by plugging them into the microphone adaptor and the microphone adaptor into the Touch. Calls to other Truphone users are free which is surely an incentive to get your friends with Truphone compatible devices to also sign up. Plus you can of course make cheap calls to the usual worldwide destinations by adding credit to your account.

If you’ve got an iPod Touch, the chances are you also have a mobile, so what’s the point of using Truphone on your iPod Touch? Truphone on the Touch is not a replacement for your existing mobile. For a start, you can’t yet receive calls. However, it’s a great way to make cheap international calls which your mobile operator would charge you a fortune for. Plus, it will shortly support instant messaging across Live Messenger, Yahoo and Google Talk. Skype connectivity is also on the way. Suddenly Truphone on the Touch starts to become a complementary communications tool to your existing mobile phone.

Something else that struck me about this development is that the microphone adaptor is the first piece of Truphone ‘hardware’ to appear instore and this will put the Truphone brand in front of people who might otherwise never have seen it, creating a another route to market for Truphone.

Happy New Year!

—

Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

As we head towards the end of the year I’ve been thinking about some of the mobile companies and applications I’ve looked at this year and what’s missing from their line up. So, I’ve highlighted the key service enhancement I’d like to see from each of them in 2009.

The mobile VoIP space is a particular favourite of mine because it offers low cost calling, service innovation and improved coverage (for me, anyway). 2008 has been an exciting year for new services – I’ve used a few of them and been very impressed with what each has to offer. However, no one out there has got the whole package for me yet. Truphone has added more platform support with iPhone, BlackBerry and now iPod Touch joining Nokia S60, plus Truphone Anywhere to deliver Truphone service outside WiFi coverage. I’m a big Truphone fan but the primary enhancement I’d like to see is flat rate tariffing to deliver simplicity and predictability. Ideally a range of tariffs offering the choice of in-country calling or international would be good. Another favourite at the moment, DeFi Mobile, launched this year with superb call quality and an all-inclusive international flat rate tariff. DeFi’s initial service line‑up includes almost everything I need, with some neat features like simultaneous ring and call forwarding included in the standard tariff. What’s missing? Inbound and outbound SMS on my UK 020 DeFi number is a must to give me a single mobile number across both voice and SMS.

Niche providers in the mobile space continue to challenge the rates charged by the big operators for international calling and roaming. Swap your SIM card over to MAXroam and get great rates when roaming, especially outside the EU. Now that the EU has mandated lower roaming voice rates and is looking at data, I’d like to see MAXroam come back with finer pricing for EU roaming. Rebtel delivers great pricing for international calls and it’s big plus is that it just works from any mobile handset – no software, no SIM card swapping. Local in‑country phone numbers are becoming more and more useful with a number of service providers starting to offer them for a small monthly fee. The ability to add an inbound number to my Rebtel account that delivers calls to one or more of my registered numbers would be a nice addition and another revenue stream for Rebtel.

SpinVox has shown us what the future of voice mail looks like with it’s speech to text product. I’m surprised that none of the big UK mobile operators has yet embedded SpinVox in their propositions, so I hope 2009 will be the year that one of the operators decides to differentiate their voice mail from their competitors. Inevitably pricing will be pivotal here so I hope everyone’s sharpening their pencils!

Lastly I’m going to mention Evernote. Evernote is now my preferred repository for notes and anything I want to remember in the future. I’d like to see Evernote implement greater consistency in functionality and the user interface across the various versions.

So guys, a few ideas and now it’s over to you!

—

Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

Can anyone recommend a company that can provide a few UK virtual mobile numbers with voice terminated over SIP and SMS over SMPP or some other API?

Preferably not numbers that are stupidly expensive to call and excluded from other MNO’s minutes buckets.

Let me know in the comments or via e-mail: dan.lane@mobileindustryreview.com

For the trip I put a MAXroam SIM in one of my handsets, so instead of paying 25p to send a SMS, MAXroam’s rate was about 17p (MAXroam’s tariff is priced in Euros). Now that the EU has pushed down the cost of voice calls, the MAXroam rate for voice is similar to regular roaming rates but I’m guessing there will be some changes there soon. However outside the EU where roaming rates are (apparently!) subject to market forces, MAXroam is much cheaper, 42p per minute to call a UK landline from the USA compared to 120p roaming via my UK operator.

DeFi Mobile is very cost effective for roaming because its flat rate tariff covers all your calls wherever you are worldwide. A single monthly fee of £23 covers all outbound and inbound calls worldwide, so the additional cost of using DeFi in Budapest was zero. The hotel where the conference was held had excellent DeFi coverage so I was able to use DeFi for almost all my calls. With my regular mobile number forwarded to my DeFi London 020 number I also avoided charges for receiving calls. Working on the basis that I made about 3 hours of calls back to the UK; if I’d used my UK SIM the cost would have been £45. Using DeFi, the additional cost was zero (included in my existing monthly service charge). And that’s not including the saving on calls I received.

What I like about new operators like MAXroam and DeFi is their ability to innovate and offer additional services that add real value to their proposition. Both MAXroam and DeFi offer the ability to add local in-country virtual numbers to your account. As my trip was only for a few days I hadn’t added a Budapest number to either account, however while I was in Budapest I mentioned on Twitter that I was using MAXroam and received a message from Pat Phelan, CEO at MAXroam, asking if I’d like a local number to give out while I was there. Within five minutes it was working (probably less, actually!). Very powerful to be able to simply and easily create a local presence in the locations you’re travelling to for your contacts there to reach you on. MAXroam offers up to 50 additional numbers per SIM card covering 52 different countries so there’s plenty of scope there! Plus, Pat is clearly a top man who goes out of his way to help his customers. This episode also shows the power of Twitter as a medium for communicating with customers and contacts.

—

Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

Voxbone provides iNum numbers to service providers who make them available to customers as part of their own service offering. An example here is Iotum’s Calliflower conferencing service which is offering iNum access on their premium service. Other early partners include Truphone, Gizmo5, Rebtel and Voxeo.

iNum pricing is an interesting area. Calls between iNum service providers are free of charge, whereas calls from outside the iNum community will incur a small charge from Voxbone, which will be reflected in the cost of calling an iNum from a mobile or landline. Voxbone expects calls from outside the iNum community to cost no more than a local call. Voxbone provides service providers with iNums free of charge and the service providers choose what they charge customers for an iNum.

Voxbone are in the process of negotiating access deals with operators worldwide to ensure it’s easy to call an iNum. At the present time this is still somewhat limited so if you pick up your mobile you won’t be able to reach an iNum direct. Voxbone’s short term fix for this is to have local access numbers around the world that allow an iNum to be reached via a two stage dial process. So in the UK I can call 020 3355 6363 and enter the iNum number I want to reach. Not particularly user friendly but a good short term fix to provide ubiquitous access.

The big challenge for Voxbone is to gain recognition of 883 as the iNum global ‘country code’. iNum’s target customers will often be international travellers with a good understanding of technology who will be receptive to this type of product. Voxbone also has plans for an iNum global directory service to make it easier for iNum users to connect with each other. As more service providers come on stream this will also help to raise the 883 profile.

I’ve been testing out a couple of iNum numbers from providers who are among Voxbone’s launch partners. Calls between a single service provider’s numbers, between two service providers and from the PSTN using a local access number are all working well and call quality is great.

At the moment iNum is a voice only product which may limit its appeal to potential users as most of us already have enough phone numbers for people to reach us on! However Voxbone plans to add SMS, video and presence to iNum and these features will start to add real value to the iNum concept and differentiate it from other contact media.

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Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

There are lots of neat mobile VoIP services out in the market – two of my favourites are Truphone and DeFi mobile because of the way they embed themselves into a Nokia S60 handset, provide an additional phone number and just work where there’s WiFi. However one provider that I’ve been taking another look at is Rebtel. Rebtel is aimed at people who call abroad using their mobiles (Rebtel does work just as well from landlines) and (not surprisingly!) don’t want to pay the extortionate rates charged by the mobile operators. Whilst Rebtel uses VoIP to carry the international leg of the call, the call to the local Rebtel number is made using your regular mobile minutes. Rebtel’s killer feature is that it works on any mobile phone; no software to install, no SIM cards to swap over. This can be a five quid or a five hundred quid handset – Rebtel just works.

There are several different ways to use Rebtel. First you need to set up an account online and add some credit. At a simple level, for ad hoc international calls, you call the local Rebtel operator number and follow the IVR. This is Rebtel ‘double dial’. However the easiest way to use Rebtel is via ‘direct call’. Login to your account and enter the phone number of a friend or colleague who lives abroad. Rebtel then provides you with a permanent virtual number for your friend. So if I want to call Annie in Australia, I’m given a local UK number to use instead of her Australian number. I save the local number in my phone and use this to call Annie in the future. Cost is zero to my mobile operator (for me) because the call comes out of inclusive minutes, plus £0.013 per minute to Rebtel. I could also make this call for free (assuming inclusive mobile minutes), using ‘smart call’, by asking Annie to call me back on the local Australian number displayed on her handset while I stay on the line. Not quite as seamless but a way to save even more money.

Rebtel has just launched ‘collect call’. If I, as a Rebtel user, call someone who isn’t on Rebtel, they will see a local number displayed on their phone. They can then use that local number to call me back on in the future and I pick up a small call charge from Rebtel. The online account management system lets you manage the settings for ‘collect call’ so you can choose whether to accept or decline calls.

Rebtel accounts and numbers can also be managed via SMS and mobile.rebtel.com.

Rebtel has just launched a great promotion – up to 50 percent off call rates to 23 countries around the world for the next 30 days. A nice gesture in these financially challenging times.

Never one to stand still, Rebtel has been taking a look at the iPhone and will have a Rebtel application in the iPhone AppStore in the next couple of months. They aren’t saying too much about it yet but sounds like one to watch out for. Knowing Apple’s somewhat ambiguous view of VoIP this’ll be interesting!

You can also follow Rebtel on Twitter http://twitter.com/_rebtel

In case you’re wondering, I’m told that Rebtel is a corruption of Rebel Telecom, a fitting name for a market disrupting service provider!

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Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

New service providers in the market are starting to provide a glimpse of what true convergence can deliver and this is starting to simplify tariffs. The distinction between fixed and mobile communications is becoming increasingly blurred in the market, with VoIP allowing service providers to offer simple inclusive tariffs as a key part of the customer value proposition. The simplicity of these propositions allows them to be offered to customers worldwide and not just within narrow territorial boundaries.

From a customer perspective, choice of tariffs is a balance between giving the customer the choice to identify the most appropriate tariff for their needs and confusing the customer through too much choice. Whilst per call charging may suit the occasional user, heavier users want certainty and predictability in their bills. A flat rate monthly charge that covers all calls to landline and mobile numbers worldwide is the most desirable tariff for heavy users (unlimited calls would of course be subject to a fair use policy).

The options for flat rate models can include worldwide, in-country or in-region, e.g. Europe. Including mobile calls in the flat rate tariff is desirable because for many customers, mobile numbers make up a significant proportion of their calls and without mobile numbers the element of certainty is lost.

An innovative approach to tariffs allows the customer to build their own package based on selecting the options they require. The selected options generate a monthly charge specific to that user. For example, a customer could select flat rate calls within the UK, plus flat rate calls to the US, plus data, plus three geographic inbound numbers for the UK, USA East Coast and USA West Coast. This puts the customer in control of their own service package and therefore charges. The customer sees the value from a service tailored to their own requirements and for the service provider it provides the opportunity to increase ARPU by offering the customer additional services which can be added to their base tariff.

Whilst the economics of the VoIP market are different to the cellular mobile market, we are starting to see tariffs from the new service providers that are not ‘designed to confuse’. What we need now is for a mobile operator to take the plunge …

The ultimate test for any tariff is to test it against the customer experience. Is it simple? Will the customer understand what charges they will incur? Does it give the customer certainty and predictability in their expenditure? For an example of how not to do it look at charging for data by the MB. What does a MB mean to a customer? Nothing!

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Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

When I bought my last handset I took the view that what I actually wanted was a communications device. I wanted to be able to make calls, text, email, and access social networking services easily and seamlessly. Anything else would be useful – but a device that did the comms piece well was essential. I went for the Nokia E51, despite it not being available on a consumer tariff, because it’s designed for communication. It gives me:

• 3G/GSM voice – Speaks for itself, obviously, and on my handset is ably supported by SpinVox for voice message delivery by SMS.
• WiFi & VoIP – DeFi and Truphone are essential to me for cost effective and quality mobile coverage at home as well as in WiFi hotspots elsewhere. DeFi also gives me a London number on my mobile so people can call me at lower rates.
• SMS – SMS has been a key communication method for me ever since I started sending messages via foreign operator SMSC’s back in 1994 to get around the lack of operator interconnection in the UK at the time.
• Email – The Nokia Email service delivers copies of my messages to the handset home screen for easy reference.
• Web access – The principle communication requirement here is Twitter. A flat rate data tariff is essential to provide certainty of expenditure.
• Nokia E Series ‘Active standby’ mode – Displays essential information on the home screen, for example both my SMS and my email inboxes are displayed concurrently.
• Excellent form factor – The E51 is a very slim handset that slips comfortably into a shirt pocket, unlike the bigger N and E Series devices.
• Great keypad – Proper keys in the right places!

So what about the stuff that’s missing from the E51?

• High-end camera – I don’t need a mobile camera for capturing high quality images. I use the E51 camera for snapping photos of stuff I need to remember and sending a copy to Evernote via Shozu. When I want high quality images I use a pocket size Nikon that has done the job well for several years now.
• GPS – I’ve tried satnav via Nokia handsets using Google Maps or Nokia Maps and they don’t come close to my TomTom. The TomTom has a screen you can actually read in the car (surprisingly useful!), simple setup via the touch screen and can be used by others in the family.
• Music – I don’t listen to a great of music but the E51 player is fine when I need it, although for sheer style you still can’t beat an iPod!

I suspect my next device will have a decent camera and GPS, if only because these will increasingly be standard features in quality handsets, but for now my E51 does the job!

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Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

Dell Video Chat offers free video calling to other Video Chat and SightSpeed users, plus regular phone calls to anyone and instant messaging to other Video Chat users. I’m using Video Chat with a Logitech QuickCam S5500 and the video quality is fantastic – much better than I expected from my past experience of using video calling. Multi-party chats are also available for $9.95 per month.

A neat feature is the ability to record a video message and send it to someone who isn’t online or doesn’t have Dell Video Chat installed. The recipient receives an email with a link where they can watch the video and also sign up for Video Chat. This is a nice feature for families who want to send impromptu video messages to each other.

As you’d expect, Video Chat offers the usual functionality to tune your video and sound settings plus the option to select different transmission speeds based on your Internet connection. There’s also a test call function to check you can communicate okay with the far end. Invoking ‘Control-S’ during a call brings up a statistics windows so you can compare your transmission speeds with the other party and monitor CPU usage and latency.

Whilst video calling to another Dell Video Chat user is free, making regular phone calls is chargeable and you need to top up your account with a minimum of $10.

The decision to use Dell Video Chat instead of other video calling products probably comes down to one of quality against ubiquity. If quality is important then Video Chat is well worth installing but you need to persuade your contacts to do the same. In the past I’ve not been a big fan of video calling because it’s always seemed a bit flaky but using Dell Video Chat a few times has inspired me to think again about when it would be useful. Now I need to persuade a few people to think likewise and download it!

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Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

Last month I wrote about a new mobile VoIP service, DeFi. I’ve been using DeFi for a couple of weeks now, initially on my Nokia E65 and now on my E51, and it’s proving to be an excellent mobile VoIP service, both in terms of call quality and functionality. As with any VoIP service the odd call experiences quality issues but that could be down to any one of a number of reasons. In any event the quality is better and more consistent than the flaky cellular coverage I get at home.

The DeFi number you are allocated at signup is a geographical number in the country of your choice – I have a UK 020 London number. This is great because it’s cheaper for people to call than a mobile number. DeFi passes full CLI so people I’m calling see my 020 CLI. Occasionally I have seen ‘international’ appear on an inbound call but I’m told that is an issue with a specific carrier that will be fixed shortly. In addition to my main number I’ve added two additional inbound virtual numbers, including a US number.

One of the most striking features of DeFi is the tariff structure. For $40 (or £23) the Global Access tariff provides unlimited calls from any country to any country, subject to a fair use policy of 3000 minutes a month. Here in the UK this includes landline and mobile numbers, plus numbers to 08 destinations like 0800, 0845 and 0870. This is the first time I’ve seen these destinations included in a fixed price bundle and emphasises the value behind the pricing. Also included in the tariff is WiFi access via an increasing number of commercial hotspots, for both calls and Internet access from your handset. DeFi is in the midst of signing agreements with a number of networks and so far I’ve used my handset out and about in London. The only additional charge is for the virtual numbers which are part of the Global Access Plus tariff and add $10 to the monthly charge.

At the present time there is no support for SMS. This is in the roadmap and both inbound and outbound SMS will be supported on the geographical DeFi number – mobile SMS on a London number is a neat twist! SMS support will also include voicemail alerts, which are currently delivered via email. Voice messages can be received as WAV file attachments, accessed via the DeFi ‘My Account’ portal or by dialling into your mailbox.

Initially I had a few issues with specific UK 08 number sub-ranges not connecting but these were fixed very quickly after raising a fault ticket. Customer support is always very responsive, with answers to queries received with a matter of hours.

Some of the terms used in the voicemail menus need to change for the UK, for example ‘pound key’ need to be replaced with ‘hash key’. These will are due to be fixed in a UK localisation upgrade to the system shortly.

Your DeFi account is managed via the ‘My Account’ portal. This is where you manage aspects of your service like voicemail settings, simultaneous ring, call forwarding, call waiting and check your call history. Simultaneous ring is my favourite feature and I’ve set it to ring my DeFi handset, another mobile and my home office landline so I can answer the call wherever convenient.

Although WiFi doesn’t offer the convenience of 3G/GSM for ubiquitous coverage, the cost benefits of a service like DeFi, both for calling from your home or office and when out and about, particularly when roaming, certainly make it a worthy addition to the mobile toolbox!

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Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.