Had an anonymous tip — well, an ‘anonymous experience’ actually — sent in this afternoon from ‘Fred’ about Truphone, the voice over IP mobile service. [I’ve edited and re-written parts of this to keep the person’s identity anonymous]. Here it is:
Hi there. I am one of the only people in the United Kingdom with a decent Nokia E series phone that you need to properly use the Truphone service. Or so I thought!
I sent the text to their shortcode yesterday and I’ve had nothing from them yet. I was a bit peeved with this. What is the point in offering a text information service on their frontpage if it is not going to be used by them?
I kept going and decided to then go to the site and sign-up there. I did get a quicker response than by text, but unfortunately then found out that their service only works with TWO handsets currently: The Nokia E60 & E61. Hardly a great experience so far – they shouldn’t have launched yet. ‘Teething troubles’ doesn’t come close.
Oh dear. Well Fred, do remember that they’re still in beta — so I wouldn’t expect all bells and whistles to be operational as yet.
What’s your experience of Truphone? Have you tried them? Let me know – either anonymously or via email to ewan@smstextnews.com.
I’m going to check them out when they’ve got N90 compatibility.
Fred, hi. Sorry to hear of your problem with the lack of SMS message. Did it ever show up?
On the phone compatibility issue: it is, to be fair to Truphone, plastered quite clearly on the front page of the web site under the heading ‘Will it work on my phone?’ What do you recommend they should have done to be clearer?
The subject of when to launch is tricky. The E60/61 are two of the few phones [from the most popular manufacturers] that have WiFi capability. Truphone will come soon for the very popular WiFi-enabled N-series, but it’s not quite ready yet. Better to wait until it is, surely, and just announce the models on which it does work?
On a different note: I now routinely use Truphone on an E61 with a basic Netgear wireless access point plugged into my ageing D-Link DSL-504 ADSL router, in turn plugged into a Tiscali (1Mbps) ADSL line. Call quality is great and, even better, free to landlines. With my usual calling pattern and size of bill, I envisage saving the cost of a SIM-free E61 fairly quickly. I guess it’ll be even quicker for N-series users – it’s already available as a free upgrade from some networks, I hear!
Disclosure: I don’t work for Truphone, but I do work with them. The views I express here are my own, not those of Truphone.