Google Voice on Android and Blackberry devices with faster dialing

Google Voice on Android and Blackberry devices with faster dialing

Google Voice is getting more and more popular with latest offers around, new feature updates and more people joining. So Google Voice has come up with another new feature that is faster dialing on Android and Blackberry phones.

Blackberry and Android have a vast user base and this application by Google voice will help a lot. Till now with Google Voice application, to connect your call Google Voice app had to make a request to the Google Voice server every time you wanted to make a call to send them the phone number you wanted to dial. Then the call would be connected via a Google Voice access number.

This obviously takes time and you want some faster calling method. When you want to make a call, your phone should connect you as quickly as possible, whether you’re calling via Google Voice or not. So, Google latest application update will allow you to make faster calls how ?

Well that is possible with direct access numbers, Google assign a unique phone number to every person you call. This means that Google no longer need to use your data network to access the server each time you make a call, so calls will be placed much faster.

How to get this application update :
Updated Android app is available from Android Market.
For Blackberry users, you can download the app by visiting http://m.google.com/voice from your mobile device.

So does this update from google is of any help to you ? Please share your views !

Rebtel back in the Dominican Republic

Rebtel back in the Dominican Republic

Here are a few updates on Rebtel. Rebtel is one of the most widely used voip provider specially by people for making cheap calls to India.

Rebtel is equally used by people for making free international calls to so many countries. Dominicans are again able to call any phone, anywhere in the world, for just pennies per minute, and make free calls to loved ones in 50 countries – including the U.S. – now that Rebtel is back in the Dominican Republic.

Rebtel was also offering free 60 minutes to Philippines under a special promotion which is going to end on 31st July. So if you have not made use of this offer, grab the offer now before it ends.

For those looking for making calls to India, Rebtel is a very good option offering calls at 1.8cents per minute under another promotion.

Net4.in Voip Home Calling Plans : India

Net4.in Voip Home Calling Plans : India

Lately there have been a lot of advertisements about voip in India and unlimited voip calls from India. net4.in is one such voip provider creating this buzz. I thought to check net4.in and its individual plans that is home voip plans, if its any good for people.

net4.in offers a wide range of voip plans for home users. These are Phonewala Home/ SOHO Plans that enable you to use internet connection to make and receive phone calls at very low rates, basically voip calls. So firstly you require Internet (broadband connection) at your home in order to make these calls. I am not sure, but these internet charges are not included in their calling plan rates.

Lets check out the various plans net4.in offers:

1. Homeland Plan : Rs 599/month
500 minutes* of calls to US/UK/Canada
Outgoing calls to landline and mobile destinations (except UK mobile).

I think this plan is not so good as you can make calls to USA/UK for free using Voip or most other voip provider are offering calls to USA/UK at 1 cent per minute (40-50 paisa per min).

2. One World: Available in Rs 100/250/500/1000 denominations
Call anywhere* in the world @ Re 1 per minute only.
Terms & Conditions
* Re 1 per minute applicable to more than 40 countries.
* Re 1 per minute applicable to landline destinations only.
* Calls to rest of the destinations available at Rs 10 per minute.
* For US, Canada, China, Hongkong , Thailand, and Singapore, calls to mobile destinations at Re 1 per minute.
* Validity of 30 days on Rs 100, Rs 250, and Rs 500 packs.
* Validity of 90 days on Rs 1000 pack.

Again as I said before the plan looks costly to me.

3. Gulf Gold:
Call more than 45 Gulf & European countries @ Rs 8 per minute.*
Terms & Conditions
* Rs 8 per minute applicable on calls all destinations.
* Validity of 30 days on Rs 500 pack.
* Validity of 90 days on Rs 1000 pack.

4. Unlimited Silver: US/ Canada
Unlimited* calls to US/Canada @ Rs 2499 per month only.
Terms & Conditions
* One month validity and maximum 3000 minutes per month.

Again a very costly plan.

5. Unlimited Silver: US/ Canada/ UK Unlimited* calls to US/Canada @ Rs 2999 per month only.
Terms & Conditions
* One month validity and maximum 3000 minutes per month.

Well, net4.in home plans are not at all cheap if you compare them to other voip providers. But if you compare net4.in international calling rates to your normal telecom provider then its way cheaper for many countries. So, if you are thinking of shifting to voip from your normal telecom provider then net4.in is a good option. We will soon also review their business plans.

Zenofon free $3 trial credit to new users

Zenofon free $3 trial credit to new users

Lately there has been very little activity in the voip world with very less voip providers coming up with new promotions. Zenofon has some news for you. I am sure you must be aware about Zenofon but if you have not joined it because of any reasons then it is the perfect time to do so.

Zenofon made a lot of buzz in the voip market because of their unique referral system and free credit giveaway to all new customers. Earlier Zenofon was offering about 20cents-$1 to new customers, however their system lacked resulting in many people doing multiple registrations using Google voice free numbers. Now Zenofon has upgraded their system to catch if the number is original phone number or any voip number (google voice or any other).

Zenofon has announced the beginning of its new promotion that gives away a free coupon worth $3 of free calling to people who join Zenofon and confirm their account with a valid mobile number.

Zenofon mentions on its website that "this program will help Zenofon grow quicker, Zenofon mangement believes, because the company now can give away more free time to actual users. Once users experience Zenofon’s technological superiority, such as the Zenofon international call forward program, Zenofon’s pick your own rate program, and Zenofon’s service that lets non-skype users call Skype lines without having to download Skype, the service will continue its double digit quarterly growth."

Please note that this zenofon offers $3 free calling for all new users that sign up with a valid phone number. This $3 free is divided up over 7 days, (42 cents/day.) Non-mobile numbers get 30 cents free to try the service.

So, if you have not yet joined Zenofon its the right time to do so and make some free voip calls.

Skype launches Click and Call service

Skype launches Click and Call service

Voip leader, Skype has once again brought something new. A new service, Skype has launched its Click and Call services. Skype Click and Call service is specially targeted for its advertisers (pay per call).

Skype is enabling advertisers to generate inbound calls from Skype customers – at no cost to our customers and at affordable rates for participating advertisers. Skype can also call some phone numbers for free as the call is sponsored by advertisers. As written on Skype blog "Click & Call Advertising with Skype works simply by allowing participating advertisers to have their phone number highlighted with a blue Free Call button anywhere online that their numbers are displayed. When the button is clicked, the Skype software launches and the call is connected – at no cost to the caller."

I really like the idea of click to call, where the customer can directly get in contact with the advertiser/seller and the customer does not have to pay anything for the call. In return, advertisers have one more way of advertising and this was they also get direct contact without the need of any mail iterations and chat discussions. Lets see how big this Skype Click and Call service becomes with time.

LocalPhone drops rates to Pakistan

LocalPhone drops rates to Pakistan

As we all know, few days back Localphone increased its calling rates to Pakistan. This was due to some restrictions by Pakistan government, however Localphone has negotiated with suppliers and has again reduced their calling rates to Pakistan. Below is the mail, which people received from LocalPhone.



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We contacted customers on Friday to announce a special weekend rate to Pakistan, and were very pleased to see such an enthusiastic uptake.

You may recall we were recently forced to increase our rates due to higher costs imposed by the Pakistani Government. As promised, we have worked hard with our suppliers to try to reduce our rates again as soon as possible, and I’m pleased to announce our new rate to Pakistan landlines and mobiles is just $0.085 per minute, effective immediately.

While this is not yet back to the previous levels it does represent a significant reduction, and follows through on our commitment to always pass our savings on to you. We will continue to strive to be the best value for your international calls, and thank you for your ongoing support.

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For more info, visit LocalPhone.


Update : Localphone is running a promotional offer. When you sigh up with $1 credit, you will get $2.5 credit. That's additional $1.5 credit as bonus.
$1.5 credit is worth 100 minutes to India. This makes cheapest voip provider to India with effective rate of just 0.6 cents per minute. This offer can be used to call other countries as well. What are you waiting for. Just try Localphone.
(No expiry of credit, good voice quality, and sign up for free - 1st call also free. Add credit as low as $1 plus get $1.5 bonus).
Coupon Code : FPBONUS

Pingo EZ Dialing Free $5 calls

Pingo EZ Dialing Free $5 calls

Well, I was just going through the older posts looking for some offer which was popular in the past and is still valid. I found that Pingo Calling cards EZ dialing free calls offer is still valid and is used by many.

For those who don't know about Pingo, Pingo Calling cards is one of the most popular and best international calling cards used by many to make calls to India. And for the EZ dialing, its similar to mobile voip, where you download simple mobile application to your phone and start calling.

The best part about this offer is that Pingo is offering $5.00 in Free Calls (to every new user) under this offer. That's up to 4 ½ hours of FREE International mobile calls!

Some features:

• No access number to dial
• No account or PIN to enter
• No hidden fee's or contracts
• No data plan needed to place calls

Step 1:
Download Pingo EZ Dial application FREE on your smart phone. It works with over 450 mobile phone handsets.

Step 2.
Start making $5.00 in FREE International calls!

So make use of the offer before it expires. Try it Pingo Calling Cards.

IndiaLD adds more access numbers

IndiaLD adds more access numbers

IndiaLD is also one such voip provider widely used by many to make calls to India. Their low calling rates, good voice quality and so many access numbers are main reasons people go IndiaLD.

Recently, IndiaLD has increased its access numbers in UK, Spain (Madrid) and Norway (Oslo). This means people from UK, Spain and Normay have more options to make calls to India.

Below is from the blog post in IndiaLD blog sharing more information about their increased access numbers.

For the UK, we have starting working with yet another access number company. The good news, is that we are not dropping our current access numbers there. If you are a UK customer and like the numbers you are using then you are ok. We did want to offer our service to more cities in the UK which is why we are with a new company. Here is the list of our new access numbers which include Manchester, Scotland, and Wales:

Belfast (44) 289 506-0810
Birmingham (44) 121 284-9320
Coventry (44) 247 714-9330
Derby (44) 133 292-6820
Edinburgh (44) 131 471-0810
Glasgow (44) 141 289-0810
Leicester (44) 116 304-0810
London (44) 203 129-9370
Manchester (44) 161 354-9310
Nottingham (44) 115 718-1065
Swansea (44) 179 227-2810

We’ve also added a couple of additional European countries. Here are our new access numbers for Spain and Norway:

Norway – Oslo (47) 21988999
Spain – Madrid (34) 911390199

Some months back, IndiaLD was the cheapest voip provider to India offering just 0.7cent per min to India. However the promotional offer is over but still their present rate is competitive making IndiaLD worth trying.

A voip battle : Skype and Fring ??

A voip battle : Skype and Fring ??

There have been news all over the internet regarding a kind of war between Skype and Fring. Both of them are quite major in voip industry, widely used by so many people around the globe.

Fring updated its iPhone app for the iOS 4 to include the capability of two-way video calling not only over Wi-Fi but also over 3G. This is in response to Facetime by Apple. As we all know that Skype is provided by Fring through its mobile apps, so Skype reaction was not good over this and it said that this voilated Skype's API Terms of Use and End User License Agreement.

Skype's VP of legal Robert Miller said in a blog post: "Over time, Fring's misuse of our software was increasingly damaging our brand and reputation with our customers. On Friday, for example, Fring withdrew support for video calls over Skype on iOS 4 without warning, again damaging our brand and disappointing our customers, who have high expectations of the Skype experience."

Fring was quick to respond with a blog post entitled 'Skype Cowardly Blocks Fring' and went on to attack what it saw as Skype's fear of "open mobile communications".

The above said news is all over the internet with already many expressing their views about this issue. Please share your views about Open mobile communications and what as an end user you expect from these voip companies.

Zenofon now offers 7 possible rates to all international destinations

Zenofon now offers 7 possible rates to all international destinations

Here is the latest buss from Zenofon. Zenofon is now offering 7 possible rate plan to all your international destination. This means, depending on certain criteria which we discuss below, you will be able to call your destination with flexibility of the calling rate you choose. This feature looks quite unique and will surely attract many more customers to Zenofon.

Below is the content of mail which Zenofon sent to its already customers.

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Zenofon's mission is to save you as much money and time as possible when you call internationally.

To save you time, we created 30 call forwarding numbers that you can store in your phone, that you can program to call internationally. Previously, if you wanted to save money on your international calls, you had to dial an access number and a PIN number, and then the number you wanted to dial. Once you add your international contacts to your Zenofon phonebook, that 3 stage dialing annoyance is a thing of the past. All you have to do is dial your Zenofon number and it will ring all the way to your contact overseas.

Zenofon has also invented something extremely powerful that will be extremely useful in helping us deliver to you the cheapest possible telephone rates and service. Our new software platform now offers you the choice of 7 possible routes that your call can take as gets delivered to your contacts overseas. Some of you will always choose the cheapest rate and some will always opt for the best quality route, but Zenofon intends on giving you the option, so you can decide for yourself what is best for you.
At this time, our level of reporting is not 100% there. We are working on a more transparent information sharing method, so you can see which route is the best blend of economy and high quality service. We hope to have that for you shortly. In the meantime, a summary of the routes are as follows:

Route 1 - Economy
Route 2 - Discount
Route 3 - Discount
Route 4 - Quality
Route 5 - Quality
Route 6 - Extreme discount, not guaranteed quality
Route 7 - Hi quality
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please share your views on this latest step by Zenofon.

PennyData Promotion Extended : Mobile Data for FREE

PennyData Promotion Extended : Mobile Data for FREE

Lately I have been keeping a bit busy so could not post some of the voip offers launched/extended in past week. So here I am sharing some the news which buzzed the voip world last week.

Received mail from PennyData/PennyTel that their offer has been extended. Below is the email which I received from PennyData about their promotion extension.

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Due to popular demand, we are extending our "More Mobile Data for FREE" PennyData promotion. The promotion ends on your first billing date after
30th October, 2010.

Example:
* If your billing date is 1st October, your promotional period ends on the
1st of November.
* If your billing date is 30th October, your promotional period ends on the
30th of November.
* If your billing date is 31st October, your promotional period ends on the
31st of October.

This is regardless of whether you are a new or existing customer.
If you are a new customer, you must sign up by the 31st of August, 2010. If you are an existing customer, there is nothing you need to do.
The way the promotion works is very simple:
If you are on the $25 plan, you will get 7GB of data/month (normally 2GB)
If you are on the $13.88 plan, you will get 3GB of data/month (normally 1GB)
If you are on the $8.88 plan, you will get 1GB of data/month (normally 500MB)
Additional data usage on top of your bonus data allowance is 8c/MB
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In the following posts, I will also share the other voip mails which I received in the past one week.

3G Voip Calls and Background Calls by Truphone

3G Voip Calls and Background Calls by Truphone

iPhone has been one of the most popular mobile phones. I am sure many of you must have been now using iPhone4, the latest gadget in the market. iPhone4 comes with so many features and its time to make use of it now.

If you visit Apple iTunes store to get these iPhone application, then you will find many voip softwares in top list. One of them is TruPhone. TruPhone has recently upgraded their iPhone Application to launch some new features !

To download Truphone for iPhone v4.0, click here

To download Truphone for iPod touch v4.0, click here

3G Calling
You can now place and receive calls over 3G networks! This means that you have the option to make calls as part of your data package even when out of Wi-Fi range.

Background calling
You can now be on a call and running another application at the same time. You also won't miss incoming calls when running another application and you can place a call while surfing the Internet or checking email.

Overall, TruPhone is worth trying and one of best mobile voip providers.

MediaringTalk offers unlimited calls to India

MediaringTalk offers unlimited calls to India

Recently Mediaringtalk has launched some unlimited calling plans, in which it is offering unlimited voip calls to many countries for a few bucks. Actually Mediaringtalk has launched 3 unlimited plans which we discuss below.

Two of the plans offers unlimited calls to India and these plans looks good.

Unlimited calls to 40 countries for $9.99 - These 40 countries include China however India is not included in this plan.

Fair usage policy for this plan :
Unlimited calls to 60 countries including India & China for $19.99 : This plan offers unlimited calls to India. Calls to phones and mobile phone calls are included in your subscription subject to a fair usage limit of 2,000 minutes per User per month for the Dial the World – Unlimited Plan based on billing cycle), and 3,000 minutes per User per month for the Dial the World + India – Unlimited Plan (based on billing cycle) , for a maximum of 2 hours per 24 hour period. In addition, no more than 25 different numbers can be called per User, with maximum of 10 repeated calls to the same number, per 24 hour period.

750 minute to call anywhere in India for $9.99 - The effective calling rate comes around to 1.33 cents per minute. This rate is almost same as that offered in Pay as you go option.

So, depending on your need just choose the voip plan. For more details, visit Mediaringtalk Unlimited calls.

MTNL Rs1 Calls to USA : MTNL US Calling

MTNL Rs1 Calls to USA : MTNL US Calling

India telecom industry is full of competition with each telecom provider offering something new each day. Finally the war seems to be now shifting towards international calls with MTNL initiating the new price cuts. MTNL USA Plans are very cheap and are not to be missed.

ISD tariffs for its GSM and 3G subscribers were slashed by MTNL few days back. MTNL is now offering Rs 1/min calls to many countries which include China, US, Canada, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore. This rate is effective from July 1st 2010. The earlier price of MTNL for these countries was 6.20-9.20 per minute so this is a huge drop. MTNL US Calling is now at just Rs 1 per minute.

Similarly, call rates will be Rs 3 per minute from Rs 12 per minute to countries like Argentina, Bahrain, Cyprus, Jordan, South Korea, Malaysia and Sweden. and that to countries like Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Columbia, Indonesia, Iraq, Russia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam will come down to Rs 5 minute from Rs 18. The new offer is a promotional one and valid for a period of 3 months. This is part of a scheme to effect reduction in call rates to 26 countries.

According to MTNL CMD, MTNL is expecting Rs 10-15 crore revenue addition through their ISD rate reductions, which, in all, include 26 countries through volume growth. About 1-2 lakh more subscribers are expected to add to their existing 50 lakh user base base on account of this.

This step by MTNL should start the move of international rate reduction in India telecom. Lets see, what other major like Airtel, Vodafone, Tata and Reliance has to offer. The day should not be far when you will be able to make international calls at local rates !!

LocalPhone free calls to USA for 4th July Weekend

LocalPhone free calls to USA for 4th July Weekend

Today I received a mail from LocalPhone
about Localphone offering free calls to USA this weekend. Let me share the content of mail with you.

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To help commemorate the 4th July Weekend we’re giving completely free calls to landlines and mobiles in the United States!

From 04:00am GMT on Friday 2nd July through to 10:00am GMT on Monday 5th July you can talk to the US for as long as you want, to as many people as you want, and we won’t charge you a cent!

New and existing customers can make free calls from your landline or mobile using Direct Dial or Calling Card, or from your PC, iPhone, or other VoIP-enabled device with LocalPhone
VoIP.

You can also buy a number in any of our 46 Incoming Number countries and forward calls to your landline or mobile in the US for free throughout the weekend!
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Update : Localphone is running a promotional offer. When you sigh up with $1 credit, you will get $2.5 credit. That's additional $1.5 credit as bonus.
$1.5 credit is worth 100 minutes to India. This makes cheapest voip provider to India with effective rate of just 0.6 cents per minute. This offer can be used to call other countries as well. What are you waiting for. Just try Localphone.
(No expiry of credit, good voice quality, and sign up for free - 1st call also free. Add credit as low as $1 plus get $1.5 bonus).
Coupon Code : FPBONUS