Skype Integrated in Facebook - Make Calls from Facebook

Skype Integrated in Facebook - Make Calls from Facebook

How does this sound -: You will soon be able to make Voip calls directly from your facebook account. In other words, you may will soon find skype integrated with your facebook account. So along with chatting with your friends, you will be able to place phone calls (Video calls ?).

I read this news somewhere on web while surfing about the latest in the voip world. I kinda liked what I read and thought of sharing with you all. It would be highly beneficial for all, if Skype gets integrated with Facebook. This will be a huge impact on gmail/google talk. A lot of people have been chatting on facebook itself and not on gmail.

According to Allthingsdigital, Facebook and Skype are working to allow Facebook users to send SMS messages and make voice and video calls to friends and contacts via Skype.

It may be vice-versa too, that is Facebook users allow to use Skype using their facebook account. Its more like integration of Facebook (social networking in Skype). Facebookers will be able to sign into Skype through Facebook Connect, which allows users to sign into third-party Websites with their Facebook accounts. The integration is expected in Skype 5.0, scheduled for an October launch. A Facebook-Skype VOIP integration would also be an answer to communications and collaboration capabilities offered by Google.

Lets see what finally comes into market, but I am sure this will be a great move by Skype and Facebook and will be accepted by all.. I am really looking forward for this.

PennyTel New Billing System Updates

PennyTel New Billing System Updates

PennyTel made some huge news when it was offering unlimited free international calls including free calls to India during the new year season. A large number of people (a lot from this blog) made use of the offer and made account with Pennytel. Some must be continuing with Pennytel only for their international calling needs.

Here are some updates about PennyTel about its new billing system starting 1st October. PennyTel will be changing its billing process to a monthly prorated system, simplifying your statements and invoices.

(1) The billing periods of all PennyTel accounts will correlate with calendar months in the year (start and end on the first and last day of each month respectively)

(2) For those PennyTel accounts whose billing date is not the 1^st day of the month, a prorated amount (subscription fee/number of days in the current month*remaining days in the current month) will be calculated on their next billing date. On that date, they will be charged the full amount for the plan’s monthly subscription fee, but the difference between the monthly subscription fee and the prorated amount will be refunded into the PennyTel account as call credits.

(3) If a customer changes their plan, the billing period will be from the day the change of plan was completed until the end of the month. Plan upgrades will involve the customer being charged the full amount for the new plan’s monthly subscription fee, but the difference between the monthly subscription fee and the prorated amount (as mentioned in section 2) will be refunded into the PennyTel account as call credits. Any included calls, minutes and/or SMS that come with the new plan will be prorated for the remaining number of days in the month. Any included calls, minutes and/or SMS that come with the old plan will be forfeited. Plan downgrades will have their old plan’s monthly subscription fee prorated and refunded.

(4) Customers can change their plan only once per billing period (month). A second request will be put on hold and processed on the 1^st day of the following month. Customers are able to cancel the second request.

PennyTel is making these changes in order to make its billing system more simplified and effective. May be this way they can attract more customers. In the future, PennyTel is expected to revise some its plan offering some more free calls. I am again waiting for the time when PennyTel start some similar promotion offering unlimited free international calls.

Rebtel Cheap Calls to Liberia, Ivory Coast and Trinidad and Tobago

Rebtel Cheap Calls to Liberia, Ivory Coast and Trinidad and Tobago

Rebtel is one such voip provider which keeps on revising its calling rates, actually time to time lowering its calling rates to various destination. All of you must be aware of its ongoing promotion of free $5 bonus coupon code (Check post on Rebtel discount code if you are not aware).

Well Rebtel has lowered its calling rate to Liberia, Ivory Coast and Trinidad and Tobago.

For Liberia : you can now call for 23.9 cents/minute USD to fixed lines and for as little as 17.9 cents/minute USD to mobiles.

For Ivory Coast you can now call for a mere 17.9 cents/minute USD to fixed lines and for no more than 21.9 cents/minute USD to mobiles.

For Trinidad & Tobago you can call fixed lines for 3.9 cents/minute USD and mobiles for 10.9 cents/minute USD to mobiles.

The best part about Rebtel voip is that it never compromises on its call quality, customer support which are among the best. So if you have friends in these countries, use Rebtel to make Cheap voip calls to these destinations.

CallNet VoIP FREE 15 Minutes per month to 50 countries

CallNet VoIP FREE 15 Minutes per month to 50 countries

With so many voip players already in the market, voip companies have started offering good mobile voip deals. Many are offering good mobile voip plans, so that people can make cheap phone to phone calls. Its indeed good for all the users. We have already discussed about Fringout, offering cheap calls to India, then we have voip provider like Rebtel which offers direct calls (without any need to download any voip application to your phone). Just to remind you all, those who have not utilized the offer yet, Rebtel is offering free $5 bonus (yeah offer for our blog readers) - valid till November !!

Coming back to the voip provider in discussion, CallNet. Its a mobile voip provider which is having some good plans to make cheap international calls. The best part about this voip provider is that it is offering free 15 minutes calls to 50 countries, and that too each month. Yeah, India is included in the list. So that means, you can make free 15 minutes calls to India each month without spending anything. Lets talk about it more, then I will discuss some of CallNet other plans.

Well, actually CallNet offers several plans, one of them being CallNet free. Sign up for your free account and Callnet throws in 15 minutes to 50 Worldwide destinations per month free!
Destination list where you can make free calls to India :

Argentina, World Wide DestinationsAustralia, Belgium, Belgium Mobile, Brunei, Brunei Mobile, Canada, China, China Mobile, Croatia Republic, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Guam, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Mobile, Hungary, Iceland, India, India Mobile, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Korea (South), Luxembourg, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Portugal Mobile, Puerto Rico, Russia, San Marino, Singapore, Singapore Mobile, Slovenia Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Thailand Mobile, United Kingdom, United States, US Virgin Island, Venezuela, Venezuela Mobile.

Features:

Lower Call Rates
Competitive international and mobile call rates even for destinations outside the CallNet VoIP Plans.

Voicemail to Email Service
Have your voicemails delivered as sound files to your email address.

Online Billing Information
This feature allows you to view and download your call history online in realtime!

Time Of Day Forwarding / Scheduled Dial plan
This feature allows you to customize your dial plan online to manage your incoming call


Some other plans which CallNet offers :

300 minutes to NZ & 50 Worldwide Destinations for only $9.95 / month

600 minutes to NZ & 50 Worldwide Destinations for only $14.95 / month.

Unlimited calls to NZ & 50 Worldwide Destinations for only $29.95 / month.

DID NZ regional numbers available for only $3.95 / month

Mobile Voip $3.95/month : Make low cost international & local calls with our VoIP Apps for iPhone, Nokia, Android, and BlackBerry.

What I suggest you to try CallNet free plan first. Register with them for free, try out your free 15 minutes to these countries (you get 15 free minutes each month). If you like the service then you can topup your account/Choose any plan which suits your need. Please let us know your feedback, its very important to us as well to these voip companies.

LocalPhone Make Cheap Pc to Phone Calls

LocalPhone Make Cheap Pc to Phone Calls

Yeah I know, that we already have had a lot of discussions and posts about LocalPhone
. But Localphone is such a good option to make voip calls, that I thought to remind my blog readers about Localphone.

To all new to Localphone, its a UK based voip provider which offers very cheap phone calls to most parts of the world. For making calls to India you just have to spend about 1pence/min or 1.5 UScents/min. For other countries as well, Localphone voip calling rates are very competitive.

The best part about Localphone is that it offers so many different ways by which you can make calls. Another good thing, you need not to belong to UK to use LocalPhone
. I have been using Localphone in India itself for making my STD (calls to India) and international calls (USA/Sweden/UK) etc, and it works great for me.



Actually, that is what I wanted to highlight in this post. Not very new, but less used option to make calls -PC to Phone calls - yes its PC application, Localphone softphone.

So, If you are among those where Localphone has its local access number, or you make use of direct call feature, calling card feature of Localphone then you need not to try PC to Phone calls. Just enjoy Phone to Phone Calls using LocalPhone
.

Coming back to its Pc application, its a simple softphone (about 3MB), which you can download once you login to your account. Its very simple to install, and once installed and you login - directly make calls to your international destination. The call quality is just great, and I have not faced any problems from past few months. This is actually good when you want to use LocalPhone
from countries like India, Pakistan where it does not offer any local access number.

For business purpose also you can try Localphone softphone as a replacement for Skype. You will definitely be saving a lot more money switching to Localphone. So better try the LocalPhone Voip Service
now, as first call is always free. So may continue if you like the service (I am sure you will like it !!! :)


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

Free Wifi by Skype : this weekend

Free Wifi by Skype : this weekend

Just received an email from Skype, which I thought to share with you all. Its limited time (only weekend) offer.

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It’s almost the weekend, and we’re celebrating this one by giving everyone free Skype Access, the single-click Internet access feature, available at over 200,000 WiFi hotspots worldwide. Just because.

With Skype Access you can pay for WiFi access per minute using Skype Credit. All you need is a connection to a Skype Access compatible hotspot and the latest version of Skype for Mac or Windows.

From 0001 GMT on Saturday 25 September 2010 to to 2359 GMT Sunday September 26, Skype Access will be free to use, so you can surf the web, send email and make free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls at over 200,000 WiFi hotspots in cafés, hotels and airports worldwide.
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TruPhone reduced rates : mobile voip

TruPhone reduced rates : mobile voip

More and more mobile providers are entering the market, and already existent ones are offering new offers. Fring has already reduced its calling rate in its Fringout plan, which we discussed yesterday. So I thought to check out other mobile providers as well.

It seems that the competition in voip is really heating up. TruPhone, global mobile operator has reduced its calling rates to more than 30 destinations worldwide by an average of 60 percent when compared to previous rates for calls made using its Apple iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Nokia and Android smartphone apps. Truphone has also reduced the cost of its unlimited monthly call package to just $12.95 per month.

Truphone's new rates are now as low as 2.1 cents per minute, meaning even calls to some of the most popular destinations worldwide, such as the United States, France and China cost as little as $1.30 per hour. Only thing to note is the Connection fees. Calls made between TruPhone users (TruPhone to Truphone) are free over Wifi/3G.

PS: If you are looking for cheap calling offers to India with bonus credit, Try RebTel as we are offering a special bonus coupon code.

Have you tried FringOut to make cheap calls from Mobile

Have you tried FringOut to make cheap calls from Mobile

Sometime back we posted about the new beta voip service by Fring that is, Fringout. Its a newly launched voip service by Fring which allows you to make cheap voip calls directly from your Nokia mobile. Fringout is now again making a lot of buzz in the voip town, and I not very sure why now ?

Fringout is in news on many websites, and blogs stating to replace the voip giants like Skype. Let me describe this service to you again if you missed my last post on Fringout.

FringOut. Fringout is the latest mobile voip application by Fring (Still in beta phase) using which you can make cheap international phone calls directly from your mobile. Fringout is a good option now to make calls from your mobile as its rates are really cheap. You can make ‘almost-free’ mobile calls to family and friends not yet on fring to ANY phone. Call more than 200 countries from 1c/min
- Canada from 0.4 cents
- UK from 0.6 cents
- India from 1.1 cents
Fringout works on Nokia mobiles. Fring is working to launch its iPhone and Android applications. So iPhone users should not worry much !

Surely mobile voip is the upcoming trend, and its time that other voip providers as well start reducing their calling rates. No one is willing to shell out $$$ for making international calls, and actually you don't have to. Many providers offer international voip calls at cheap rates.

Use Fringout, make cheap international calls and let us know your feedback.

50% discount coupon for Rebtel : Cheap Voip Calls

50% discount coupon for Rebtel : Cheap Voip Calls

A few days back, we posted about Rebtel Special coupon code which allows you to get Bonus $5 credit. The post was a huge hit with so many people taking its advantage. There has been an update on that special coupon code which I thought to share it again.

I don't think I need to mention anything about the Rebtel, its really good call quality, good customer support, time to time rate reductions, new offers etc. Rebtel is growing each day and best part is they are willing to offer the same to its customers. For calling India, again Rebtel is a very good option.

This new offer is a voucher code that adds $5 bonus on the first $10 deposit. That is a 50% bonus, $5 is equal to approx 6 hours of calling to the UK or Mexico, or about one hour to Asia or Africa.

• Voucher code: REBTEL5
• End date: 1st of November
• The minimum deposit is $10. The deposit must be made within 30 days after the sign up.

At Rebtel you pay only for the time you talk! Rebtel has one minute billing; and there are no hidden charges. No contract required. and the best part First call is always FREE!

PS: Rebtel has recently lowered the rates to Liberia, Trinidad/Tobago and Ivory Coast! For example the rate to Trinidad/Tobago landline is now only 3.9c!

Don't forget to use voucher code REBTEL5 when you sign up so that you get free bonus $5 credit. If you have any concerns, any problems and any feedback - please share with us. Its a platform where we can help each other to reduce our phone bills.

Quality : Skype Voip Phone Calls

Quality : Skype Voip Phone Calls

Just received an email from Skype voip blog "It's all about quality". I really liked the content of the mail where it talks about the quality the Skype offers and always want to offer to customer.

Let me share some snippets of the mail with you all.

"While Skype wasn’t the first company to allow Internet calling, Skype was one of the first companies to make Internet calling work for the masses. Whether doing a Skype-to-Skype call for free or calling any phone for very little, people have spent over 520 million minutes on average every day talking to people with Skype. "

"our average monthly connected users grew from 91 to 124 million in the last year alone (June 2009 - June 2010). We will continue to build products and features with the level of quality that keeps our community connecting with one another."

"In fact, one seemingly simple feature that the Skype team hears loudest is our end of call customer feedback, where everyone has the opportunity to rate their experience after they make a Skype call (depending on which version you are on). Every score we receive is used to rate customer experience for our different desktop products. For people making paid calls to regular phones, we use the feedback to rate our carrier partners."

"One good example is Argentina. Average feedback scores for calling Argentina were lower than overall scores in South America. This prompted us to start looking for local options. After establishing cooperation with a major local network operator, we saw feedback scores rise sharply - from 3.5 to 4 out of 5 maximum. At the same time, call volumes increased over the next three to four months."

Customer feedback is the best way any company could improve upon, and its really nice if Skype really takes action depending on the customer response. I wonder how many other voip provider do the same. Cheers to Skype !!

Phone Calls from Gmail/Google Voice : Tips

Phone Calls from Gmail/Google Voice : Tips

A few weeks back, Google started offering Google voice service directly from your gmail account. This enables to make calls from your gmail account, free calls to USA and Canada. Later Google Voice posted on its blog some calling tips which are very useful. Let me share it with you all.

If you have not yet setup Google Voice in your gmail, go to Google Voice, click on settings and check the box next to Google Chat in your list of forwarding phones. Now, you’ll be able to make and receive calls to your Google Voice number right in Gmail.

Tips about calls from Gmail:

1. Call Screening : You want to ignore a particular incoming call. Click the “Screen” button. The caller will be sent to your voicemail and you can listen in while they leave you a message. If you decide you want to take the call, just click “Join” at any time to pick up.

2. Switching calls between Gmail and other phones
Let’s say you picked up a call on your Gmail, but you need to head out the door. It’s a pain to hang up and call the person back from your cell, especially for those important calls. Hit the asterisk (*) on the Gmail dial pad at any time during the call and your other Google Voice forwarding phones will ring.

3. Recording incoming calls

4. Whenever you miss a call, you can see a notification in your Google Voice inbox, or receive an email notification, or both. This setting can be turned on and off from the Calls tab in the Settings menu.

Some of these tips are really helpful, specially forwarding the call to your number in between a call. If Google keeps on going like this in Voip, it is sure to capture the market very soon.

Source : Google Voice Blog.

Free Calls offer on EID : Wish EID for free

Free Calls offer on EID : Wish EID for free

Firstly Happy EID to all my blog readers. The festive season is around and its time voip companies have started offering free calls. Skype, one of the voip industry leaders has announced its new offer so that everyone can wish their relative and friends on the occasion of EID.

If you've never tried using Skype to call a landline phone or mobile, now's your chance to discover what else Skype can do. Skype is offering 1 million free voucher giveaway so that can call around the world for up to 30 minutes.

This way Celebrate Eid with free calls to friends and family all over the world from Skype. Getting this free voucher is very easy, but to bring to your notice - these vouchers are limited in number so you should probably not wait and grab your voucher now. The buzz about this free voucher giveaway is already spreading and soon these vouchers will be finished.

To get this free 30 minute calling voucher by Skype and make free international calls :
1. Visit Skype promotion page.
2. Enter your email address and wait for the confirmation. Skype will then email you a special code to claim your free Skype Credit so you can start sending Eid wishes.

Here is the terms and condition about this new offer:

Offer subject to availability, limited to one million vouchers in total. Only one voucher per email address. No cash alternative. Skype reserves the right to exclude participants from the offer in the event of suspected abuse or fraud. To redeem your voucher and make Skype calls, you must have a registered Skype Name and an internet connection. The Skype Credit will be applied to your Skype account. 30 total minutes is based on a single call to a landline at the rate of €0.02 per minute. The actual number of minutes you can redeem with this offer may vary based on your calling destination and whether you call landline or mobile phones. A connection fee applies. Redeem your voucher by 31.03.11.

PS: We also have a Rebtel special bonus offer running, where you get free $5 credit on use of a special coupon code.

Skype 20% discount on 12 months subscription plans

Skype 20% discount on 12 months subscription plans

Voip providers have once again started coming with new offers, new plans to enable your make very cheap international calls. Last week we announced a promotion offer (with coupon code) by Rebtel so that you get some free bonus credit and make cheap calls to India, and now Skype is offering some discounts.

Just now I received a mail from Skype, about offering 20% discount on 12 month subscription plan. Many people use Skype as a primary voip provider and others as secondary, having a permanent account with Skype using it now and then. For those, this discount offer is really good. But for those who are looking for pay as you go options and not for monthly subscription plans (that too annual), then Rebtel is a good option.

So below is the content of the mail.
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When you think of Skype, you probably think of video calling – rightly so as 40% of all Skype-to-Skype calls include video. At the same time, you still want the flexibility to call your friends, family and colleagues wherever they are – which is why Skype makes it possible for you to call any phone, almost anywhere, at unbelievably low rates.

Whether doing a Skype-to-Skype call for free or calling any phone for very little, people like you around the world have spent over 520 million minutes on average every day talking to people with Skype.

For the next week only, we are offering a 20 percent discount off all 12-month subscriptions. Sign up right up now and enjoy talking to your contacts longer, for less.

With over 3,600 types of subscriptions to call over 170 countries, you can stop watching the meter and talk for longer. A monthly subscription gives you the freedom to reach one or multiple countries for as cheap as €0.89 ($1.09/£.69)* per month, with rates as low as €0.01 ($.01/£.01) per minute to almost any destination around the globe.

For example, you can call the following destinations from virtually anywhere in the world for as low as:

€ .01 per minute to China ($.02/£.01)
€ .01 per minute to the United Kingdom ($.02/£.01)
€ .02 per minute to India ($.02/£.01)
€ .03 per minute to Mexico ($.04/£.03)

That means you can call these destinations cheaply whether you are in San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Cape Town or almost anywhere in between.

And if you prefer the flexibility to pay as you go, you can buy Skype Credit to make calls at low rates.

*.€1.02, $1.25, £0.79, including VAT where applicable
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SoliCall : Personal PBXMate for SMB’s and Private Users

SoliCall : Personal PBXMate for SMB’s and Private Users

Received an official press release by Solicall regarding their personal PBXMate, sharing this will you all.

RA’ANANA, Israel, September 8, 2010 – SoliCall, a leading provider of real time noise reduction and echo cancellation solutions for voice calls, has announced the release of a personal version of its successful enterprise level - the PBXMate product.

The PBXMate is being used by organizations to improve audio quality in their VoIP network. Now this product will also be available for individuals who are using SIP phone (or SoftPhone) looking to improve audio quality. Another benefit of the product allows its users to easily record their calls. With the Personal PBXMate all parties will enjoy a high quality audio during VoIP call. “This is another step to make our solutions accessible for all users. Both small businesses and individuals will now be able to enjoy the technology that has grasped roots and became popular among large corporations”, said Adam Moore, Director of Media Relations for the company.

The Personal PBXMate runs on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Some of the key benefits of the Personal PBXMate:

· Server Side Echo canceller (AEC) – your voice will never be echoed back at you. The server side AEC cancels echo before it reaches your ears.

· Client Side Echo canceller (AEC) – no need to use headset or hold the handset anymore.

· Server side noise reduction (NR) – shield your ears from irritating street noise / wind noise etc.

· Client side noise reduction (NR) – make professional calls from your home office without exposing the other party to your ambient noise.

· Automatic Gain Control (AGC) – makes sure the volume of the call is always set to a comfortable level.

· Automatic call recording - your calls are automatically recorded using synchronized mode that overcomes network delays & buffering.

Key statistic indicators are displayed to help you measure the quality of the calls.

For free evaluation version of the Personal PBXMate please visit Solicall.

***

About SoliCall Ltd.

SoliCall Ltd. is an Israeli-based privately-held company. SoliCall’s goal is to raise the quality and standards of any technological conversation regardless of the surrounding of the speaker. SoliCall stands for communicating better by improving existing means of communication on any platform. www.solicall.com

Fring : Cheap Voip International Calls Phone Calls

Fring : Cheap Voip International Calls Phone Calls

If you are aware of mobile voip, then its is very likely that you have used Fring in your mobile phone to make voip calls. Skype and Fring the two big voip provider with Fring having a good hold on mobile voip market. Fring has been very popular for making SIP calls from your mobile phone.

And now Fring is ready to create more buzz and expand its market by launching FringOut. Fringout is the latest mobile voip application by Fring (Still in beta phase) using which you can make cheap international phone calls directly from your mobile. There have been many voip provider (mobile voip) offering cheap calls but the call rate aint that cheap. Many still charge about 2-3 or more per min to make calls to India.

So Fringout is a good option now to make calls from your mobile as its rates are really cheap. You can make calls to most parts of world for about 1 cent per minute. You can make voip calls to India at 1.3-1.6 cents per minute (very cheap when you are making mobile voip calls).

To use Fringout in your phone :
1. Visit Fringout.
2. Choose your mobile device.
3. Download and install it in your phone. Create an account with Fring and start using it.

Skype Update : Group Video calls to 10 people

Skype Update : Group Video calls to 10 people

Just received an email from Skype about their recent updates. Now you can use Skype to make group video calls with up to 10 people – letting you bring even more of your family, friends or business together, even if you’re cities or continents apart. Note that everyone in a group video call now needs to be running this version, so if your friends, family or colleagues are using Beta 1, they’ll have to upgrade before you can include them in group video calls.

Note : Group video calling is currently available as a free trial. For group video calls, everyone in the group video call will need Skype 5.0 Beta 2 for Windows.

Skype has also changed its user interface. It looks more sleeker, neater and crisper than before. Skype Home, has been added where you can follow your contacts' mood messages, set your profile picture and mood message, receive account notifications and learn more about using Skype.

Skype also claims that it will now offer better stability and quality ! Let us know your feedback when you try this group video call.