Techcrunch UK has profiled two new UK-based VoIP service companies, Truphone & ConnectMeAnywhere. More interesting is that both have defined a new term: MoIP which stands for Mobile over IP to differenciate with VoIP (Voice over IP), regardless that they are still using the same core technology Voice Over IP.
they are nice ideas. Both are trying to enable peoples use their mobile handset to make the VoIP call, i.e. call through Internet (WiFi, GPRS, 3G, etc.)
However, I dont think I will use them in near future. Here are my points:
Truphone I was willing to download it to give a go. But I gave it up when I found I need send a txt message to a ShortCode to get the download link. 25p, yeah, it is not a big money, but why I should pay for something I do even know how it looks like. If it is MIDP .jar file, or SIS file, give me the link, say, http://m.truphone.com where I can download it from. Truphone, are you saling your MoIP product or service? It is the first time I saw the customer should pay a VoIP company for its voip-client!!
Secondly, when I checked the Compatible PHone lists, I got stuck again. Mine is N70 which I thought it is good enough. Truphone require E-series Nokia phones which are WiFi-supported. Hey, do you know E-series are not popular at all?
ConnectMeAnywhere ‘No need to download or install phone software’, oh yeah. I like this. Registration done..Login…all look fine. Then I found that the contraversial thing is that I have add all my contact I want to call and all the contact will be assigned a new CMA number…No…why I should remember a extra number for every contact? Is there any international staff working for CMA? Do they know most of the foreigners here are using either IP card or a Access Number, by which they only need remember one extra Number, such as 0845******. Secondly, the price. The price CMA offer is not cheap at all (at least it is not competitive).
I like the idea of MoIP, in general. But my last question is how they can compete with other company such as Skype which is my favarioute so far. Skype client is free, and it has different versions working on Palm, PocketPC, Linux, Windows. Cool.. That is what we talk about here – Mobile VoIP.
Thanks for the Truphone mention.
You can get Truphone via a normal text. Send “Tru” to +44 7624 000 000.
The 25p charge is for the convenience of the shortcode, and we’ve just been up front with the cost attached. However, at some point in the future that shortcode will come with credit too
As you’ll see from the website, we’ve got pretty amazing launch offers – UK users can call landlines in 40 countries for free and US users can call USA/Canada landlines and mobiles for free so we hope you agree it’s a deal worth trying
Thanks again
All at Truphone
Hi there, just read this review and thought I should comment. Firstly we are very international in terms of our employees, we have Canada, Australia, the Bahamas, Vietnam, Korea and a few others all covered ;).
The difference between us and your standard calling card is that when you dial up an 0845 number, not only are you charged for calling that number, but you then have to input the next part of the destination you want to dial. With CMA you just dial one number and you are put through. So you save the access number in your phone. For instance, my dad lives in Vietnam. Now instead of saving his Vietnam number in my phone, I just save the new local number. Every time I call this local number I am immediately transfered to the person I want to call. No need to key in any identification pin numbers, no need to dial the second stage number I want to connect to. Once I register them, I can call this same number from my mobile, my home phone, my work phone or even my friends phones.
Now as to how we can compete, well I find most of our prices are in line with Skype and you don’t have to sit hunched over a PC, or wait until you get home to make a call. You can call us from any phone, no software required. If you can register and make a call, you can use CMA. Since our prices are in line with our competitors and our availability is much higher to the consumer. I think we are positioned nicely to compete.
One other note is that since we don’t use any local software and we use only high grade carriers for our calls, the quality is the best we can make it. Unlike some other cheaper providers we strongly believe that quality is key.
Thanks for the review and I hope that this has helped clarify a few of your points. We always love to hear from reviews, whether the review is good or bad. It all goes to make the service better and we are always listening.
Ryan Gallagher from ConnectMeAnywhere.com.
Hi Carl,
Thanks for your comments here. Truphone has a brilliant future, there is no doubt on that. I am sure more guys would like to give it go once it works on more phones. (I am waiting for its working on my N70. :-D)
Hi, Ryan
Thanks for your comments here. Maybe I am too picky on CMA at some points. But there is no offense here at all. In fact, I am a big fan of VoIP and also love the idea the CMA brought to us.
The 0845 access number is a bad example, you are right. In UK, the consumer will be charged by most of networks when calling that unless the phone is on O2 networks.However there is another example, calling through a IP card. Most of the IP cards will provide a 020**** access number, which means the consumers can call it by using their free minutes. And the price is quite low. It costs me 11.5pounds for the cards and I can get nearly 2000minutes to call china.
As for the new number assigned by CMA, i understand that this number can be easily stored as a contact in the phone and we dont really need remember the new number. The point I want to make here is that. Every time the consumer want to call a friend for the first time, do they have to login to the website and set up the number first? It just cannot convince me. Can we work a better idea on this. Say, can user just send a txt message with the text: Name + Number_to_call to CMA, then CMA will send a vCard back to the phone with assigned number. For example, when I need call my aute in China for the first time from UK, I just send a msg with the text ‘Aute 0086****’ which is her number. after a few seconds I will receive a vCard. Then I just store it and make the call. 😀
VoIP will for sure to be a dominating service in the future (3G, 4G). There are so many companies working on this. I really wish my review will help improve CMA to achieve its goal and attract more users.
Hi there,
Yes the setup by text is about to go live. You can also pay by PSMS in the UK but all of this is beta and subject to tests. Would you like me to send you an update when it goes live?
We are big fans of SMS and have many more products such as sms to email, sms reminders etc that are also coming soon.
Talk to you soon,
Ryan Gallagher.
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