Google Voice+Poketalk+Freedom calls = Free calls worldwide.

Yes, finally I have done it. Tried and tested. I always loved Google Voice because of its awesome uses which nobody else has found out so far. Today I found a magic trick again.

Google Voice+Poketalk+Freedom calls= Unlimited free calls to the world but since Poketalk is used to connect the call the length will be limited to 10 minutes but then still just look at the destinations and you will be amazed.

Here is how it works. Google talk gives you a U.S number which allows you to receive calls on a U.S cell number/landline number or Gizmo5 (and on possible anything through Gizmo5 forward option). Poketalk allows you to call Australia landlines for free including other 41 countries also for free. But we just need to dial Australia landline number for free and now need to dial the access numbers provided by Freedom calls which are in 6 cities namely:-
1. Melbourne - 0390957222
2. Sydney      - 0290869222
3. Brisbane    - 0731668111
4. Perth         - 0863635111
5. Adelaide   -  0872212444
6. Canberra  -  0262232622

So go to Poketalk and register yourself. registration gives you many benefits including call history, 10 minutes call length and many more. While registering yourself, put in your GV number and then when you make calls through poketalk, it will 1st call you on your GV number (which is listed as My phone number) and then connect you to other number that you wish to call (Number to call). So you dial any of the above mentioned landline numbers from Poketalk and it connects you and then all you do is press "1" and then dial the international number as 0011 +International dialing code of the country+ the number and press #. I dialed my Indian cell number as 0011919879575183 and boom it was connected.


So there you are. Free calls to 70 countries from Poketalk's 42 including Indian landlines and mobiles.


Have fun,
H@rdeep.

Inum's failure to take off and its future prospects.

When Inum was announced by Voxbone, it really got me excited but I was skeptical about it too. I always thought that maybe its too late because things like Enum, Gizmo5, and many other numbers and specially U.S numbers are freely available so people have an international number for free which is globally reachable.

Since any1 can get a U.S DID for free from Ipkall, Groovytel, Voxox, Google Voice (Formerly Grandcentral) or various other websites and since any and every website allows free calls to U.S, having a virtual U.S number means you already have a Inum indirectly. So maybe these guys behind Inum did not get it right because the concept is great, but they are a bit too late.. But slow and steady progress is seen on the blog of Inum. They 1st had access numbers from 45 countries which has not increased, but now calls can be made through Google Talk too besides the interoperability of all Inum VOIP providers. This was news to my ears, but hardly a surprise as Google talk has been exploited and used in creative manners by every other company out there like Gtalk2Voip, Tringme, truphone and what not except Google and the reason is its adoption of Open Standards.


The fact that they do not receive the attention of people is the major hindrance though and that is the "ONLY PROBLEM" that they are not so popular. I find the concept wonderful and as always I have taken the plunge & loved it so far. lets see where it goes, but this sure is 1 thing I will keep an eye on.


H@rdeep.

10 minutes free calls to India daily.

YAY! great news. India still is a destination which remains in the much sought after list for free calls. Yup, because India is not yet open for VOIP calls just like every other country is. It sure is the fault of government's idiotic and myopic rules & regulations and the telcos are involved because they will sure lose a huge revenue stream if VOIP becomes more mainstream here.

And so we hardly have good call quality VOIP calls to India being offered for free but not until Tuitalk came in. I had signed up for Tuitalk way back but I logged in recently and was quite surprised to find India is included in the list of 40 countries where they offer free calls and both landlines and mobiles are allowed. I tested the voice quality and I am surprised that its crystal clear. 10 mins are offered free daily so this 1 is a steal. I would say just go for it before India is removed.

Damn this news sure made me happy and I thought to share the love.

Very exited about this development,
H@rdeep.

The economy takes toll of Ringbranch.

Ringbranch is no longer available. It was a wonderful concept and I was one of the early adopters (as usual). I read they cant go on because of the economic conditions quite some time back on their blog, but I am surprised no one I know of has blogged about it and I am quite late too.

I am sure people loved the fact that they were offered a free U.S number and the ability to call anyone in US and Canada for free by Ringbranch, but these people did not make much money and had to shut down. Its been wonderful using it and to be honest since I already have a few (yes 3 of them) Grandcentral accounts, I didn't use it much after initial use. But still needless to say it was 1 of the companies I loved because of what they came up with.

I hope no more companies who are doing awesome work like them die down soon. It was a sad day for me leaning about their sudden exit and I am sure there are people who were affected. If you are reading this and are affected, please leave comments.

Sad at this development,
H@rdeep.

VOIP over the years through my eyes.

I still remember when I 1st came to know about the ability of calling cellphones and landlines through internet, it was probably called Net2phone . I just checked and was amazed that they are still there. Ever since that, I have seen & used innumerable other VOIP services (Yes I didn't even knew what is VOIP when I had heard of net2phone) & I have been amazed by many of them.

I will quickly go through some of the ones that I remember using.... Raketu, Jangl, Jajah, Jaxtr, Gtalk2Voip, Mediaringtalk, Phonegnome, FWD, Poketalk, Tuitalk, Jaduka, Nimbuzz, Globe7, Oovoo, Voxox & many more which I cant remember now of head. If you think I missed out the messengers, yeah I have used all of them. AIM, MSN messenger, Yahoo IM,  Google Talk and even Skype. Today the ones I cant imagine my life without are Grandcentral and Gizmo5 and the ones I love and use on and off are Mediaringtalk and Skype. Truphone & Fring are 2 things I am dying to try out and have not been able to because I don't have compatible phones. Oovoo is 1 thing I loved because of amazing voice clarity. 

I have seen many great innovations in VOIP and also seen death of some great products. Jangl and more recently Ringbranch died and were amazing things. But nothing impressed me more than Gizmo5 and it keeps impressing me as I discover new ways of using it and how people around the world use it. Skype has been great too and has sustained itself over the years and now that its version 4 boasts of amazing audio and video quality, I guess I will be a regular user of it again. I also discovered recently that Skype allows something which no other VOIP software allows. Calling toll free numbers of various countries including Australia. The VOIP players have to do something thats unique and gives the users value as compared to the competitors in order to survive and sustain growth and most of them who today are popular do exactly that. All I can say is I am happy that I was introduced to VOIP by people & I use some of the most amazing products ever made available. I know I will certainly do something in this space, but I don't know what & when. Till then all I can say is "Wait & Watch" and keep making these amazing services and products people. I love them and I am sure there is a whole lot more interesting stuff brewing in there.

Always excited when it comes to VOIP,

H@rdeep.

N97 is here.

Nokia N97 is out and I saw the launch event Live on the Nokia website. I must say the presentation was good and I expect it to be a winner with specs and details like these.

Also look at the video here which is made amazingly well. Ok. I could not get it to embed here (Don't know what can be the possible reason but the video could not be embedded)

So here is the link.

Hungry for more? Google it. Twitter, Friendfeed, blogosphere all up with the details.

H@rdeep.

INUM- Confusion or Simplicity?

Normally, we all have 2 kind of numbers for sure. A mobile and landline. VOIP fanatics like me can have several. :P

But other frequent VOIP users may have 4 kind of numbers. Apart from landline and mobile, a SIP number and a virtual or DID or DDI as they are known. I have all 4 kind of numbers. Now a 5th kind has come up. INUM is the latest entrant. It states that its a World number accessible from anywhere by anyone by making a local call and starts with +883. here is what it says on their website.

What is INUM ?

Now, will this make life easier and make VOIP globally acceptable and recognizable or will it fall flat?
Only time will tell. I am dying to get in to this and check it out and I suppose as mentioned on the website, Gizmo5 people would soon issue it for free. (There are other companies also listed like Jajah, Truphone, etc.)

Check out complete list of launch partners on the site. Will keep you posted on the developments as and when they happen.

H@rdeep.