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(Credit: Jajah)

Internet phone company Jajah can turn the iPod Touch into an iPhone. (Download from CNET Download.com.)

The company, which competes with other low-cost Internet calling applications such as Skype, announced Thursday a new application that will allow Touch users to call and text messages using a voice over IP network instead of a carrier's cellular network.

All that is needed to start making calls is the Jajah application, the latest version of the iPod Touch, a microphone headset, and a Wi-Fi connection. While the Jajah service can reduce calling costs up to 98 percent, the fact that it must be connected via a Wi-Fi network limits where it can be used. For this reason, it's unlikely that the Jajah-enabled Touch would really steal business away from the iPhone, which is a full-fledged mobile phone that operates over a traditional cellular network.

Jajah plans to sell the application as a "white label" service. This means that it will license the application to wireless operators and non-wireless operators who offer it under their own brand instead of a standalone Jajah application. It's unlikely the service will be offered for free. Instead, service providers might offer the application for $10 a month.

The application could be very useful for iPhone users too, especially those wanting to make low-cost international calls from their iPhones. But it's not clear yet whether Apple would allow the application on its App Store, since it essentially bypasses the carrier network. Skype, which also provides free and cheap Internet calling, is not available on the App Store. That said, iPhone users can access Skype functions and users through other applications such as Fring and Truphone.

Skype for Windows and Mac is well-regarded for offering stable, free VoIP to other Skype users and affordable computer-to-phone calls, to both landlines and cell phones. Call quality still varies depending on your Internet connection and what else you're doing with it while using Skype, although the latest version indicates some progress in ameliorating that through audio engine tweaks.

Since the introduction of free long distance to U.S. cell phones, Skype may have dropped a bit in popularity for domestic calls. For international purposes, though, it's still the standard and extremely popular. Newer features include conference calling with as many as nine people, video calls, the ability to hide incoming call avatars, and a browser plug-in that turns phone numbers into embedded Skype hyperlinks. There are also Skypecasts, throwbacks to the party-line multiperson telephone conversations from the mid-20th century. Whether you're dialing up friends, family, or talking with clients across the globe, it's time to stop calling them and start Skyping them.

This morning I've been playing with the prerelease version of Fring's talk software for the iPhone. It enables users to place VoIP calls in place of their plan minutes, giving people a cheap international calling alternative to their carrier's expensive per-minute charges. The one caveat (besides the need for a "jailbroken" handset) is that it requires the thick river of data only available over Wi-Fi, which means you won't be able to make or receive VoIP calls without being in range of a hotspot.

Besides VoIP, the app excels in instant messaging. You can live text chat with buddies on MSN Live Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo, as well as post and read messages to and from Twitter. Fring also lets you do voice chat with MSN, Google Talk, and ICQ.

To instigate a call, you simply have to hit a large green call button after hitting a buddy's name on the Fring contact list (see photo below). There's no minute counter, hold button, or anything else you might be used to with a regular phone--it's just a quick and dirty call that with a good connection sounds downright decent.

If a buddy is on one of the chat networks that includes voice chat, you can skip the finger strokes and use your voice instead.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The one service I ran into problems with was Skype. The app lets you plug in your Skype credentials and hook up your phone to your account--a move that enables the use of SkypeOut minutes to make calls to landlines. Some of my Skype contacts would show up, but not all of them, even when they appeared online in the desktop application. I also was unable to place an outgoing call to a landline using SkypeOut, despite being able to call up someone on my Skype buddy list using the free Skype-to-Skype connection.

What makes Fring particularly unique is that will run in the background, so you can hit the home button and do something else while the IM and telephony continues to send and receive data. It's something that won't be possible from the apps found in Apple's directory later this year since Apple is not letting third-party applications run as a background process--a stipulation of the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines that were released with the first version of the SDK.

Whether or not this application will be included in Apple's hand-picked directory later this year is doubtful. Giving paying AT&T customers an easy way to save some money that comes out of the pocket of the telecom giant is probably not in Apple's best interest, which is why I think the company released this as a direct download instead of trying to go official channels.

[via TechCrunch]

Gogrok is a companion program that runs with Skype (download for Windows and Mac) to give people remote-access capabilities. More than a typical plug-in but not able to stand on its own, the Skype-Gogrok combo makes for a good voice- and remote-access tech-support duo that's not quite dynamic.

... Read more

The "dial-around" phone service, Jajah, just launched a new service that lets you access it without going near a PC.

Dial-around services usually work by asking you what number you want to call. Then the service will make two calls, one to that number and one to your phone. The services then connect the two phones via their own VOIP networks. Calling rates on dial-around services are low since traditional telephone networks are only used to make two local phone calls.

Jajah assigns local numbers to overseas phones.

Jajah's latest trick is that it can assign a local Jajah Direct number (local to you) to anyone you regularly call. For example, if your phone is in the 415 area code and your mother is in Spain, you can tell Jajah what her number is and it will give you a 415 number for her. You program that number into your cell, and use it to dial her. You'll be charged by your mobile phone company for a local call (probably nothing), and 3.4 cents a minute by Jajah. Which is a great rate. However, rates vary. If your mom in Spain is on a mobile phone, the call is 21.8 cents a minute. Some other countries aren't a bargain to call no matter what kind of phone the other person is on. So check the rates for calls you want to make before you sign up.

You can also get new Jajah Direct numbers for your contacts without using a browser. Jajah has access numbers in 19 cities worldwide (more coming) that you can call to get a local-to-you number assigned for anyone in the world.

There are other dial-around services and many other ways to make low-cost or free phone calls. But this is a good weapon in the arsenal against overpriced long distance.

Start-up IP telephony providers Jajah and Jangl are teaming up to take on the competition, the companies said Thursday.

The companies are part of a new generation of voice-over IP providers that have crept up recently hoping to replicate the success story of Skype, which was bought by eBay two years ago for $2.6 billion. The market is already crowded with dozens of these small players. Typically at this stage of the game, start-ups are too busy duking it out against each to forge partnerships, but executives at Jajah and Jangl say it makes sense for them to partner even though some of their products may overlap.

"It is rare to see companies at this stage do something like this," said Michael Cerda, CEO of Jangl. "But it's such a confusing market out there and the press and VCs often lump all VoIP providers together. But our strategies and technologies are really very different. And when we sat down together, we realized they're actually complementary."

Jajah is focused on providing low-cost international calling. Already it has the ability to terminate calls or transfer calls from the Internet to the local telephone network in more than 122 countries around the world. Earlier this year it received funding from the German phone company Deutsche Telekom. And it has ambitions to grow into a major telecommunications platform provider in the future.

Jangl, on the other hand, is focused on providing secure phone calling for social-networking and dating Web sites. The service essentially provides alternative local phone numbers that can mask a person's actual phone number, so that they don't have to give out a personal telephone number to strangers.

But while their focuses may be different, Cerda and Frederik Hermann, director of global marketing for Jajah, say they see benefits in working together for both companies. For example, Jajah is about to launch an in-call advertising platform. The way it works is when a user is being connected to a call, he has the option of listening to a short 10-second advertisement. As a reward for listening to the commercial, the user earns credit, which can be used to defray the cost of making future calls over the Jajah network.

Jangl, which claims to be on some 40 million social-networking profiles on sites such as Match.com, says it brings an important target audience to advertisers because its service is already integrated into the media-rich social-networking world.

"Jajah brings the ads and we bring the customers," Cerda said.

Also as part of the deal, Jangl will be able to terminate calls onto the regular phone network from the Internet in all of Jajah's 122 countries. Today Jangl only offers termination service in 32 countries.

"Over the past two years, we've built a huge back-end system for terminating calls all over the world," Hermann said. "So we're able to allow Jangl to use that resource and we recover a small margin on that."

But Jajah and Jangl's main competitor Jaxtr says the companies are merely running scared. "I see it simply as the weak banding together," said Konstantin Guericke, CEO of Jaxtr.

One thing is for certain, partnerships are tough to manage no matter the size or stage of growth of the companies involved. But who knows? Maybe this partnership will be a prelude to a merger. Executives from Jajah and Jangl haven't ruled out the possibility, but they each say it's not on the table right now.

"Merging the two companies might make sense at some other juncture in the future," Cerda said. "But both companies are still so young. And they have something they want to be when they grow up. And we have something we want to be when we grow up."

Talkster has been getting some buzz from fellow CTIA-goers. The new international dialing service is offering free global calls in exchange to listening to a few ads. The VoIP-based, phone-centered service feels like the perfect Skype (download) and Pincity mashup. It's free like Skype, and also relies on a VoIP backbone, but like Pincity, Talkster makes use of local numbers to initiate mobile and landline calls.

It sure sounds irresistible, and I've read a few glowing reviews, but in actuality it's a bit tricky. Talkster members enter their number and the number they're calling, and Talkster assigns a new, local number for callers on each end of the line. Say what?

If I want to call my sister in England, I enter both our phone numbers and receive a third number in my 415 area code. That's my permanent number for the phone number I just entered. My sister will get a number for me too. If I want to catch her at home, work, and on her cell phone for free, I'll need to enter each phone number and get three separate Talkster lines.

It wouldn't be so confusing if that were all, but of course it's not. Initiating a call isn't merely the result of dialing one of my Talkster-issued local numbers. There's an order to the calling system. Let's say I initiate the call to my darling sib using a Talkster phone number. I dial the appointed number in my area code and she picks up. But we can't talk yet. She first has to hang up while I stay on the line. My sister then quickly locates her local number, and while Talkster servers do some speedy math to connect our loose ends together, we both listen to an ad. Or that's the plan as soon as Talkster's ad deals are in place.... Read more

NoiseFree VoIP has just launched a fresh all-software solution to those often noisy VoIP calls. Skype, Yahoo Messenger with Voice, and Google Talk are great ways to save money on long distance, but if you're calling anywhere near civilization, you're bound to get interference. A noisy line can undo the advantage of free Internet calls.

Until December 31, 2007, NoiseFree VoIP is offering a free beta of its noise-canceling software to registered users. I gave it a go at CTIA (coverage), and was impressed with the demo. There was noticeable improvement in call quality when I toggled the software on and off, though the background buzz in the busy room didn't and couldn't have faded completely.

NoiseFree VoIP launches as a window that detects when you use VoIP. It doesn't add on to or interfere with your voice program of choice, operating invisibly. The app window can be set to start with Windows or with a browser launch. It minimizes to the system tray and can be called on for a few very minor tweaks.

NoiseFree VoIP is Windows XP and Vista-ready. Download NoiseFree VoIP for free from CNET Download.com.

(Credit: Netgear)

Netgear announced today a dual-mode cordless Wi-Fi phone that supports both traditional landlines and Skype VoIP calling. The Netgear SPH200D Dual-Mode DECT Cordless Phone With Skype has a base unit that plugs into both your network router and a phone jack, allowing you to switch between Skype calls and traditional calls. It uses the 1.9GHz band, which should keep it clear of interference from your (or your neighbor's) wireless network. You can view your regular contacts and your Skype contacts, on the handset's screen, and when making a call to a non-Skype user, you can choose whether to make a SkypeOut call or a landline call.

Like the Linksys iPhone CIT400, the SPH200D loads the Skype client directly on the phone base unit, so you can turn off your PC and still make Skype calls. Both models support up to four handsets on a network.

The Netgear Dual-Mode Cordless Phone With Skype is available now, for $200.