Truphone
(Credit: Truphone)BARCELONA--Mobile VoIP provider Truphone has a new service to help frequent international travelers bypass expensive roaming rates when using their cell phones.
On Tuesday at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 here the company announced Truphone Local Anywhere. This new service allows travelers to use one GSM SIM card to make local phone calls in several different countries.
Details about how much the service will cost and which countries and operators it will partner with to offer the service aren't yet public.
The service is essentially a substitute for the tried-and -true method of swapping out SIM cards for unlocked mobile phones when you travel. Using a local SIM (subscriber identity module) has always allowed travelers to get a local phone number and make calls in-country for local rates. But for frequent travelers, who go to more than one destination, keeping track of SIM cards is a hassle and a headache. With the new Truphone service, these same people can use one SIM card, and simply sign up for multiple local numbers. Whenever they make an outbound call, they'll be using the local phone number and local phone network for where they are located.
And because the service uses one SIM card, friends and family can use any of the local phone numbers associated with that card to reach the Truphone Local Anywhere customer.
Truphone executives say there is a definite market for this service. Tom Carter, president of Truphone's operations in North and South America, said the people likely interested in a service like Truphone Local Anywhere are airline pilots, cruise ship workers, and other business travelers who find themselves in the same foreign countries all the time.
"We're really going after people who have what we'd call an international lifestyle," he said.
The Internet telephony company Truphone has turned its client for the iPhone and iPod Touch (download) into an aggregator for a range of popular VoIP and instant-messaging applications.
Truphone announced the new functionality on Tuesday at the Macworld 2009 expo in San Francisco. Starting next Monday, all Truphone subscribers using one of Apple's handhelds will be able to use the free client for Skype, Twitter, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger two-way communications.
Truphone's users have already been able to use Google Talk voice chat functionality, but they will now be able to make calls to their MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and Skype contacts as well. The company's chief executive, Geraldine Wilson, said in a statement that the features would let Truphone's customers "choose which mode of communications they want to use at any moment--all from within the one application."
"This represents another step toward making Truphone the open 'all-in-one conversations hub' for iPhone and iPod Touch users," Wilson said.
Calls between Truphone and Skype will be free over Wi-Fi, and will cost the price of a local call over the handset's cellular connection. As the iPhone is usually sold with an 'unlimited' data plan, instant messages should not cost anything above that flat fee, unless the user is roaming internationally.
Truphone also produces clients for Nokia and BlackBerry smartphones.
David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the state of the U.S. iPhone 3G's SIM card. It can be removed, but AT&T does not provide an unlock code so that another carrier's SIM card will work on the phone.
Truphone, which has an App Store application that enables iPhone and iPod Touch users to make cheap international phone calls via a Wi-Fi connection, now can be used by iPhone users to make cheap calls from anywhere.
Previously, Truphone, which launched as a free application in Apple's App Store in July, worked only when users were within Wi-Fi range. But the latest iteration of the application will allow iPhone users to make cheaper-than-usual international calls additionally via their carrier's cellular voice networks.
This means that users won't be tied to the confines of a Wi-Fi hot spot. But users should be wary of how they use the application, so as not to incur unexpected costs from their carrier. U.S. customers, especially, should be cautious, because AT&T charges roaming fees when calls are made from AT&T phones outside the country.
(Credit:
Truphone)
Truphone works like several other VoIP services, such as Jajah and Jaxtr, that allow calling to and from regular phones. In short, it uses the local carrier network to establish a phone call, but it routes the call internationally, using its own network of voice over Internet Protocol points of presence. And when the call is connected on the other end, it uses the local phone network to establish the connection.
By using local phone networks in combination with VoIP technology, Truphone is able to offer phone rates for as little as 6 cents per minute when dialing a landline in the United Kingdom, for example, and 30 cents per minute when calling a cell phone.
By contrast, U.S. iPhone users making regular calls via AT&T's network could be charged $1.49 per minute when calling a landline in the United Kingdom or $1.69 when calling a U.K. cell phone, according to AT&T's current rates. But subscribers also have the option of signing up for a special international calling plan that costs an additional $3.99 per month. It drops the per-minute costs down to 8 cents a minute for calls from the U.S. to landlines in the U.K. and to 28 cents a minute to cell phones in the U.K.
The Truphone application could also help frequent travelers save on making calls when they're abroad. But for AT&T subscribers, unless they are in a Wi-Fi hot spot, the Truphone application won't likely save them any money while they're traveling abroad.
The reason is that AT&T still charges a roaming rate for phones that connect to another operator's network. For example, AT&T customers traveling in the United Kingdom pay a standard roaming rate of $1.29 per minute to make calls while in the United Kingdom. With a $5.99-per-month World Traveler plan, that rate is knocked down to 99 cents per minute.
The new version of Truphone's software also allows users in Wi-Fi hot spots to make and receive free calls when connecting to other Truphone users in Wi-Fi hot spots. A presence feature will let users know which Truphone contacts are connected to Wi-Fi networks, so that they can be called for free.
In summary, Truphone is certainly a better option for AT&T iPhone users, if they make international phone calls from the U.S., and they don't want to pay the extra $3.99 a month for AT&T's special international rates. But the rates offered with the $3.99 plan are similar to those offered by Truphone.
And for AT&T subscribers traveling abroad, I'd suggest taking an old, unlocked GSM phone, and popping in a local SIM card for making phone calls while in another country. Most of the time, it will be a whole lot cheaper to use a local service than paying AT&T's standard roaming rates, or even signing up for a $5.99 monthly international roaming plan and still paying the per-minute charges.
While the SIM card on the iPhone can be removed, AT&T does not provide a code to unlock the phone. So unless users are able to hack the phone to unlock it, they won't be able to use a local SIM card to get service while abroad. But any other AT&T phone can be unlocked, simply by calling AT&T customer service and requesting the unlock code.
Getting poor Skype sound and want to cut down on international call costs? Truphone's new iPhone app might be worth checking out.
Truphone's VoIP app is now available for the iPhone.
(Credit: Truphone)The London-based mobile VoIP operator has offered the service since 2006 for the E or N series Nokia phones. An iPhone version of Truphone's service hit Apple's App store Friday.
The VoIP service lets people send text messages or make calls to anywhere in the world for a low fee.
Calling a landline costs 6 cents per minute, and dialing a mobile phone costs 30 cents per minute. SMS text messaging costs 20 cents. Calling another Truphone user is free in certain countries, including the United States, U.K., China, Australia and large parts of Europe. But you need to be in a Wi-Fi spot.
Calls can be made entirely over Wi-Fi and the Internet, bypassing the traditional GSM network operators. Not everyone has loved that.
In April 2007, Vodafone and Orange blocked Truphone's VoIP capability on its branded Nokia N95 handsets. In June 2007, T-Mobile in the U.K. followed suit, blocking calls from its customers to Truphone's mobile numbers. But only a month later, a U.K. court forced T-mobile to stop their blockade.
On the Nokia phones, Truphone usage isn't limited to Wi-Fi spots, but can also work over 3G. So far, this isn't possible with the iPhone.
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