1-800-FREE-411 Free International Call Service $411,000 Giveaway

1-800-FREE-411 literally changed the way most americans call international numbers lately. VOIP Guide readers have enjoyed using this Access number based free international call Service. Now its your chance to win Big money with 1-800-FREE-411.

Most of you already know about the 1-800-FREE-411 free international call service. We also found a way to make calls to this number via outside of USA. Check the above link.

Today 1-800-FREE411 announced the launch of a "30 Days of FREE411" sweepstakes. Beginning November 1, 2009, every person who requests a phone number from 1-800-FREE411 has a chance to win $411 on the spot, with two randomly selected callers awarded the cash prize daily. In addition, every caller in November will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a trip to Boston and a shot at the grand prize of
$411,000.

At the beginning of December, one lucky caller will win an all-expense trip to Boston for two. During their two nights in Boston, the winner will play a game where they choose one cell phone from 411 available phones. Each phone is awarded a value and the winner will walk away with a minimum cash prize of $4,100, with one of the 411 phones valued at $411,000!

You have been enjoying 1-800-FREE-411, now you have found another reason to use it over and over :-) I seriously hope one of the VOIP Guide user wins this sweepstakes. Lets bring the bounty home.

azabutel.com Azabu Tel offers free international calls from Japan

Its been a while since we found a new access number based free international call VOIP service provider. India LD has launched a new access number based service in Japan which lets you make free international calls.

AzabuTel.com is the new free international calls service in Japan which will let you make calls to over 12 countries for free including the US, Canada, UK, China, Singapore, and Thailand. All you need to do is Just dial access number in Tokyo and then call overseas. AzabuTel is operated by HomeTown Telecom which also owns IndiaLD.

How to use Azabu Tel to make free international calls?

1. Dial Azabu Tel access number in Tokyo: 03-4580-0235 or 03-4580-0236

2. Listen to the prompt and follow the instructions.

3. When prompted, dial 010 then the international number (including country code) for eg. 010 91 2227773737

4. If you are using mobile phone, Make sure you do not hit the SEND button on your mobile phone or it will disconnect the call and dial through your phone provider instead.

5. Enjoy your free international phone call.

Azabu Tel has clairied that their access number is not a premium number so calling this number won't cost you a lot. There are no specific restrictions mentioned for time of the calls. It seems you can make unlimited free international calls with Azabu Tel.

As always, with any Access number based free international calls service, you pay for the cost of calling Azabu tel access number. If calling Tokyo numbers is free in your phone provider plan, then it will be free otherwise standard calling rates apply.

If you are in Japan, do give them a try and let us know your feedback/review on Azabutel.

Google Voice now lets you use exsting home phone or mobile number

Google Voice totally changed the way you make and receive calls in USA and Canada. Now it went one step further in allowing to choose your existing number as Google Voice number.

According to the official Google Voice Blogpost, they have created a lighter version of Google Voice for people who are willing to trade some features for the ability to use their existing numbers. you now have the choice to get Google Voice with your existing mobile number OR with a Google number.

Now If you sign up using your existing home phone or mobile number, you'll still get many of Google Voice's features. Checkout the following video:



If you already have a Google Voice account, you can add Google voicemail to any mobile phone you've linked to your account.

Now this is fantastic news, You can do more with your residential phone number or mobile number and imagine that you have added Google Voice to your own number, the possibilities are now endless.

Reliance iCall VOIP Provider 1 cent offer Review

Reliance definitely has large footprint when it comes to telecommunication in India with large infrastructure to provide quality and cheap price. But before you bet your money on Reliance iCall, do read this review.

Reliance iCall was launched a while back with the Free International calls offer. We covered the story then and their services was a instant hit. However, after gaining the user base they stopped offering free international calls and started branding themselves as a cheap international call provider. However, its not simple to gain market share in this extremely competitive market. With companies like Airtel Call home , Betamax breaking the 1 cent per minute barrier, Reliance finally had to match the calling rates.

Relianceicall.com now offering 1 cent per minute to India, UK, USA, Israel, Taiwan, Denmark, Malaysia, Columbia and many more. Reliance claims that there are no further hidden charges such as connection fees or monthly usage fee etc. No Annual contract which is generally not found in this market anyways. In terms of voice clarity, Reliance should be able to offer good voice quality as they run their own E1 lines.

Reliance iCall must be used as a softphone and it doesn't officially reveal SIP settings. You may however try the following Reliance icall SIP settings:

SIP Proxy : 220.224.129.34:5060
user Id: reliance icall username
password : reliance icall password

Another drawback of using Reliance icall is lack of customer support. There is no way to reach their customer service representatives via phone which means if there are any issues with your payments or with reliance icall service, you will have to rely on the feedback form. We are not too sure how effective is feedback form which is totally hidden from the average users.

In our opinion, Reliance icall is not a bad choice to try. You can atleast expect good quality calls at cheaper rates. If you are currently using reliance icall, we would like to hear your opinion. Lets us your review/feedback on reliance icall.

VOIP is the New Standard in Business Telecommunications

The communications needs of today’s businesses are growing at an incredible speed, and at the very same time that these needs are exploding into new proportions, new technologies are emerging to handle all kinds of telecommunications (both data and voice) with much greater efficiency and ease of access. Our Featured Guest Blogger Roger Collings Discusses how VOIP has taken over traditional PBX systems in Business telecommunications.

Everybody knows that the internet is an increasingly important medium for business communication, yet what many people—business owners and operators included—have failed to appreciate is that the internet is increasingly eclipsing regular telephone services. This surprising new trend, which has really taken off since the year 2004 when the internet-telephony market really exploded, is referred to as VOIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol (also referred to as IP telephony).

The phenomenal data speeds at which corporate internet connections are able to provide these days have only cemented the role of VOIP in business communications—the faster the internet connection and the more reliable it is, the better the IP telephony service will end up being. In the US, as in many places, businesses have special access to increased bandwidth allowances that serve as one of the primary incentives for getting a VOIP network installed at business headquarters. And despite the fact that the phone traffic does not get routed through the traditional phone network switches (something that telecoms carriers got all in a fit about; in fact, they tried to get VOIP banned by law in the late 1990s when such technologies were recently surfacing on the market), there are many features associated with traditional telephone service that can be had with a VOIP connection. In fact, thanks to the proliferation of so-called small technologies, many features that are available with ordinary phone service have been enhanced and improved for use with a VOIP network connection.

Ultimately, going down the business VOIP route means investing in business and employee efficiency, as the resulting set up allows workers to save precious time and perform tasks more quickly. In fact, many recent surveys conducted among businesses in the US and Europe have revealed that in excess of 70% of businesses find that their VOIP service is more convenient and productive for business than their traditional phone service. Particularly, with a VOIP network deployed in corporate offices, business users found that the advanced features were much more intelligently configured than was the case with their previous, regular phone service.

As mentioned, many of the traditional features of business telephone system have been maintained, expanded and improved with VOIP services. Let’s take a look at a few of these on an individual basis:

• Communications from office to office. When a business has further offices in addition to their headquarters, a pesky situation can arise as inter-office communications bills rack up with rates that are anything but preferential. With both offices having access to the same IP network, however, using the VOIP connection each office can call the other without having to pay the per-call rates that would otherwise apply using a regular phone service; if business is heating up and calls are being placed between the offices on a regular basis every day, then over the course of a month this can come to represent a substantial figure. Not only can VOIP save you that margin, but furthermore there are conference call features that can get both offices as well as another destination overseas talking in unison at incredibly discounted rates.
• Off-net calls. Any business will inevitably have valuable people (whether they be customers, collaborators, providers, what have you) that are not plugged in to the business IP network but that need to stay in touch with business headquarters and everybody on that network. With VOIP, business can keep these individuals or organizations plugged in thanks to a convenient local VOIP number that they ring up at a severely low rate and from which they can proceed to make however many toll-free calls they need. In fact, you can automatically program the VOIP network to schedule person-to-person calls for free, whether locally, long distance and even overseas.
• Communications security and control. To help boost the level of tracking and control within a business’s communications, VOIP allows business account owners to set up specific control mechanisms, such as lists of authorized users and special access numbers to be able to make calls.

Generally speaking, choosing to install a VOIP system at your business will accelerate the process of integration between phone and computer systems, thereby boosting employee productivity. As workers use their VOIP connections in tandem with their PCs, they will be able to retrieve pertinent data more quickly, provide callers with exactly what they need, and—in cases such as in-bound call centers—reduce the amount of time spent idling between calls.

Before deploying a VOIP system in their place of business, business owners should be aware of issues to keep in mind prior to and during the switch over process. For starters, you will want to be sure that the VOIP software you are considering implementing is reliable and tested, with a good report in general. Additionally, you will need to make sure that your bandwidth limitations won’t provide a problem, in terms of whether your other communications needs won’t prevent VOIP from being a viable solution for your enterprise. Furthermore, you will need to try stress-testing the VOIP network before full implementation: this is done to determine precisely what volume of VOIP calls will be able to be handled on your network at a given time, and will help establish a rational anticipated loss percentage for calls. In general, it is necessary to perform a wide gamut of VOIP tests to help ensure that a VOIP system deployment for your business won’t interrupt the operation of other office applications; when done properly, with sufficient testing, a VOIP system can be deployed with little to no prejudice to other systems and applications, fitting into the grand office scheme seamlessly.

So, if your business telecommunications scheme is still the same as it was over a decade ago, is it maybe not time that you considered converting to a VOIP system?

Guest Blogger Roger Collings runs his own business telecommunications consultancy from Leicestershire, England.

VOIP in UAE to be legal by end of 2009?

It seems UAE has finally understood the important of VOIP and telecommunication in maintaining the competitive advantage. How does this affect you as a VOIP user or VOIP Provider? Lets discuss.

We reported a few months back that Etisalat is blocking VOIP in UAE region and also possible charging a violation charge for people using VOIP via VPN. This forced many users to actually switch to DU or Etisalat's VOIP solution which is almost 10 times costlier than the most cheapest international calling service like Betamax etc.

According to Maktoob Business, A senior official at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said, International internet calls could be legalised in the UAE by the end of the year. Mohammed Gheyath, executive director of technology development affairs, said the regulator is drawing up a policy on international internet telecommunications, know as Voice over IP (VoIP) and will be published before year-end.

Currently only Etisalat and Du are legally allowed to offer VoIP services within the country but now they can start offering the service outside the country which means it can bring down the cost of VOIP lower but not to extent of other cheap international calls providers.

However, In my opinion UAE won't do any good by just giving VOIP in the hands of the two large telecom companies who would make little effort to bring the cost down and create a monopolistic market in UAE. What they should do instead is start offering licenses to international players and let them compete with Du and Etisalat. However looking at how things work at govenment level, its very unlikely that this will ever come in play atleast not so early.

The only hope is it might bring down the cost of ownership for telecom players and might bring down cost if they are ready to pass the benefit over to consumers. However, in monopolistic market companies often set the prices and people follow them.

If you live in UAE or call UAE often or offer VOIP services to UAE, do you think this will change anything for you?

Skype to Buy Gizmo5 VOIP Service?

Skype is seriously feeling the competition from Google Voice and has to react very quickly in order to maintain the leadership in the VOIP Space. Does that mean they are looking for a acquisition?

Skype, the world's most widely used Internet Telephony PC to PC VOIP service has lost serious ground lately with literally new VOIP services being introduced almost every month. With Companies like Google providing Google Voice, a totally free calls to USA and Canada service and bunch of value added features. The time is tough for Skype. Does that mean they are desperate to hold their no.1 position?

Techcrunch reports that Skype might buy Gizmo5. Most of these news are often rumours but if this is true then it could be very much like the Jajah + Yahoo Voice deal where Jajah taken over millions of existing Yahoo Voice customers overnight and became one of the largest VOIP Providers in USA.

Skype is also desparate to answer the "Not open to SIP" criticism. Taking over Gizmo5, a fully SIP based VOIP service, Skype might be able to send the right message to the customers and media. This also opens up the whole market as Skype via Gizmo5 can connect to Google Voice, which means in future you might be able to place calls to Google Voice numbers via Skype or vice versa.

Whatever happens from this deal, we as consumers will only benefit. I personally feel Skype's approach is the right one for survival. Lets hope we get benefited from the end result.

Free Calls and Cheap Calls to India on Diwali

Today we celebrate diwali and every single india living abroad will call their home back in India to wish happy diwali. How about you make free calls to india or make really cheap calls to India.

Last week, we discussed about IndiaLD offering over 1 million minutes of free calls to India. Let me remind all of you again of this great offer. If you are a existing India LD user, you will get 1 hour (60 minutes) of free calling time added to your account on October 14th. You do not need to do anything other than to enjoy the free calling to India for festival season.

If you are not using IndiaLD, You can register at India LD and you could win a free 1 hour free calling account during this diwali promotion. IndiaLD is giving away 10,000 accounts that each have an hour of free calling. You can use this special 1 hour account to make calls to India or any of the other 27 countries including in this India LD plan. These accounts will be given out on a first come first serve basis starting on 10/14/09.

If you are happy with Localphone, you might have already noticed that Localphone has cut its calling rates to India to only 1.8 cents per minute. The quality of Localphone is top notch and now they are offering one of the most cheap international calling rate to India making it one of the best way to call India regularly. The new localphone calling rate is permanent not a diwali special offer, so you will continue to enjoy calling india at 1.8 cents per minute.

If you fancy making totally free calls to India but do not mind dialing a few access numbers, then why not try 1-800-FREE-411, you can make free calls to india in exchange of listening to ads.

You can even try ringplus, a similar service to 1-800-FREE-411 which also offers free calls to India.

If you live in australia, you might want to give a try at Callr service, they offer access number based free calls to India.

Do let us know if these VOIP services helped you in reaching your loved ones. Happy Diwali to all the blog readers.

Google Voice now offers Free Calls to Hawaii and Alaska

Google Voice has been instrumental in changing the way we make or receive calls in USA. Its already being used by thousands to manage their busy schedule or even make a free call anywhere in the USA.

However, not many people knew that when google was launched it was only limited to Continental USA that means you could only make calls to only 48 states. However, Google Voice has finally expanded its free VOIP service to all 50 US States which means you can now make totally free calls to Hawaii and Alaska along with continental US.

Please note that this is full deployment of the Google Voice service for these states. According to the official Google Voice Blog, You can initiate free calls to Alaska and Hawaii from your inbox online, from our mobile apps, or by dialing your own Google Voice number from one of your phones and selecting option 2 to place a call. You can also forward calls to any hawaii or alaska number for free with google voice.

Jumpertel.com VOIP Service Review Good Alternative to Skype

If you thought Skype was the thing of the past, then you got a good alternative available in the market now. Read our JumperTel Review before you buy their VOIP Service.

A new VOIP Provider called Jumpertel is now offering VOIP Phone Service. Jumpertel offers this phone service for only $12 per year and you can make unlimited calls to other jumpertel numbers anywhere in the world. Its more like having a SIP Phone installed anywhere in the world and you can call via SIP.

Jumpertel.com obviously using SIP which Skype is now trying to open to slowly. Although, Skype has Skypeout which enables users to call any phone anywhere in the world by using skypeout credits. Jumpertel has not yet introduced anything similar to skype and only hoping that people actually fall for their jumpertel to jumpertel concept.

When you signup for Jumpertel, you pay $1 per month ($12 a year) and you get a jumperphone 100 (USB based VOIP Phone) for $21.99 (one time cost) and a JumperTel phone number which is unique to you.

The only good thing about JumperTel is you can access jumpertel from anywhere in the world inluding countries where VOIP is blocked. For e.g: UAE. Lets see how JumperTel will work in UAE.

JumperPhone 100 will detect if your ISP blocks VOIP. JumperTel software will suggest using their VPN software and instruct you to go through the install process and restart your JumperPhone 100. After you restart your JumperPhone 100, you will be able to talk with anyone on the JumperTel network. Basically all your calls will now be routed via VPN.

Now the biggest question is, will you buy a JumperTel service or rely on a SIP Phone or VOIP Adapter. Its one and the same thing. SIP Phone has one time cost of around $50. With ENUM support, SIP Phone can dial almost anyone across the SIP network with ease.

However, for novice users Jumpertel surely offers a good VOIP service and especially for countries where VOIP is blocked and choosing a VPN service is not so easy.

Will you buy a jumpertel, if yes, tell us why if no then too tell us why not? Your reviews and feedback will help others.

Viatalk Unlimited World Plan Reviews

When Vonage came out with Vonage World Plan, the competitors in the VOIP Home Phone Provider market had to respond. Now almost every other home phone service is offering unlimited world plan which also including India. You must read our Viatalk Review before signing up for this service.

Viatalk, VOIP Provider has been around in the US Market for long. Viatalk offers home phone services across USA and has now introduced Viatalk Unlimited Plan which includes totally unlimited free calls to over 60 countries around the world including India, Mexico, China, and the U.K.

Viatalk World plan costs only $189/per year which means only $8.95 per month which is way cheaper than Vonage World Plan which is priced at $24.99 almost three times costly than Viatalk.

In order to use Viatalk World Plan, you must signup for Viatalk Unlimited Plan which gives free unlimited USA and Canada calling which costs $8.95. That means the total cost of using Viatalk World Plan is $.8.95+ $8.95= $18 per month

Viatalk offers all important features of a VOIP Phone Service including Voicemail, Forward phone to SIP Provider, CID Privacy, 3 way conference calls, Caller Id, Anonymous Call authentication, Group Call Broadcasting etc.

If you are considering switching your home phone service or was considering signing up for Vonage World plan, Viatalk world plan beats most VOIP Phone services hands down with the plan features, pricing and destinations. You gotta be kidding to pay Vonage $24.99 when you can get the same home phone service for only $17.90.

We strongly recommend you choose Viatalk World Plan over Vonage World Plan.

India LD Diwali Offer 2 Million Free Call Minutes to India

As Diwali approaching, many VOIP Providers are offering free calls to India or cheap calls to India offers. All we have to do is enjoy them during this festive season. Lets find out what India LD VOIP Provider is offering.

If you are a existing India LD user, you will get 1 hour (60 minutes) of free calling time added to your account on October 14th. You do not need to do anything other than to enjoy the free calling to India for festival season.

Now for all those who are not using India LD. You can register at India LD and you could win a free 1 hour free calling account during this diwali promotion. IndiaLD is giving away 10,000 accounts that each have an hour of free calling. You can use this special 1 hour account to make calls to India or any of the other 27 countries including in this India LD plan. These accounts will be given out on a first come first serve basis starting on 10/14/09

These accounts will be good for 14 days or until all the minutes are used up. You can signup at India LD Today.

We will keep on updating the special Diwali Free Calling offers in the next few days. Make the most of these offers coz they won't come back again.

LocalPhone cuts Calling Rates to India before Diwali

This is the perfect time of the year to get best calling rates to call India. VOIP Providers often cut their calling rates to call India during Diwali. However, LocalPhone introduced a permanent new rates on this occasions.

I have been a great fan and user of LocalPhone for over a year now. I always preferred them over other cheap international calls providers especially Betamax, which is extremely popular amongst indians abroad. I always requested LocalPhone to cut rates and provide their world class VOIP service to people who are lured by cheap calling rates introduced by Betamax, which unfortunately do not last long. Last week, We reviewed Rynga and almost within a week, they increased their calling rates again. You can either be harrassed by these VOIP Provider or switch to a better VOIP Provider.

LocalPhone has officially announced a new calling rate for India. From today onwards, LocalPhone will only charge 1.8¢ per minute to mobiles, 2¢ to major cities, and 2.2¢ to all other landlines. As usual, LocalPhone rates always go down, they never go up. 1.8 cents in my opinion is more agreesive calling rate and can compete with other VOIP Provider like nymgo etc. One who demands Quality of Service, would only settle for LocalPhone. As i said, these calling rates are permanent and not diwali specials.

The new LocalPhone Calling rates apply for all existing and new customers. If you still haven't tried LocalPhone, I suggest you register for LocalPhone Today

Ooma Telo HD Voice VOIP Service Review

If you loved Ooma Hub, you sure will like to try Telo. Telo is the new VOIP Service/Gadget by Ooma. Before you buy Telo, Read our Telo Review and Comparison with Ooma Hub.

Ooma although heavily criticized by Media in USA including me in the past, have managed to stay on for long enough that most of us thought. Looks like, the "Ashton Kutcher" charisma really worked :-)

At the same time, we have to agree that Ooma Hub beats every single VOIP Provider hands down when it comes to looks and price. Ooma Hub would look damn sexy in your apartment and should get enough eyeballs. The pricing of Ooma has been excellent right from day 1 and now since retailers like amazon selling Ooma directly to consumers, we often get even lower price. Right now, you can grab ooma Hub at amazon for only $227.


Now Lets find out about the all new Ooma Telo and Why Ooma Telo is better than Ooma Hub.

Ooma Telo is killer in looks, more sleek than Ooma Hub and gives a bunch of more VOIP features you would love to have in 2010. Yes, am talking about the HD Voice. We are already living a high definition life then why not a HD VOIP service?

The Ooma Telo would connect to your high-speed Internet and existing home phones, allowing you to enjoy free home phone service, free US calls, and exceptionally low international rates.



Ooma Telo Features:

1) Free Unlimited US Calls to any US Landline/Mobile
2) Caller Id, Voicemail
3) Compatible with existing Cordless or Dect Phone in your home
4) You can keep your phone number for $39.99 one time porting fee or choose a new phone number for FREE.
5) Takes 15 minutes to setup. Plug and Play Device.
6) 911 Service: 911 operators would get your registered home address.
7) During Power Outages, Ooma will automatically switch your back to your traditional landline if you have any.
8) Call anyone using Ooma for FREE.
9) Telo is HD voice Ready.

Now the pricing, Ooma literally make you think twice. You get Ooma Telo device and its service for only $249 when you buy at Amazon. This is a one time fee and you never to have pay again ever again. Just call your VOIP provider and tell them shut your service off coz now you are gonna save loads of money.

If i were you, i would settle for Ooma Telo anyday just to have that gadget in my home and make free USA calls. Most importantly having to deal with overbilled monthly bills. Trust me average american spends atleast 30% of his time every weekends settling his bills and if you are over billed, you know what you are gonna get through.

Do Let us know how you find Ooma Telo VOIP Service and write a ooma telo review.

Verizon Wireless Hub VOIP Phone Services closed down

Verizon Wireless Hub VOIP Phone Service never took off as a residential phone service however now seems it really couldn't hold on for long in this competitive VOIP Phone services market.

Verizon Wireless has officially announced that they are closing down the sales of Verizon Wireless Hub VOIP Phone Service effective immediately. They already stopped selling the Verizon Hub product via retail outlets and now they stopped selling via online service.

We did a Verizon Hub Review when it was first launched and You must read user's comments. It was a clear "NO we don't want a Verizon Hub" verdict. The Price point for Verizon Hub was way out at $34.95 per month and you also need to be a verizon wireless Cell phone user with a contract. Way too much to ask for and to compete with VOIP Phone Services like Ooma or PhonePower which offers low starting prices.

Verizon has totally failed to sell Verizon Hub product via online platform or retail, which forced them to close down the Verizon Hub product.

Now I am wondering what happens to the existing Verizon Hub users? Is anyone using Verizon Hub able to use the service anymore? Please comment.