Voice Plans

I signed up for Ribbit's beta voice service back in January. However, I never received an invitation to try the service. And, then, they were purchased by British Telecom (BT) in late July. They seem to be making noises again (pun intended). So, I headed over to...

Ribbit Mobile

...sign up for their beta service again. I don't expect to hear anything back from them given their previous track record. But, who knows? So, why am I interested in a service that looks like will have a $30 per month fee associated with it (based on their "Try it Free - A $30/month value" web message)? To be honest, I'm not quite sure why I found it interesting. It appears to essentially duplicate services already offered by the free Google Voice (voicemail on your existing phone number, text transcription of voice mail, easy management of voicemail.

Note, if you look at Ribbit's pricing plans, you'll see they do plan to have a free offering with no business grade transcription service as well as a $10 per month plan with a limit of 40 transcriptions.

Some people (many?) might find an accurate "business grade" voicemail transcription service worth $10 or $30 per month instead of using Google Voice's free but error prone transcription service.

YouTube video courtesy of Jajah

Jajah is a Voice over IP (VoIP) service that lets you call conventional telephones at a low cost. They just launched an interesting service (beta release) for Twitter users...

JAJAH Gives Voice To Twitter

You can see how it works by viewing the embedded video above. It lets two Jajah subscribers call one another via Twitter. The caller types in something like...

@call @twitter_username

Jajah first calls your phone. Then, it dials the called party and connects the two phones together to complete the call. Calls can be made for free during the beta test period. However, these free calls are limited to two minutes.

VoIP software developer Jajah has come out with new services for Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian handsets that let consumers make VoIP calls from their mobile phones, either over Wi-Fi or a carrier’s network.

Jajah offers the services as a white-label solution, so carriers and other service providers can launch the applications under their own brands.

The BlackBerry app, available as an over-the-air download, via the desktop manager or from a corporate BES server, adds "JAJAH Call" to the device's phonebook menu. The Symbian app lets users with S60 phones choose whether to route their international calls over the Jajah IP network or the standard cellular network. The Windows Mobile app is a full SIP-over-HSDPA/Wi-Fi mobile VoIP solution that turns any device into a full-function VoIP phone.

Jajah is the same company that recently launched an application that turns an iPod touch into a mobile phone.

Bowing to competitive pressure from AT&T and various third-party services, Verizon has finally added Visual Voicemail to its lineup, although the service is currently limited to just one handset: the mobile-TV-equipped LG Voyager.

Engadget reports that the service will cost an extra $2.99 per month on top of your usual bill, and you'll be able to store up to 40 messages for 40 days, with an option to create up to 10 greetings and 20 distribution lists as well.

Verizon didn't take the opportunity to announce "any firm plans for a roll-out to any of the other phones supposedly in line to get the service," the report said, with it only going so far as to say that additional devices will be getting it in the "coming months."

Better late than never, right? GigaOM reports that AT&T, in conjunction with some 10-15 incumbent telecom carriers—British Telecom, Deutsche Telecom and NTT among them—is plotting to launch a Skype competitor, according to a research report issued by ThinkEquity analyst Anton Wahlman.

Wahlman said in the report that the telcos plan to offer a VoIP client that will work on the carrier's existing 3G data networks (the ones responsible for most of today's mobile media streaming), and will use a backend platform that will allow folks to make free voice calls to anyone who's logged into it.

"Much the same way as Skype-to-Skype calls are free, incumbents could use their platform to keep calls from each other's network free. The plan could help them avoid the termination charges and still make money when the calls go off the network to, say, a rival's phone service or wireless network. 'We believe that they will have to use a common client and common software platform in order to make this work,'" Wahlman said.

Still, the carriers are really late with this given that Skype has been around for almost five years.

The European Commission has agreed to allow air travelers to use their cell phones on flights over Europe, but the ability won't be widely available for a while yet. According to an American Foreign Press report, the new service will use an onboard network, so the calls will be a bit more expensive than with a typical wireless operator.

As with other electronics, cell phones can't be used until the plane reaches a cruising altitude of at least 3,000 feet.

Airlines in the 27 EU member states have six months to start allowing cell phone calls. To keep chattering flyers from annoying other passengers, the airlines will have some freedom about how and when to use the service.

Air France has started testing the system.

(Image credit: Clipart.com)

Here's something we never could have guessed: The use of cell phones is increasing and traditional landline telephone coverage is decreasing.

The results of four surveys Harris Interactive conducted from October through January found that one in seven US adults have ditched their landlines and use only cell phones. The percentage of households with landlines has fallen to 79%, down from 81% a year ago while the percentage of folks who use a cell phone for at least some of their calls has grown from 77% a year ago to 89% in January.

Also, contrary to popular belief that only the young have eschewed the older technology, Harris found that about half of the folks that only use cell phones are 30 or over.

Image Credit: Clipart.com)

Following the lead of just about every other big US mobile operator, Alltel Wireless has come out with a $99-a-month unlimited voice plan, according to a report on FierceWireless.

The new plan, Freedom Unlimited, is separate from Alltel's MyCircle plans, which provide unlimited calling to a specific list of phone numbers for a flat monthly fee, starting at $49 a month for unlimited calls to five numbers and $59 for unlimited calls to 10 numbers. Why anyone would still sign up for MyCircle when they can now get a plan that lets them call as many numbers as they want for an extra $40 is a mystery to us, but Alltel chief marketing officer Frank O'Mara recently told FierceWireless that his company considers $50 a month the "sweet spot" for a wireless plan.

Image credit: Clipart.com

MediaPost reports that nearly two thirds of Americans have now used mobile devices for things other than talking, according to a new study on mobile data usage by the Pew Internet Project.

The study released today found that the cell phone would be the hardest communications technology for people to give up. More than half (51%) said it would be very hard to give up their cell phone, compared to only 38% in 2002, the report said.

Other facts quoted from the article:

- 58% of U.S. adults have used cell phones or PDAs for text-messaging, taking a picture, looking for directions or surfing the Web.

- 62% have either used a mobile data service or logged onto the Internet via a laptop away from home or work or via a handheld device.

- Text messaging and photos were the most popular activities - 58% - with playing a game (27%), sending e-mail (19%) and accessing the Web for news, weather and other information (19%) rounding out the top five.

Image credit: Clipart.com

Engadget has a report on the generically-named Wireless Consumer Protection and Community Broadband Empowerment Act.

According to the report, the bill, which is currently on the House and Senate floor and is sponsored by Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey, would require carriers to "sell contract-free phones, provide rate plan information in a clear, plain, and conspicuous manner, disclose any phone subsidies hidden in the plan's price, and offer price-comparable plans with no subsidy or early termination fee."

In English, the report explains that the bill means we'd finally know exactly how much a plan would really cost every month including taxes and fees. It would also be easier to see how much devices like the iPhone are actually marked up, and "most importantly, it'd be way easier to switch carriers to get better deals." This all sounds just great, which is why we're not expecting the bill to be passed as such.