Posted by The Foo in Technology & Gizmos, Web 2.0

Seems like there are more and more click to call companies offering cheap national/ international calls. I read about it months ago but didn’t really pay attention until USA Today and Techcrunch reported on it today.

Here’s how it works:

1. You go their website, create an account
2. Using their dialup interface, you put in your telephone number
2. You then put in the telephone number of who you want to call
3. Both phones will then ring at the same time
4. Pick your phone up and talk like normal

If and when you are register, the companies will also give you a local number that will be linked to that national/ international number. This will give you a unique local toll number for repeated calling to that person.

So who offers it? Think triple J and a T - Jangl, Jaxtr, Jajah and Talkplus. (What’s with the J names?)

International and national rates are significantly cheaper than landline rates as it leverages the VoIP (Voice Over IP) technology. It’s a great alternative to individuals and small businesses than using the traditional VoIP providers and the popular peer to peer provider Skype. With VoIP providers like Vonage in trouble and SunRocket shutting down unexpectedly, this might be a good route to go without the monthly contract and still being able to keep your phone number.

Another useful feature provided by these companies is a button or widget to put on your website. Your friend or customer can use that widget to initiate the two way calling facility easily. Calling can be initiated from any landline or cell phone. You just have to remember that when using your cell phone, you will be eating up your cell phone minutes.

In comparing the 4 providers, Jajah seems to offer the best features for businesses like conference calling as well as useful desktop plugins for Outlook and Firefox. Talkplus offers the best call pricing e.g. a US to United Kingdom call costs about 1.1 cents per minute to a landline and 1.8 cents per minute to cell phones. Jangl and Jaxtr looks like it’s tailored towards personal users and offers voicemail capability. Jangl is currently offering free calling while they are in their beta stage. I may have to seriously consider using this to call my family internationally.

Read more about what everyone has to say about the companies below:

jaxtrjajahjangltalkplus

One Response to “Leveraging VoIP with click to call technology”

1. 
   1

   CatherineL said: @ 4:43 pm
   September 30th, 2007 

   
   

   Thanks Mel - 1 cents USA to UK is fantastic. I waste a fortune when I’m calling my family from America - especially when I use the phone in the hotel room (not recommended).

   I will check them out. Maybe the also offer cheap calls from the UK to the USA.

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