Orange go VoIP with new service

Orange announce a new converged service, available in November 2007, which will be very similar to BT Fusion.

On June 20th Onecompare wrote an article – Mobile Phones plus Broadband vs VOIP, which looked into why networks were teaming up with broadband services, predicting a rise in converged mobile/VoIP services. Since then the acquisition of broadband firms by mobile phone networks has continued with Vodafone recently inking a deal to provide their own service.

Orange have now announced that in November they will be launching a new service that will combine landline and mobile services in one handset, very similar to BT Fusion.

The phone service will work over a Wi Fi connection allowing calls to be made over VoIP whilst the customer is at home.  Once outside the phone will work like a standard mobile phone.  This has the benefit of essentially having a landline phone that you can receive calls on when your not at home.

The service offers unlimited free calls to orange mobiles and landlines and once signed up you will receive one telephone number, one address book, one answerphone and be billed on a single bill from Orange.  Services will also be available in France, Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands.

Households will be able to have up to six handsets, though obviously if everyone were to take a handset out of the house they would all ring when someone called the single number, meaning that this solution isn’t yet a good replacement for a personal mobile phone.

The service will only be available on selected handsets when first launched, the Motorola A910, Nokia 6136 and Samsung P200, with other handsets coming available in 2007.

Source- http://www.onecompare.com
 

‘First’ GSM, VoIP dual-mode Windows Mobile handset launched

US-based VoIP handset maker Paragon Wireless has launched what it claims is the world’s first Windows Mobile 5.0 phone designed for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) VoIP calls that also operates as a regular quad-band GSM/GPRS handset.

Dubbed the Hipi 2200, the device is primarily pitched at corporates who want to provide workers with a mobile phone that can also be used for employee-to-employee calls when the device comes within range of the company WLAN.

Paragon claimed the Hipi provides not only a seamless transition between cellular and 802.11g networks, but also between the WLAN’s access points.

The 2200 is based on a Texas Instruments OMAP 730 processor and is fitted with a 1.9in, 176 x 220 display. There’s a two megapixel camera round the back. The 10.7 x 4.5 x 1.6cm handset contains a 1100mAh battery sufficient, Paragon said, for four hours’ talk time and 100 hours on standby with both GSM and WLAN active.

The device provides all the usual Windows Mobile 5.0 features, including media playback, push email, web browsing and Office compatibility. More details on Paragon’s website. ®

Source- http://www.theregister.co.uk

Jajah brings VoIP to mobiles

Jajah has launched a UK service offering cut-price mobile phone calls, by routing most of the call over the internet using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology.

The idea of dialling a local number and from there being routed cheaply around the world is not new, and there are several companies who have been operating such services for years. But the majority of customers just want to dial a number and be connected, ideally at a cheap rate – they will suffer more expensive calls for the simplicity of direct dialling.

Jajah offers that same user experience by providing a Symbian application which the user runs and then dials normally. They are connected and proceed with their call, hopefully unaware that the majority of the routing is being done over the internet.

The application actually contacts the Jajah server over a data connection, and the server then makes the connection to the number dialled and calls the user back. The call is answered by the application; keeping the user experience identical to making a normal call.

Those without a Symbian handset (or with a Series 60 version 3 handset) can send an SMS to set up the call, or use their WAP browser. Jajah also provides a Java application for some handsets, but none of these options provides the simplicity of experience which sets Jajah apart from alternative services.

The real advantage comes with international calls, where the internet can be used for the long-distance routing, reducing the cost. The Jajah rates aren’t as cheap as some services which do require special numbers, but are generally cheaper than just dialling the number.

Even if most of the call is routed over the internet, both ends are still carried over the traditional telephone network. This makes the service easier to use, both in terms of interfacing and technical complexity, but means it can’t be quite as cheap as VoIP from end-to-end. ®

Source- http://www.theregister.co.uk