google and grand central reprint your business cards for free August 20th, 2007  

Om Malik reports that Google’s latest acquisition, GrandCentral has shifted its “numbers for life”. “Have one phonenumber you can keep for life” proclaims GrandCentral’s product information, but this, apparently is not exactly the case, as Om writes.

Judi Sohn, who edits WebWorkerDaily and has been a long time fan of GrandCentral got an email from the GrandCentral team letting her know that her number will be changed as of August 25, 2007. She was fuming, but not anymore: Google-owned GrandCentral (GOOG) will pay for reprinting her business cards.

Judi writes: “One number for life.” Not so much, huh?”
As I read her post and that of other recipients of GoogleGC’s email, it becomes clear how narrow the path is that web2.0 service providers travel. Because service and service delivery are now so very transparent, every change in service, especially if it contradicts promises about the product, as it does here, are all over the internet in a matter of hours. Gone are the days when companies could hide comfortably behind a facade. Users are now part and parcel of any product offered nowadays and will make themselves heard if the that product disappoints. A good thing though, that Google offered to refund the costs incurred in having to reprint business card that carried the GrandCentral number.

On a side note: Rebtel has received comments for having a relatively “difficult” product that necessitates a small change in calling habits: assigning a local number to a contact and then using that number as their phonenumber in you contact list. Also, the concept of smart calls (calling that’s free within your inclusive minutes, by asking you contact to hang up and call you back while you stay on the line) needs some time before peope actually start making use of it. Very important to us is the fact that the product is transparent and that we’re visible and active users of it ourselves. After all, disruption is in our blood…

By: admin

what will be the impact of the recent outage on skype? August 18th, 2007  

Over at Disruptive Telephony, Dan York writes about the impact of Skype’s recent massive log-in outage.

The seductive aspect of Skype is that it makes it very simple and easy to use the product. It has (at least for the moment) a massive directory of users. It has APIs that let it be readily integrated with other web sites and services. It’s easy to use… and I expect that probably many if not most users will simply go back to using it as they have always done once it comes back into full operation. People have short-term memories…

Certainly, Skype has become an infrastructure layer on the net, as so many services are built on top of it. It was interesting to see
how much functionality I was personally unable to use. Crazily, as I was still logged in to Skype through iSkoot on my cellphone, that was the only way I could gauge whether Skype was becoming available again. “Are my contacts there yet”. Skype’s prolonged unavailability also raises questions about reliability of such software, as it was not the service itself, but merely access to it that was disabled. Important to keep this in mind: it has convinced me, that adding a layer to control access to a VOIP service is not the way I wish to have my VOIP needs met. SIP based protocols are becoming more available now, and I consider that a good thing. Meanwhile, for my international telephony needs, I gladly trade add-ons and plug-ins for Rebtel’s elegant simplicity: assign local numbers to my contacts, call them using just my mobile phone, done. No web based software, no log-ins.

By: admin

Trip advisor acquires “where I’ve been” facebook app for $3M August 17th, 2007  

Inside Facebook brings the news that Trip Advisor has reportedly bought the “Where I’ve Been” Facebook application for $3 Million. Where I’ve Been was coded by Craig Ulliott and is said to have over 2,5 M users on Facebook. This puts the value of every W.I.B user at about $1.30… This is a news story comparable to the “island hype” surrounding Second Life 2 years ago. I’ve been toying with the idea of proposing to add functionality to the Reb Me Facebook app that would show the collective amount the entire Rebtel community takes from the mobile operators’ pockets by using Rebtel.

By: admin

Reb Me brings mobility to the party August 16th, 2007  

Our Facebook app, Reb Me, is now live. We’re a little surprised to note that it’s only the second of two functional VoIP apps on there, as bringing Rebtel functionality to Facebook was a logical next step for our service. There’s a strong use of social media within Rebtel itself, and, of course, our users are there – so why not go to them?

As Rebtel developer Ola Sundqvist explains, it’s now possible to do everything on Facebook that you can do at Rebtel.com, apart from crediting your account which, for security reasons, must be done at our main site. We provide Facebook users with free credit so they can try the service immediately – and if their friends sign up they receive more credit, which should help promote the viral spread of the app through interconnected groups of friends.

Despite the ease with which you can form connections on the internet, research shows that online networks tend to grow from offline ones, whether that’s a group of work colleagues, students at the same university, or members of a social group based around sport or leisure activities. Here at Rebtel, we think it makes sense to extend communication outwards from Facebook back to the ‘offline’ world by developing a mobile application.

Most other VoIP-based services require the use of a computer to initiate the call: with Rebtel, once the number has been generated, the customer saves and dials it as they would any other number. In this way, Rebtel brings voice to the world of social networking, expanding the number of ways in which Facebook users can interact with each other by providing a cost-effective, real-life means of communication that segues seamlessly with their chosen networking platform.

As Rebtel CEO Hjalmar Windbladh points out in an interview on the Jeff Pulver blog, “[with Reb Me] Rebtel becomes an integral part of social networking, bringing mobility to the party. Now you can reach all your friends when not online with just a local call. There are no exorbitant long distance charges, and you’re calling right from your mobile phone, not chained to your desk.”

By: admin

Reb Me on Facebook! August 15th, 2007  

reb me logo

On Facebook? So are we! This week sees the launch of our new Facebook application, Reb Me. The app brings Rebtel functionality to Facebook: once installed, you can instantly create local numbers for your friends, directly from Facebook. You can also display a box on your profile that your friends can click to generate a local number that connects to your mobile, and earn free credit by inviting contacts to install the application. Reb Me brings voice to the world of social networking, expanding the number of ways in which Facebook users can interact with each other by providing a cost-effective, real-life means of communication that segues seamlessly with their chosen networking platform. “Nice“, says the Guardian. What do you think? Try it today!

By: admin

A developer’s take on our new Facebook app August 10th, 2007  

We’re about to launch our new Facebook app, Reb Me. Developer Ola Sundvqist takes a moment to fill me in on FBML, server loads, data protection and how Rebtel plans to fight ‘app fatigue’…

Can you briefly describe Reb Me?

OLA: It’s like a web service that converts your mobile or international number into a landline number. When calling this generated number our servers connect you over the internet, charging almost nothing for it so you save tons of money calling abroad with mobiles or landline.

Why should Facebook users be excited about the Reb Me application?

OLA: Facebook is a huge global community expanding with some 100 000 users per day. People are connecting and nothing beats calling a person and communicating in real life. With this application any Facebook user can create numbers and call any of their Facebook friends really cheaply. The Rebtel website is super-advanced and quite heavy to load. The Facebook app is sleek and lean to use. We even provide free minutes to the Facebook users to try it out. Charging your account won’t be needed until those run out, and charging your account is the only thing you can’t do with the Reb Me application due to security etc.

What safeguards are in place to protect theft of data or other similar problems?

OLA: When signing up with Facebook you sign up to allow your information to be sold. This is one of the major revenues of Facebook. Rebtel don’t sell information and have a strict policy of privacy. No information is saved into the Facebook database when using the Reb Me application. When logging in to Rebtel.com, security socket layers are always used to protect information.

Can you talk a little about the technologies used to create the Facebook app (FBML, FQL, etc.)

OLA: I have used FBML as much as possible, and when it was not possible I studied the source HTML and CSS of the Facebook website to keep things as similar as possible. This makes the application to melt well with design and what Facebook users are used to, keeping it tidy and simple. FBML is converted into HTML that matches out-of-the-box classes provided by Facebook. This saves loading times and whenever there’s a minor bug in the FBML code, the page won’t work at all. This keeps things in good health as everything has to be perfect to run at all, much like the C# that needs to compile before it can run.

Was it tricky to conform to Facebook guidelines on appearance and content while still maintaining a Rebtel identity? Or did you find the restrictions to be useful in any way?

OLA: I love restrictions. This keeps things in place and working on majority of all platforms. It was tough keeping a balance of the company brand and the Facebook layout. In the end we stuck to keeping it look and feel like Facebook with our logotype and symbol for branding on all pages. In the profile the branding of Rebtel is with emphasis using a rounded corner box as container for the shortcut links where the links are also coloured with the “Rebtel blue” colour. In order to make the pages branded and more fun to look at, we also included most of our “Hippies”. This makes it feel a bit personal and lightens up all that textual content. Learning the FBM language was quick as I’ve worked with markup languages since the mid 90’s and there were not that many tags to learn. We had to do a little workaround to put all custom styles in once place using a master template rather than including and external stylesheet document as this is not allowed on Facebook.

What do you feel are the main concepts that entrepreneurs and investors should understand about the Facebook platform? Do you think Facebook apps are set to replace consumer-facing websites?

OLA: Remember, Facebook is just another website. It’s popular today and I agree it’s as good as it gets by 2007 standards. With some time and skills, anyone can set up something similar based on Open Source platforms like Joomla and Community Builder. Any company should build an app on Facebook as it can be done in days. It’s also important to profile your company on Facebook with your CEO having a page and a company that can be selectable from the lists as employers on Facebook.

Facebook has 24 million active users – any worries about server load?

OLA: So far we have been worrying too much about server load and to little about spreading the word. We have a nifty load balanced solution and any issue can be solved with hardware. According to my own guess Rebtel needs about 1 million users to look good and 2 million to get those happy 2.0 vibes going.

Any concerns about timing? It’s been suggested that Facebook users are already suffering from ‘app fatigue’… how does Reb Me plan to work around this?

OLA: There were about 2000 apps on Facebook when creating the Rebtel app and that will likely grow fast from now on. Good apps will succeed anyway. I still believe the purpose of the Reb Me app is unique and that it’s a great service we are providing for people. There may be fatigue about all those ‘fun’ applications with never about anything as useful as this.

Do you think that Rebtel on Facebook is better for the consumer? How is Rebtel functionality improved through Facebook integration?

OLA: I think we are improving our usability and flows. People internally almost prefer using the Facebook app rather than the real Rebel website as it is so lean and clean. I believe Rebtel will have to improve on letting users increase their personal privacy security levels when putting external applications out like this.

What do you feel differentiates Reb Me from its competitors’ Facebook apps? (Jangl, SkypeMe, etc)?

OLA: I’ve always felt that Jangl and SkypeMe are very connected to a computer while Rebtel is connected to a standard phone. I don’t even see us as competitors. Rebtel has a unique angle in the market. When it comes to the Reb Me app, the Jangl and SkypeMe apps seems like hasty jobs where not that many features have been put into the app. We have focused on putting as much real functionality as possible into it. A large focus has been on copywriting and icons as well, constantly improving the app.

By: admin

the unused inclusive minutes rip-off August 6th, 2007  

Interesting article in the Independent on the numbers behind our mobile “deal” with UK providers (or any provider, come to think of it). At Rebtel, we’ve been saying for a long time how we love our operators, and how inclusive minutes are a boon, rather than a curse. The Indepent writes:

It used to be common for unused minutes, paid for as part of your monthly contract, to roll over until the next period. This is no longer the case. While there are exceptions – certain Orange price plans allow a roll-over for one month – few of us bother to check if the time we spend on the phone matches the time we’ve paid for. A recent survey conducted by Uswitch.com revealed that around £1.8bn worth of calls and texts included in monthly contracts go unused each year – that’s £90 per person. It’s no surprise that many of us are too lazy to keep tabs on our tariffs and talk-time. And the mobile networks aren’t about to remind us.

We say: use the minutes in your bucket plans to call through Rebtel. £90,- left unused by you and me: at Rebtel we know how to make those work.

By: admin

avoid foreign roaming charges on your UK mobile account August 6th, 2007  

With the sun finally shining in the UK, the holiday season is now well and truly upon us. And with Roaming charges back in the press over the weekend, I thought this might be a good time to remind people how to use Rebtel to avoid a nasty mobile phone bill on their return home.

Back in June the Commissioners in Brussels introduced ‘Roaming Caps’ and ordered mobile phone companies to cut overseas calling costs by 70%, giving them until the end of September to implement the changes. For too long, they ruled, have leisure and business travelers alike been unduly punished with roaming charges which they estimated to be a £3.7 billion annual rip-off.

Many Europeans have already begun to benefit from the new changes. German T-Mobile and Vodafone customers, for example have been able to opt into ‘Eurotariffs’, slashing the cost of calling mainland Europe. Indeed it seems that half of the mobile companies within the European Union have already activated the new maximum charges.

In the UK, however, most mobile operators will be introducing the new tariff at the end of August, which will be too late for most British holiday-makers. Only O2 is already offering the lower tariff and even then you have to ring and request it, or else face the normal high charges.

So in the meantime, here is how to use Rebtel to avoid getting burnt whilst you are away:

The best thing to do on arrival is to purchase a local SIM card. Doing so allows you to make and receive calls via a provider in the country of destination, rather that your normal domestic provider. There is a good list of foreign SIM providers for the UK listed here. Make sure to choose a SIM card with the cheapest rates for calling local numbers in the country where you buy it.

This will of course mean that you have a new phone number and people will not be able to reach you on your normal number. And this is where Rebtel comes in. One visit to the Rebtel website allows you to change your principal mobile number. Doing this will create a new set of local numbers for the contacts in your Rebtel address book, which you can then save into your handset as normal and call for the cost of a local call. The best bit is that Rebtel will automatically redirect calls from your existing Rebtel contacts to the new local SIM, meaning that you avoid paying for receiving international calls too.

So, to save yourself a small fortune this summer, get a local SIM and make a quick visit to the Rebtel website to update your principal number. And don’t forget to give people back a home who might be calling you whilst you are away a Rebtel number for you before you go.

Happy roaming.

By: admin

consumer voip leaping towards tipping point August 2nd, 2007  

VOIP Monitor posts about the recent Yankee Group announcement on the growth of consumer Voip use towards 2011. According to the Yankee Group’s report, penetration of VOIP in consumer households is now 9%, up by 5% from last year, while VOIP solutions are now also proliferating in the world outside the home. VOIP applications are increasingly adopted to add interactivity and click to call capabilities to websites too. And as the appetite for cheap connectivity increases, so does the demand for go-anywhere mobile connectivity. As more dual mode handsets become available, this segment will show astonishing growth, according to the report. A few figures, courtesy of VOIP Monitor:

At 167%, cable VoIP experienced the strongest growth in 2006.
The majority of residential VoIP subscribers will subscribe to bundles from cable companies by 2011.
The broadband VoIP market continues to see greater competition, with new market entrants bringing innovative solutions.
There is significant potential for VoIP with FTTH in the market, considering the ongoing initiatives by Verizon with FiOS and AT&T with U-verse.

By: admin