Revolution Rebtel-style now! November 21st, 2007  

We were thrilled to see reports this week on a new research study from Disruptive Analysis showing that mobile VoIP will rapidly eclipse voice over WiFi and become a mainstream form of communication. Rebtel users – you are the revolution’s vanguard. Well done!

And for us at Rebtel, third-party validation that your dreams and vision are on the mark always feels super good. Yesterday we got a double dose of such validation when our friends at Jajah finally came around to offering what Rebtel has been doing from day No.1, while our old buddy Om Malik reminded blog watchers worldwide just where this bright idea came from.

What they’re all suddenly so excited about is the concept conceived in early 2006 by our CTO, Jonas Lindroth: voice over the internet – VoIP calls – without the need to be connected to the internet.

What’s cool is that’s exactly what Rebtel users have been doing for more than a year now, every time they needed to make an international call to someone new while not at their computers.

With Rebtel you just call the Rebtel Operator in your country, enter the international phone number you want to call, and instantly receive an SMS with a local number for that person, which you can save, use and dial forever directly from your mobile phone book. Of course, you never have to pay your operator’s super-expensive rates for international calls ever again.

The big difference between Rebtel and the copycats is that with Rebtel you can use this feature to call anywhere in the world from any of the 40 countries where we offer service. In contrast, they can only do this in six countries and offer access numbers in just a couple of cities.

One long-standing Rebtel bigot was so incensed when he saw this “news” that he wrote us a nasty note with the subject heading: “What’s your view? Jajah a complete Rebtel rip-off?”

Well, our view is “no worries”. We know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So happy calling, Rebtel users. And never forget: you are at the forefront of a revolution!

By: alexander drewniak

Call for Change with Rebtel November 15th, 2007  

In a recent interview with Rebtel’s CEO, Hjalmar Windbladh, trade publication EETimes characterized Rebtel’s No.1 value — taking the customer’s side — as our “novel business plan.”

Novel this may be – in the telecoms industry, at least – but ever since we started it’s been Rebtel’s goal to be an active, disruptive force for change.

We aim to empower our customers, not just by saving them money, but by opening their eyes to the mobile operators’ unethical behaviour and thereby, we hope, bringing about positive changes throughout the entire industry.

Thing is, we’d like to do a bit more than this. We’ve been pondering how to use Rebtel’s technology as a positive force, not just on an individual scale, but on a global one too. How can we help people to express their opinions and voice their protests about things that matter far more than dollars saved on phone calls?

And that’s when we came up with Call for Change – a new program that permits customers to use our technology to disrupt more than the mobile industry. If a hundred people can trigger change by voicing their opinions in front of an embassy, why not use mobile technology to enable hundreds of thousands of people to make their voices heard from afar?

Why not, for example, jam the switchboards of a repressive regime’s embassy around the world, at no cost to the protester? Why not set up a telephone voting system so callers can express their dissatisfaction in a matter of seconds, absolutely free?

With this in mind we recently ran our Call for Change Burma campaign on Facebook, encouraging Facebook users to flood the switchboards of Burmese embassies worldwide to register their disapproval at the atrocities there.

But we want to do so much more.

How can Rebtel technology help organisations like Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders or Friends of the Earth?

Do you run an organisation that could benefit from our technology?

If there is anything we can do for you, please call Greg on +1 415 717 4666 or click here to get a local number where you live to let us know what we can do to help you Call for Change.

By: admin

Let’s Talk… about Rebtel and Facebook November 5th, 2007  

Sorry it’s been so quiet on here – we’ve been hard at work on the next iteration of our Facebook app! And now it’s time to take a peek at some of our new features.

Fancy new dashboard

First off, we’ve renamed the app ‘Let’s Talk’ – because encouraging conversation is what we’re all about! After that, you might notice our snazzy new dashboard screen – imaginatively entitled ‘Home’. You can see your latest activity, view your balance at a glance, and quickly get more numbers for your friends.

Rebtel's Facebook app, Let's Talk


Rebtel friendfinder

Maybe some of your Rebtel contacts are on Facebook and you don’t even know it! We’ve made it easy to match Rebtel contacts with Facebook friends with a single click.

Profile box

Rebtel's Facebook application, Let's Talk

We’ve also updated the box that appears on your profile once you’ve installed the app. Your friends can quickly get a number to call you for cheap by hitting the big blue button under your user pic.

It’s also quite stalkertastic as your friends can see who you’ve been calling – and who’s been calling you. (Course, if you’ve got things to hide then you can change your settings so nobody knows what you’ve been up to!)

Behind-the-scenes action

We’ve also included a bunch of improvements aimed at reducing friction and easing user journeys through the app. We’ve made it easier for users to get numbers for several friends at once. We’ve enabled people to complete their signup within Facebook (previously they had to visit Rebtel.com), and we’ve enhanced a few things within the payment flow, such as making it easier for users to activate auto-recharge. We’ve also clarified our payment error messages so that, on the rare occasions when things do go wrong, our users can know exactly what happened and why.

What do you think?

Your opinions are invaluable to us, and we’re been delighted with the reviews, comments and questions you’ve been leaving on the application homepage. We always endeavour to answer as quickly as we can so feel free to comment either on Let’s Talk or on our user support forum.

So, your feedback is required: what do you like about Let’s Talk? What don’t you like? And what would you love to see in the next release? Tell us – it’s been great developing this app with and for you, so please, keep talking!

By: admin

Free international calls? Sorry, Talkster – Rebtel were there first November 1st, 2007  

There’s been a lot of talk about Talkster, the new free international calling service. We’re not the only ones to notice that their service is extremely similar to ours (“Rebtel-like service”, says one blogger, while another calls it “a Rebtel me-too”).

When asked to differentiate between Talkster’s product and ours, James Wanless (COO of Talkster) is keen to point out that the Talkster service is free, while ours offers a payment option.

That’s right – a payment option. Rebtel always has and always will offer free international calls. Here’s a short video explaining how it works:


Free international calls movie from Rebtel

However, we offer a paying service because that’s what some of our users want. Often these are small businesses who don’t wish to ask clients for a call-back. This also means that Rebtel customers are able to call any country in the world, not just in the 39 countries where the free service is offered.

But free international calling is at the heart of our service, and has been since we started a year and a half ago.

So, to recap: Rebtel offers unlimited free international calls, is available in 39 countries (compared to Talkster’s 29), and doesn’t force users at both ends of the call to sit through a 10-second advert before they can talk to their friends. So what was all that Talkster talk about again?

Rebtel: the original and (dare we say it?) the very best.

By: admin

Apple iPod touch would make a killer Voip phone… September 7th, 2007  

ipodtouch

…if it had a microphone, that is.

Last month the iPhone dominated the news, but now that the ipodtouch is hitting the stores later this month, Apple’s two-pronged strategy is becoming clear. In a surprising move that will have put frowns on the faces of AT&T’s board of directors, Apple is making the new touch available including wifi capabilities, and with the possibility to download songs directly from iTunes onto the iPod. AT&T will be none too pleased about this: a shrewd bit of strategic maneuvering had Apple out-witting them. On CNN Money, Stephanie Mehta points out:

The Wi-Fi capabilities built into the touch – and other devices such as Nokia’s N95, Samsung’s T409 and a number of Windows mobile devices  - in the long run could end up by-passing wireless phone networks altogether. How? If a user downloads ringtones or searches the web on a Wi-Fi network, he or she is not consuming minutes on the carriers’ data networks, which phone companies are spending billions to build.

Elsewhere I’ve been saying that a wider availability of Wifi enabled devices coupled with VOIP services will be a substantial kick in the behind of Mobile Operators. It’s easy to see why AT&T disabled VOIP on the iPhone, and now Apple has gone the other route and has released a device that is – at this moment – a phone without a microphone. All this to the relief of AT&T directors, no doubt. However, it’s also abundantly clear, that the iPod with a microphone, or a device like it, will come. When the iPhone was first released, there were a lot of comments on the stranglehold AT&T was supposed to have on Apple. It’s now obvious that this is the other way round. And it is like this for all of us. I’m cited in the article as bragging of “using (my) hotel’s Wi-Fi connection to make a 90-minute VOIP call to Europe” where roaming charges would have bought me a new phone altogether. Today that’s as true as it was then. Apple has now changed the landscape. Device manufacturers but also the likes of Nokia have tried to push wifi and therefore voip for a couple of years now. For consumers wishing to make cheap international calls, Voip is a success story that is as yet poised for success. Its breakthrough may be one step closer but we are still missing an open platform strategy from the device manufacturers. Meanwhile, manufacturers are reproaching Telcos for not opening up their platforms to enable innovation as seen on the tethered Internet. Neither Apple nor Nokia have ever been known for such an open approach. Compared to them, even Microsoft looks decidedly open source.

By: alexander drewniak

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

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