That probably sounds a bit odd coming from Rebtel these days. But yesterday Verizon and AT&T rolled out new plans that give U.S. customers unlimited airtime minutes for a flat fee of $100. And flat fee plans are music to our ears even if the carrier continues to block its customer SMS.

Unlimited airtime minutes means anyone who subscribes to one of these plans now has the ability to make unlimited free international calls to 39 countries around the world using Rebtel’s Smart Call system.

But even if they’re not willing to jump through the few hoops that make the international portion of call free, they can still take advantage of our super low-cost rates for calling any phone, anywhere in the world.

And eventually, we hope that Verizon will come to its senses and stop preventing its customers from sending standard SMS text messages to themselves and their friends if they contain local phone numbers issued by Rebtel.

Late last week I spoke with Robert Poe, a reporter for VoIP-News and DailyWireless about this issue. As any good reporter should do, Robert contacted Verizon after our call. Verizon (no surprise) denies that it is blocking SMS that their customers try to send to themselves or that their friends try to send to them from the Rebtel web site.

Robert declined Rebtel’s help to test our claims, which will make his findings all the more powerful when they come out. In the mean time, with the kind help of my comrade Fredrik Henning, I thought I’d take a minute to shed some light the mechanics of this problem and why Verizon is not telling the truth.

To be able to send SMS to people in U.S. from a system platform, not person to person, a short code number is required to identify the sender of the messages. Therefore every provider of messaging services has to apply for a dedicated or shared short code (a 5-6 digit number) from the Common Short Code Administration (CSCA), which Rebtel had done and received.

The reason for this bureaucracy is that the U.S. market applies interconnect charges differently than other countries. In the U.S. mobile recipients pay for incoming SMS. In contrast, people in Europe do not pay for incoming SMS because the operators in Europe are being paid by the originating operators to cover the cost of delivering the SMS to the recipient.

Rebtel wants its customers to be able to send SMS to their friends that are mobile subscribers in U.S. mobile networks. Rebtel wishes only to send SMS on behalf of the users, and not perform any unsolicited bulk messaging (a.k.a. SPAM or advertising).

So, despite what Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson tells the press, every SMS sent from Rebtel’s system is sent on behalf of the users who have requested that Rebtel send SMS to their friends or to themselves.

But it doesn’t end here. To get a short code implemented in a U.S. mobile operators network a specification of traffic flow and commands has to be submitted to each operator for approval of the process of OPT-IN and OPT-OUT, insuring that the recipients really do wish to get charged for receiving SMS.

Rebtel provided its specification of this process and got it approved by some operators, but not all, namely, Verizon.

So the bottom line is we’ve played by the rules. Our specification follows all requirements to get a short code approved with regards to OPT-IN and OPT-OUT. Yet, Verizon refuses to approve it. What’s that about? Why is this allowed?

We think it’s now time for the industry to stand up to this bullying.

We think the CTIA the trade association “dedicated to expanding the wireless frontier needs to reprimand Verizon and demand they play by the rules.

And if that doesn’t work, then we think it really is time for the FCC to do something about Verizon and its blatant anti-competitive abuse of power.

Soon after Public Knowledge, Free Press and others filed a petition asking the FCC to rule that text messaging and related short codes are protected from unjust and unreasonable discrimination. Rebtel, which was named in the petition, received some attention in the press, and Verizon was none too happy about it.

I’m talking about the Verizon that reported $1 billion in earning last quarter while adding 2 million wireless customers to bring its total to 65.7 million.

The Verizon that went to Capitol Hill recently as part of the CTIA to ask that they be spared from the indignities of burdensome regulation on their text-messaging services and short-code offerings.

The same Verizon that told BusinessWeek that Rebtel can still text-message our customers to offer their service.

And the very same Verizon that is now preventing its customers from sending standard SMS text messages to themselves and their friends if they contain local phone numbers issued by Rebtel.

Goliath didn’t like the negative attention it received in the press regarding its treatment of little David. It doesn’t want people, especially people at the FCC, to know that Verizon violates their customers freedom of speech every day.

So they contacted Rebtel just before the New Year and told us that they would stop blocking their customers SMS IF Rebtel would shut down all PR on the short code issue and send a letter to the FCC in praise of Verizon and its new openness and cooperation with Rebtel.

Being the trusting souls that we are, we complied. We stopped talking to the press. And when the press called during January we explained that Verizon had seen the light, that we were talking with Verizon and expected to have an announcement from the two companies shortly.

At first Verizon complained because there were some straggler stories appearing on the Web. And then there was silence. No response to our mail. Return phone calls came to a halt. Nothing.

It took us a week or two but we finally realized that we had been tricked. Verizon had tricked us into silence. Well, shame on us! We should have known better. And now we do.

But the true shame and the real crime is that Verizon customers are being prevented from sending SMS messages to themselves and their friends from the Rebtel web site.

We’re not asking for special access or treatment. We just want Verizon customers to be able to send standard text messages to themselves and their friends regardless of the content. That’s what free speech is all about. But Verizon thinks differently.

Because it doesn’t like what’s in those SMS messages, local phone numbers that will connect Verizon customers to their friends and family abroad for just pennies per minute instead of the highway robbery charged by Verizon for the same call and because they don’t like the viral nature of the Rebtel service, Verizon shuts them down. It turns off their customers right to send SMS.

Well, live and learn, as they say. But I promise, this one ain’t over! This David, for one, is pissed.

Opening this market has been in the works for a long time.  It’s one of the toughest markets to get into.  So we’re very proud to be the first to give people in Shanghai local numbers they can use to ring friends anywhere in the world.

This local number service that Rebtel invented is what gives the 24 million residents of Shanghai a choice to either make super low-cost calls to any phone, anwhere in the world, or make free international calls to friends, family or work colleagues living in one of the other 39 Rebtel countries.

When we started Rebtel last year some influential bloggers were skeptical that the Rebtel service would take off.  They said that asking your friend to hang up and call back on their local number for you while you stayed on the line, was too complex.

Well guess what?  Thousands upon thousands of people do it regularly.  And, many more thousands are signing up every week to give it a try.  Clearly we’re doing something right because not only is the number of Rebtel subscribers growing steadily, our users, on average, make at least three Rebtel calls per week, and their calls are getting longer and longer, meaning our minutes, too, are on a very steady growth path week-over-week.

But I digress.  Back to China and low-cost calls.

Rebtel calls from Shanghai to the U.S. cost just $0.018 per minute; $0.019 per minute from the U.S. to Shanghai.  None of the VoIP services beat that, but even their prices are better than AT&T, which charges $3.50 per minute to call a mobile phone in the China from a mobile phone in the U.S.

Rebtel calls from Shanghai to U.K. landlines cost $0.019 per minute, and $0.018 per minute to U.K. mobile phones.  Using Rebtel to call Shanghai from London is the same as from the U.S.: $0.019 per minute.  Again — Rebtel is the low-price leader among internet calling services.  And Vodafone doesn’t come close, with $3.33 per minute to call Shanghai from the U.K.

Shanghai is just the start.  We plan to expand Rebtel service to the rest of China in the New Year.  So, stand by.  We’ll keep you posted.

In the mean time — happy calling.  All of us at Rebtel wish you the happiest of holidays.  To our cusomers: Thank you!  It’s been a terrific year.  May 2008 bring everyone happiness and good fortune.  But most of all may it bring peace and freedom on earth for all.

What I’m talking about is free or low-cost international calls without the need for Internet access. Or said another way: Rebtel service as it’s been from day No.1.

And while we’ve always thought our service was innovative, it’s super nice when you get validation from a competitor that you really did break new ground and that all the other ways of making a VoIP calls are “old school.”

This concept of removing the barriers to unrestricted communication by providing the savings of an Internet call and the convenience of a telephone has been at the heart of Rebtel since our founding in January 2006.

We are firm believers that distance in the 21st century is a myth. It doesn’t cost any more to send email to a co-worker down the hall than to a co-worker on the other side of the world. And since Rebtel is using IP for your call the same should apply to voice services.

Today, Rebtel is hands-down the cheapest way to make international calls. If you know of a cheaper per-minute rate please let us know immediately and we’ll do everything in our power to beat it.

Here are just a few examples of highly trafficked routes from the U.S. and how Rebtel compares to Skype and Jajah (in U.S. cents per minute, calling to a landline phone):

And those kinds of low-cost calls can be made from 40 countries to anywhere in the world that has phone service.

But actually – we think that free is even better. And that’s why we created Smart Calls.

Yes – to make the international segment of your call totally free requires that you and your friends jump through a hoop or two – the old hold-on, hang-up, call-back dance. But anyone who has done it once or twice will tell you it’s not really all that complicated. Nevertheless, we always leave it up to our customers to decide.

But for anyone out there that still thinks our Smart Calls are too complex, keep an eye on our Facebook application Let’s Talk. You’ll soon be pleasantly surprised. At least we hope so.

…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.

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.

Skype To Go = weak
Rebtel = awesome

Ok, obviously, we would say that. Let us explain.

• With Skype you only get one ‘To Go’ number. You can change the international number you assign to the number only once a week. In other words, you can only call one friend abroad per week.

• With Rebtel? You get a minimum of 20 international numbers. In some cities you get 100. Isn’t choice great?

• Want to call a friend? With Skype you’ll need to go back to your Pro page when you’re signed in. It’s a bit of a hassle.

• With Rebtel? Just use your phone’s address book, same as normal.

There are a few other reasons why we kick Skype’s ass at this international mobile-to-mobile calling thing (you can call more countries, for starters!) We’re a lot smaller than them, but we’re feisty.

Oh and! Did we mention the whole free thing?

No wonder Martin Moneysaver is bigging us up too!

Technorati Tags: VoIP, mVoIP, Rebtel, Mobile, Moneysavingexpert, Skype, Skype To Go, Free Calls, International Calls, Disruption

Hello there. We’ve redesigned our website. Have a look.

Like it? There are hippies. With mobiles. And it’s pink. And blue. Yummy.

But redesigning a website is like putting on a new outfit. It’s exciting and fun, but it’s even better if you’ve been down the gym a bit and toned up what’s underneath as well.

And that’s what we’ve done. We’ve taken our prices to a few aerobics classes and we’ve got them to pump some iron. And now they’re looking kind of…buff.

Ogle this:

• Welcome Minutes
  Every new user gets a whopping ten minutes to try the service out. We’re calling them ‘Welcome minutes’. If you get inclusive minutes with your mobile phone contract, that means you’re getting a 10 minute international call for free. Which is pretty sweet.
• Thank You Minutes
  Also, the first time you add credit to your account you’ll get another 10 minutes talktime, as a thank you bonus.
• Spread the love
  Already a member? There’s free talktime for you too. Let’s assume you like the service. You’ll want your friends to try it, right? Spread the love and all that. So we’ve created a handy tool for you to email a bunch of your contacts about Rebtel, and for every friend who clicks the link in the mail, signs up and make a call with Rebtel, you get five minutes talktime for free.

So remember: inclusive minutes = international calls with Rebtel. Visit www.rebtel.com to see the new look website and blag your bonus minutes today!

Technorati Tags: VoIP, mVoIP, Rebtel, Mobile, Inclusive Minutes, Love Your Operator, Wasted Minutes, Free Minutes

Dear Paris,

I heard through some sources that calling from prison is extremely expensive.

A local call has a $3.60 surcharge + $.50 per minute while international calls start at $.75 per minute!! That’s a ridiculous amount to pay for any call and continues to amaze me that incarcerated individuals such as you would accept those rates.

A public figure such as you is probably making no less than 30 calls per day which amounts to no less than $2,800 in calls. Calling your friends in the French Riviera to talk about the Cannes Film Festival can be very costly. So, I will round it up to $3,000 for the 23 days that you are in prison.

While I can’t change the prison rates, here is what I will offer you: $3,000 worth of Rebtel minutes. This amounts to nearly 150,000 free minutes of calling to beautiful countries such as France at $.02 per minute. This is a great opportunity to talk about your CD, haute couture, and let all your friends around the world know how you are doing.

Hopefully, the battery on your mobile phone will last that long.If you are interested, I would welcome a call from you (I’ll even accept collect charges).

Sincerely,

Souheil Badran

Technorati Tags: VoIP, mVoIP, Rebtel, Mobile, Paris Hilton, free, cell, Minute Stealers, Jail, Prison, Buzz, Cannes Film Festival, International, French Riviera, Disruption