The untapped potential of free cellphone calls over the Web

DAVID POGUE
International Herald Tribune
01-27-2011
The untapped potential of free cellphone calls over the Web
Byline: DAVID POGUE
Section: State Of The Art
Type: News

There are high expectations for phone calls over the Internet. But there still aren't any applications that let you make free calls, to regular phone numbers, and from one's cellphone.

CORRECTION APPENDED
The world of phone calls is changing fast. Anytime a service proves to be both essential and expensive -- like phone service -- you can bet that somebody will invent less expensive alternatives.

For example, once faster Internet connections caught on, it did not take long for programmers to realize that the Internet was capable of transmitting voice. The world was suddenly full of programs (Skype, iChat, Google Talk, various messenger programs) that let you make free "phone calls," as long as you and the person you wished to call were both sitting at computers.

Then came the era of cellphones that could connect to the Internet, which led to the idea that mobiles that run applications, like the iPhone and Android phones, might be able to bypass voice networks and make free calls over the Internet. Could such calls over the Internet make a dent in one's cellphone-plan minutes and save the user money?

Well, we are getting there. There still are no applications that offer free calls, to regular phone numbers and from a cellphone. For now, you can get only two of the three functions. For example, you can make free calls to any phone number -- but only from your computer (Google Voice). Or you can make free calls from your cellphone to other users of an application (Fring, Skype, TruPhone) - - but not free calls to actual phone numbers.

To prepare this report, I made a lot of calls in all kinds of configurations: to a cellphone, to a landline, over Wi-Fi, over cellular networks and so on. Over time, it became clear that applications for voice calls over the Internet represent an excellent exercise in lowering expectations.

For example, compared with regular cellphones, Internet calls usually take longer to connect. The sound quality is almost always inferior. Finally, the voice delay is measurably worse on Internet calls.

Ordinarily, these calling applications connect to the Internet when you are in a Wi-Fi hot spot. When you are not, they can connect to the Internet over your cellphone company's data network. Once again, though, the results are disappointing; the sound is muffled and delayed; and, if you are driving, the calls frequently drop. In general, then, Internet calling applications are worth using only when your phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Overmarketing the abilities of these applications is par for the course. Skype and Fring, for example, claim to offer phone-to-phone video chats, even when one is not on a Wi-Fi network. In practice, the quality and delays are so horrific that the feature is unusable.

But these applications offer two unassailable benefits. First, they can save you a lot of money. If you make most of your calls over a Wi-Fi network, then you can downgrade to a less expensive cellphone calling plan, as you will require fewer minutes.

Second, these Wi-Fi applications let you make solid calls indoors -- precisely where cellular coverage is weakest.

All of these applications are available for iPhone and Android phones. All offer very cheap calls to international numbers -- much less expensive than most cellphone company rates.

Skype Free "calls" to anyone, anywhere in the world, who has Skype on a computer or phone -- which is a lot of people. The company says it is averaging 124 million users a month. If both people are on Wi-Fi networks, the call quality is insanely clear and realistic. But delay problems can come and go during the call.

To call actual phone numbers, Skype offers all kinds of plans. There is a $6.99 a month plan for unlimited calls within the United States, for instance, and similar plans for most other countries. There is also an "unlimited world" plan that lets you call landlines in 40 countries for a bit more than $16 a month.

You can send text messages to phones in mainland China for about 6 cents each, to Japan for about 7 cents and to the United States for about 13 cents each. But recipients' replies come to your phone's regular text-message application, not to Skype, so you cannot see the back-and-forths in the same window. And you pay for the replies at the standard carrier rate.

TruPhone Unlimited calls to landlines in 38 countries, and to cellphones in nine countries, for $13 a month. Like all of these Wi- Fi calling applications, it turns an iPad or iPod Touch into a Wi- Fi cellphone. No text messaging.

Fring The strength of this application is its ability to connect you to a lot of other services, like Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger and AIM -- either with "phone calls" or typed chats. As with Skype, you can make calls to phone numbers only by buying credits in advance; Calls to U.S. landlines and cellphones are billed 0.7 cent or 0.9 cent a minute. Calls to mobiles in mainland China cost one cent and to British phones 0.8 cent. Sound quality is not great, and there is no text messaging.

Line2 In essence, this application gives your phone a second phone line, with its own phone number. It is smart enough to place and receive calls over a Wi-Fi network when one is available, and over the cellphone network otherwise; $10 a month buys you all the Wi-Fi calls you want to regular phone numbers in the United States and Canada. It is the only application covered here that offers true phone-to-phone text messaging, which is very useful. On the other hand, the application takes too long to notice that it is on a Wi- Fi network before you can place a call -- sometimes 15 seconds.

Google Voice Google Voice is free. It offers a million glorious features -- transcripts of your voice mail messages, for starters, and free text messages, which is huge. It does not, however, save you any money on cellphone calls; it places calls over the regular cellular network, so it does not conserve cellphone minutes. (Google Voice can make free calls -- but from your computer, not from your phone, and it is available to U.S. residents only.)

FreePhone2Phone This service works on any phone, not just phones like the iPhone or Android. If you listen to a 10- or 12-second advertisement, you get a free 10-minute call -- available to landlines in 55 countries. To use it, you start by dialing a local number, which you look up at FreePhone2Phone.com. After the ad plays, you dial the country code and number; sound quality is excellent.

CORRECTION:

As published in the International Herald Tribune

An article Thursday about Internet-calling applications described their capabilities incorrectly. A few allow free calls to regular phone numbers from cellphones; it is not the case that no applications meet that description. The article also misstated the capabilities of Google Voice. Besides offering free domestic calls from a computer, the service also allows free calls from a land- line phone and, with the use of an application called Talkatone, from a cellphone. It is not the case that it does not allow free calls from a phone.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Copyright International Herald Tribune Jan 27, 2011