Mobivox does free Skype calls on your cell phone
Mobivox launched the beta of its new mobile-to-Skype service yesterday. Registered Mobivox users with Skype accounts can call local access numbers to be connected via a virtual operator to their Skype contacts, for free. The service works with landlines and mobile phones, and it requires no download to your phone or PC.
To use the service, just give Mobivox your telephone numbers and Skype account info. The service will sync your Skype contacts and make them available to call using the remote voice access system. Just call the number, and you'll get a virtual operator who takes voice commands or key entries to connect you to your contacts. You can also query the service to see which of your buddies are online. The potential for road warriors is great. There's nearly unlimited space for voice dial contacts, which is a plus for people without a good voice-dialing system on their phones.
Mobivox's business model feeds off revenue from international calls. Users buy into a credit system that lets them purchase chunks of up to $100 international mobile-to-landline credit at a time, without having to buy it from Skype directly. There are no charges for using the service beyond any minutes you use up on your mobile or domestic-calling plan, and since Mobivox gives you a local number, you're likely to avoid any long-distance charges on landlines.
This is a really solid service and very simple to use. The only hang-ups I found were with the voice recognition, which had some trouble with hard-to-pronounce Skype names. Like Google and Tellme's free 411 services, this brings to the table a really simple idea of connecting your phone to Web-based services for free. Since I'm not a big Skype user, I likely won't be using this, but for Skype fans, it's far better than buying a Wi-Fi-enabled Skype handset or digging up contact info while on the go.
Josh Lowensohn is an associate editor for Webware.com, CNET's blog about cool and otherwise useful Web applications and services. If you've found a site you'd like profiled, shoot him an e-mail. E-mail Josh.
- Topics:
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Chat and e-mail,
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Commerce,
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Mobile,
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Social network and groups
- Tags:
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Mobivox,
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Skype,
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SkypeOut,
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mobile,
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long distance,
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local access,
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international calling,
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VoIP
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"don't ask stupid questions"
or
"don't be a d**k for no apparent reason".
The article is easy to understand, maybe you're just a little slow...
For future reference, if you find things vague or hard to understand, I usually include enough links for you to delve in a little deeper if need be. While we do cater to novice readers, services like Skype are pretty mainstream these days.
For example, one doesn't want to open another account and purchase credits to use a facilitator for your existing Skype account and contacts.
You don't want to go through another operator no matter how intelligent it may be, you just want to go to your mobile and call your Skype contacts as you would a normal contact in your phone book and if you are Wifi connected, great, because that's the way we want to go and stop being exploited by high mobile cost carriers.
Only one company i am aware of does this and that is www.fring.com, i have been a user for a couple of months now and their product is great and it works and addresses the issues i mentioned above. You should have a look at it because i would say that their's is really a Webware product that is designed for end users and not just another VOIP service provider charging you on top of an already existent service you have in place.
I've been using Mobivox for about a month for long-distance calls. I don't use Skype but I've entered a few contacts on my profile. I call the local number from my cell and say things like "Anne Marie cell" and it connects me to Anne Marie's mobile for about 2c/minute (or free now that Anne Marie is a Mobivox user)