racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

VoIP or internet phone is the number one phoning technology as experts as well as its users know the infinite benefits that it can offer to them. This article will look at a future technology in its making that would not only replace the landline phone but the cell phones as well.

Background concept behind mobile VoIP

VoIP has been around for many years now, but mobile VoIP is still not that common in use. The first time this concept was introduced, many industry experts said that this technology will not be practically possible to be successfully implemented. There were many reasons at the time of introduction of this technology.

The first major hurdle was the slow wireless internet connection which meant that you could not transfer the data at the required speeds. The second problem was the slow mobile phones with low computing powers which created a major hurdle in having devices which could handle all the tasks simultaneously. Lastly the infrastructure was also a big problem as not all places had the type of infrastructural support for such fast internet speeds.

With the passage of time most of these hurdles have been overcome. New smart phones have been introduced which have better computing power and the ability to handle multiple tasks without any problem. The overall development in the infrastructure has been great because now wireless networks are able to handle faster data transfer speed without any glitches.

I’ve been using this nifty feature for quite some time now, and I think people will be interested, especially those who want to save up on telephone costs. Do you know you can sign up for a US and/or UK-based number that will route calls to your computer thru VoIP?

It’s as simple as signing up for an account with FWD, downloading a SIP-enabled VoIP client, and signing up for a DID (direct international dialling) account with IPKall or CallUK.

Here’s another way by which Voice-over-Internet Protocol provider Skype is bridging the gap between countries and continents: Live Translation!

My thoughts posted over at ForeverGeek:

Simply put, not everyone else in the world can speak your language, nor is everyone always willing (nor readily able) to suddenly adapt overnight just to accommodate you. And I’d tend to think this is a mutual thing–you probably won’t think it’s convenient to learn Cantonese or Hmong at five minutes’ notice, would you? Nor would it be practical to start learning a foreign language just so you can converse with a friend for 30 minutes.

Skype probably realized that majority of its clients aren’t interested in chatting up the next-door neighbor or friends from the next city through its facilities–in most cases, local phone calls would be cheaper! VoIP users are likely those looking into savings from over-seas or long-distance calls.

It’s quite expensive, though, at $2.99 per minute. Hey, if you need any English-Tagalog translation, you might want to drop me a line. I’d probably be willing to do it for free, time permitting. Or for text translation, you can try Babelfish instead (Google Translate is cool, too, but it has a limited language set).

Not exactly going public, but Vonage, one of America’s leading VoIP providers, is floating shares to raise capital.

The fast-growing but loss-making business hopes to raise up to $250m from the flotation (£142m) to win new customers and expand its services.

To me, it sounds like either Vonage is planning to really go big time–i.e., going face to face with the telecom giants–or they’re at the losing end of the battle, and badly need cash to survive.

At any rate, I believe VoIP is here to stay. It’s just the business model and the players that are bound to change.

Check out my latest article on Pinoy.tech.blog: The Free 411 Hack: Free Calls to the USA!

This is a cool hack that’s been discussed in some techie circles recently: free calls to the USA via 1-800-FREE-411.

I tried it via Skype, and OMG–it’s way cool!

Yes, you can call listed US numbers for free via this toll-free number.  If you can’t access using your POTS (that’s Plain Old Telephone System), then use Skype–SkypeOut calls to 1-800 numbers are free.