VoipBuzz

Following up on the success of OBi100 and OBi110, Obihai has introduced the next version of its analog telephone adapter (ATA) – OBi202. If you are one of the thousands of happy OBi users, you will definitely love the next generation device. The OBi202 builds on the features that users have come to expect from Obihai and adds additional functionalities that one expects from a modern VoIP device. The big question, however, is should you get one? Let us dig deeper and find out…

The package contains everything that you need to get started – the OBi202, an ethernet cord, power adapter, and a quick start guide.

The OBi202 has received a fresh coat of paint; it sports a grey body with a navy blue exterior.

On the front, you have 5 LED status indicators – Power, Internet activity, Ethernet (LAN) activity, and two phone status indicators. The LED indicators provide a visual indication of the OBi functions. The Power and the Phone LEDs need to be solid green before you can make calls.

On the back, you have two phone ports to connect your analog phones, a USB port, LAN port, WAN port for Internet connection, and a power socket.

Configuring OBi202 is literally a cakewalk. Just provide an Internet connection to the blue INTERNET port, connect a phone to green PHONE 1 port, and connect the power adapter (the other connections are optional). Make sure that the Power LED is solid green, before moving forward.

Create an account on the Obitalk portal, if you do not have one already. Login to your account and follow the prompts to add the OBi202 to your account.

Once the OBi202 is added to your account, you can add up to four SIP providers or Google Voice accounts. You can also configure how the phones connected to your OBi access your SIP accounts. To configure your Google Voice account, just enter your username/password.

Settings for several other VoIP providers (Anveo, Broadvoice, Callcentric, CallWithUs, Engin, InPhonex, Sipgate, Vitelity, VoicePulse, voip.ms) are available on the Obitalk portal. To add a provider besides one of the above, select Generic SIP Provider and enter the SIP details. The screenshot describes how to add Localphone SIP settings to your OBi202.

The following video tutorial provides a brief overview of the OBi202 setup process and how to configure Google Voice or any other SIP provider on OBi202.

OBi202 provides some killer features that fully utilize the beefed up hardware. I list the major ones here.

Support for Google Voice

Probably the most talked about feature is the native support for Google Voice. The OBi202 natively supports Google Voice. Just enter your Google credentials on the Obitalk portal and you can start using Google Voice service without using your local mobile plan minutes or without any computer. Till Google officially starts supporting SIP on Google Voice, this is a no-brainer. From the telephones connected to the OBi202, you can make free calls in the USA and Canada at least through the end of the year. You can configure up to four Google Voice accounts on the OBi202.

Connect Two Analog Phones

You can now connect two analog phones to the OBi202 that operate independently, i.e., you can simultaneously make or receive two calls. This is perfect for home offices, if you want to have separate personal and professional lines. In addition, the two phones work together very well, providing some very nice collaborative features. For example, you can dial a “#” key to call from one phone port to the other. You can also use this feature join both the phones to a call (three-way conference) or transfer calls.

Configure up to 4 SIP providers

Unlike its predecessors (OBi100 and OBi110) that allowed only two SIP providers, you can configure up to four SIP providers on your OBi202. Read my previous review of the OBi100 or the OBi110, if you are not familiar with them.

The four VoIP accounts along with two analog phones, really make the OBi202 a very powerful solution. You can specify how the two phones access the 4 SIP providers configured on the OBi. You can define the primary lines for each phone or how incoming calls are routed using a very easy to understand matrix structure. In the picture below, I have configured PHONE 1 to use SP1 and PHONE 2 to use SP2 as a primary line to make calls (remember, you can still access the other line, e.g., to make outgoing calls using SP2 from PHONE 1, just dial **2 and the destination number) and both phones will ring on incoming calls from either of the SIP accounts.

Support for T.38 fax-over-IP protocol

The OBi202 now also supports the T.38 real time fax-over-IP standard protocol. You can now connect your fax machine to one of the PHONE ports and OBi can reliably send fax over IP (provided, of course, your SIP provider supports fax-over-IP).

Built in Router with QoS

The OBi202 also has a built-in one-port Fast Ethernet router with firewall and integrated quality of service (QoS) that ensures voice conversations are prioritized on the network, before all other traffic. Now you can use the OBi alongside your computer without investing in a router (if you do not have one already). While a one-port router is a welcome addition, it will not replace a full-fledged router. 

USB Port for Future Extensions

While the USB port is currently not functional, it promises a lot of opportunities in the future. A wireless adapter is already in works and should be available very shortly that will allow you to use the OBi202 from anywhere within range of an 802.11b/g/n network. At some point in near future, you may also be able to connect a storage device to enable local and remote access of digital files via the Internet by authorized users.

I have been using the OBi202 for quite some time and to say that I am blown away by the device would not be an understatement. All the features work as advertised. The OBi devices (all of them) make the Google Voice account so much more useful and easy to use. Obihai continues to impress with its product line by including advanced features, yet managing to keep things simple. The OBi202 lacks a few features, for example, the USB is not functional yet, it lacks wireless router capabilities, and no HD VoIP. However, given the price point, I have no doubts that it will exceed all your expectations. OBi202 achieves a fine balance between cost, features, speed, and stability.

Now the big question – to buy or not to buy? For all the features that OBi202 offers, you also need to keep in mind that it does cost $74.99 – about $30 more than the OBi110/OBi100. Here are some pointers that should help you make a choice.

1. If you do not use multiple SIP providers or don’t see yourself using multiple phones, then save yourself some money and buy the OBi100 instead.
2. If you are a SOHO user or a small business and you value the convenience of having two separate analog phones, then you should consider the OBi202.
3. If you want to use fax-over-IP, then OBi202 is the way to go.
4. If you already have a landline connection and want to bridge it with your VoIP accounts, the OBi110 is the only way to go (since the other OBi devices do not have and FXO port).
5. Although not there currently, if you like the idea of having your files available on your personal cloud, go for OBi202. 
6. Finally, if you want to be able to use the OBi within a wireless network, then go for OBi202.

Given the extensive features that OBi202 offers, it is impossible to detail all of them. I will have follow-up post(s) to detail the key features of the device. If you are considering buying an ATA, the OBi devices should be in your consideration set. I strongly feel that they are superior than any other ATA available in the market.

Disclaimer: Apparently, FTC requires me to disclose that I have received my OBi202 for review purposes from Obihai. However, the recommendations in this (or any other post that may follow) are not influenced by any goodies and are purely based on my objective evaluations of the device.

In the short span of time Obihai has become a familiar name for users looking more from their analog telephone adaptors (ATAs). Obihai’s existing ATAs – OBi100 and OBi110 – have obtained rave reviews from consumers across the spectrum. Not surprisingly, both have emerged at the top of their categories on Amazon. If you are not sure why the the OBi is so popular, you definitely want to read my OBi110/OBi100 review and find out why they are the best VoIP adapters (ATA).

However, Obihai is not resting on its laurels. As detailed in the exclusive interview with Obihai’s Sherman Scholten, the company has introduced its next generation adaptor – OBi202. I will do a detailed review later, but just wanted to give you some quick updates on the latest device.

Like its predecessors, the OBi202 works extremely well with Google Voice and you can set it up in almost no time. Here are some of the highlights of the device:

1. Beefed up hardware with T.38 fax protocol support
2. Two phone ports to allow phone collaboration (for SOHO users)
3. Built in router with integrated voice call prioritization (QoS)
4. Configure up to four SIP providers or Google Voice accounts (as compared to two in OBi110/OBi100)
5. USB port for future extensions (including wireless adapter, storage)
6. Cloud based configuration using www.obitalk.com web portal

The OBi202 is available on Amazon for only $74.99 and is definitely a worthy update. For SOHO users, the update is a no-brainer. I will talk more about some of these features in upcoming posts. Meanwhile, here is the OBi202 data sheet with additional information.

Almost every business or company has a fax system, so why shouldn’t you have one too? Many “technologist” felt that the fax system would fall away because of email, but faxing has remained strong. Faxing documents used to be handled using antiquated methods; however, through the years, faxing has evolved with technology helping to make it a preferred method of communication for many businesses. Understanding what makes online faxing systems essential should be a high priority if you want to remain competitive in today’s business world.

When choosing a Fax provider, it is critical to know what your faxing needs are and then establish a minimum requirement. Once this is established, you can now judge each provider and eliminate any provider that does not meet your standards. The main criteria when searching for a fax provider are costs, ease of use, and the fax providers hosted network. 

Every penny counts when your business is starting out and you make think it is a good idea to forgo installing a fax system to save, but you should not fall into this trap. Online fax systems remove the need for bulky, expensive fax machines. Also, you will not need the special inks or toners. Although online faxing will lower your costs just by switching to the new technology, it is very important to not choose the lowest cost provider with out research.  This provider may have lower costs because they are delivering a lower quality product.  The technology you are purchasing may be the same as the next company, but the customer service and online network may be much worse than the next cheapest company.  Also, be sure to check the difference in month-to-month plans and purchasing a year worth of faxing upfront. The one-year plan is always cheaper and many of the companies will refund and prorate the balance back to you if you are not satisfied. Using the month-to-month plan is more expensive and there is no contract holding you to this plan. The least expensive and most reliable in the industry today is Nextiva’s vFAX 500 plan.  At a low rate of $4.95 a month and an average page cost of three cents, this beats the next highest rated  service (according to Faxcritics.com) of RingCentral and the RingCentral Fax plan at $7.99 a month and six cents a page.  In terms of costs, these are the lowest cost providers with the highest reviews.

Remember having to load the document a “special way” into your fax machine…no more. Remember having to configure your fax machine using a twenty page instruction manual…no more. Remember the hassles of entering all of your contacts for use later…no more. Online faxing has evolved so much that the process could not be simpler. You simply log in to your fax account, attach the document to be faxed, and send.  When evaluating faxing providers, be sure to search for or ask for a YouTube video from the provider to show you how to use the online faxing service. Many providers will claim their service is the easiest to use, but to many novices, easy may mean it is a struggle.  MyFax’s system is as simple as sending an email with the recipients fax number as the destination. On the flip side, receiving an email is just as simple.  When setting up your fax number with MyFax, all you need to do is coordinate your old fax number with your email address.  Now your email inbox is your fax machine. 

An online faxing system has many built-in safety and security features too. When you send, or receive, a fax it is stored in your own online storage account. So, if you accidentally shred that critical document, you can simply go online a reprint it. Another great feature is privacy. Fax machines of old were generally located in the most heavily trafficked areas of the office where everyone could see. So, if you were receiving a confidential document, it really was not all that confidential. Now, no one but you will see what was sent to you since it is stored in a password protected account, where only have can see what have been sent.  This in it self entices many businesses to purchase the new technology, but if a business is not careful, they could choose the wrong provider.  Some provider’s online networks have a high outage ratio, meaning their network is down for a lot of the time.  Nextiva claims their “up-time” is 99.999% and when looking at their reviews, it seems that all customers are satisfied with their network. Nextiva has the upper hand in this category because they also run a business VoIP network with three data warehouses.

Finally, if you have ever had to move, you know how expensive changing your phone lines really can be. With an online faxing system, you can move into a new office every week, and your number does not change. You do not have to move any bulky equipment, and you can receive faxes immediately (as a matter of fact, you could receive faxes even while you were moving).  It is now a standard for all fax providers to allow mobile faxing through an email client.  A smart phone has the ability to send and receive faxes as long as it is set up on the smart phone. One Provider is taking this technology to the next level with a mobile app to make the process even easier. eFax has created an app for its customers to be able to download on their smart phone. The app allows you to attach files on your phone, input the fax number and send it.  It cannot get any easier than this.

Saving costs and staying ahead of your competition should be a top priority. An online faxing system has proven to be a cost-effective business essential for any business; as technology continues to grow, so will online fax systems. Regardless, you should be aware that most businesses have migrated to these newer online fax systems, so why are you still waiting? Make the right “call” … it could be the difference between success and failure.

This post has been contributed by Adam Fox. Adam is a business VoIP and online fax blogger.  He is most interested in seeing small businesses incorporate this technology to save money and become more efficient.  He currently blogs for Nextiva and other providers to promote their technologies.

If you are a member of the American armed forces (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and  Coast Guard), you definitely want to read this. Obihai is offering limited number of manufacturer-certified, reconditioned OBi110 ATAs to members stationed outside the 50 states. If you are not familiar with Obihai or OBi110, I will strongly urge you to read why OBi110 is probably the best ATA out there. You can also look at the glowing reviews of OBi110 on Amazon. Basically, you can use the OBi110 with your Google Voice account to make unlimited free calls to USA from anywhere you are stationed.

If you qualify, send an email to OBiUSA@obihai.com and provide the following four details:

1. First and Last Name
2. Branch of Military
3. Email Address (must be mil)
4. APO or FPO Address (no international address).

Please note that the supply is limited, so hurry up. There is a limit of one (1) OBi110 per person/family.

If you love your images, you will definitely love Snapseed – one of the best image editing apps for iOS devices (iPhone or iPad). Snapseed allows you enhance your photos, apply adjustments and effects, and share them. All this with literally a few taps of your fingers. While there are other image editing apps, including Apple’s own iPhoto, Snapseed is my go-to app for my image editing needs. For many tasks, it rivals Photoshop without the steep learning curve. Look at the glowing reviews on the app store, if you are not convinced.

However, if the $4.99 price tag is putting you off, here’s your chance to get one for FREE!!

Just retweet this post or something like:

“@truvoip is giving away free copies of Snapseed App for iPhone/iPad http://goo.gl/nZS8U”

Just make sure you are following @truvoip so that I can DM you the code. You can also share the post on Facebook or Google Plus to increase your chances. I will update the post once I am out of promo codes.

Meanwhile, enjoy the Snapseed promo video:

For all its great features, the lack of SIP support in Google Voice makes it little less useful. This essentially means that you cannot use Google Voice without using your local cell phone plan minutes, not to mention GV is completely useless on a tablet; unless, of course, you are on iOS, in which case you can use Talkatone to use Google Voice on your iPad or on your iPhone without using your plan minutes.

Android users can now rejoice, Talkatone is now available for your Android devices. Let’s take a look…

Talkatone on Android offers all the features that one expects from a Google Voice client. Just enter your GV credentials and you are good to go.

You can enter the number from the dial pad or use your GV address book to make calls. You can also send free text messages (SMS) using the your GV account.

You can also login to your Facebook account and chat or call your Facebook contacts. The default settings should work for most users. However, you can customize the settings to your liking.

The following video provides a detailed walk through:

The Talkatone Android app brings all the GV goodies to any Android device. The app itself is very stable and provides a good call quality (obviously depends on your network conditions). Talkatone provides some premium options that you may consider, but the free version should serve you well. The app supports landscape mode as well.

If you have used Talkatone before, please share your experience…

If the last decade was about voice, this decade is about video!!

The availability of portable devices (smartphones and tablets) and technological infrastructure is fueling the demand for video calling and collaboration options and and firms are happy to oblige. Leveraging the iPad’s form factor and touch capabilities, Hookflash is bringing a free, rich, real-time communication app that makes collaboration easy. The app is currently under closed beta (sign-up for an invite) and should be available in the App store very soon. While you are at this, I will also encourage you to check out VSee, probably the best free group video calling app out there.

Hookflash is one of those rare apps that will blow everybody’s minds. It provides a simple and elegant solution to a real problem – video conferencing. While the video collaboration space is getting crowded fast, there are several factors that make Hookflash stand out:

1. Design and Aesthetics: Most reviews would start with the features, but I genuinely feel that Hookflash scores big on aesthetics. The app is an eye candy. Everything, starting from the name to the finished product “hooks” you in. The developers have spared no effort in making it a fun app to use and must be congratulated for the same. The attention to details is noticeable – you will love the app.

2. Powerful yet Simple: Hookflash includes all the features that you would expect from the video calling app, including audio calls, video calls, and instant messaging. Group calling is in the works (along with ton of other features) and should be available shortly. Again, the emphasis is on including only the features that users care and getting rid of all the fluff. Hookflash supports HD audio (iSAC) and HD video (VP8) and is based on Google’s WebRTC protocol, providing lot of potential for future enhancements.

3. Focus on Enterprises: While most apps in this category would have started with Facebook or Twitter, Hookflash chose LinkedIn as a platform. You need a LinkedIn account to even use the app. Erik Lagerway, Hookflash’s co-founder and COO, indicated that this is a conscious strategy as Hookflash is targeting the enterprise segment, thus justifying the choice of LinkedIn as a platform. Hookflash may add support for Twitter and Facebook in the future, but for now you can only communicate with your LinkedIn contacts. 

Here’s a video demonstration of the app (with Erik Lagerway):

Few bugs aside (which are to be expected given the beta status), Hookflash is a solid app. The quality of audio and video is excellent. The app combines social and business elements to offer a compelling proposition. Not surprisingly, then, Hookflash is one of the four apps being showcased at the Enterprise Connect 2012.

The app itself is free and so is the usage. The company plans to provide the most feature rich client even for non-paying customers and hopes to make revenues from enterprise users. Hookflash is a must have app – it makes your iPad and LinkedIn account infinitely more useful!!

Note: The review is based on the beta version of the app. The final version may have different features than those indicated here.

Online video collaboration has been touted as next big thing for some time now. However, the exorbitant costs and the lack of supporting infrastructure prevented group video conferencing from taking off. That was until now. VSee, founded by a team of Stanford University scientists and network experts is seeking to revolutionize the online collaboration space and seems to be ready to take on the Ciscos of the world. Since winning the Demo God Award at DEMO 2006, VSee has come a long away and is now ready for the prime time.

Before, I discuss all the features, it is worthwhile to highlight a few points about how VSee works. Instead of the relying on a centralized infrastructure VSee uses a managed peer-to-peer architecture to allow mass deployment without infrastructure upgrades and at the same time overcomes the security issues of Skype. If you are in a group call, VSee establishes multiple secured two-way calls.

You can literally get started with your first VSee call in less than 2 minutes. Create a new account, download the VSee client and you are good to go. The VSee client itself is extremely light weight and does not require administrative privileges to run (i.e., VSee is completely portable and can run off your thumb drive). You can invite your collaborators from within the app and they will show up in your contacts.

If you want to initiate a two-way meeting, just click on the contact. If you want to initiate a multi-party meeting, click the Collaboration icon (lower right on your local video window) and then Start Meeting to add participants to the meeting. Alternately, you can group your contacts and start a meeting from the address book.

Once inside a meeting, you can see the video of each of the participants laid out in a grid.

All the controls are available in your local video window. The two buttons that you are likely to use the most are the Collaboration () and the Settings () buttons.

As you can imagine, the Collaboration button provides access to all the features that make your virtual meeting come alive. You can start a Group Chat session to exchange notes; share an individual application or the entire desktop with all the participants; and record your session. Given the way VSee operates, the Record feature records each two-way conversation in a separate file. Thus, you may need to carry out minor post-processing to combine all the recordings in a single file. This is a minor price to pay for the enterprise-grade security that VSee offers.

Application sharing is probably the most powerful feature that VSee offers. You can share the entire desktop or choose to selectively share a particular application (e.g., Word document or Excel file). To share an application, click the "Share" button on the upper-right corner of the window you would like to share. You can share multiple applications. It is equally easy to Un-share an application.

Once you have shared an application, VSee offers additional options to annotate and pass control to other participants. The Take Control option allows one to remotely control the host computer.

You can Transfer Files by simply dragging and dropping files on to the other participant’s window. Please note that to maintain security your documents are not transferred to all the participants, you can choose whom to transfer documents.

The Settings tab allows you to test and setup your Audio and Video. You can change your video resolution from 240 x 320 pixels to up to HD 720p and also adjust your frame rate (or let it be automatically adjusted based on your network conditions). You can also see your network and other statistics related to the call.

This review will not be complete without talking about the security aspect of VSee. Milton Chen, CEO of VSee and a co-author of the XMPP protocol, developed VSee with security as the number one requirement. VSee uses end-to-end encryption without any middleman and several other aspects to ensure that your video conference is 100% secure. It is not surprising, then, that VSee is currently used by the most demanding customers including the United Nations, NASA, and the Navy SEALs. Further, VSee is also HIPAA compliant.

The following video provides an overview of some of the features that VSee has to offer.

With all these features VSee can definitely give many of the commercial conferencing system a run for their money. But, VSee is offering all these great features for free, even for commercial usage. There are absolutely no restrictions in terms of number of users or other features.

VSee only charges for premium features and support. VSee’s peer-to-peer architecture ensures that it does not incur significant charges for every additional user, allowing it to provide its services for free.

To say that I am blown away by VSee will not be an understatement. VSee may not be the most beautiful conferencing app out there, but it provides a rich set of features without complicating things. Hidden behind its simple interface, VSee offers a very powerful and feature-rich solution that should serve even the demanding enterprise users well. For most users, there is literally no deployment cost – your existing hardware should serve you well, unless you want lot of participants (>20). VSee uses a network sensing algorithm to be light on the network, i.e., VSee does not slow down other network traffic.

You can use VSee on your PC or Mac right now and a iOS client is expected shortly (keep an eye). If you are looking for a video conferencing/collaboration solution, I would strongly urge you to consider VSee – you will be pleasantly surprised!!

The magicJack Plus, by VocalTec Communications, Ltd. was released in early this fall. This easy-to-use and easy-to-setup VoIP device offers consumers local and long distance calls for just $29.95 per year and is an upgrade of the previously released magic Jack. The original Jack has been a huge hit among consumers with millions of units sold. The old device however is outdated in regards to its functionality and call quality so it was time for an update. In fact, magicJack was pretty far behind its main competitor, netTALK Duo, and that is most likely what prompted its release of a new and improved device.

The magicJack Plus, like the old device, allows consumers to make phone calls from any phone or computer. However, unlike the previous magicJack unit, the magicJack Plus does not require the use of a computer for making phone calls. Instead it can be inserted directly into your modems ethernet port. This is a big upgrade as consumers now aren’t forced to keep their computer running 24/7 in order to have their home phone operational. Some features of this new device include the ability to keep your own phone number, call forwarding, call waiting, three-way calling, and voicemail, just to name a few.

Setup of the magicJack Plus is simple, and can be accomplished in a few minutes. An ethernet cord is plugged into the magicJack Plus unit, and into a high speed modem or router. The USB extender is then plugged into the power supply, and into the magicJack Plus. Then any telephone can be plugged into the magicJack Plus, and users can immediately begin placing and receiving calls. No software installation is required.

The magicJack Plus features an onboard ARM CPU and RAM, so it can be used independently from a computer, making it a much more efficient and versatile unit than the previous magicJack. Some consumers had problems with the voice quality of the previous unit, so this issue has also been addressed. Wide Band Voice Technology, also called HD Voice, doubles the unit’s codecs from 8 kHz to 16 kHz along with echo Control technology which helps reduce echoes that were present in the previous magicJack. Additionally, the previous magicJack voice quality was dependent upon not only the user’s internet connection, but upon the type of computer the device was running through, as well. The combination of these features gives the magicJack Plus much higher voice quality than the previous unit.

Included with an initial purchase of $69.95 is the magicJack Plus unit, an ethernet cable, a USB extender cable, and a power supply that is used when the device is being used as a stand-alone unit. This price also includes the user’s first year of service, which allows for free and long distance calls, as well as calls to Canada. International calls can be completed for an additional per minute cost, which varies from country to country.

The magicJack Plus is a great product that is sure to save people money but it isn’t the first device of its kind on the market. In fact, the netTALK Duo has been on the market for over a year and provides all of the same features as the Plus and is also at the exact same price point. The only significant different between the two is that netTALK offers customer support over the phone while magicJack only offers chat customer service that has received a bunch of complaints. Besides these little devices that are cheap their are also other VoIP services to consider out there such as Skype and Vonage. These two service are more expensive but both of them have received excellent ratings from their customers and you certainly couldn’t go wrong choosing one of them either.

Regardless of whether you choose the magicJack Plus, Vonage, netTALK, or some other VoIP service we can all be certain that VoIP technology has drastically change the landscape of the home phone market and that it will never be the same. VoIP companies are able to greatly reduce expenses without the need for infrastructure and they are passing these savings onto consumers at alarming rates. Regular line companies are certainly in for the fight of their lives, likely destined to die a slow death as VoIP is quality perfected over the next decade.

This post has been contributed by The DTV Converter Boxes, which has been a top source for DTV information since 2008.

Love is in the air!!

Valentine’s day is here and it is a good excuse to talk to your loved ones and make them feel special. To make this Valentine’s even more special for you, Rebtel is throwing in $20 of free international calling credits when you create a new Rebtel account today and add $10 to your account. That is, your account will get credited $30 if you add $10 deposit, effectively reducing your international calling rates by one third. Hurry up, this deal is valid for only one day!!

Just use the coupon code valentinesbonus when you sign up and you will have $20 in free calling credits. Please, note that this offer is only valid for a new account

1. Click here to go to the Rebtel’s Valentine Special page.
2. Create a new account. Please note that this offer will work only with a new account.
3. Make sure you enter valentinesbonus in the voucher code field.
4. Login to your account and add $10 credit to your account.

That’s it, if you have followed the above process correctly, you should see $30 in your account. The promotion reduces the already low Rebtel calling rates by a third. You can find the exact rates to your destinations here. You definitely cannot get better rates than this. So, hurry up and do not forget to share this great deal with your friends and family…

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Given how mobile operators are ripping off their consumers, one does not expect a lot from them. It is thus surprising that T-Mobile, one of the largest global wireless carriers, launched a mobile VoIP (mVoIP) service – Bobsled – that allows you to make unlimited FREE calls to USA, Canada and Puerto Rico and also connect with your Facebook friends. Bobsled can be used from anywhere across the world and you do not even have to be a T-Mobile subscriber to use it. So, let us take Bobsled for a ride and see if it worth all the fuss.

Bobsled has two separate services – Calling and Messaging. As the names suggest, Bobsled Calling allows you to make voice calls and is available for all browsers, iOS, and Android; whereas Bobsled Messaging focuses on messaging (including group messaging) and is available for browsers and Android (with an iOS app coming soon). We will focus on the Bobsled Calling service for this post as the Messaging service is very similar to the Facebook Messenger.

Virtually anyone can use Bobsled Calling – it is available for your browser as well as both Android and iOS devices. So, go ahead and get the appropriate version right now…

To start using the service, just log in with your Facebook account and you are good to go. You will see Facebook contacts and you can chat with them, call them, or leave a voice message. You can also use your address book or the dial pad to call any regular landline or mobile phone in USA, Canada, or Puerto Rico.

You can also use Bobsled on your browser, allowing almost everyone (even those without access to smartphones or tablets) to use the service. You may be required to download and install the Bobsled desktop app to use it on your computer. 

The following video provides a detailed walkthrough and should clarify any doubts that you may have.

Overall, Bobsled is a fairly powerful service. The voice quality is great and the app is relatively stable. I would have loved to see an option to use the service without a Facebook account, but it is not a deal breaker.

More importantly, it is nice to see a wireless operator extending the benefits of VoIP to consumers. Let us hope that other operators learn from T-Mobile and provide such services to their consumers.