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Cornered! First impressions of Freshtel cellphone VoIP offering
Cornered! First impressions of Freshtel cellphone VoIP offering | First impressions of Freshtel cellphone VoIP offering |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Wednesday, 10 September 2008 | |
  
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Downloading and installing the application was a doddle. A harder task for many users might be setting up their cellphone to use their WiFi system. Even when I had done that, it would not work for me, and Freshtel were not able to offer an easy answer. The problem lay in my wireless router (supplied by Internode for its standard ADSL2+ service). I was able to discover this because I had on loan the Netcom-developed 3G wireless gateway sold by Telstra for use on Next G, and that worked fine. I've still to discover why mine did not work. The only clue on the Freshtel support page is a note saying "If you have a firewall...In order for your phone to work, you need to allow all UDP traffic to 202.86.50.100," which would probably leave most users baffled. However with those hurdles overcome it works well. You just call up numbers form your contact book or enter them in the usual way and if the phone is connected to your WiFi the calls will automatically go via the Freshtel network. You can tell this because the number you are calling appears as " This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it " Opening the Freshtel application will display your remaining call credit and topping up over the phone is easy (you don't need the WiFi to do this, the application can access the Internet over the cellular network). I did experience one other glitch: calling an Optus mobile that was turned off took me to the missed call service which asked me to "press one to leave the number you are calling from" but the Optus voicemail system did not recognise the key tone. Freshtel suggests the service will appeal to people who regularly exceed their plan limit. However those people always have the option of increasing their plan limit, and although call charges are much higher than Freshtel's the plan allowances are such that they equate to a lot of Freshtel calls. Another not insignificant barrier is the limited number of compatible handsets, although Freshtel does say it will support more from makers other than Nokia by the end of the year. However, these hurdles aside one of the great advantages to the service is the very low barriers to entry, financial and functional. Freshtel boasts that anyone with a compatible handset can trial it for as little as a dollar (the cost of the premium SMS to download the application), plus call charges. And because no new phone numbers are required, usage is quite transparent. As a white-label service, Mobilelink would provide an avenue for any cellular service provider to get access to customers of other providers, without requiring them to make any big switch, cancel their contract or port their number. And, there is another innovation coming. Freshtel is working on a version of the application that does not need WiFi but uses instead the 3G data service. The network operators are going to love that one! |
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