Truphone Anywhere

By Robert Poe

There are several ways to use mobile VoIP to avoid the high cost of international cellular calls. One is to transmit packetized calls between a handset and a VoIP gateway over a cellular data network. A second way is to route the calls through wifi hotspots, using dual-mode handsets. A third is to transport the calls between handset and gateway over the local cellular voice network. Truphone, which has been using the second approach for some time, has just launched a service that uses the third. It joins several other companies that have similarly seen the benefits of this approach.

Truphone Anywhere

The new service, called Truphone Anywhere, requires downloading Truphone software to your handset. It currently works on a number of Nokia E- and N-series devices. Once installed, the software recognizes when you're dialing an international number, and asks if you want to use Truphone Anywhere. (You can turn off the query and make the choice automatic if you wish.) If you decide to use it, the software instructs the handset to dial a local Truphone gateway. From there, the call travels over the Truphone VoIP network to the international destination. Truphone refers to this method as "call through."

An alternative method is callback. When you dial, the software doesn’t route the call to a local gateway. Instead, it sends a text message to a Truphone server in the U.K. or U.S. The server sets up a call from a gateway close to your handset. It then sets up a call from a similar gateway to the number you're trying to reach, and connects the two calls via cheap VoIP circuits. The callback method works best when dialing even a local number can be expensive, such as when you're traveling overseas or using a pay-as-you-go plan at home.

Company Copycats

The callback and call-through methods can both reduce the cost of international calls by a factor of 10 or more. Unsurprisingly, a variety of other companies besides Truphone are using similar if not identical approaches to accomplish the same thing.

A number of them also use software downloaded to the handset. A limitation of this approach is that it doesn’t work for individuals with unsupported handsets. Other vendors provide a unique "virtual" local number that you dial for each overseas number you're calling. That can have limitations if you're outside of your local calling area.

Another Sign

Truphone's move reinforces the likelihood that transporting international VoIP calls locally over cellular voice networks will prove the most popular and practical approach for some time to come. Using cellular data networks alone to carry calls can get particularly complicated. For one thing, it requires uniform high-speed coverage, usually 3G, to work consistently. Carriers may also object to this usage, or even try to block calls.

When the calls use the local voice network, by contrast, the carriers will at least get paid for cellular minutes. And when the alternative is no compensation when calls go through wifi hotspots, it will hard for them to object to services like Truphone's new offering.

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