New SIP-based VOIP calling service from Russian company “Innovation Systems of Communication” offers browser based free calling.
Flashphone is currently in beta and has some limitations (3 calls up to 3 minutes each per day) but upon launch is promising unlimited free calls to a range of countries and services. Where Flashphone is interesting is in its interface; the service is Flash based and operated exclusively from the browser with the (obvious) only need being that the user has Flash drivers installed. The flash based phone GUI can also be embedded on other sites.
I tested the service and it does work. Call quality wasn’t brilliant but was usable on a call from Australia via Russia and back again and really no different to some of the Skype out calls I’ve tried making from home as well (Skype works better for call-out when you’re in the US when making the call).
The service has its limitations for example you can’t pay to call services that aren’t on and the general layout of the service isn’t inspiring (see shot below). Having said that free is one of those magic words that helps build a willing user base. Worth a look if you want to make a free call.
Tech For Novicesyes yes and yes. Done plenty of stories regarding China based companies and a fair few covering Japan. Malaysia and Singapore that come to mind (probably some other Asian countries as well). Happy to cover India or anywhere for that matter if it’s an interesting startup or story. You seem to forget I’m on the same timezone as China and Singapore
India is also on the free list for this service although I suspect like Australia it will be landlines only due to the excessive interchange fees on mobile connections.
I like this idea mainly because of two factors; the ease of use (it’s web based) and it being free of charge. For the occasional user I think these two reasons are enough to use Flashphone over Skype. For the more hardcore user there could be some problems though. One thing that might prove problematic with the web based approach is offering a SkypeIn equivalent. Obviously most users aren’t prepared to keep a browser window open with the Flashphone at all times. A solution could be a tiny application (something like Gmail Notifier) that opens up a browser window with the phone whenever someone calls you. I look forward to seeing how this develops.
Robert i think they can create an AIR application for people who wants to receive calls. It will be a little exe file with flashphone… This is an awesome technology i think… For example for click-to-call advertising in the Internet…
ArgumentError: Error #2082: Connect failed because the object is already connected at flash net::LocalConnection/connect()at Flashphone/init()at Flashphone/___Application1_creationComplete()at flash events::EventDispatcher/flash events:EventDispatcher::dispatchEventFunction()at flash events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent()at mx core::UIComponent/dispatchEvent()at mx core::UIComponent/set initialized()at mx managers::LayoutManager/::doPhasedInstantiation()at Function/http://adobe com/AS3/2006/builtin::apply()at mx core::UIComponent/::callLaterDispatcher2()at mx core::UIComponent/::callLaterDispatcher()
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Related article:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/21/flashphone-free-browser-based-calls-from-russia-with-love/#comment-1782993
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