VOIP hack to make free worldwide calls

We posted about the ultimate VOIP hack a few days back. It seems that the Jaxtr guys fixed that bug. I guess they should pay us for finding bugs in their VOIP applications :-)

Moving on, our regular reader Sriram has sent us another great hack for Jaxtr. Lets see how we can use this to make free voip calls worldwide.

1) Download iCall softphone (u get 5mins free calls to US n Canada per call)
2) Register for an account with iCall.
3) Goto ur friend's profile in Jaxtr. Click Call Me button. Select United States in country list.
4) Now enter the iCall PhoneOut number 6464657602. Click Get Number button.
5) You'll get a US phone number to dial. (like 1-646-xxx-xxxx) Save that number somewhere.
6) Now, login to iCall softphone.
7) Enter the number u got from Jaxtr here and dial.
8) iCall allows free 5min calls to US and Canada per call. (iCall Pro users get unlimited free minutes to US n Canada.)
9) Talk for 5mins. Ur call will get disconnected after that. (iCall Pro users can talk longer).
10) U can redial the same number untill you are taken to the voicemail box. :-)

You could possibly use this with other Free VOIP services which gives you Free incoming US number. The trick is jaxtr should recognise that number while dialing in.

Good luck making free worldwide calls!

Indian VOIP affected due to Internet outage

I just got some confirmed news from internal sources and also from News sources, that India is currently badly affected by a nation-wide Internet Outage this also includes an outage to VOIP service in India since VOIP traffic is routed via Internet.

Extensive damage to two undersea cables has thrown Internet activity across large parts of India, Asia and the Middle East, out of gear. According to reports, a ship anchoring off Egypt's Alexandria coast cut through the Indian-owned FLAG and also the SEA-ME-WE cable on Wednesday, leading to an unprecedented disruption in international connectivity.

How soon will they fix it?

"The repair will take another 15-20 days," Internet Service Providers Association of India president Rajesh Chharia said.

Sounds like people in India will suffer for next 2 weeks. Along with Internet, VOIP will suffer as it's by product.

This raises some questions how effective is VOIP when it comes to Internet Outage? Well, VOIP is still perceived as secondary choice of communication in less developed countries. Honestly, only US consumers take VOIP more seriously than anywhere else in the world. The picture is however changing.

If you are affected by today's internet outage and still able to post here, please let us know your story :-)

Pennytel extends Unlimited Call offer

Another great news coming our way. Currently the most efficient and cost effective way to call is pennytel with their rock bottom fixed price for a untimed call. They also include India is this cheap untimed calling promotion

Yes, you heard it right. Pennytel have been offering a untimed (talk as much as you want) call for only 28.88 australian cents (25.46 USD cents. However the promotion was supposed to be over by 31st Jan.

Pennytel has extended the offer now to 29/02/2008. So its one more month of cheap untimed calls. Imagine you calling your friends or family in India (the cheapest could be around 3-4 USD cents) and talk for over (60 minutes). You will end up paying 3 * 60 = $1.80. If you use pennytel, you will save $1.80- $0.25= $1.55.

You can call India, Malaysia mobile, Bahrain, bangladesh, Cyperus south, cambodia, macau, malawi, iran, laos, russia, taiwan, vietnam and australia mobile under the "Talk till you drop" 28.88 cents offer.

Pennytel also offers 8 cent flat rate calls to certain destinations. Overall pennytel is worth every cent. It works, delivery where it should. However recently I heard people are getting lower voice quality, it could be due to overcrowding of voice calls and less server resources. Well you can't crib about everything in life afterall :-)

Go take a hop at Pennytel

Gizmo Project offering India Free Calls ?

It's been some time since we found something really good and FREE for India calls. Today, we are going to discuss about Gizmo Project. Back to back news on Gizmo guys

Gizmo Project is a popular VOIP service which offers 20 FREE minutes every week under its ALL FREE CALLS plan to over 30 countries.

Our regular reader, Hardeep Singh has shared with us that Gizmo Project is now offering free calls to india. Now we did some investigation however got 2 contradicting evidences on this change.

Hardeep found that India is included in the list of countries under the Free Calling plan. You can check the list here. This list indeed has India on its list, which should confirm that Gizmo Project offers free calls to india.

However, take a look at their page on "All free calls plan". It doesn't have India on their list. We were not able to test the actual softphone to check whether India is included under the free calling plan or not.

In order to test if India is included, You need to follow this guide.

We would love to hear from you. Let us know what's cooking at Gizmo?
Yeah and if you don't have Gizmo Project, it might be a good idea to download their latest built. You can use Gizmo on your PC, Mobile as Mobile VOIP or configure your Gizmo settings on your favorite VOIP ATA or SIP Phone.


Edit: It's funny that till yesterday that page had India on the list. It suddenly disappeared from the list :-) To confirm that India was included on the list, I looked at Google cache of the page. Check the proof yourself.