News

Brussels, Belgium, May 28, 2008 -- Voxbone, a leading provider of local telephone numbers and VoIP transport to communications service providers and businesses worldwide, today announced that it has been tapped by Truphone to provide the access numbers for the mobile VoIP company’s new “Truphone Anywhere” service.

“Truphone Anywhere” is the latest addition to Truphone’s mobile VoIP handset software. It will work like an all-knowing, international calling card – without the card. When the Truphone-running phone is dialled and senses the presence of a WiFi network, it will convey the caller’s voice as data via the Internet.

“Truphone Anywhere” enters the picture when no WiFi LAN is detected. In that case, the mobile phone determines the country in which it is currently being used. From there, the phone chooses the appropriate Voxbone local access number from its own internal database and dials it behind the scenes to the nearest Truphone server.  That server takes the user-entered digits and completes the call to the called party via the Internet.  

The Truphone Anywhere call has actually begun on the cellular network, switched to VoIP at the access number/gateway, and converted back out to the PSTN on a far-end gateway to reach the given PSTN number. By circumventing the PSTN for all but the first and last miles, the service has reduced costs from 25/50 cents or more to a few pennies per minute.  It saves the most where the caller incurs little or no charge for the domestic call made to the access number.
If no access numbers are locally available or are prohibitively expensive to dial, Truphone users have another option in “call-back” connectivity.  Here, the handset sends an SMS containing both calling party and called party numbers to Truphone’s server.  The Truphone server initiates a call back to the handset and once automatically answered, calls the called party and connects both calls together.  All this happens in the background; the user has simply dialled the number he wishes to reach, as usual.
An integrated feature in the latest (4.0) version of the Truphone service, Truphone Anywhere can be downloaded at the Truphone Web site or by sending an SMS message with the word ‘Tru’ to 202 683 8200 (from North America) or to +44 7978 88 11 11 (from everywhere else).
“Between the automatic WiFi usage of our VoIP software and the automatic access-number dialling across the cellular network, our domestic user never has to pay international calling charges,” says James Tagg, CEO, Truphone.  “Even users abroad stand to save.  While many solutions and services are available, they usually address only one type of calling scenario. The Truphone philosophy is different.  We believe that people should be able simply to dial and save.”

About Voxbone

Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Voxbone provides worldwide DID numbers and toll-free phone numbers over its own private intercontinental VoIP network. The all-IP architecture of the Voxbone core network enables customers to rapidly deploy new communications services with local presence, while simultaneously reducing costs. Voxbone leases international DID numbers and toll-free numbers via VoIP to organizations in North and South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific regions. It delivers high-quality call origination and provides the global infrastructure that enables its customers to expand to international markets quickly and efficiently. Using these numbers, Voxbone customers may receive inexpensive, locally dialed phone calls from 43 countries. Founded in 2002, the company is privately held.

About Truphone

The first true Mobile Internet Network Operator (MINO), London-based Truphone allows users of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones to make and receive regular telephone calls and to send, and to receive SMS text messages, using only a Wi-Fi connection and the Internet. Although still in beta, it has already attracted tens of thousands of users in 149 countries. For more information, visit www.truphone.com and www.truphonepressoffice.com.
Truphone is the trading name of Software Cellular Network Limited.