Pat Phelan: Telecomms DisruptorSubverting telecomms from the edge of industry

Truphone have taken a giant step with their release of V4.0
Users are now able to make calls without being connected to the internet, The system commonly know as dial-through involves the Truphone system making call to a local number and at the same time making an international call, the server then marries these calls seamlessly with no interruption to the user.
It gives users an easy way to make calls no matter where they are, and still benefit from cheap Internet rates.
Full press release below.

Tuesday 27th May, London, UK: Truphone will tomorrow add call-through and call-back functionality to its mobile Internet telephony service, enabling its customers to make low-cost calls even when not connected to the Internet. The combination resulting from the existing Wi-Fi calling and the new call-bridging functionality will mean that customers only need Truphone to benefit from Internet rate calls, wherever they are.

Core facts
1. Truphone Anywhere is of most benefit to customers making calls to international numbers while out of Wi-Fi range. It is of particular advantage to people making international calls from their home country who have a deal that includes bundled or low-cost minutes for domestic calls. Typically this includes North American mobile users, monthly contract customers and many prepay customers with minimum top-up amounts. European pay-as-you-go customers and those with international discount packs should check their tariff to determine how they can make savings.

2. UK example: to make a 10-minute call from the UK to an Australian landline:
- price with Orange Pay Monthly: £0.50/min x 10 = £5.00
- price with Truphone Anywhere: £0.03/min x 10 = £0.30
- how: an in-bundle call to Truphone’s UK server, plus a £0.03/min Truphone call to an Australian landline.

3. US example: to make a 10-minute call from the US to a Chinese landline:
- price with AT&T International Dial Standard rates: $3.49/min x 10 = $34.90
- price with AT&T World Connect (additional $3.99 per month): $0.15/min x 10 = $1.50
- price with Truphone Anywhere: $0.06/min x 10 = $0.60
- how: an in-bundle call to Truphone’s US server, plus a $0.06/min Truphone call to a Chinese landline.

4. Truphone’s ‘Tru Zone’ pricing means call charges are always predictable and low, without any additional calling plan or change to a contract.

5. By default, Truphone Anywhere is set to ‘always ask’ for domestic-to-international call-through only. However, a customer may also choose to make Truphone Anywhere the default calling mechanism in other call scenarios. Depending on the customer’s tariff with their usual operator, Truphone Anywhere may also save money on international calls made when roaming abroad.

6. From a technical perspective, Truphone Anywhere works through a combination of GSM calls and techniques known as call-through and call-back. Respectively, these mean:
- the first leg of a call is made to Truphone’s server and the second leg is a Truphone call via the Internet to the called party.
- standard call initiation is suspended and, instead, an SMS containing both calling party and called party numbers is sent to Truphone’s server. The Truphone server initiates a call back to the handset, a Truphone call to the called party also from the server, and connects those calls together at the server.

7. Truphone Anywhere is an integrated feature in the latest version of the Truphone service, 4.0, and works on handsets that are already compatible with Truphone. New and existing customers can get or upgrade to Truphone 4.0 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).

8. Truphone is a mobile operator for the Internet age, delivering a UK-based service accessible from around the world. All Truphone customers can make free and low-cost mobile VoIP calls over Wi-Fi and the Internet. Truphone-to-Truphone calls are always free. A Truphone customer may opt to make any call over GSM rather than via either Truphone or Truphone Anywhere, if they prefer to do so.

Quotes

James Tagg, Truphone’s chief executive officer, said:

• “Saving money on mobile phone calls can be extremely complex; there are many solutions and services available, but often they address only one type of calling scenario. The Truphone philosophy is different and we believe that people should be able simply to dial and save.”
• “To deliver this we have integrated two clever and sophisticated solutions into a single, easy-to-use service.”
• “With our friends and business contacts scattered everywhere and often only snatched time in which to call them, low-cost international calls - on the go, and without having to think about how to make them - become very attractive.”