The member states of the European Union approved the cap on mobile roaming rates. The cap takes effect this summer. For enterpreneurs who travel a lot, the high roaming fees imposed by the operators when you leave your home country, have been a financial burden. Worse than that are the roaming rates for data (not affected by the regulation, unfortunately). My operator, Orange Netherlands, which was sold to Deutsche Telekom this week, charges 15 EUR per megabyte transferred.
The excessive charges for voice and data roaming have spawned startups that get around the cellular rip off. Companies like Jajah, Truphone, Rebtel, and Fring have been successful in getting customers who hate paying large phone bills. For those who have Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones, Gizmo Project is very popular. Skype does not have a Symbian client yet for the Nokia phones but when they release it, people will find another way to make free calls via Wi-Fi.
8 June 2007 at 16:32
I am on truphone since 6 months and have recommended the service several times within my own family. My wife, my parents, my sister are using it. The call quality is superior to SKYPE or any other service I have used. In addition calls to 40 landlines have been FREE for now. I have carried it to India, to the US and Brazil and it has worked fantastically. Currently I have it installed on my E65 and my wife is using it on the N95. I just LOVE IT.
9 June 2007 at 13:07
agree with TruLover! the service is superb! i’m using it on my N95, the only thing i had to care about is to get a good connection manager to connect to public hotspots like FON, so i can use the service while on the move!