Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Two of the more interesting companies here at VON are Rebtel and Truphone.  Both of these companies use VoIP technology to radically trim your cell phone bill.  On the theory that you’ve got a large bucket of cheap local minutes, both connect you to a local DID, and then bridge the call over the internet.’

It’s at this point, however, that the companies diverge.  Truphone’s model is to take one of the new WiFi / VoIP handsets available from Nokia, and add a single unobtrusive menu item asking whether or not the call is to be made over the internet.  It’s a dead simple system.

Rebtel, by contrast, is more of a call back service.  You tell Rebtel what number it should reach and then it initiates a call back.  Rebtel’s model is more inclusive than Truphone’s in that it works with any handset.  However, it’s also clumsier to use.

Both of these are terrifically important developments.  Mobile is one of the last bastion’s of high margin cellular service.  Rebtel and Truphone are storming the gates. 

More from Martin Geddes here.

A special welcome to Voxilla’s Marcelo Rodriguez, the latest VoIP blogger.  Marcelo and I were having a drink last night.  He was carping about the quality of the writing in the blogosphere.  And yes, much of it’s written by amateurs.  A quick, but friendly, “quit your bitching, and write something”, has resulted in his new blog.  Thanks for taking up the challenge Marcelo!  We’re looking forward to your voice.

Go read Tilting at the Windmills of VoIP.  It’s a challenge for us all.

A couple of notable announcements from Digium yesterday: 

1. Digium announced Asterisk 1.4.  Although it’s been announced at the show, it won’t actually be available until October.  ISP-Planet has a great interview with Kevin Fleming. 
2. In another very interesting development, Digium also unveiled the Asterisk Appliance Development Kit.  This little number is a uClinux embedded version of Asterisk targeted at small offices.  According to New Telephony Magazine, the target price for these in quantity is below $500. 

We’re starting to get a picture of where Digium will be going with their new investment dollars.  In particular, the beefed up media capabilities in Asterisk 1.4, and the new programming language, sound very promising.

On the O’Reilly Etel site, Radio Handi founder Brian McConnell compares his experience building Radio Handi today, with building applications just a few years ago using the then state-of-the-art.  The economics of using today’s platforms is staggering.  Worth a read.

His one complaint?  The primitiveness of the API.  We chose to avoid AGI for that reason at iotum.