TringMe Conversations (Phweet, Aircell & TringMe Traffic Patterns)

Since the launch of Aircell’s inflight WiFi service, one thing that’s getting discussed most is the ability to do VoIP when flying in the clouds (GigaOM, SkypeJournal, Andy, etc). Aircell had stated that it will not allow VoIP and that was good enough a reason for folks to see one could get around it. As Andy and others have noted, they were able to use Phweet to make a call. Phweet is a mashup that’s built on TringMe’s flash technology and it was TringMe’s widget that got past the Aircell’s in-flight service . 

Same discussion was carried out earlier today during a Alec’s squawkbox. Dan York wrote a lengthy post analyzing TringMe’s traffic pattern.  While all VoIP gurus have already provided a good information on traffic patterns of TringMe,  here is the insight directly from TringMe designers for the benefit of  the community:

TringMe uses TCP and it was a conscious decision. We developed a sophisticated congestion control and packet handling algorithms which allowed us to achieve the advantage of UDP over a reliable TCP connection at good extent. As Dan and others would have noticed, we send traffic in varying small and larger blocks depending on network conditions which is way different from a typical VoIP traffic patterns.  This kind of pattern was not meant to break any VoIP blockages,  however the goal was to get the best quality even on slower or congested links & we were able to meet the design goal successfully.

While we understand that TCP has its own overheads, a right algorithm can get the most juice out of it (sliding window is an example). We cater to Worldwide users calling from different networks and speed, using different technology (PPP, DSL, satellite etc), different MTU etc. TCP is better suited for such varied condition than UDP despite of its overhead. On today’s faster links - overhead can be ignored easily. On slower links, TCP stands out due to reliability and less retransmission and hence relatively better clarity.

As Andy Abrahamson pointed out in Alec’s Squawkbox call, TringMe’s quality was even better than Vonage which further validates our decision and algorithms. As you may already know, we are not alone in using TCP as there are companies like Yahoo which uses VoIP over TCP.

There are other reasons for using TCP like security (TLS) but we will share more details on it in future once we have released new updates which leverage those capabilities.

NAT is another reason where TCP has edge. As mentioned, this was a design goal of TringMe and our users or developers do not have to worry about NAT traversal or firewall when using TringMe Flash Client or API. TringMe’s design takes care of it beautifully. TringMe is NAT free.

In passing, please note that TringMe supports SIP and can interact with IAX2. As a matter of fact, we interconnect to various protocol including SIP, IAX2, Jingle, Skype (in lab) etc.

What TringMe offers to developers?

Phweet is a brilliant example of how a disruptive application was created using TringMe. Given TringMe’s platform capabilities, various innovative apps, mashups can be built. Whether you want to build a Web 2.0 application or a mashup that integrates voice or telephony from a PC or a phone, online or offline, TringMe can support all of that and more.

Whether you are a VoIP expert and need a specific codec or all you care about is a high quality voice, TringMe supports it all. Whether you have a billing backend or you want to not deal with it, TringMe can be used in either modes.

TringMe brings Voice 2.0 to you - All that matters now is the way you can use it.

China Blocks TringMe

We received close to hundred complaints from our China users that TringMe services is not accessible from yesterday. We have found after our investigation that TringMe is blocked by Chinese government. Earlier China blocked Skype and now they are turning their eye to TringMe. TringMe is extremely popular in China and we have a large number of paying customers in China including a Chinese social network with 3 million users using TringMe’s API & services.

However, good part is that TringMe is not completely blocked and you can still access TringMe in China by adding tringme.com to your hosts file. If you are Windows user, hosts file is located in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc directory. For Linux users, it is located in /etc directory. We also have other workarounds for our users to access TringMe serivces and we will publish those too if requires. We will try best to let our chinese users ‘Happy Tringing!!!’

Update: We just got a message that block on TringMe has been removed. Thank you all who helped us.

Here is screenshot from China firewall test service

TringMe breaks In-flight VoIP barrier over Aircell’s Wi-Fi service

Aircell’s in-flight service was launched yesterday. As many noted, VoIP will not be enabled on this service . Well, in traditional sense, VoIP isn’t enabled.

But that doesn’t mean you cannot do VoIP :). All you need to do is use TringMe’s flash-based widgets and flash-based phone. As captured by Andy Abramson, he made a call using TringMe’s flash widget using Phweet. Joanna comments on her blog that:

“It turns out there is a way to crack the VoIP calling restriction in the air. VoIP guru, Andy Abramson of VoIP Watch just had to speak to me on the phone (even though I had just seen him before taking off in San Fran). Since calling over Sightspeed or Skype didn’t work we tried a Flash based solution through Phweet (you use your Twitter account to sign in). Andy sent me an invite to talk and there he was. We had a 5 minute phone convo for free (beat that MagicJack!). He sounded great and there was no choppiness on his end“.

So, unless Aircell blocks TringMe, stay voice connected to the while you are flying in cloud.

It’s tringing high ..literally !!