TringMe Mobile: Embrace Mobile VoIP

Update:  TringMe MobileVoIP Application is now available at http://blog.tringme.com/tringme-announces-the-availability-of-mobilevoip-application/

We are extremely excited to share that one of the most asked features on TringMe, the ability to use it from a mobile device, is now available. To be precise, TringMe now allows one to receive calls and voicemails using the underlying cellular internet/data connection (e.g. GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, EVDO or even Wi-Fi) for FREE. For most of the phones which have a built-in SIP stack (e.g. most of the recent smartphones), absolutely no download is necessary. One can merely use the internet browser to use TringMe right away.

TringMe’s mobile VoIP doesn’t require any hardware upgrade, works on mobile devices of from operators and best of all, doesn’t eat into your airtime charges.

Please note that one can make worldwide calls at an extremely low price once we have the credit management system in place. With this capability, TringMe users can make free phone-to-phone calls to other TringMe users.

To top it all, not only can you receive calls from the web but also from phone and Gtalk as well. The ability for someone to reach me on my mobile from several communication devices like Gtalk and Phone throughout the world and in a cost-optimized way makes it a compelling solution - this is what true and cost efficient mobility should perhaps be.

Even though we are in early stages of development, we couldn’t resist ourselves from opening this feature to a limited alpha testers. Initially, we plan to activate it only for users from those countries where we do not support phone termination yet. However, we will also enable for key testers and other VoIP enthusiasts.

If you would like to try this functionality, please send us a mail to get your invite for TringMe’s Mobile VoIP.

TringMe’s Personal Toll-free and Intelligent Call Routing Solution

[ “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” – Western Union, internal memo, 1876
“I think it’s going to be a huge interconnection of all of these system, including, over time, some derivative of cable TV and some derivative of the current public telephone system.” - Marc Andreessen – in recent years ]

Our world is growing connected by the day and the need for people to stay connected with each other is only increasing. Gone are the days when a whole family shared a phone. Now, each of us has multiple phone numbers, instant messenger IDs and other forms of connectivity options.  While that gave us flexibility in terms of more connection points, it also increased the complexity in the overall system wherein someone interested in reaching me might need to know all these connection points (notice a typical email signature with all kinds of phone numbers listed there). To make it more complicated, my availability on all my connection points could be time-varying and place-varying (for e.g. I am available on my office-phone from 9:00AM-6:00PM).  When home, I may prefer to be reached on the landline instead of cell-phone to save my cell-phone airtime. If I am working on my PC, I would prefer to be reached on Gtalk instead of phone since it’s convenient for me to converse from my PC while I continue to work.

It would be ideal if the caller can be spared from knowing the complexity of calle’s reachability matrix of connection-points. In other words, if the caller could call only one connection point and the call can be intelligently routed to a the calle’s best availability device, it eases the burden of establishing a connection from the calle to the caller’s end – that exactly is TringMe’s ‘Intelligent Call Routing’. Now imagine if the caller can use a toll-free mechanism to reach to the caller on any of the above-mentioned connection-points, regardless of either’s geographic location.

This is where TringMe can help. TringMe already offers enterprise toll-free solution at much lower cost and many additional features not found in traditional telephony or toll-free solutions. Although toll-free service is generally associated with enterprises, TringMe’s toll-free solution can be applied very well to implement personal toll-free solution for an individual or a family’s need.

A few of my friends who live in US often buy skype credits for family members back home so that the family members can reach them. In one case, the family members are spread in various cities of India (Parents in Bombay, Sister studying in Delhi and some close cousin in another part of the country). My friend ends up buying separate skype credits for parents, sister and the close cousin. He was instantly able to see value in TringMe’s toll-free offering. All his family members can use TringMe to call him using single widget and he can mange the credit on single account rather than maintaining multiple. On top of that, he can use credits for other TringMe features as well  and control dynamically where he or she can be reached. Sounds Interesting?

TringMes’ toll-free solution is flexible enough to be applied to other scenarios as well:

These are just a few of the scenarios, but the possibilities are endless. Let the creativity flow and tell us how you (would like to) use TringMe. Do let us know what’s missing to make your scenario work ..

TringMe Rolls Out OpenSocial Application for Orkut

TringMe Rolls out Orkut application using today announced Google OpenSocial API (here, here & here). TringMe’s orkut application will allows you to add TringMe to your orkut profile in just two simple steps.

Read more

TringMe announces public beta of its Live Phone Widget

TringMe announces public beta of its live phone widget. TringMe phone widget allows you to receive calls from your website or profile visitors - directly from the web. So far, TringMe has released voicemail widget for public beta and restricted phone widget to key testers only.

To use TringMe phone or voicemail widget, just login to your TringMe account, copy TringMe widget code and paste it to your website. Do not forget to set appropriate call forwarding option in your profile (option - ‘Send my voicemails and calls to’) There is no restriction on the available talk time for receiving calls on phone and it is only limited by the phone credits in your account. In case you choose to receive calls on Gtalk, the available talk time is limited to 3 minutes per call.

As always, we look forward to feedback and suggestions.

TringMe launches Toll-free Platform for Enterprises

TringMe announces availability of web-based toll-free platform for Enterprises. Key advantages of TringMe’s toll-free platform over the existing traditional (e.g. 1-800 numbers in USA) toll-free solutions are to allow enterprises to deploy toll-free services at extremely low cost and also offer worldwide reachability.

As we had mentioned in the last post, we are almost ready to release public beta of live phone widget, one of the most asked features of TringMe. In brief, live phone widget enables a user to make a phone call by merely clicking on the widget. We have been giving it to a limited set of testers so far and we are quite happy with the results.

Enterprises and call centers have shown keen interest in TringMe’s technology, especially to compliment their existing toll-free (e.g. like 1-800 numbers in USA) services by using TringMe widgets. TringMe is the easiest way to stay connected on the web, no numbers to dial – just push and talk. Leveraging this capability to implement a single click to connect to customer support can enhance the usability and value of an enterprise in the eyes of its customers. Enterprises can not only improve overall interaction with customers by providing web based toll-free access, but at the same time save drastically on telephone cost to offer such a service, a win-win situation for both the parties. In addition, unlike normal toll-free service that is limited within a geographic region, toll-free calls using TringMe can be received from worldwide users.

Advantages are obvious and easy to visualize – enterprises can setup their complete sales & support system or call center in almost no cost that replaces or complements existing toll-free service. Enterprises can also expect better response as customers do not have to dial any number neither do they have to spend on airtime if they are using cell phone (1-800 numbers are subjected to airtime charges). Imagine a customer, reading your sales pitch on your website, can merely by a press of a button talk to you at absolutely no cost, neither to you nor to customer. Enterprises can introduce custom announcements or integrate IVR with TringMe to offer a consistent and complete experience.

TringMe’s toll free platform can route calls to the existing enterprise infrastructure – SIP server, PBX that manages the enterprise wide telephony. Here are a few ways an enterprise can use TringMe to provide web-based toll-free accessibility:

TringMe route calls to enterprise SIP sever. A key benefit for the enterprise would be to offer free web based call at absolutely no cost thereby eliminating major telephony (and possibly infrastructure) costs.

If the enterprise does not have its own SIP server, TringMe offers a hosted solution. TringMe will offer dedicated or shared server for enterprise use depending on the individual requirements, thereby offering a competitive price.

Alternatively, TringMe can route the web calls to enterprise’s chosen destinations including PBX, landlines, cell phones or even Gtalk, Skype (Skype support is coming soon).

TringMe offers all necessary features for enterprise level call management, including call hunting, call queuing, resource loading, alternate call routing, etc. TringMe solution enables enterprises to create as many real and virtual extensions as required. To provide a consistent user experience, most of the features available via 1-800 toll-free lines (e.g. music on hold) are available via TringMe as well.

As always, we look forward to feedback and suggestions. Please write to us bizdev@tringme.com if you are interested in using TringMe for your enterprise.

TringMe expands reach to more countries in Asia and Europe

We are very excited to expand TringMe’s  service to several countries within Asia and Europe.  TringMe now reaches millions of users in China, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and UK. This is in addition to the mobile and landline support available in US and Canada since TringMe’s inception.

Apart from the above expansion, a lot more is happening at TringMe. One of the most asked feature was the live talk from the web feature (our phone widget). In brief, live talk is the ability to use TringMe’s phone widget to make a phone call. So far, we have limited the phone widget for the key testers only. Results so far are quite exciting and we will soon release the phone widget for public beta. If you are covering TringMe or intend to blog about the widget and would like to have a preview of it before launch, do write to us.

We have two more exciting features coming…any guesses ?

TringMe Extends Service to Italy

We are happy to announce that we have extended our service to Italy. All numbers starting with ‘0′ are supported. We are also ready to add other European countries in coming weeks.

We are constantly being asked about extension of our service to other countries. Be assured, we are working on it. We are still a very young company, not even completed a month of our service. At this moment, we are keeping a tight watch on QoS and various other system parameters to tune our system and offer best quality of service. However, at the same time, we are expanding in terms of reachability, features and QoS. So give us some more time and you will get what you have been asking for, in best possible way.

In mean time, keep sending us your feedback. There definitely going to be a reward for guessing our next feature or suggesting a new feature that may get into TringMe :)

Downtime

Due to circumstances beyond our control (heavy packet loss on DC-CA network), TringMe was down for almost 2 hours. Please accept our apologizes for the inconvenience.

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