July 12, 2006
Babble - More Free VoIP Services
Whoever said there was no free lunch probably didn't expect anything like VoIP. Joining the ranks of free VoIP services like Skype, Sightspeed, Jajah, and Gizmo Project is Babble.net.
As with Yahoo and Google when they first started, people are probably wondering how these VoIP companies are going to make any money. Well, Skype got bought up by eBay and makes some revenue from their per minute plans for calls not qualifying as free (typically between PC-to-PSTN calls, or vice versa). Some are also offering extras for sale, such as VoIP handsets.
Whereas Skype has made any combo of PC and PSTN calls free in Canada and the US, at least until the end of 2006, Babble has a slightly different approach. The first 30 minutes of a call are free, and only during their promotion.
Like Gizmo Project, Babble is using the open SIP standard. Which means members of the Gizmo Project network, and others, should be able to communicate with Babble users. According to Babble's getting started page, not only can you communicate free with other Babble users, you get free voicemail, a "real" phone number (at a cost), and you can watch free Internet TV stations, as well as other features.
The signup page does require you to provide your phone number, as well as some promotional code. Seeing none anywhere, I just entered 1111 and downloaded the Babbled softphone. Unfortunately, it's a RAM hog. And as I write this, I'm connected to the Internet via my cellular data plan (max 250 Mb/m), so I'll try to give a comparison of Babble's softphone against Skype, and other VoIP soft clients at a later date.
Additional sources: TechPlanet Asia [via The VoIP Weblog]
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