Why Jajah. Rebtel, and Others Like Them Will Fail
Thoughts about Rebtel, Jajah, and others have swirled about the blogosphere. Recent examples include Luca, Andy, Jeff, Pat Phelan, and plenty of others. I'm ready to weigh in on this subject, and you can probably tell what that opinion is by the subject of my blog posting.
Now I should say up-front that both Rebtel and Jajah may, in fact, be perfectly fine companies. I certainly don't have anything against them, personally. However, what I do have a problem with is how they are basically asking me to change my dialing habits to use their services. What's in it for me? Saving money? That's just so Voice 1.0.
Unlike a lot of people, I actually have a knack for remembering phone numbers, especially if it's a number I call often. It's actually faster for me to dial the number from memory than it is for me to look it up in the phone's addressbook. I just want to dial and go. You know what? Most of the non-technies I know barely know how to use their address book, and they use it because they don't remember the phone numbers. I can't expect most people to use any other "application" on the phone. In fact, they may not even know how to program their address book. Someone else likely did it for them.
Basically, anything that affects how an end user dials their phone, whether it be how they dial their phone or what number they dial, is destined to fail with all but the most hardcore users.
So that brings me to Jajah and Rebtel. Jajah is basically "click to call" on a mobile phone handset. Is anyone going to do this? Maybe, but not me. Too much work for too little savings. Rebtel? You're asking me to dial a different number to call someone and go through extra work to set up a phone call? Please.
The only "mobile" solution I've seen that even comes close to being as simple as dialing my phone is Truphone. And that's because they are taking advantage of Nokia's SIP Stack on their E series and N series phones. At least from what I've seen/read so far, everyone else fails the grade. Everyone.
At least with Softphones like Gizmo Project or Skype, or even a service like Vonage, there isn't a substantial change in how you dial your phone numbers. Of course, I've heard numerous complaints from customers of Vonage-like services about things like 7 and 10 digit dialing, so even they aren't perfect.
If you're going to ask me to change how I do things, either make it easier or make it work my while. Cost savings, quite simply, isn't compelling enough of a reason for me to change.
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Comment by Anonymous
Sorry, I’m not getting it …
Usual procedure: Select the contact in your cell phones addressbook and click the call key on your cell phone.
Result: International calls cost a fortune.
With JAJAH Mobile: Select the contact in your cell phones addressbook and click the call key on your cell phone.
Result: Free or close to free international calls.
With JAJAH Web: Every phone number on any website or within Outlook or your computers addressbook becomes clickable. Click on the number you want call and your phone (landline or mobile) will ring INSTEAD of taking your phone typing in the number you want to call and hiting the call key.
What could be more convenient and less changing your habits?
Comment by Anonymous
I think you’re missing the
I think you’re missing the point with Rebtel. Specially if you have a knack for rembering numbers. It is much easier to remember a local number – shorter, typically no area code needed, no country code… That is even faster for me.
It’s just a simple phone call. Now, if your friend hangs up and calls back also to a local number, it is one extra step, but the call gets even cheaper. I have some friends I call everyday. It is actually very simple to use. I love it!
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Comment by nicky
Rebtel is making things difficult for the user…in such a technosavy fast hectic lifestyle who has time to dial a different no. instead of actual no..and I m using skype which doesn’t need all these hectic efforts to get a friend and also i think the address book or the contacts are very simple to understand and use in todays world…i prefer skype…
Comment by Azer
I ran Truphone on my N95 = failure to work software installed but then seemed not to work properly, made one call OK then tried to go again to a new number and the software tried to install again – I am a 27 year old techno ’savvy’ type of guy but after 3 attempts I GAVE UP – Personally i prefer Rebtel’s proposition of no downloads works on all handsets…etc
From what I have seen in the new voice 2.0 arena Rebtel’s leverage of VOIP technology gets my vote.
Comment by baxidecat
I guess there is one more problem with these Rebtel and Jajah guys. They all tend to believe they have found the “one-and-only” recipe that works best for everyone. I think people should have a choice based on their needs and existing “infrastructure”. I read about Manifone, and what they do is that they give you a set of local “alias” numbers that you can assign to your international contacts. Then when you call these numbers you can have the call go through their voip, another voip, or a landline of yours. It’s like a least-cost dial solution, made simple by the fact that it’s a one-step dial. I prefer this over “visit-a-website-and-fillout-a-form-to-make-a-call” solutions
Comment by VoIP2.0
I see your point here, and after familiarizing myself with all the various companies, I think jaxtr has it figured out. Sure, they let you make free international calls, but they also provide a novel solution for anyone wishing to recieve calls from online contacts, but wishes to keep their personal telephone number private.
I post my jaxtr widget on my website and anyone who visits it has a way to easily call me…and nobody ever has to know my phone number. If I decide I dont want to hear from someone after they call me once, I can block them from ever getting through again.
As social networking becomes more and more prevalent and people are looking to add synchronous communication to preexisting wall posts/email messages/etc–jaxtr will flourish.
Comment by Nicolas
When I call to the UK from my Verizon cell it costs $1.20/min, but I can use Rebtel to make the same call for 2 cents/min. That’s sufficient motivation for me.
Comment by dave
you are crazy. if it saves you 30 cents a minute why not look through your address book. better yet after you program the names remember their speed dial number. you seem to be quite lazy. however, i think it is amazing that you can remember all your phone numbers, but i still think you are stupid if you say saving money isnt worth the extra 2 seconds it takes to make this international call.
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Comment by chiz
Good post. You make some great points that most people do not fully understand.
“At least with Softphones like Gizmo Project or Skype, or even a service like Vonage, there isn’t a substantial change in how you dial your phone numbers. Of course, I’ve heard numerous complaints from customers of Vonage-like services about things like 7 and 10 digit dialing, so even they aren’t perfect.”
I like how you explained that. Very helpful. Thanks.
Comment by Ankit
Again a great post hats off !!
Comment by JeanPierre
I just found rebtel, and I love it. Most of my friends love it.I met pinplan before.But it was trash.Now i think rebtel and jajah is already the present calling technology.adios high cost calling card.Viva rectel.Viva jajah.
Comment by Mike Silvey
Rebtel Rocks. I am not affiliated with the company but can tell you it’s the ONLY service that works for me. I live in Australia, work in London and spent protracted time in California. I have three pay as you go SIM cards – one on Vodafone UK, one on Vodafone AU and one on ATTW US. My contacts can call me on one exclusive number and it comes thru to the phone I have designated as my chosen primary at that time – although all my phones (including my Australian Land Line and my UK Office Number – are all designated on the account.
What is REALLY neat about Rebtel is that when I am in the US, my contacts all have US local numbers to dial. When I am in the UK, I have UK numbers, and when in Australia, I have numbers specific to the State that I am in! Cool. I get the cheapest access numbers at any time automatically changing based on the location/primary phone I am using.
I am also a Skype2Go user, have used Gizmo and others, but Rebtel has it sorted. So simple, so flexible and so easy to manage.
So, that leaves me with the Voicemail problem. So i’ve solved this with a service from a small company in Australia called Immedian and their iVMS service. Very neat. I divert my voicemail in each country to the iVMS number, and my voicemails are delivered to me via MMS – directly to my phone, on my phone, so no need to dial to listen. I can listen to them any time, as many times as I like. iVMS is like Apple’s iPhone voicemail, but works on ANY PHONE, ANYWHERE. And if I want, I can also access my voicemails over the web on my personal iVMS web page. I can even change the avatar of specific contacts!
Traveling like I do, it’s been difficult to find a single service that reduces my costs – this combined solution is simply effective, easy, and makes me very efficient.
Mike
Comment by chuckyboy
Have you tried MO-Call ? http://www.mo-call.com ,i have a Nokia S60 phone as well , no need to change any habit , dial an number directly or just pick it up from the phone book , it is not bad.
Comment by amy
Attention: Rebtel is a spam to me and my friends, not just a new way of making phone calls.
At first I thought Rebtel was great, until … One of my friends in Vienna, Austria received his highest phone bill ever, 95 Euro, for “calls to New Zealand.” (I live in New Zealand.)
He has never called New Zealand directly. He used Rebtel number I sent him. It looks like a Vienna local number, 01 253 892 101. The calls were supposed to be free according to his calling plan. Instead he was charged 95 Euro for those “local calls” at international rate.
How could a Vienna number show up as a New Zealand number on his phone bill? Does the CEO have any ideas what’s happening?
I have searched on Internet and found out I am not the only victom! Now the question is how to stop Rebtel so that it won’t keep ripping off inocent people! (Please correct me, and tell me I am wrong.)