This caught my eye and I just had to dig a bit deeper -

New VoIP software for Pocket PC released: nikotalk for Windows Mobile 5.0
April 26, 2006 [Pocket PC]
If you want to call cheaper other fixed or mobile phones abroad, this VoIP (Voice over IP) solution may be something for you. It looks like there are no free Internet-to-Internet calls in this solution though...

Nikolai Manek from Nikotel writes:

we are a 6 years in the market VoIP company and we have launched a new product (release candidate) for Windows Mobile 5 (older versions will be supported in a while). It is enabling to place calls at almost 80% under regular rates for international calls (US is 2.2 cents). All you need is a internet connection on your phone. Here is how it works: You are starting nikotalk (the app) and you are saving your own cell phone number into your preferences. Then you can type another number or pick one out of your contacts (our app is reading pocket outlook contacts) and with one click your phone is connecting to the internet and "telling" our server to call the cell phone number first and then ater you are picking up (yes, it is a regular incoming call) our server will call the other number and connect the two. This way you are having a VoIP call without any VoIP equipment. We are also having versions of this software for Windows XP and Apple mac. [...] 30 minutes we are giving every customer for testing. I am coming from Germany and I was calling Germany every day and spend almost $400 every month on international calls. This bill is cut to $25 now and the call setup is faster, the quality better and there are never busy international circuits since we are transporting all calls from our US gateways over VPN connections to the called country.

I went surfing right away. I'm a VoIPer. I'm a Windows Mobiler. I liked the look of this...momentarily. Look closer at the emphasis I added above.

I'm sorry, but this isn't VoIP. There's no VoIP equipment on your end, and none really on theirs. As I find in testing this solution and digging in, it's an IP call control tool and nothing more. You'll use IP to set up a call, but that setup triggers PSTN based calls back to your cell phone and to the far end. I don't see SIP URLs. I don't see VoIP. I see a singaling gateway to the PSTN, and to me that just isn't VoIP.

I do believe they may carry some VoIP traffic internally for cheap networking, then dump it off to the PSTN using some simple least cost routing technique. That's not anything new. And it's not VoIP.

I will be investigating further, but to me this solution demonstrates how even and acronym like VoIP can be used as a misdirection tool to sell a dubious solution. Caveat emptor. If I find anything that changes my mind, I'll report back.



Technorati Tags: VoIP, masquerading as VoIP, Windows Mobile 5.0, nikotalk