vB Easy Archive - Making FREE calls with your BlackBerry

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Making FREE calls with your BlackBerry
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Posted by: funkym

Through BlackBerryInsight, there is a program for BlackBerry called BBCalls which enables users to make phone calls using the Jajah service. E.g. if you and your contact are registered users of Jajah and are located in the states, you can call each other free using your BlackBerry.

http://www.blackberryinsight.com/20...berry-for-real/

Posted by: CNFD

didnt have time to goto the link, but is it basically a VoIP kind of deal?

Posted by: ollywompus

Wow their website really sucks... it'd be nice if there were a FAQ section explaining how it works... since VoIP over EDGE, for example, is barely feasible, I'd like to know if they are doing something different.

-olly

Posted by: jase88

Interesting. And I agree, it would be nice to have a detailed FAQ...

Posted by: funkym

It is not voice over IP. As a registered user the program initiates a normal phone call. First you will be called - then a nice voice tell you that you are connected to jajah and you are waiting for your contact to pick up the phone. It is just working as a normal phone call with the difference that you initiated the call over the internet at jajah and not directly on your phone.

Posted by: jase88

Thanks for some insight into how the program works...

Its great to see new software specifically for Blackberry. However, this type of thing raises a lot of questions which aren't answered on their website. For example, can you see the number its dialing? If not, could it be malware that's dialing some number in Madagascar @ $99/minute? Are your conversations secure?

Hopefully they put up a FAQ soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by funkym

It is not voice over IP. As a registered user the program initiates a normal phone call. First you will be called - then a nice voice tell you that you are connected to jajah and you are waiting for your contact to pick up the phone. It is just working as a normal phone call with the difference that you initiated the call over the internet at jajah and not directly on your phone.

Posted by: surrealmonk

Well here's what I don't understand... If the Jajah system places a normal call to you, aren't you still using airtime? How is this free?

Posted by: mesallem

I'd be very careful with is program. As many of you might already know, most large corporations have disabled program installations on BB devices if they are on the company BES server due to a virus that is out that can access corporate networks through BES. One thing I noticed was that Jajah is emailed to you, something that is actually being used to spread the BES virus. Our admin warned us about it and then later disabled program installation on any BB that has BES on our corporate network until a possible counter is created. Becareful, could be a way to get you to execute the virus file.

Posted by: ollywompus

Quote:

Originally Posted by surrealmonk

Well here's what I don't understand... If the Jajah system places a normal call to you, aren't you still using airtime? How is this free?

That's exactly what I don't understand. If it was on a Sprint or Nextel plan, with free incoming, that would make sense. It would also make sense internationally of course.

What I REALLY don't understand is how this is offered for free. Is it add supported? Are they selling your contact info? International calls, while not as expensive as they used to, are not exactly cheap either... so what's funding this 'great deal'?

Forgive my skepticism, but this seems a tad fishy to me.

-olly

Posted by: funkym

Jajah is a quite big company doing business all over the world and is funded by a big venture capital firm in silicon vallay. Right now, they are located at the same office Google was before. So I guess they do not publish malware.

Here is the link to their phone rates: http://www.jajah.com/info/rates/

You can also take a look to the "About Jajah" section. I am using the service since several months but now can finally use BBCalls to initate a Jajah call from my BlackBerry directly without the need to be at the computer.

Posted by: naviwilliams

I wonder if it works the same for international calls?

Posted by: funkym

short answer: YES.

you can just try it guys, the program is for free.

Posted by: MDavid

Wirelessly posted (Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/2.0.4719/1316; en; U; ssr))

Thanks for the link on the program,
However can someone like myself use it if I only have a BIS?

Posted by: funkym

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDavid

Wirelessly posted (Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/2.0.4719/1316; en; U; ssr))

Thanks for the link on the program,
However can someone like myself use it if I only have a BIS?

If you have Internet access and are able to browse websites, you can use it. Because you just need to invoke the call from your browser and the rest is done by Jajah whose system is first calling you and then you contact. So there is no "airtime" used anymore

Posted by: jase88

You can initiate regular phone calls from the browser; I do it all the time for 411 services, etc. However, this would still incur airtime charges--just like any other calls.

Posted by: funkym

Jase88: You didn't understand it. Yes, they are invoked from the internet, then your own phone rings, so somebody (Jajah) is calling you. You pick it up and the phone of your contact rings. He/She/It picks it up and you can talk.

So you are not online anymore because the call is completely established and you are talking using the "normal" phone technology - no internet access is used anymore - and so you do not use 'airtime' for the call.

But may be my understanding of 'airtime' wrong. If so, please tell me.

Posted by: jase88

I understand how it works. My point was that you're still billed "Airtime"--which is the cost associated to using voice on your phone; usually billed in minutes against a plan.

Posted by: fatal

I think funkym is maybe on a unlimited incoming calls package and doesn't consider incoming calls as 'airtime'?

i've been using jajah for a while and its great since i'm in vancouver and call the states a lot... no long distance charges...

It is my understanding that it is free between registered users in hopes that you will eventually use some of their paid services...

Posted by: secrecyguy

I thought I reply here but I guess not...

It's a nice service but it's almost useless in U.S. Maybe it's useful in other countries. Maybe in other countries, the cell phone company work differently.

You get charged for airtime when you receive phone calls. You also get charged when you make phone calls.

So you still get charged if you use their service or not.

If your cell phone provider does not include long distance phone calls than yes, it is a good service to have. But if your cell phone provider already includes long distance calling than this service is useless. Most cell phone providers already include long distance calling on most of their plans.

This might be good for a few people but it's useless for majority of the people in U.S.

Posted by: funkym

Uh, sorry, right, coming from an unlimited incoming calls plan, it is for free.

However, even if you are not, it will be cheaper if somebody calls as if you call somebody, right?