Last week, Dell Canada in conjunction with Fongo, launched an innovative new SIP-based VoIP phone service that offers unlimited free incoming and outgoing Canada-wide phone calling.
The service branded as Dell Voice, is really a Dell branded marketing initiative in partnership with Fongo, a Canadian based VoIP service provider, focused at providing free mobile apps that enable free VoIP-based phone calling on the Android, I-Phone, and Windows desktop operating systems.
The Dell Voice service, powered by Fongo, provides Canadians with a free Canadian phone number that allows users to receive unlimited free incoming calls via their Android, IPhone, or PC Desktop softphone app. Other free features include Caller-ID, Voice-Mail, Call Forwarding, and 911 emergency calls.
The free calling features are free in the sense that VoIP calls travel over the Internet. Thus, if you have a prepaid data plan or Internet service through your ISP, then the calls you place ride over your existing data plan without using your phone calling minutes with your voice phone provider. This is really how all VoIP services work regardless of whether your Internet access is wired over landline or wireless via your wireless router, hotspot, or your mobile phone data carrier. The Dell Voice and Fongo portion of the service IS completely free, for their basic services.
The free calling feature covers most of the larger cities throughout Canada, but not all cities are covered. The service does provide prepaid world-wide calling outside the free-zones for a reasonable cost of 2-cents/min. However, the fine print does reveal a 4-cent "connect fee" for all calls connected outside the free zones. This is the equivalent to what Skype does. Skype charges connect fees too on their pay-per-call plan.
The feature that interests me the most is their service that allows you to connect directly to the Fongo VoIP servers using any unlocked BYOD softphone, VoIP ATA, or IP-Phone. This feature requires a one-time purchase of their "VoIP Unlock Key". This privilege does come with a one-time network "unlock fee" of $50. However, with this BYOD enabled feature, you can truly replace your home phone service with a Dell Voice and Fongo solution at an extremely low cost.
In my next blog post article, I will discuss my initial calling tests and review of using their free downloadable desktop softphone application with Dell Voice. I plan another blog article on my experience connecting a BYOD softphone, ATA, or IP-Phone to the Dell Voice service as a 24-7 connected phone service.
The free calling feature covers most of the larger cities throughout Canada, but not all cities are covered. The service does provide prepaid world-wide calling outside the free-zones for a reasonable cost of 2-cents/min. However, the fine print does reveal a 4-cent "connect fee" for all calls connected outside the free zones. This is the equivalent to what Skype does. Skype charges connect fees too on their pay-per-call plan.
The feature that interests me the most is their service that allows you to connect directly to the Fongo VoIP servers using any unlocked BYOD softphone, VoIP ATA, or IP-Phone. This feature requires a one-time purchase of their "VoIP Unlock Key". This privilege does come with a one-time network "unlock fee" of $50. However, with this BYOD enabled feature, you can truly replace your home phone service with a Dell Voice and Fongo solution at an extremely low cost.
In my next blog post article, I will discuss my initial calling tests and review of using their free downloadable desktop softphone application with Dell Voice. I plan another blog article on my experience connecting a BYOD softphone, ATA, or IP-Phone to the Dell Voice service as a 24-7 connected phone service.
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UPDATE - January/2013:
Dell Voice no longer exists.
The partnership between Dell Canada and Fongo has been dissolved and the service is only called: Fongo.
