Inexpensive international wireless LD and text messaging comes to Canada

A Vancouver-based wholesaler of international long distance minutes is leveraging its vast network to give mobile users in North America the opportunity to make long distance calls at low, single-digit rates. But the CEO of Verb Exchange Inc. says this is just the beginning.CEO Craig Goldenberger says his Vancouver-based company plans to bring other services online such as giving users access to corporate documents and personal digital data in the future.The firm, which wholesales more than 30 million minutes per month to telecommunications carriers around the world, recently unveiled a series of new services under the Tabrio moniker aimed at initially providing inexpensive long distance calling and text messaging using VoIP and wireless communications. The company now has four levels of service: a soft client downloadable to a PC to enable VoIP calling, a web-based service, a text to call service and this month's introduction of its Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) offering.Goldenberger tells Report on Wireless that the cost to call China from the US using AT&T is $2.72 per minute. Using Verb Exchange's Tabrio service, it costs $0.04 per minute. Rates from Canadian carriers are just as inflated, he contends. "To call the US, it's going to cost you $0.59 per minute . That's what I pay and I have a discount plan. That is just theft," he charges.A quick comparison on Verb Exchange's Tabrio website reveals wireless long distance pricing that is comparable to landline LD rates offered by calling card and dial around providers. Some of Tabrio's international wireless LD rates can be more than 90% cheaper than those offered by Canada's national wireless carriers. With Tabrio, users can expect to pay $0.03 per minute to call the UK and $0.04 per minute to call anywhere in New York state and Colorado as well as to China.Canadian wireless carrier rates for LD calls to these locations are significantly higher, topping $2 and more per call. The per call cost drops when users choose to subscribe to a LD plan, but are still more expensive than Tabrio's rates.Tabrio isn't the only service on the market offering inexpensive LD for wireless subscribers though. Buzz Telecom provides a dial around service for Fido subscribers with rates ranging from $0.04 per minute to China and $0.07 per minute to countries such as France and Italy. Yak Communications also offers inexpensive wireless LD minutes using local access numbers with rates dipping below $0.10 per minute for some locations, but are generally in the $0.20 to $0.30 per minute range.However, Goldenberger says the chance of dialing wrong numbers with these two services is high because so many digits have to be pressed. With Tabrio, users send a text message to initiate the call. They type CALL followed by the name of the person they wish to reach and then Tabrio initiates the call. In cases where the person being called isn't in the contact list, the user types CALL and then the complete phone number.Just as phone call costs can be brought down significantly so can SMS. Text messaging to the United States is $0.09 per message while those sent to the UK are $0.14 per message with Tabrio. SMS to China is $0.05 per message sent and zero for inbound messages.Rogers charges $0.14 per message if a user subscribes to the international messaging plan at $7 per month. Without a plan, the cost is $0.25 per message. Bell Mobility subscribers can send international text messages for $0.25 per message and receive for $0.15 per message if they subscribe to the unlimited text messaging plan for $15 per month.After signing up on the Tabrio website, users are given $5 worth of LD and SMS credit after which they can continue using the service for free. Verb Exchange makes its money through advertising supported on the website and on the opt-in mobile platform.Voice and text just the beginningGoldenberger explains that LD and SMS are just an entry point for the company. It wants to expand the breath of services to include calendaring and applications that people might need access to while they are traveling or just on the road. The goal is to give users access to a wide range of services and applications to users via any Internet connection over any device at any time.This is a "cloud computing application," explains Goldenberger, where services, applications, documents and personal digital content will be available to the user regardless of their location and what type of device they have."We're trying to take this to the point where you don't have to lug around a specific device to get a specific piece of information. It's all held for you and you can access it whenever you can/want."Tabrio is a bridge technology that unites the PC, the Web and the mobile device, says Verb Exchanges' CEO. "As you go forward, you're going to want to have fewer devices not more. Wouldn't it be great if I could sit at any PC anywhere and get access to all my stuff securely," Goldenberger says. "That's the vision here."

Inexpensive international wireless LD and text messaging comes to Canada

News | 09/03/2008 10:52 am EDT

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