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6 Skype Alternatives Offer New Services: Page 2 of 12

  • Numbers that ring where you are. Telephones have always tied together service and location: You got local rates and could receive calls when you were at home, but not when you were traveling. Services like GrandCentral and TalkPlus break that link, relaying calls made to local numbers across the country or around the world to whatever phone you want.
  • Free calls . . . to the right people. Several new services are trying to win customers with free calling -- even for international calls. Jajah, for example, lets you call other Jajah users free in seven countries (and hopes you'll find the service, which lets you make VoIP calls on your regular phone without special hardware, so convenient you'll spend enough on other calls to make them money). Talkster will connect your Web-enabled mobile phone to users of some voice-enabled IM services for free, and once you're in the door, hopes you'll use their service for its low rates and convenience -- it lets you get around some mobile plans' limitations on international calls and call almost anywhere in the world at low prices per minute.
  • Anonymous calling for social networkers. Jangl and Jaxtr are adding value to VoIP by connecting callers without revealing personal information like phone numbers. Jangl uses e-mail addresses to connect voice callers, and Jaxtr focuses on widgets you can put on your Web page that let people reach you without giving up your privacy.

The question is: Do the extra features that these services offer make them true competition for the market leaders? Let's find out.

Numbers That Ring Where You Are

GrandCentral
GrandCentral (which just became the latest product to join the growing list of Google acquisitions) takes a very simple idea -- one phone number that follows you around through time and space -- and then elaborates on it.