Jajah Mobile Announcement

Jajah announced a new service called Jajah Mobile. The original version of Jajah enabled people to make a VOIP call from any phone to any phone without a download, installation, new phone number, or allowing your computer to be used in P2P network. All you had to do is initiate the call with a computer by going to the Jajah web site; after that, you could turn the computer off or jump in your car and go.

Jajah Mobile takes this a step further. With cell phones, you don’t even need a computer to initiate the call. Calls are generally free between registered users and $.025 per minute for others—see pricing details here. This is a FAQ to provide more information.

• How does Jajah Mobile work?

  The principal mechanism for making a call with Jajah Mobile is the same as Jajah on the web. When you initiate a Jajah call Jajah looks at your number and the number you wish to call, and we work out how to call you from the closest point. This makes the call to both parties a local call which is the cheapest rate call you can make from your mobile phone. Jajah then connects between those two points using the cheapest possible method—this is a VoIP connection.

  However the big difference between Jajah Mobile and the Jajah you use on the web is that with Jajah Mobile you don’t need a computer to initiate the call. Jajah Mobile is a small application that runs on your phone.

• How can you establish a call without Internet connection?

  Jajah does it by emulating our Web service onto a mobile device. The Jajah Mobile Suite effectively triggers a Jajah call.

• What about roaming?

  Jajah works as soon as you can receive a call. If your normal provider charges roaming fees, these fees will also apply. Jajah has no control of your carrier’s pricing and roaming policy.

• Now that you have a solution for mobile phones to make calls without an Internet connection, why do I have to use my computer to establish a regular Jajah call?

• You don’t have to, but some of Jajah’s additional services can only be accessed on our website. For example, conference calls, scheduled calls, and text messaging. Some of these services are currently being adapted to work in the Jajah Mobile Suite as well.

• Are there any restrictions as to what numbers I can call?

  No, call any number in the world—including emergency numbers. One of the big topics amongst “traditional VoIP” providers is trying to get their services to work with the emergency system in each country. Jajah uses the existing infrastructure. If you need to make an emergency call Jajah won’t get in your way.

• What are the technical requirements to use Jajah Mobile Suite?

  The first release supports Java based (J2ME) and SymbianTM S60 version 7.x or 8.x phones. This covers a variety of Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola phones. Click here to check out your model and get the software.

I don’t think it can get much easier to make a free/cheap international call from your cell phone.

Disclosure: I recently accepted an advisory position with Jajah.

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Comments

[kempton]

Wow, SB has such a bad experience with J2. Are there more bad and hopefully some good experiences about Jajah?

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I don't know what he's talking about. Here'a FAQ about pricing:

http://www.jajah.com/info/help/faq/freecalls/#01

After about 5 minutes of free calls, one has to register. But free is still free after registration.

Guy

[kempton]

Guy, Thanks for sharing these jajah stuff with us. Jajah looks quite neat. Can you blog more about Jajah with your personal experiences? The good and the bad experiences in terms of call qualities, etc. Love to hear what other Jajah users have to say.

Tim, Thanks for the insight on the giving "geolocation information to the receiver" bit.

Nicola, I would say the telcos are "smart". But I think their "smart" days are very numbered now with ideas like Jajah. :)

Cheers,
Kempton
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P.S. Shameless plug: My friend Sean has created a funny and insightful 2 min. video clip about "Elevator Pitch" for CBC's Dragons' Den. See if you agree or disagree with his take.

[SB]

With all due respect to Guy I found Jajah through him... Jajah is a big rip off in terms of cheap calls promise....worst it says its free between Jajah users which is partially true as they give only few minutes of conversation free...Big....Big...Big....Ripper....Jajah

[Nicola Mattina]

Jajah is sweet: it's Skype with a normal phone and it's enough easy to use.
Nevertheless, I can argue it's based on a trick: calling both users using the cheapest tarif on both side. Because telco are dumbs in many cases doing two phone calls cost less than doing one phone call...
This works now. But will it work in the long term, when telco will try to fight this kind of competition?

[Tim]

I believe the decision not to just do text messaging is for technical reasons. As far as I know text messaging doesn't give geolocation information to the receiver (while the application/website method does). Without the location information Jajah wouldn't be able to call from the closest point (with the resulting savings in fees).

[Martin Henk]

I probably shouldn't say that because I live in Estonia, the home of Skype, but I fell in love with the Jajah service from the first second a got to their website.

It really can't get much simpler than that. Unfortunately the fees for Estonia are still much higher than regular cell-phone calls here, but that's not Jajah's fault.

Keep up the good work!

[Carl]

I think the Jajah Mobile solution is overly complicated and not compatible enough. Why not just let me text message the number I want to call to Jajah instead? Fast, easy and efficient. Plus, it works with EVERY phone!