IP Democracy: More Consumer Empowerment from SIPphone

Shortly after securing a $6 mil. round of funding led by Dawntreader Ventures, SIPphone has announced an intriguing new service. Company founder Michael Robertson describes it as “an innovative service…that combines the flexibility and cost efficiency of VoIP…with the ubiquity of the mobile and land-line world” and allows users to “decide where to receive calls (PC, WiFi phone, mobile, land line)…who can call them and who they will talk to and how they’ll get notification and voicemail.”

As Ed Sim, Managing Director of Dawntreader Ventures, suggests in his blog post announcing the $6 mil. funding, Robertson has a knack for developing and marketing standards- and web-based consumer products and services that target established but relatively inefficient industries by delivering new elements of value at relatively low cost and at market-disrupting price points. The new service, called Area775, appears to fit into this category.

Area775 provides a free US telephone number that you can link to a traditional phone number and any PC. You can then use this as your primary number to receive calls from any phone…When someone dials your number, your computer (or computers) will ring along with whatever phone number you designate. (For $3.95 per month you can select a different area code than the free area775.) We call this Dual Ring. You will see caller ID on your PC and phone and can answer the call from either location.

The service also has some additional features that give users more control over their telephone experience:

Another unique feature for all Area775 numbers is the option to screen calls - similar to how a home answering machine works. On either Gizmo Project or your phone, when you answer the call the caller won’t hear you pick up. Instead they will hear a voicemail greeting as if you did not answer. If the caller leaves a message, you will hear it as they are speaking in real time. To speak with them you can tap the #1 key and you will be immediately speaking with the person. If you do nothing, it will be a typical voice mail experience, and the resulting message will be sent to your email address as an audio attachment.

At anytime during a call, tapping the #2 key will seamlessly transfer the call to the other dual ring location without the caller being able to detect the transfer. For example, you might take a call at your PC, but then later realize you need to drive somewhere. Just click the #2 key and the call will be transferred to your mobile phone.

Robertson concludes with:

We’re moving to a new era of VoIP. The first wave was all about free or cheaper calling. But since voice calls are just another form of data traveling along the net, eventually all calls will be free just as all email messages or IM messages are free. The long-term impact of VoIP is shifting power towards consumers so you have more control over your calling environment.

Posted by Mitch Shapiro on February 17, 2006 12:41 PM to IP Democracy