Google eyes rival Skype

Google has released a VOIP service for mobile phone users that looks set to rival Skype and Truphone, says PC World.

The service offers the ability to make free, local and cheap international calls that are routed through the Internet and provides users with one number that receives any call, whether it is to the user's home, work, or mobile number.

The service also automatically transcribes a voicemail into text and then sends it to the Gmail inbox or via SMS to a handset.

Zer01 is taking on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless by offering unlimited voice, text, and data plans for $69.95 a month with no contract or credit check, says Information Week.

The company is able to undercut the competitors by using a VOIP client on the handset for all voice calls. This is made possible by interconnect, or roaming, agreements to use AT&T's and T-Mobile's networks to tunnel to Zer01's IP backbone.

Zer01 CEO Ben Piilani says the company has developed technology to ensure that the VOIP has a high quality of service, even over an Edge or GPRS connection.

Nominet has unveiled a telephone number mapping system designed to allow businesses, customers and suppliers to save money on VOIP calls, states vnunet.

Electronic numbering translates telephone numbers into domain names, which means that the call can be routed over the Internet. Calls are therefore completely free, as long as both caller and receiver are using the system.

"There is a domain name system database look-up which will tell you who's calling and what protocols they need to follow, and then the call is routed out over the Internet so that there are no call charges," says Phil Kingsland, Nominet's director of marketing.