Job Discussion Forums

[JimDunlop2]

Denizens of Dave's probably know by now that I'm a pretty big fan of Brastel, not because they are the cheapest, but because they offer the flexibility of using a landline and the quality is often superior to that of many VoIP services (like Skype)...

Well, recently I found an alternative to Skype that combines standard phone technology with VoIP... Jajah. It's an awesome system if you have a land-based telephone at home. It works much like the old-style call-back services, except in this case you enter your home phone number (in Japan) on the website, and the phone number (anywhere in the world) that you are calling... Your home phone then rings, and when you pick it up, it rings your party -- so both of you are using regular telephones but using the Internet as the network to pass the data back and forth.

I found the quality to be excellent, and in an hour-long conversation I only had two or three quality issues where we were getting cut off, but that quickly went away in about 10-15 seconds.

Anyway, to make a long story short -- If I call someone back home in Canada, it costs me 2.9 yen/minute (compared to 2.3 yen/minute for Skype) but with THIS I get to use my normal telephone system so I can use my computer at the same time and not run into bandwidth issues or computer system quality issues. In addition, if BOTH my party in Canada AND I have active accounts, our calls are free... (By active, meaning that both you and your party are using the company's PAID service every two weeks or so)...

Bonus is also that anyone can use this -- even if you don't have a computer or high-speed Internet. For example, if you have a dialup modem connection, you just tell jajah to schedule the call in 2 minutes -- long enough for you to get off the Internet... Or let's say you are at an Internet Cafe, schedule the system to place the call in an hour or two -- long enough for you to get back home...

Also, you can try the system out free, for 5 minutes... Then, after I signed up and got an account with them (also free) I got 200 yen free credit -- which was good to talk to my friend in the U.S. for over 50 minutes!

Anyway, I don't mean this to be a plug or an ad -- but do check out www.jajah.com and let me know what you think.

I was able to buy 1000yen credit using a Canadian credit card, and now I can call home for something ridiculous like 400 minutes or something. Shweet!

Oh, BTW -- jajah works with Japanese keitais too -- but the rates are significantly higher -- around 22 yen/minute or so... But it IS possible.

[bornslippy1981]

JD, have you considered buying a SkypeIn # - http://www.skype.com/products/skypein/ -? For about $3 US/month I bought a phone number with the same area code as home. Since most people have free nights and weekends, they can call me from their cell phones, it goes straight to my computer, and I get voicemail with it. I'm paying peanuts for a phone number, and when I call people, I can always ask them to call me back from a landline, which is usually free depending on their phone company.

[JimDunlop2]

Not a chance. Those monkeys at Skype have had their service running for how many years now but have been unable to provide Canadian numbers?

Without a Canadian SkypeIn number, the service is virtually useless to me...

Thanks for the suggestion though -- let me know if they ever decide to service Canada.

[Sage]

Ehh I'm too lazy to read anything in this thread... but here goes with some info:

If you use YahooBB for your ISP you get BBPhone as part of the package. With BBPhone you can call America over VOIP for 8yen/3min. Assuming you aren't downloading anything while on the phone, you're connection will sound better from Japan to the US then a US to US call VIOP or direct dial.

It works great and has for near three years now. And you can't beat the price.

NOTE: I have never bothered with Skype and don't plan to (If this is what this thread is about, Skype that is.)

BBPhone: 010+1+(XXX)+XXX+XXXX. As simple as that.

[The Dog Ate My Keitai]

[canuck]

[Sage]

Yeah you sure got him good. That *beep*!

[wangtesol]

Whay did you switch to your Dog handle?