A couple of days ago I wrote about some new Call Bar features in the recently released Skype for Windows 5.2. But there was one other feature that I have investigated …

• Modified call phones dialog with integrated contact number search

It’s not huge but makes calling the PSTN easier if a Contact has PSTN numbers embedded in either his/her Skype profile or you have entered into a Contact’s profile via the “Add a Number” feature in the Call Bar.

To call a PSTN number a call has to be placed via the menu which brings up a traditional T9 dial pad in the Conversation pane. Previously one could enter a number and make a call; the default was to make calls to your local country code but one could also change the country selected. (Click the drop down to change the flag.)

With Skype for Windows 5.2 one can now start to type in a Contact’s name and place a call.  In Phil’s case on the right the options are his Mobile, Office and U.K. Skype Online number (Home). Select a number, click on the Call Button and the call is initiated.

One other subtle change: there are now several opportunities to Save a PSTN number that is not already embedded in your Contacts. In this case one can save the number prior to the call; however, at the end of a call there is also an opportunity to Save the number called.

Bottom line: Subtly Skype is generating more awareness of its PSTN calling options. Between the Call Bar changes in my previous post, the “Text Tone” feature described here and the opportunity to add numbers to a Contact’s profile on your local PC, Skype is attempting to increase what, to date, has been its largest revenue generator (according to recent SEC releases).

(Note that it’s not a true T9 dialpad, you have to enter alpha characters via your PC keyboard, pressing a number one, two, three or four times does not generate the relevant alpha character in the number bar. Yet, Skype does show the alpha characters in the dialpad; it’s the familiar user interface, after all.)

Pardon my exuberance but I am about to write about a product that I have been beta testing for the past few months. Seven months ago I knew very little about small business PBX’s other than to know they had big $$$ signs associated with their operation.

Back in 1992 my employer of the day paid $28,000 for a PBX that would service our local Canadian office of six to ten employees – and all the extensions had to be physically in the same office. Of course we would also be paying significant long distance charges, especially for out-of-country calls. The same employer was paying about $10,000 per month for a T1 line between California and their European office in Ireland. The economics of worldwide communications has changed somewhat since then; today’s announcement from In Store Solutions of the FREETALK Connect small business PBX takes small businesses further down that path.

About six weeks ago, while visiting In Store Solutions head office in Spain, using Skype for iPhone in a WiFi zone at my hotel room, I called a SkypeID that gave me the options to press 1 for Jim, 2 for another person and 3 for another person. I pressed 1 and a few seconds later my BlackBerry was ringing me back in Spain, But the PBX was at my home near Toronto, Canada as was an attached Linksys VoIP phone that the PBX also rang simultaneously with my BlackBerry in Spain. Had I answered my BlackBerry the only charge would have been my voice roaming package $1.25 per minute. Had somebody else originated that call in the way I did, I also would have had the option to answer the call, with no resulting charges for either party, on my PC’s Skype client which at the time was also in my hotel room in Spain¹.

Bottom line: any Skype user worldwide could have reached me via this PBX on a “local” or “remote” phone, a mobile smartphone or my Skype client with minimal, if any, costs for the call. And, in practice, geography as a factor to Find Me or Follow Me was not in the equation.

Today In Store Solutions announced FREETALK Connect, a small business PBX that changes the algorithm and business model for small business voice communications. With FREETALK Connect a business can benefit from:

• accepting inbound calls made via Skype, a Skype Online number, a SIP client, Asterisk (IAX2) or the PSTN, via either an analog line or a VoIP service provider.
  • incorporating Find Me, Follow Me features
• accept calls on local analog phone lines, local or remote VoIP phones, mobile phones anywhere or remote PSTN-accessed phones – all provisioned within the PBX.
• placing outbound calls over Skype, SkypeOut, a SIP-connected VoIP service or an analog PSTN line.
• managed voice mail including consolidation of voice mail and email into one mailbox

As I experienced the different communications paths this product opened up, I realized that this box can revolutionize how small business communicates with their suppliers, customers and business partners – worldwide.

The press release lists all the services that will be on board the FREETALK Connect when it becomes available for purchase by U.S. registered Skype users in March on the Skype Store:

Some of the key features from the Jazinga platform found in the FREETALK Connect include:

• Callback / Dial-around
• Access to Skype Buddy lists
• Auto Attendant / IVR
• Paging
• Call Parking
• Remote Extensions
• Music on Hold
• Conferencing

The FREETALK Connect also has an easily configured and updated:

• Managing routes to users, telephone services, and applications
• Providing SIP/Skype telephone service management
• Router management (networking, port forwarding, DNS, DHCP)

“Jazinga’s products consistently ensure call integrity by integrating quality of service and prioritizing voice traffic on the network into an affordable, simple product,” said In Store Solutions COO Craig Smith. “There was no question that FREETALK wanted to partner with Jazinga to develop the FREETALK Connect, because it continues our goal of working with the best providers to distribute outstanding products around the world.”

“FREETALK Connect is designed for small businesses with between 2 and 49 users, an undersold market that desperately needs UC functionality,” said Randy Busch, CEO of Jazinga Inc. “As a result of our partnership with In Store Solutions, the telecom technology playing field is much more level between larger enterprises and their smaller competitors.”

In terms of the technology within FREETALK Connect it incorporates both Skype for SIP and Skype for Asterisk to provide an optimum level of Skype-based services but at the same time providing inbound calling flexibility and optimizing outbound calling expenses, all combined with the call integrity features quoted above.

FREETALK Connect will requires users to have a Skype for Business account, available through the Skype Business Control Panel, associated with each unit. More on this aspect of FREETALK Connect is the subject of a future post.

Bottom line: Targeted at small businesses with 2 to 25 employees and/or business partners with its wide range of inbound and outbound calling options, an attractive price point, incorporation of Skype for Business infrastructure and the ability to self-configure via wizards, FREETALK Connect represents a game changer in the small business communications market. Lots more will be written about this product as the applications experiences evolve.

¹In this situation I could not have the Skype client answering option since I was using my Skype account to originate the call.

Full disclosure: In Store Solutions has become a client of Denali InterConneXions, publisher of Voice On The Web, building on the author’s previous business development experience with establishing partnerships that can assist with the promotion of a primary vendor’s offerings. A more complete statement will follow shortly.

Other posts:

Saunderslog: FREETALK Connect, the worlds first Skype-enabled Unified Communications system.

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The DECT 6.0-compliant RTX 3088 Dualphone allows North American consumers to continue to use their legacy PSTN phone service while seamlessly incorporating Skype into their routine “home phone” activities. And it’s one reason why you will see those Skype Mood Messages that say “Using Skype without my computer”.

Over the years we have become used to grabbing a phone, “dialling” a number and start talking. It’s a simple algorithm – every phone user is familiar with it. Over the past couple of decades supplementary services such as voice mail, call forwarding and call waiting have become all too common. More recently, if you walk down the phone aisle of North American retailers selling cordless phones, you’ll see the term DECT 6.0 prominent on the phone packaging and promotional collateral.

So how can one “just add Skype” calling to this most familiar consumer calling experience?

With a few years of using Skype and evaluating a range of VoIP phones, the criteria I have come up with include:

• Just pick up the phone handset and initiate a call using a habitual calling process
• Use the familiar 12-key touchtone dial pad
• Continue availability of all the legacy PSTN service provider services such as voice mail, call forwarding and call display
• Employ cordless phones’ crystal clear, interference-free DECT 6.0 protocol
• Add Skype without using a PC
• Add an option to select either a PSTN (landline or mobile) call or a Skype call when you hit the “Call” button
• Use Skype for both free Skype-to-Skype calls and SkypeOut calls at low Skype calling plan rates
• Provide access to a directory that includes both Skype contacts and PSTN contacts
• Provide access to Skype services such as Skype voice mail and contact status

Over the past three years several Skype partners offered cordless phone hardware that met this criteria. One of the veteran vendors has been RTX with their various USB phones and cordless Dualphone offerings. Recently RTX approached In Store Solutions as a recommended distribution channel; they concluded an agreement for worldwide distribution of their 3088 Dualphone via the In Store Shop on the Skype Store.

However, expanding sales into North America required adaption of the DualPhone to not only a North American approved power plug but also the North American rf channels available for DECT, known by the term DECT 6.0, which provides the audio connection between the base station and handsets on the majority of cordless phone packages sold today.

The RTX 3088 Dualphone includes many standard phone features such as handset speakerphone, 2.5 mm headset jack along with a standard 12-key dial pad. The starter package includes:

• Base station for connection to both a PSTN line (RJ-11 jack) and an Ethernet connection (RJ-45 jack) back to the home cable or DSL router
• A cordless handset, with a belt clip, connected to the base station using the crystal clear, interference-free DECT 6.0 standard for cordless home phones.
• Ethernet cable and phone cable
• Up to 50 meter indoor range, 300 m outdoor range
• Charging cradle, along with AAA rechargeable batteries.

Additional features to support Skype include:

• Color LCD screen
• Embedded Skype firmware that takes advantage of several Skype features: free Skype-to-Skype calling, SkypeOut calling, voicemail, call history and, for Skype contacts, status
• Contact list for both Skype and landline/mobile with automatic updates via a Skype account
• Add up to three additional optional handsets that facilitate:
  • intercom connection between handsets
  • concurrent Skype call while another handset is on either a PSTN call or another Skype call

Over the past two years I have been using another brand of cordless PSTN/Skype phone that is no longer available due to supplier issues. However, because it has almost identical firmware, it gave me the user experience with such a phone with the following comments and recommendations:

• Use a separate Skype account from any account you may be using for, say, business or personal privacy reasons. You don’t want the rest of your family or roommates answering your private business or personal calls.
• When placing a call you have the option to select either Landline or Skype
• SkypeOut availability takes advantage of Skype’s low cost rates or calling plan subscriptions to almost every country worldwide.
• It’s also smart enough for dealing with the North American area codes where one may or may not need the “1”  to place a call within or across area codes (Toronto region’s four area codes with two overlays, yet varying local calling reach, is an ideal example of this).
• DECT 6.0 certainly delivers on the interference-free, crystal clear voice quality
• Having the Call History and Skype directory for both PSTN and Skype calls are perhaps the most useful features, aside from the free Skype-to-Skype calls
• Have four handsets in various locations around the house without worrying about wall jacks to the wiring is definitely a benefit.
• With its own embedded “computer”, its operation over Skype is totally independent of call disruption from other programs running on a PC, such as Outlook.
• The base station’s portability has been a useful feature when diagnosing problems with my Rogers Home Phone cable modem (different from the Internet cable modem) and its one wired connection required to a central location in the house. Service can continue by placing the base station at the modem site while problems are diagnosed and the wiring is repaired.
• It eliminated the need to repair the home phone wiring setup (beyond the base station connection) when lightning went through some devices in my home last summer.

The RTX Dualphone for North America is available via the In Store Solutions Shop on the U.S. Skype store (with introductory promotional pricing of US$149.99 until December 14). It will be available soon on the Canadian Skype Store.

Bottom line: if you’re looking for a way to have you entire household on both your local PSTN service and Skype through a single handset, the RTX Dualphone provides a user friendly, easy-to-install solution. From up to four locations within your house or apartment, it supports both local PSTN and worldwide Skype calling at a very low overall cost.

Review: The Luxury Cordless DualPhone (Dualphone 3088) For Skype Voice Internet Calls!

Full disclosure: In Store Solutions has become a client of Denali InterConneXions, publisher of Voice On The Web, building on the author’s previous business development experience with establishing partnerships that can assist with the promotion of a primary vendor’s offerings. A more complete statement will follow shortly.

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