Skype vs Jajah

Everyone knows Skype. It's the most popular VoIP (Voice over IP) software for making calls all around the world.



Skype was not the first software of VoIP, actually it's quite young regarding the history of VoIP. I remember trying to place my first call in 1999 using a soft I don't even remember the name (was it Soft2phone). Back then, I was in Douala using a now obsolete 56K connection, the one with the regular phone line+ modem. The quality was awful. That's probably why the concept didn't take off.



Skype was a huge success because it brings normal phone quality at incredible low prices. And comunications between two PCs were free. But PC to PC calls need some kind of synchronisation because the two people have to be in front of a computer with headphones and stay there as long as the communcation last.





But when I arrived here, I found that Skype doesn't fit to my need. Mainly because Skype is prohibited on the campus network. It's mainly because of the bandwith usage. You might not be aware of thaht but Skype use quite a lot of your bandwith even you are not placing any call. If you want to know more on how it works and what are the principles strengths and weaknesses click on this link to Wikipedia (french version here)





So I looked for an alternative, and decided to give a try to Jajah, a service I discovered several weeks ago thanks to fellows at techcrunch
(french version available here).



Jajah is almost perfect for me. First I don't have a micro and I don't want to buy one. This is how it works:

1. You sign-in and enter your phone numbers (mobile, home, work)
   
2. You enter the phone number you wanna call
3.  You wait. 5 second later, your phone ring, you pick up and get connected with your friend.

Can't be simpler. You see the main advantages : no need for a headset, no need for your correspondant to be a user of the service and most important YOU BOTH USE YOUR REGULAR PHONE. That means that once the call has been initiated you don't need to stay in front of your PC.


You gonna laugh when I tell you that Jajah is cheaper than Skype. But it's simply true. And when I say cheaper, I mean it. Call between France and USA/Canada are for example free (if you dont use mobiles; folks don't ask too much)whereas skype charges you 1.7 cts/min.

French people are gonna say that they've already have free calls for europe and north america with Free/Neuf etc. But don't forget that this also works at Work since there's no software to download. It also works with mobile but it's more expensive (nothing to do with what you will be chaged by your regular mobile service provider though).


For me here in Thailand, things are even better. Calls between my cell and home lines in france have a ridiculous 3,5cents/min toll. Compare to the 30cts AIS ( my mobile service provider MSP in short) charges me for every single SMS sent to France and you see what I mean.

But the best part is almost unbelievable. I've discovered that if my correspondant is also a registered Jajah user calls are simply FREE between our home lines. Yeah, you read well it's FREE.

Thailande for some strange reasons is one of the countries in Group A, France is group B so calls between Jajah users is free on home/work lines. It works with basicly every european and north america countries


So if you wanna call me just sigh me, add me to your contact. My user name is tntresor [at] yahoo.fr and leave a comment anywhere on my blog to get my phone numbers.