Skype competitor Gizmo is rolling out a Flash version of its SIP phone client. GizmoCall works entirely in the browser, much like other Flash-based phones from Ribbit (which was acquired by BT), TringMe, and others. In fact, Gizmo’s in-browser phone comes about a year too late. (But it still beat Skype).
Like Skype, you pay really low rates for calls to regular phones, while PC calls are free. GizmoCall supports video calls as well. And one nice feature is that it can turn any phone number into a link, like this test number.
Gizmo has opened up its APIs for developers to add calling features to their apps compare to the APIs from Ribbit or Ringful). GizmoCall phones are also embeddable:
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whoa.
The voice quality is just horrible. Only one side is able to hear properly. This is not at all a rock solid implementation one would expect and leaves a lot to be desired. I would not recommend it to anyone.
Yes, I’ll pass as well! You can not call it a real Skype competitor!
Whoa! What have we here????
Internet Explorer has a serious security flaw and Microsoft themselves have told the users to use a different browser!
http://vishtecho.blogspot.com/.....in-ie.html
I don’t think this will change the telephony as well.
In order to other voip resource, as saying before in comments by Earthly , there’s echo and bad return of voice sound.
Julien
GDI consultant
http://www.getsomecash.ws
Try Raketu for a browser webphone, I tested it out and use it regularly - very good quality. Raketu has all the features of Skype and Gizmo and more, and is less expensive. Also has video/voice calling from their web, so no download is required - or you can download their client. Also works on my mobile. http://www.Raketu.com
I don’t know a single person who uses a SIP adress. So I couldn’t make a single call for free with Gizmo. Skype on the other is used by half the people I do business with, so I call people around the world for free each day. Not even the people I know who can talk for hours about how great SIP is and how bad Skype use SIP adresses. Sorry Gizmo.
long distance prices are really high!
I call to UK for 2.3 cents/min with no connection charge/no monthly fee and from my phone. These guys offer 4 cent-a-minute calls to UK landlines. That’s not going to help their business.
Exactly - this is why I use Raketu, and it even bridges to my Skype users for voice and IM. The price to the UK is 1.5 cents/min with no connection charge/no monthly fee. And you can get their unlimted calling plan for 7.95 per month with free calling to 46 countries - works for me. I use it on my laptop and mobile.
Nice widget. However, having this in the daily TechCrunch update email today caused a javascript error in Outlook.
Voice quality sux !!! Gizmo is using flashphone’s (flashphone.ru) technology and that explains why the terrible voice quality.
@Erick, the APIs they have are just normal call APIs which every other company in this space has - no Flash APIs. Why so? Because, Gizmo hasn’t really built any technology. You guys should really do some research before putting out such articles which compares there APIs to Ribbit’s Flash APIs which is much more powerful!
Then all the people you know are either too rich, too lazy or too inept to care. SIP addresses are easy to set up between callers and you can choose your own brand from many competitors, some offering free VM and other features Skype charges for. Independent softphone apps like XLite give you QOS options and to choose codec priorities. You should ask yourself how smart your friends really are.
Timmothy. Research? Really good VoIP call quality requires that your home network, devices and IP all have the optimal and compatible settings. Unfortunately this means both end users have to learn how to address their systems weak links. You are wrong about what part of that system makes for good call quality and wrong about Gizmo. I use Gizmo, Vyke and Truphone. All services work flawlessly everytime I use them -3 years now. If they don’t work equally as well for you, then the problem lies within your system/network and not within a Flash API.
DJH, you’ve taken this personally. Haven’t you?
The whole point of a “Browser based phone” - the title of the post - is to simplify the calling experience for any user. Abstracting out complexities - in this case, SIP configuration issues, network settings etc. - makes a product user friendly and appealing. Gizmo seems to have moved onto this bandwagon, but they miserably failed to achieve the quality compared to other providers. You are right about optimized settings for “home network” but it’s not just “home network”, but also “home grown” technology that will help you achieve the results rather than using some unproven provider for it.
My comment to Erick was for his mention about the APIs specifically. Comparing Flash APIs with other (Ringful, Gizmo) APIs undermines the power of a Browser based phone since every Tom, Dick and Harry has a normal click and call APIs which, in my opinion is nothing more than just connecting two calls over telco network and merely using the web to initiate it.
So, DJH, if you can’t carry out an intelligent conversation and think that we all are either too rich, lazy or inept, I suggest you go back to the hole you came out from and keep tinkering with your device/system/network settings.
Timothy,
I’m responding against my better judgement. Whatever sentiments you assumed I was projecting as negative or insulting were not meant as such. The last paragraph you wrote should have been left off your post.
I use VoIP telephony almost exclusively. My first subscription was through Packet8 in 2002 using an ATA device. Since my 2004 purchase of a WiFi enabled mobile phone, I have used SIP protocol services. Quality varies only slightly from provider to provider. I’ve had an occasional bad connection and great connections with discount brands like VoIP Buster. I’ve never had a service which I needed to intelligently label as “Sux”.
That said, web initiated VoIP calling has too many obstacles to overcome. Its messy and once promising growth has halted.
WiFi enabled mobiles, (Nokia N&E’s, iPhone, etc) with platforms which can run VoIP apps have potential. Gizmo5, Truphone, Fring and Vyke are your best bets and all have consistently high call qualities, easy configuration, good feature sets and low rates.
Horrible voice quality. It felt like robot voice and cutting in between throughout the call. Worst to the extent that I could merely recognize my mum’s voice.
Timothy,
Gizmocall is neither flashphone.ru nor red5 based, please research a little bit deeper ;-).
To Aman,
Horrible voice quality caused not by poor flashsip technology, but by poor (cheap) terminating carriers Gizmo5 is using now, most probably to reduce expenses (remember Gizmo5 with Jajah deal). The quality you receive is appropriate to money you paid for it.
Confirm, Gizmo service has nothing to do with flashphone.ru technology. Flashphone.ru is much more advanced one, but because of TCP/IP connection support by flash (until FP10) and servers based in Russia, flashphone can have some issues if you are calling from US. In flashphone you can use any SIP provider you want (gizmo as well) and you can make video calls. Flashphone provides users with CallMe widget feature and it will be upgraded to the new version very soon. Stay tuned.
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