Welcome to the Australian fring Blog!
We are pretty excited about fring setting up an Australian presence to talk with their down-under patrons. So, add the Aussie fring Blog to your RSS reader to keep up to date with all the great stuff you can do with fring in Australia and whilst travelling overseas.We will be posting updates on the Australian fring Blog about newly released features of fring and new mobile devices you can use fring with.
This Blog is for you to tell us about your experiences with using fring. We want to hear about the cool ways you have used fring and what great places you can fring from. Know a good cafe with cheap WiFi? or found a really cool 3G data plan to use fring with? Then let us know so we can tell everyone else.My name is Shane and I’ll be holding the reigns for the Australian fring Blog. I’ve been living & working in Australia most of my life and am looking forward to talking with you all about how fring is the best mobile application for Australian mobile users.
fring is a free mVoIP (mobile Voice over Internet Protocol) service that allows users to make free calls over mobile & Wi-Fi networks. fring facilitates calls and “chat” to other contacts’ PC-based VoIP applications or directly to their landline or mobile phones using fring, Skype, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger (MSN) and hundreds of SIP applications.
fring uses 3G, GPRS, EDGE & Wi-Fi over mobile phone networks.
Head over to http://www.fringcall.com/download/ and install fring in three easy steps to fring an Aussie friend now!
Posted by Shane.
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[...] oh yeah. Spagna: olè. Francia: oh ouì. E Australia: oh yeah di [...]
Pingback by blog.fring.it » Welcome, Bienvenue, Bienvenidos… — June 12, 2007 #
Welcome to Oz Fring. We’ve been waiting a long time waiting for something like this.
I’m still trying to get my head around all this. I think I understand the basics. I have two issues.
First. Wi-Fi. It may sound like a dumb question but I’m not sure if my phone has built in Wi-Fi or not. I’ve got a Nokia 6680. I have scrambled around the web trying to resolve the question without success. It would be cool to have a Wi-fi enabled phone working off my home wireless network so I could Fring / Skype my friends and family overseas without having to turn my PC on. That’s what I want to get to. Can Fring make this possible?
I’m hoping there is some kind of Wi-Fi add on kit I could get for my 6680 if it can’t do it natively.
Second. Cost of data services. I haven’t used data services on my phone that much. I have set up a Google / Gmail connection and that’s about it. Understanding what the telcos are really charging for say GPRS data service is a science in itself. I have always been unpleasantly surprised by data service charges in Australia once my bill comes in.
Here is what I have been able to discover about GPRS charges from a helpful Telstra representative.
“2G has a 25 cent (AUD) flag fall for each connection. From then on it’s 2.2 cents per KByte for upload or download. That’s about $22 per MB.
3G has a 25 cent (AUD) flag fall for each connection. From then on it’s 1.5 cents per KByte for upload or download. That’s about $15 per MB.”
Okay. Now do we have any idea what the typical bandwidth consumed by a Fring text chat message or a Fring data GPRS voice call would be?
To try to figure this I did some googling and discovered the following discussion on “Data Transfer Rate in MB per SkypeOut Call”. See here for source. They talk about two different approaches Skype uses when transmitting data on the internet.
“Measured with Netstat Live (http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/nsl.htm)
the bandwidth consumption is:
iSAC -> 6,4 (6.4) kilobytes per second = 51,2 kbits/sec
iLBC -> 3,7 (3.7) kilobytes per second = 29,6 kbits/sec
So for iLBC we have this:
upload 3.7KBytes + download 3.7KBytes = 7.4KB/sec
7.4 x 60sec = 444KB/min x10min = 4440 : 1024 =4.33MB i.e.
10 min = 4.33MB of bandwidth trafic with iLBC
60 min = 25.98MB”
10 minutes at 4.33 MB at $22 per MB amounts to over $90 a call. Ouch!! Double ouch!!
Now I have probably made some sort of dumb error here. I make them often. Here’s my question. “Does my assumption that a 10 minute Fring Voice Call would consume 4.33 MB of bandwidth make sense?”
Comment by Tim Gillin — June 15, 2007 #
Hi Tim!
First, unfortunately your Nokia 6680 does not have Wi-Fi from what I see (http://europe.nokia.com/A4142053).
Secondly, if you are being charged a “flag fall” for a 3G data connection then you are with the wrong network.
3G data is quite different to 2.5G data connections as 3G is an always on network connection. So you shouldn’t be charged for connecting every time, just for the data used.
Thirdly, I have no idea on how much data Skype is using, but fifteen minutes of live talk time on fring will typically use 1 MB.
regards,
Shane
Comment by Shane — June 17, 2007 #
Tim Gillin, I am almost positive the 6680 doesn’t have WiFi, nor is there (to my knowledge) any kind of WiFi plugin kit (unless your phone takes SDcards, I know there are WiFi SD sets but I beleive your phone is Nokia Series 40 and most likely would have trouble talking to it. I have a Nokia E65 and can do exactly what you are thinking about in your first question.
And secondly, I’m with vodafone, I get charged (apparently) one dollar for every 5 minutes of 3G access. This words out cheaper then using regular calls as long as you note the ‘blocks’ of 5 minute usage you are using, although take this with a grain of salt as I never use data on my phone (seeing as I have internet access at work and home, and im not in that much of a rush).
But definately your first question is spot on, I prefer to use fring to Skype my friends from the loungeroom, instead of picking up the home phone or heading to a PC. Pity data is so expensive here in oz or I’d use fring a lot more.
Comment by phil — June 17, 2007 #
Beat me to a reply!
Comment by phil — June 17, 2007 #
Thanks Shane. I am investigating 3G plans at present. It would be cool if someone came up with a Wi-Fi add on unit for Nokia phones. there is probably a large enough market of older Nokia handset / Symbian OS phones to make it worthwhile. To get an external wifi card for a PC is fairly cheap but to upgrade to a wifi compatible cell phone still hurts.
Comment by Tim Gillin — June 18, 2007 #
Are you guys recruiting in Australia?
Comment by Tim Gillin — June 18, 2007 #
Hi Shane,
I added Fring to my Nokia N91 yesterday and I love it so far.
My best friend went overseas recently and uses skype alot, I was reluctant to get into skype as I didn’t want to have to buy a compatible headset/microphoe for calling. This is the perfect solution, and I wish I had known about it sooner.
Haven’t made any VoIP calls as yet, it’s only been a day and I’m still learning, but have been messaging lots. I love it that you can use it with WI-FI (I’ve only just set up wireless at home). I took the sim out of my phone and was amazed that I could still use it, brilliant stuff.
Once I’m up with VoIP calls, I’ll be using it frequently.
I hope ‘Fring’ takes off in Australia as wifi mobile handsets become more common place. I’m certainly going to let my friends know about it.
Cheers
Amelia
Comment by Amelia — June 20, 2007 #
Amelia,
great to hear you love fring! I talk to some of the guys from fring in Israel regularly with fring and you can easily forget you are using mobile VoIP as the calls are damn impressive.
Shane
Comment by Shane — June 20, 2007 #
Tim,
not hiring in Australia yet, but watch this Blog as this is where we will let you know!
Shane
Comment by Shane — June 20, 2007 #
I’ve got the best of both worlds - an affordable 3G data plan (100mb for $12/month) + connection to SIP (voip carrier) that lets me make 1200mins of FREE local calls (some mobile) to more than 44 countries each month (includes Australia). Who needs costly phone carriers that charge 30c per 30secs + flagfalls ???
Comment by Eric Chan — December 10, 2007 #
Question for Eric:
what you mentioned sounds very interesting. I’m in th e process of looking for 3G provider/plan for phone calls + data. I assume you must be on just a broadband plan with someone. Which company is it? And how does the SIP thing work? Are you charged for that? How do you receive calls? And how do you make calls?
Cheers,Milan
Comment by Milan Durovic — January 8, 2008 #