A new twist on VoIP? - A new Jajah killer and serious Skype competition

Since early 2006 movement has come into the VoIP industry. New VoIP providers are now launching all over the world with each one of them hoping and expecting a share of the ever growing popularity and income stream. At the last count the research company MyVoipProvider had almost 650 VoIP phone providers listed.

This has had one distinct advantage for the consumer - VoIP costs internationally are dropping at an alarming rate. A few VoIP providers in Europe have taken their marketing activities to the extreme by offering free calls to a wide range of up to 50 international destinations. VoipBuster was the pioneer early 2005 and has since then launched a barrage of sister companies offering exactly the same type of service. Time will tell if this "Free VoIP" campaign has any long term merit.

Even in this highly competitive enviroment some companies still manage to stand out of the masses. In mid March 2006 two companies launched, in one case, relaunced their services. Lycos decided that it is time to join the race with the likes of Yahoo and possibly in the very near future Google and MSN. Using Globe7's technology Lycos launced an interesting softphone with a free US phone number, 100 free minutes and an integrated mp3 player and video.

On the other hand Jajah, decided that it is time to quit the traditional VoIP provider race and reinvented themselves as a webactivated VoIP provider.

Nothing new in the market, but with the backing of one of the best known US Venture Capitalists, Sequoia Capital, and some clever marketing they have managed to make some serious inroads into the VoIP industry in a short space of time. Once registered with Jajah, and provided one has access to the internet, Jajah allow the user to enter 2 phone destinations and they will automatically connect the call at reasonably low VoIP rates.

Unbeknown to Jajah and other similar offerings their service, only a few weeks old, is already outdated. Voxalot in Autralia have very quietly launched a new and free service (still in the beta stage), which could spell the end of Jajah and pose some very serious Skype competition.

Offering a twist on webactivated telephony Voxalot allows the user to enter any number of SIP VoIP providers and the user then chooses which VoIP provider will make the connection to any landline, mobile or VoIP phone. They even offer the option for the user to setup his own dialplan.

What are the implications? No VoIP phone, no VoIP adapter and no high speed internet connection is reqiuired. Any internet access will do to connect any two destinations worldwide at dirt cheap prices - the user decides.