I was recently upgraded to a premium account on Jaxtr, the Voip service that lets you make and receive phone calls and text messages without a PC. The company, which has raised US$10 million in Series B funding, recently gave premium memberships that come with voicemail and additional free SMSes to active users.
The calling rates are comparable to what you get from Skype, but with the convenience of a local number that your overseas friends can use to call you without incurring IDD charges. If you’re calling someone overseas, you can request a local number to be assigned or get the service to establish the links by calling both parties.
The local numbers are permanent and are assigned after the first call, which has to be initiated on Jaxtr’s website or through a member’s widgets embedded in blogs, email signatures and social network sites.
Having been out of Singapore for a year, I’ve been depending on services such as these to stay in touch with friends and family. Generally, I’ve been pretty happy with Skype but Jaxtr’s PC-less service, at least after a call is first initiated, is a godsend to my folks who aren’t exactly comfortable in front of the computer. Jaxtr’s quality of service, however, have been inconsistent. There were times when I was unable to connect between the US and Singapore.
Which other Voip services have you been using? Is their quality up to scratch?
Folks, Jaxtr is great, especially now that they have FreeConnect, letting you make free calls between some 50 odd countries. The call quality of free calls is quite mediocre.
I dont know about Jaxtr’s premium subscription call quality. However, you might want to try LocalPhone…again the calls are not tied to a software and you can generate local access numbers to call your people. The rates are competitive. Call quality – Outstanding!
@ limbeer. Just to let you know, jaxtr isn’t tied to a software download. You can use it with any phone.
Hey Aaron, have tested Jajah.com but connection and voice quality was spotty too. Have not found an acceptable quality (at least it should connect consistently when you dial!) VoIP service provider yet – I mean one that has a service that’s not tied to a desktop client/browser.
Hi Aaron. We’re glad you’re enjoying jaxtr’s service. Feel free to shoot me an email with any issues that arise or compliments you’d like to convey to the jaxtr team. Happy talking!