VoIP & Gadget News – Zipring VoIP Phone Service Launches

Erik Lagerway, who has worked at CounterPath (X-lite fame), blogged for TMC, and has other VoIP street creds to his name launched a new venture today called zipring. It kind of reminds me a bit of Google Voice, but I really need to delve into this further and see exactly how this compares. Might even be similar to the new TELTUB service I reviewed yesterday. Anyway, I thought I’d share the news:

Zipring Integrated VoIP Phone Service Launches for Consumers: Works with Every Phone and Mobile Device

Zipring delivers new open standards phone service unlike any other phone on the market

North American consumers can now join the public beta of Zipring—a simple, inexpensive integrated Voice over IP (VoIP) phone service that works with any phone, mobile or Internet device; requires no contract and is free to try.

Unlike other Internet phone applications and devices on the market, Zipring is based on open standards so it can be used with any VoIP software or phone device. Additionally, because Zipring leverages the internet, it can turn any Internet-based device—such as an iPad, iPod Touch, laptop or desktop computer—into a phone and enable users to make and receive calls to that device using their dedicated Zipring phone number.

“Zipring works with any phone on the planet,” said Erik Lagerway, VP and GM of Commercial Communications at Ziplocal, the company behind Zipring. “While we offer a free iPhone app, the beauty of Zipring is that users are not tied to it. They can integrate Zipring directly with any VoIP app or device available to them, unlike Google Voice or Skype, and enjoy zero roaming charges and inexpensive calling without a contract.”

Among its many benefits, Zipring has zero roaming charges and does not require a contract. Zipring features include visual voicemail, call recording, voicemail to email, web-based calling and account management, and no contracts. Its flexibility and open-standards design makes Zipring much more comparable to a traditional or mobile phone service than other Internet phone offerings and applications, but far more versatile and inexpensive.

During private beta stages, driven by word-of-mouth and invitation-only access, Zipring is already in use by over 17,000 people and has more than 25,000 downloads of the iPhone application to date.

“The feedback we’ve received by early adopters to the Zipring beta has been extremely positive,” said Lagerway. “With the purchase and closure of Gizmo by Google, the non-commercialization of Free World Dial Up and the commercial success of Vonage, a huge market remains open—and this is where Zipring comes in.”

How it works:

Get a Zipring phone number nearly anywhere in the US
One Zipring number calls all your other numbers
Turn any smartphone into a free or inexpensive calling phone
Use Zipring’s “follow me” feature to receive calls and access Zipring features on your landline or mobile phone
Change your Zipring caller ID to match any of your existing numbers

Features:

No roaming charges
Free trial (includes outbound calling and SMS) followed by very competitive rates
Record Calls
Voicemail Greetings
Voicemail to Email
SMS Send and Receive
SMS to Email
Share SMS, Voicemail and Recordings
Block Callers

Zipring is latest in a series of new offerings and acquisitions by Ziplocal, a digital advertising and local search company that is quickly establishing itself as an incubator for digital innovation. The launch of Zipring comes on the heels of Ziplocal’s launch of LocaLeads, a pay-for-performance digital advertising platform that distributes hyperlocal advertising content from small and medium size businesses (SMBs) to web and mobile publishers across North America.

Tags: CounterPath, Erik Lagerway, IPhone, mobile voip, voip, zipring
Related tags: phone service, roaming charges, access ipring, voicemail email, phone mobile, ipring