Truphone starts talking to Google

VoIP interoperability a go-go

Mobile VoIP provider Truphone has teamed up with the Google Talk network to offer customers free calls.

Truphone, which works on Symbian handsets (including the E60, E61, E70, and N80ie), offers VoIP calls to other Truphone customers, as well as cheap calls everywhere else, by routing the majority of the call over the internet. By connecting to Google Talk it gains a desktop user-base without risking its business model.

Google Talk is a free service which connects users together but has no capability to route voice calls outside that network, so no billing relationship with users. The two services should complement each other nicely.

Google Talk is already available to users of the Nokia N800, and accessible on Symbian handsets with Fring's free client, but this is the first software formally approved by Google and bearing its logo.

Users still have to pay for data traffic, depending on their tariff, but this is another example of VoIP services coming of age and becoming a real challenge to traditional network operators. ®