Long Distance Phone Calls

Long time ago Skype had made a breakthrough in turning our computer to a phone (kind of) where we can make long distance calls directly from our computer. This is made possible thanks to hard work and perseverance shown by the Skype team. However, the technology has also ignited more needs from the end users; they need higher quality and low cost long distance calls when making long distance calls from their PC. Users have also demanded to have the ability to send and reply to global text messages at lower rates and the breeze to organize their global contact list.

We all hate hidden costs and hidden charges. I do. I do not like it at all the moment I realize that something is not right and when I can undesirably see my money being sucked out from my account. In other words, I just can’t stand to continuously pay expensive long distance call rates. I want a connection that is cheap; cheaper call rate and cheaper text messages. Perhaps in the future when we can easily send picture messaging (MMS) from our mobile phone using our PC, I want the charges to be really cheap. I want the product to be a cheap one in terms of the price but not the quality of the service. I do not want to sacrifice high call quality for low long distance rates. I want both of them.

The question is – can I get both of them? Can I get a high quality long distance call and at the same time enjoy low call rates?

Yes I can. I found Tabrio.

I can go ahead and straight away tell you guys the benefits of using this software but I rather not doing so. Sure I could be rambling about the product for up to three or four pages. I think that it will be better if you try it on your own first. Don’t listen to anyone cheering for the product anywhere either in forums or blogs. They are selling the product, and as a seller of a long distance call software like Tabrio, you just can’t blame them. You will do the same if you become one of them.

Technically, there is no software involved to use this product to start making long distance calls directly from your computer. The software is in the browser, and I think it will be better if I call it application. You don’t even have to pay for any sign up fee when you register your mobile phone to Tabrio. The best part here is the mobile solution service provider is giving away free ten minutes of long distance calls and that is just somehow a cool way to start using the product. You can also opt not to take the free ten minutes of long distance calling, you can instead take up the other option where you can send five free text messages.

I read somewhere on the net about how mobile phone service providers are gaining silly amount of cash flowing in. Think about it for a minute; a text message is basically a really tiny amount of data where it only contains up to 160 characters per message or maybe fewer. If we convert this data into kilobytes, we will get only a 1KB size of data. Try that using your notepad and just type in 160 characters without any space. Well, just for your information in case you don’t know, actually one character or space equals to one byte.

So if you send a text message (SMS) that is fewer than 160 characters or exactly 160 characters to someone else, you will be charged according to the respected charge imposed by the mobile phone service provider. If you use Maxis Hotlink, one SMS is charged only one cent whenever you send it to any of your Maxis Activ10 numbers. In the US though, the charge to send a short text message can go from ten cents up to twenty five cents. Now, since you have known much about this, would you still be paying a cent for a short text message that is only 160 bytes? If you are from California, would you pay ten cents now to send a text message?

Mobile phone carriers are making billions from this text messaging business without us realizing it. They are making more money than what a post service can get. Snail mail would be a cheaper solution since you can send out pages of letter containing millions of characters and yet you only pay for the stamp and the envelope. SMS? We are paying more than what we deserved. We are being overcharged. It’s like buying an umbrella during rainy season where the price is slightly higher than other seasons.

All right, enough said about all this text messaging cost. No matter what your opinions are, it is again all up to you. It’s your call. It’s your message. Now let’s go back to this Tabrio service. This product is actually a mobile and online web application where you can use it to directly make low cost long distance calls, low-cost text messaging (SMS), and also instant messaging. It is a complete communication platform where you can manage your daily routine, using both desktop and web applications that are mobile-like. From what I understand the product is currently undergoing a serious upgrade where in the future it might also serves as a search engine.

What is so unique about this long distance calling application? I’ll say that it is the rates. The rates are just super-duper low. Either long distance calls or simply a global two-way text messaging, you just can’t deny the low rates offered. What is more important is you will also get a high quality long distance call. No BS. Depending on where you are calling and which destination you are calling to, the standard international dialing rules apply as well as local phone charges.

When you use this long distance calling application, you will only be billed when the call has been initiated. Signing up is a breeze as it only take one single step. Take a while to think about it; have you ever rush out from your house only to realize that you have left out your mobile phone at home? And the worse part is you need to make an important call to someone but the phone number is only available in your very mobile phone? Well, this product simply solve that problem to keep you connected with anyone anytime anywhere without spending hours just because you want to synchronize all of your important contacts.

There are basically five products offered by Tabrio:

- Tabrio desktop – allows you to add, edit, and delete contacts. You can also add more calling locations, make calls as well as sending and receiving global text messages or SMS.

- Tabrio Outlook Sync – you can synchronize all of your Ms Outlook 2007 contacts to Tabrio in only one easy step. You can have the numbers that you need whenever and wherever you need them.

- Tabrio Web Online – this is perhaps the quickest way to make your long distance calls where the application is web-based and you just don’t have to install anything on your computer.

- Tabrio Mobile – this application allows you to text Tabrio to your local Tabrio number. You can start making calls and sending international text messages to anyone at low costs without being near a computer.

- Tabrio Mobile Web – as a mobile web user, you can just hit browse on your cell phone and enter an address given by Tabrio to try access the application.

How does this product work though?

Simple, you can just tell the product what is your mobile phone number and which number that you would like to call or text, and the application will do the rest of the job. This is due to the fact that it uses both the internet and regular phone lines to place calls and send text messages, therefore the low cost of internet calls and at the same time you will still enjoy great and high quality call you expect from a regular phone call. In other words, this product helps you to forget the hassle to make long distance calls and worrying about not hearing anything being said by the other person on the line. You don’t have to worry about the cost as well.

When I say long distance calls, I really am meant it. However, currently the capability of making low cost long distance calls and low cost text messages to or from any country is only available for few countries including Cuba, Egypt, Iraq, and North Korea. Sorry guys, so if you are from the US and wanted to make long distance calls to other countries, you might have to search for other products. Or maybe you can stick with Skype if you already have one.

There’s an exception to this rules though. Let say for instance you are leaving the country where you resided, say the US, and you are traveling for business purposes or maybe just a vacation. You can still use Tabrio for making long distance calls and texting no matter where you are and eventually save a huge sum of money on all your long distance calls. However, keep in mind that roaming charges from your mobile carrier may still be applied.

Using this application is definitely a breeze for you since you can use it for global text messaging or SMS. You can also have the text messages sent via the application replies to be sent directly to your mobile phone. However, since you are sending the text messages using your computer or PC, the text messages replies by default will be received through the application as well. Consider this application as the first service of its kind to offer true, two-way text messaging. Depending on which application you choose, for example if you use Tabrio Mobile, text messages sent will be delivered directly to your mobile phone, just like any other normal SMS. If you Tabrio Desktop, instead of being delivered to your mobile phone, the text messages replies will pop up in the conversation window you used to send the initial message. This is just something like when you use instant messaging.

Have you ever encountered times when you accidently deleted call histories and text messages histories that you wish to keep for future reference? I can see many raised hands out there lol. Well, this apps is surely something that you can use to avoid that circumstances since you can keep details records of your long distance calls and text messages. All these are available for you on your account once login. This ensures that you will never ever lose track again of your calls and you can always look back at all your previous text conversations.

I know for fact that some people are so concern about their privacy and all. I am concern about my privacy too and I wonder whether the mobile phone carriers read our text messages that we sent or received. The same issue arise when using this application; does the company read any of our SMS? Well, they claimed that they save the transcripts of our SMS in our text history and on their secure servers, but these SMSs are not read by any human beings except those you have chose to share them with. That’s a relief, don’t you think so? However, their customer service representatives might read them in rare circumstances when they need to resolve any issue that you raise to them to be resolved.

Same thing applies when it comes to our long distance calls. The company keeps a record of the phone numbers involved for all of our calls on its secure servers; that’s why we can still view our long distance calls history. However, the company does not record or listen to any of our long distance calls conversation. Again, there’s nothing to be worried about and your privacy should be safely guarded.

By now you should have known few good things about this product. I recommend you to try it first at your own risk as my two cents here are is just for educational purposes only. I have no intention to sell the product to you nor do I promote the application. I just feel that this application may be suitable for those who love to try new tech and who knows, if you are among the first users, you might get more benefits from the company in the future. Anything that is as good as this application can go really big if promoted properly and if the service provided is excellent.

If you are looking for ways to resolve communication issues for your small business, you may check out the information about it here. Business mobile phones for small businesses.

Update : I understand that some of visitors to this humble blog of mine are looking for international calling cards. International calling cards is the cheapest solution to your communication needs. I strongly recommend you to check out an offer from this company where you can get $5 off on your first purchase of prepaid calling cards. You may visit the website here at Long Distance Calling Cards website.

Cheers.