Both Barrels Communications Ltd

TV schedules too complex for normal people, say experts – but there is a solution

This year’s Christmas television schedules will leave more people more disappointed than ever, listings experts claimed today – although not, perhaps, for the most obvious of reasons.

The dramatic increase in the number of channels available means that people will actually miss more programmes of interest than ever before– despite many families now using systems such as Sky+ to record programmes when there are viewing clashes or when they’re out.

More than 400 TV channels are now available in the UK, and more than 90% of households now have at least one form of multi-channel digital TV service – digital TV receiver, satellite or cable. Consequently, even though many people try to catch up with popular programmes using services such as Channel 4’s 4oD and BBC’s iPlayer, they will always be fighting a losing battle.

“Planning your TV viewing with any certainty is now beyond people,” said Simon Steward, chief executive of listings technology company Vizimo. “There are so many channels and so many sources that it’s virtually impossible to find and remember all the programmes that you might want to watch so you can plan your day or evening in front of the TV. You’re going to miss stuff you wanted to see, and that’s frustrating, especially at Christmas when there’s a lot of good stuff on.”

However Vizimo – a British technology company – has come up with a solution that will enable all of us to spend more time this Christmas watching programmes we like instead of ‘filler’ that we don’t.

The company has developed software for mobile phones which helps families or individuals to work out how to see everything that they want to watch, eliminating – or at least reducing! – family tensions. Versions include a downloadable, advanced application for Apple’s popular iPhone and iPod touch. Those with a different mobile phone use the service by visiting wap.tioti.com on their handset.

The software displays programme schedules for the week ahead across dozens of channels. Choose the programmes you’re interested in, channel by channel, without having to remember what you’ve chosen. Then, when you’ve explored as many channel listings as you want, choose ‘My TV’ – and the software produces what is, in effect, a personalised TV channel for you, telling you which channel you need to be watching and at what time.

With just a couple of clicks, iPhone and iPod touch users can even programme their Sky+ box to record specific shows, helping to resolve schedule conflicts: watch one channel while recording another. Vizimo’s iPhone and iPod application will programme your Sky+ box over the internet so you can do it from anywhere, anytime – even from holiday abroad.

“It sounds quite clever, and of course it is,” continued Steward. “What it means for everyone is something very simple: we don’t need to worry about what we chose to watch at 8.30pm from the choice of umpteen channels, and we don’t need to worry about missing something we wanted to see, because it’s all worked out and remembered for us.”

iPhone and iPod touch users can download the application, named Tioti TV+, from the App Store for just £1.79. Those with a different mobile can access a free version of the service by visiting wap.tioti.com on their handset.

Both services are available now, ensuring people have plenty of time to get familiar with it ahead of the TV-heavy Christmas holiday period.

[ends]

Links and resources

• Screenshots
• Vizimo web site
• Tioti TV+ for iPhone/iPod touch

About Vizimo
Vizimo is a leader in developing personalisation and discovery technology to help users navigate the overwhelming universe of content on TV, the web and mobile. It works with TV service providers and platform providers, mobile operators and publishers to create innovative solutions to the discovery problem. For more information, visit http://vizimopressoffice.blogspot.com/.

Apple, iPhone and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries.

Truphone now enables an iPod touch to call any mobile or landline: still no SIM, no contract, and very little money

From today people using Truphone’s free application for the iPod touch can make phone calls to ANY mobile or landline in the world, using Wi-Fi hotspots and the internet.

When in a Wi-Fi hotspot, Truphone enables an iPod touch to behave in the same way as a typical mobile phone. Wi-Fi hotspots are commonplace in offices, schools, campuses, at home, and even across entire town and city centres.

Truphone calls to landlines and mobiles cost from just UK£0.03/US$0.06* per minute [UK to China or USA, for example], and the service is available from more than 200 countries – helping people to significantly reduce the cost of Christmas Day phone calls to friends and family.

[ends]

Screenshots: Truphone for iPod touch

Notes to editors

1. Truphone for iPod touch is downloadable, free, from the App Store in the same way as other applications.
2. Once installed, and with the addition of microphone adaptor (Truphone microphone adaptor available soon)*, make free calls from a Wi-Fi hotspot – no matter where you are in the world – from as little as £0.03/$0.06* per minute. See www.truphone.com/pricing for full pricing information.
3. Calls to other iPod touch owners, to another Truphone user and to users of the Google Talk™ instant messaging service are free.
4. The software uses the iPod touch’s Wi-Fi connection to carry calls over the internet to its destination. There is no monthly line rental, no subscription or other hidden charges.
5. Truphone launched an initial version of Truphone for iPod touch on December 4th [announcement].

*Rates correct as of December 15th 2008.

**Microphone adaptor accessory currently available at Apple stores.

Requirements

• A second generation iPod touch (i.e. current model)
• A free download of Truphone for iPod touch
• A headset and microphone like those for the iPhone. These may be bought at high street electronics retailers or from an Apple Store

Making a Truphone call on an iPod touch
This couldn’t be simpler: Truphone displays a virtual keypad for dialling the number.

Links and resources

• Other Truphone pictures
• Truphone videos
• Truphone website

Apple and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc. Google Talk is a trademark of Google Inc. Google Talk is not a telephony service and cannot be used for emergency dialling. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Truphone is a trademark of Software Cellular Network Ltd. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

Also adds inbound and free iPhone-to-iPhone Truphone calls

Global mobile network operator Truphone today added Truphone Anywhere functionality to its iPhone™ application, enabling users to make international calls across the internet for as little as £0.03/$0.06 [UK/Rest of World] per minute even when they’re not connected to the internet. Inbound Truphone calling on the iPhone is also added for the first time, making it possible to enjoy completely free Truphone calls between two iPhones.

Truphone Anywhere works in 33 countries around the world, saving iPhone users from those countries money on international calls made from their home country when not in Wi-Fi. The easy-to-use service works alongside domestic service providers, but reduces international call costs to as little as £0.03/$0.06 [UK/RoW] per minute.

Unlike say, calling card solutions, Truphone Anywhere doesn’t require a user to remember what to do. Whenever an international number is dialled from outside Wi-Fi, Truphone Anywhere simply asks whether he/she wants to make a Truphone call. The user simply accepts, and Truphone connects the call.

The second new key feature – inbound calling for Truphone on the iPhone – works in all countries. Using the new ‘presence’ feature, iPhone users can see which of their other Truphone-using contacts are online, including contacts who also have Truphone on their iPhone. This makes it possible to place, for the first time, a free iPhone-to-iPhone Truphone call.

The new inbound call capability means that iPhone users can avoid inbound call charges – for example, when abroad – provided they are connected to a Wi-Fi network, enabling significant cost savings.

“No-one likes big mobile bills, and they don’t come any bigger than for international calls” said Geraldine Wilson, Truphone’s new CEO. “But for iPhone users, that no longer needs to be the case. They can choose either to pay standard international call rates, or to reduce them to as little as 3 pence or 6 cents per minute. It’s as simple as that, no catches.”

All of the original, great benefits of Truphone for the iPhone still apply:

• Truphone routes calls over the internet whenever possible, saving loads of money both on international calls from a user’s home country and on calls when connected to Wi-Fi abroad
• Truphone routes calls over the internet, so customers don’t need to worry about poor mobile reception. Calls are crystal clear and voice quality is superb from almost any Wi-Fi zone
• no monthly line rental, subscription or other hidden charges. Truphone customers only ever pay for the calls they make. Additional credit is simply purchased online, or an account may be set to top up [refill] automatically when it falls to a certain level
• Truphone is free to download via the iPhone App Store and takes seconds to install. New customers receive £1/$1 [UK/RoW] free calling credit to get them started
• with Truphone’s American Tru Saver bundle, calls within and to the USA and Canada can be as low as 0.75 pence/1.5 cents [UK/RoW] per minute
• calls within and to 40 countries (including UK, Australia, Brazil and most of Europe) are £0.03/$0.06 [UK/RoW] per minute to landlines and £0.15/$0.30 [UK/RoW] per minute to mobiles
• making a Truphone call couldn’t be simpler: open the Truphone application and dial as normal. Truphone uses the iPhone’s own address book.
• Truphone has been enabling iPhone users to make major savings on international calls since July, by routing outbound calls over the internet using Wi-Fi.

[ends]

Notes to editors

1. Truphone Anywhere works by connecting to a local Truphone server, which then connects the long-distance part of the call over the internet. The local connection to Truphone is, typically, free because it uses bundled minutes from the customer’s usual cellular service provider.
2. Truphone Anywhere is designed to save users money when making international calls from their home country. Using the service while abroad may result in higher charges.
3. Truphone Anywhere works using local ‘points of presence’. Truphone has points of presence in 33 countries.

Links and other resources

• Photo: Geraldine Wilson
• Truphone photos (Flickr)
• Truphone website

iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Truphone is a trademark of Software Cellular Network Limited. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

Enabling TV fans both to schedule in the programmes that they like and discover new programmes that they might like, Tioti TV+ from Vizimo went live in the App Store today.

On start-up, Tioti TV+ immediately displays ‘now and next’ information for all UK TV channels. Precisely which channels are displayed is completely customisable; choose to display only those channels available to you according to your TV package, or choose channel-by-channel which ones to display or ‘turn off’.

Opening a particular programme causes the typical listings-style programme information to be displayed. But this is the point at which Tioti TV+ starts to shine.

You can choose to ‘mark’ programmes, then, after perhaps marking multiple programmes across multiple channels, you can select ‘My TV’ – which promptly causes Tioti TV+ to display your personal TV channel, showing which channel to be watching, and when, in order to fit in everything you marked.

If you’re not going to be at home or even if you’re on the other side of the world on holiday then, if you have the Sky+ service, you can use Tioti TV+ for the iPhone to remotely set your Sky box to record any programme with just two clicks, ready for viewing when you get home.

If all of this is insufficient assistance, or you’re bored, then try ‘You may also like…’. This function links to a selection of programmes that are about the same topics as the one you are looking at – so you may, indeed, also like them. Having discovered new programmes in this way, you can mark it or set it to record – and on you go again.

If, in following recommendations, you come across some content available via the BBC’s iPlayer catch-up service, Tioti TV+ also enables you to stream it directly to the handset. with no searching and no messing around.

Why is Tioti TV+ a great app? Not just because it helps us to do, better, something that we’re actually going to do at some point each day anyway, but because the dramatic increase in the number of channels available means that people actually miss more programmes of interest than ever before – despite many families now being able to call on the use of a HDD system to record programmes when there are clashes or when they’re out.

In fact there are now more than 400 TV channels available in the UK, and more than 90% of households now have at least one form of multi-channel digital TV service – digital TV receiver, satellite or cable. Consequently, even though many people try to catch up with popular programmes using services like Channel 4’s 4od and BBC’s iPlayer, they will always be fighting a losing battle.

Simon Steward is chief executive of Vizimo, the developer behind Tioti TV+. He said: “There are so many channels and so many sources that it’s virtually impossible to find and remember all the programmes that you might want to watch so you can plan your day or evening in front of the TV. The situation is made even more complex by catch-up content, which means content from the last seven days is available to us if only we knew where to look. How are we supposed to remember, 20 pages of a listings guide or 20 pages of a website later, what we chose some 300 channels ago for 8.30pm? Now, we – iPhone users at least – don’t have to.”

[ends]

Links and resources

• Screenshots from Tioti TV+ for iPhone
• Vizimo website
• Vizimo press office

About Vizimo
Vizimo is a leader in developing personalisation and discovery technology to help users navigate the overwhelming universe of content on TV, the web and mobile. It works with TV service providers and platform providers, mobile operators and publishers to create innovative solutions to the discovery problem. For more information, visit the Vizimo press office.

# # #

Apple, iPhone and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries.

Make free calls to other iPod touch owners: no SIM, no contract, no money

Described by Apple itself as the ‘funnest’ iPod ever, the iPod touch may now be the ‘useful-est’ too thanks to FREE software – Truphone for iPod touch – that effectively turns one into a mobile phone.

Not only is the software free, but calls made using Truphone’s application for the iPod Touch are also FREE – just in time to save precious cash when making those Christmas calls to friends and family.

Once installed, and with the addition of microphone adaptor (Truphone microphone adaptor available soon)*, an iPod touch owner can make free calls – no matter where any are in the world – to other iPod touch owners, to customers of Truphone’s Internet telephony service, and to users of the Google Talk™ instant messaging service.

Truphone for iPod touch will become a one-stop-shop social hub with the following features coming soon:

• Making and receiving calls to and from landlines (PSTN) at low cost (simply set yourself up with a Truphone account)
• Instant messaging to Skype and MSN (free)
• Calling to Skype users (free)
• Calling to MSN users (free)
• Check and set facilities for Twitter (free)
• Check and set facilities for Facebook (free)

Truphone for iPod touch is easily downloaded from Apple’s App Store in exactly the same way as any other iPod touch application.

The software uses the iPod touch’s Wi-Fi connection to carry calls over the internet to its destination. There is no monthly line rental, no subscription or other hidden charges.

[ends]

*Microphone adaptor accessory currently available at the Apple Store.

Notes to editors

Links and resources

• Truphone for iPod touch: Screenshots
• Other Truphone pictures
• Truphone videos
• Truphone website

Types of FREE call that can be made:

• iPod touch to iPod touch
• iPod touch to Truphone (some Nokia handsets)
• Truphone (same Nokia handsets plus iPhone) to iPod touch
• iPod touch to Google Talk PC user

Requirements:

• A second generation iPod touch (i.e. current model)
• A free download of Truphone for iPod touch
• A headset and microphone like those for the iPhone. These may be bought at high street electronics retailers or from an Apple Store
• Friends also using Truphone!

Making a Truphone call on an iPod touch
This couldn’t be simpler: the Truphone application provides you with a virtual keypad that enables you to make the call.

How it works
Truphone works by routing calls over the Internet through Wi-Fi.

Important information
Truphone is not a replacement for an ordinary telephone service and emergency calls cannot be made using Truphone. Truphone cannot advise on the legality of VoIP [Voice over IP] services in specific territories or jurisdictions. It is the user’s responsibility to confirm that use of the Truphone VoIP software and service is permitted in the location in which they use it.

Apple and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc. Google Talk is a trademark of Google Inc. Google Talk is not a telephony service and cannot be used for emergency dialling. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Truphone is a trademark of Software Cellular Network Ltd. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

Global mobile network operator Truphone today launched a beta of its mobile internet telephony service, Truphone Anywhere, for BlackBerry® smartphones. Truphone Anywhere brings simple, easy and cheap international calling to up to 40 million BlackBerry users across the world.

Truphone Anywhere works in 33 countries worldwide. It saves BlackBerry users from those countries money on the international calls they make from their home country. The service works alongside domestic service providers, but reduces international call costs to as little as £0.03/$0.06 per minute.

Truphone works with the user to save them money. Instead of requiring the user to remember what to do, Truphone Anywhere simply asks whether he/she wants to make a Truphone call whenever an international number is dialled. The user simply accepts, and Truphone connects the call.

“There’s no GSM business tariff that gets close to the prices we can offer BlackBerry users with Truphone for international calling,” said Geraldine Wilson, new CEO of Truphone. “And in these days of financial belt-tightening, businesses are looking at every means of cutting costs, which is an opportunity for us. Truphone is a genuine alternative carrier for international calls, with the potential to reduce annual mobile bills for the largest companies by many millions of dollars,” continued Wilson.

Aaron Simpson is the BlackBerry-using chief executive of Quintessentially, a private members’ club that provides a 24-hour global concierge service and is part of the world’s leading luxury lifestyle group. He stated: “Quintessentially has offices all around the world and, as CEO, I’m in constant contact with all of them. I’ve been using Truphone on my Blackberry and its low call rates have enabled me to make those calls at a fraction of the cost of using my mobile provider.”

In technical terms, Truphone Anywhere works by connecting to a local Truphone server, which then connects the long-distance part of the call over the internet. Because most BlackBerry users are contract customers, the local connection to Truphone is, typically, free because it uses bundled minutes from the customer’s usual cellular service provider.

Truphone for BlackBerry smartphones is available to download for free from www.truphone.com/blackberry. Alternatively, Handango users may also download Truphone from www.handango.com. There are no monthly subscriptions or other charges.

[ends]

The BlackBerry trademark is owned by Research in Motion Limited and is registered in the United states and may be pending registration in other countries. Truphone is a trademark of Software Cellular Network Limited. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

Notes to editors

1. Truphone Anywhere is designed to save users money when making international calls from their home country. Using the service while abroad may result in higher charges.
2. Truphone Anywhere works using local ‘points of presence’. Truphone has points of presence in 33 countries.

Links and other resources

• Photo: Geraldine Wilson
• Pictures: Truphone on the BlackBerry
• Other Truphone photos (Flickr)
• Truphone press office
• Truphone website

Ever tried to call someone on holiday and not got through? Don’t be surprised – according to a survey by mobile experts SIM4travel, 41% of us have binned a call without answering it while on holiday – because we don’t like paying for inbound calls when we’re abroad.

Welsh people are most likely to ignore a call with 50% admitting that they sometimes do, but East Anglians are least likely to bin calls, at 29%.

Even if you get through, don’t expect to chat like you do at home. Almost half your friends will try to hurry you off the phone – probably because they are worried about the bill.

We dislike paying for inbound calls so much that one in seven people who take their mobile with them on holiday never turn it on. “More than half of us are frightened of receiving a huge phone bill when we get home,” said Suk Grewal, marketing director of SIM4travel.

[ends]

Research was carried out on behalf of SIM4travel by the independent market research company BMRB. BMRB interviewed 1000 people aged between 16-64 between August 9th and August 11th.

About SIM4travel
SIM4travel, which commissioned the survey, operates its own Pay As You Go global network. With a SIM4travel international SIM card there are no charges for inbound calls in the EU, and calls home are just 25p per minute. Worldwide, savings of up to 80% are possible in more than 50 countries worldwide. SIM4travel is a trading name of Software Cellular Network Limited. For more information visit the press office.

Stressed on holiday? Perhaps you’re not your usual self.

The high price of using a mobile phone abroad forces many of us to suppress our normal personality and curb our natural instinct to communicate while we’re on holiday, making us anxious and irritable.

UK mobile phone users typically fall into one of four categories: the Text Addict, the Text’N’Talker, the 24/7 Chatterbox and the Emergency Caller. But, as soon as we’re on holiday, many of us are forced out of our natural category in order to cut the cost of our mobile phone habit. Especially for younger people, but by no means exclusively, this means an enforced change from the way that we normally communicate. This can be very stressful and could lead to nervous behaviour not unlike withdrawal symptoms.

Donna Dawson, a psychologist specialising in personality, behaviour and relationships, agrees that the enforced change of something that most people take for granted is stressful: “In particular, people under 30 are the most likely to react very badly to the stress of having to change their communication habits; this is because mobile phones are something with which they have grown up and become used to as an essential part of their lives.”

“The fact that it is merely the ‘extra cost’ that is behind the need to change the habits of a lifetime, does rub salt into the wound. This could quite easily cause mood-swings, sulks, snappiness and tension while abroad – especially on family holidays, where one generation doesn’t necessarily understand the other,” she added.

According to a survey commissioned by SIM4travel, Text’N’Talkers comprise the largest group (36%), followed by the Text Addicts (25%), the 24/7 Chatterboxes (20%) and the Emergency Callers (19%). Once people go abroad, however, the proportion Text’N’Talkers falls by three-quarters to just 9%. The proportion of 24/7 Chatterboxes also more than halves, also to 9%, but interestingly, the proportion of Text Addicts remains stable at 25%. Conversely, the number of Emergency Callers almost triples, to 54%.

And when it comes to the calls or texts that we do answer/make or send from holiday, the type of phone user that we are plays a significant part: 69% of people who are natural 24/7 Chatterboxes are doomed to fight their natural impulses by trying to limit the number of calls they make or answer when on holiday. Only 13% of natural Text’N’Talkers feel able to carry on as normal.

There are also gender differences men are more likely than women to try to limit the amount of calls they answer or make – 61% versus 42%. Women are almost twice as likely to only use text messaging to stay in touch: 47% versus 25%.

Suk Grewal, marketing director of SIM4travel, said: “What I think has happened is that mobile phones are now such a part of our everyday lives, including our holidays, that we’ve all had at least one rotten experience with a terrible bill. The prospect of feeling like that again makes us change our calling habits when we’re abroad – and, like all change, that makes us feel anxious and act out of character as a result.”

Whatever category mobile users fall into, one thing that they are not is aware of easy ways to keep the costs down. Almost half of people who take their mobile abroad – 48% – are unaware that they can buy either an international SIM card or a local SIM card to use while abroad, which would reduce their mobile bill.

SIM4travel, which commissioned the survey, operates its own Pay As You Go global network. With a SIM4travel international SIM card there are no charges for inbound calls in the EU, and calls home are just 25p per minute. Worldwide, savings of up to 80% are possible in more than 50 countries worldwide.

[ends]

Research was carried out on behalf of SIM4travel by the independent market research company BMRB. BMRB interviewed 1000 people aged between 16-64 between August 9th and August 11th.

About SIM4travel
SIM4travel, which commissioned the survey, operates its own Pay As You Go global network. With a SIM4travel international SIM card there are no charges for inbound calls in the EU, and calls home are just 25p per minute. Worldwide, savings of up to 80% are possible in more than 50 countries worldwide. SIM4travel is a trading name of Software Cellular Network Limited. For more information, visit the press office.

Vocal instant messaging now available for the iPhone

‘Push-to-talk’ — the voice equivalent of text messaging (SMS) — has come to the iPhone™ for the first time.

Promised as ‘soon’ when it launched its service for the iPhone on July 29, Palringo has added the vocal instant messaging functionality to its rich messaging application available from Apple’s App Store.

Kerry Ritz, CEO of Palringo, said: “We’ve completed the suite of ways in which people can communicate with each other using an iPhone, adding voice, text-based and picture instant messaging to the standard phone call, SMS and e-mail functionality of the phone. This functionality really adds value to the already-terrific iPhone experience.

“When we launched Palringo for the iPhone, we said that our vocal IM functionality would be added imminently. We’ve kept the promise we made to the thousands and thousands of iPhone users who downloaded Palringo and made us one of the most popular free applications from the App Store,” he added.

The concept of push-to-talk varies in popularity around the world. Currently, in the United States, both Verizon and Sprint are promoting their push-to-talk services as alternatives to each other. However, both of these options lock customers into both a specific device and a specific network.

Palringo does neither of these things, being entirely operator-independent and also working on almost every handset released in the last two years. Most recently the company added RIM’s BlackBerry platform to a list that already includes Windows Mobile, Symbian and Java-based devices from manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung, HTC, HP and Sony Ericsson.

“Some of the big carriers tout their PTT services, but they have the ‘carrier barrier’ limitation of locking their customers into their networks and only the handsets the carriers support,” Ritz said. “That sort of lock-in is a 20th century business model and it doesn’t wash with savvy mobile users today.”

Palringo integrates with several existing popular instant-messaging services: AOL’s AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber and Windows Live Messenger. People can also use Palringo to contact their friends using iChat, Apple’s IM client.

Palringo for the iPhone is free and easy to download and install from Apple’s App Store. There are no hidden costs, catches or other charges.

[ends]

Apple, iPhone, and Apple Store are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries. All other product or service names mentioned in this announcement may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Mobile phone users can now make cheap calls to the USA and Canada for just US$0.015 per minute, from anywhere in the world.

This is the terrific result of global mobile operator Truphone’s first minutes ‘bundle’ – Tru Saver – which offers iPhone and Nokia handset owners 1,000 minutes to the USA and Canada for only US$14.99 per month.

For purposes of comparison:

• UK customers pay UK£7.49 per month for the Tru Saver bundle.
• A UK ‘pay monthly’ iPhone owner making a call to the USA or Canada, with O2’s International Traveller Service option, is charged UK£0.17 per minute. This means that someone making more than 45 minutes of calls to the USA/Canada in a month will be better off with the Tru Saver bundle.
• Without the International Traveller Service option (i.e. a customer on O2’s £30 per month tariff), the otherwise-identical O2 customer is charged UK£0.99 per minute. For this customer, the payback period on the Tru Saver bundle is reduced to a little over seven and a half minutes of calls – offering, effectively, a further 992.5 Tru Saver minutes for free.
• Since the Tru Saver bundle applies for calls to the United States and Canada from anywhere in the world, the payback period for an iPhone user calling these countries while roaming are even shorter – as little as three or four minutes in some cases, giving up to 996 effectively free Tru Saver minutes.

James Tagg, Truphone’s CEO, said, “iPhone and Nokia owners who regularly call North America can purchase Truphone’s bundle to get ‘peace of mind’ pricing of just 1.5 US cents – 0.75 pence – per minute to the USA and Canada from anywhere in the world. People don’t want to calculate precise ‘per minute’ rates, or check tariff websites, or take a paid-for tariff ‘bolt-on’ to get a still-high rate. They simply want to feel comfortable about what they’re going to pay for the call they want to make.”

Truphone carries calls via Wi-Fi and the internet. However, for Nokia handset owners with bundled GSM minutes as part of their GSM operator’s plan, the combination of Truphone’s new bundle with Truphone Anywhere – which enables cheap mobile calls via the internet even when not connected to the Internet – makes possible mobile calls to the USA or Canada at the amazing price of just 1.5 US cents per minute [UK£0.0075 per minute] even when the caller is on the move and outside Wi-Fi.

[ends]

iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries. Truphone is a trademark of Software Cellular Network Limited.