Chicago Sun Times, Illinois USA Sunday, October 21, 2007 MOBIVOX rocks: Phoning Service's 'VoxGirl' power sets you free By HOWARD WOLINSKY hwolinsky@xxxxxxxxxxxx Riding on the Metra south bound, I called an access number in Chicago on the cell phone, and a perky voice -- from a digital assistant -- answered, said hell-o and asked who I wanted to call. I said, "Ted." Moments later, the "VoxGirl," as the digital attendant is known, announced that my free call via Skype, the no- and low-cost online phone service I use for domestic and international long distance, was going through to Ted, a friend and distant relation. Ted lives in Tucson, but as far as this service, MOBIVOX, is concerned, he could just as easily live in London, Rio or Sydney. Ted said before the call went through, he heard a brief announcement that I was calling via MOBIVOX. MOBIVOX is a slick new service that offers free or cheap calling. The calls can be put through to other MOBIVOX subscribers. But wisely, MOBIVOX works with Skype, which has members in the millions. MOBIVOX creates new opportunities for Skype users. With Skype, you're typically tied to your computer. Or possibly you use a special Wi-Fi phone for Skype. MOBIVOX cuts those links. You still need a computer to sign up at mobivox.com, but after that you can use an old-fashioned landline or a cell phone to make computer-free Skype calls. When you register, you list the numbers you typically use so VoxGirl knows who you are. You also provide access to your Skype contact list. To reach the system, you call an access number. MOBIVOX has nearly 400 access numbers in 38 countries, including more than 100 in the United States. I used one in Dublin recently. When I visited Lithuania and Latvia in early September, there were no access numbers, but that has just been remedied. The voice recognition was excellent, though not perfect. I found it worked best when I just mentioned the first name, rather than first and last names of the people I wanted to reach. Should VoxGirl identify more than one potential match, "she" asks before she dials. MOBIVOX suggests that "non-fluent" English speakers use the keypad to punch in numbers. So VoxGirl may have some trouble identifying people if the user has a heavy accent or identifying foreign names in contact lists. Like Skype, MOBIVOX offers the option of conference calling. By pressing the * key, you can have up to nine people in a conference call. If the person you're calling isn't on your MOBIVOX or Skype lists, then you have to pay, typically less than two cents per minute. http://www.mobivox.com/countries/ The only other charge is whatever it costs you to make a call to a local access number. http://www.suntimes.com/business/612784,CST-FIN-tech21.article BlindNews Mailing List Subscribe: BlindNews-Request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" as subject Unsubscribe: BlindNews-Request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" as subject Moderator: BlindNews-Moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Archive: http://GeoffAndWen.com/blind RSS: http://GeoffAndWen.com/BlindNewsRSS.asp More information about RSS feeds will be published shortly.