VoIP Now: VoIP From A Cell Phone With MINO Wireless

August 07, 2006

VoIP From A Cell Phone With MINO Wireless

Dr. Watson? It's MINO. MINO Wireless is a new VoIP service for smartphones and PDAs that have cellular wireless data connections to the Internet. Calling between forty countries is supported, for approximately 2 cents per minute. Besides PSTN phones, MINO works on Java-enabled cell phones, or those with a WAP-based web browser. [via The VoIP Weblog, VoIP Monitor]

Most cell phones/ PDAs that can surf the internet will support WAP. MINO is also carrier-independent, so presumably this service will work for nearly any cell phone or PDA. Right now, they have a couple of promos. For those hesistant to use the service, the software is free and you get a trial of 30 minutes worth of free calls. MINO-to-MINO calls are half-price. If you like the service and refer friends, you'll get US$1.00 for each referral.

As it's my job to test as many services as possible, I signed up. The process is relatively simple, and they seem to support a lot of phone manufacturers. My cellular carrier was not on the list, but the info provided AFTER sign-up shows that GSM phones can download software and CDMA phones can use the WAP site. (This is in fact partially incorrect, as I found out later.)

Since my carrier uses CDMA for the Palm Treo 650 (with 1xEV-DO wireless), I can only report on my experience in that regard. And unfortunately, as seems to be the case every time I try VoIP services on my Treo 650 (CDMA), it didn't work from the WAP browser.

But their website instructions are slightly incorrect (as I found out afterwards). So I went to their regular website, entered a couple of phone numbers I'd be calling from, including Treo's mobile number, then tried a couple of calls. I was finally able to do a PSTN-to-PSTN call successfully, but after several tries, I nearly gave up on involving my Treo in the equation.

Actually, being the stubborn sort that I am, I then sent MINO support an email, and they got back to me nearly immediately. (Thanks to Jim + Ray at MINO for their help.) After a few emails exchanged, MINO Support helped me figure out the right way, at least for my set up.

First, I had to download their Java application and install it to my Treo (despite the signup instructions for CDMA phones). Then, when making a call, I had to wait 30 seconds for the call to connect. What I also had not done is switch my Treo from data to phone mode. Doh!

Finally, using the MINO Java app on my Treo, I punched in the number I was calling and waited until the call connected. Then I switched over to phone mode on my Treo. MINO called me, then dialed my father. Success! I felt like Alexander Graham Bell. Finally, success using VoIP on a mobile device!! I could hear my father clearly, and he could hear me.

In fact, he said that call quality was far better than my previous calls to his landline from Skype. As a result of the call quality, he actually plans to use MINO and some of the other similar services, such as Jajah, for phone2phone long distance use. (Gizmo Project requires that the party you're calling has registered as well, which won't work for him.) However, he's a bit more reluctant to use pc2phone services because he doesn't like the call quality. So to paraphrase a popular candy's catchphrase, quality mobile to phone VoIP calling does exist.

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August 7, 2006 in Services, Software, Wireless | Permalink