5c a minute from anywhere in the world

Trade

A new Irish research project aims to provide telephone users with low cost calls using a laptop or Wi-Fi-enabled phone wherever the wireless internet is available. Metakall theoretically opens up the possibility of using a wireless phone or laptop to make calls through the internet for just a few cents per minute from anywhere in the world, with no other costs involved.

Funded by Enterprise Ireland, the EUR*400,000 Metakall project is being conducted by researchers at the Centre for Telecommunications Value Chain Research (CTVR), based in Trinity College Dublin.

The systems are being developed by CTVR in Dublin, and a patent application has been filed to protect the intellectual property involved.

CTVR director, Professor Donal O’Mahony, explained: “Right now you can make internet-based phone calls, but you have to pay a monthly registration charge to an internet service provider or buy a card in each location. Only then can you use service services like Skype or Vonage, for example. We took the view that those kind of charges don’t make sense for just a phone call, so we’ve developed a system which users are going to like a lot.”

“Metakall uses technology to pay hotspot operators small amounts of cash in real-time. Our software will sit in your laptop or Wi-Fi phone automatically logging you on to the nearest hotspot and paying only as you make your calls. A meter will show how much your call is costing as you talk. The rates will vary, but on average what we are looking at is about 5c a minute.”

Metakall’s software be compatible with Windows XP and Vista, as well as with Windows Mobile, enabling it to run on all laptops as wel as on HP, iPaq and Palm Treo handheld PCs. The CTVR research team is also actively porting its software to the most popular platforms for a number of Wi-Fi telephony handsets, including Linksys, Netgear and others.

“We are in contact with hotspot operators, internet telephony service providers and handset manufacturers. There is growing excitement about the new platform we have created,” said O’Mahony.

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