Fring Challenges Skype With $0.01 Per Minute VoIP Calls

The mobile voice over IP (VoIP) service Fring now allows its users to make phone calls to land line and cell phone numbers anywhere in the world with prices starting at one cent per minute. Not all calls will be that cheap. Calls to Canada start at 0.4 cents per minute, and calls to India start at 1.1 cents, for example. But it’s more competition in a very small space currently dominated by Skype and to a lesser extent Google Voice.

You used to be able to make Skype calls using the Fringapplications for mobile phones like the iPhone and Android devices, but following the launch of the iPhone 4, Skype and Fring got in a bit of a scuffle and Fring users were left in the cold — no Skype access.

Rather than bridge the gap between the two services, Fring has opted to launch its own service to connect its users with outside phone lines. That service is called fringOut, and it’s hard to miss that it sounds a lot like Skype’s own service for that purpose, SkypeOut.

FringOut works on Nokia phones right now and iPhone and Android support are coming in the near future, according to Fring’s press release. The release doesn’t give a detailed breakdown of costs, but there’s a rate calculator at the Fring website.

If you have a Nokia phone, give it a shot and let us know how it works. If not, hey, at least Fring provided a dorky, silent film-inspired video to keep you distracted while you wait for fringOut to show up on your platform of choice! Watch below.

[via mashable]

Posted in: Fring,Skype