I remember a friend calling me on VoIP around 15 years ago. The quality was awful, he had to call at least 5 times to get 1 minute of conversation through. 5 years ago, call quality had improved, 8 out of 10 calls were not bad. In the last few years, VoIP call quality has continued to improve to the point where there is almost no difference between quality in VoIP and landlines. I would go even further as to say that the quality of VoIP has surpassed mobile.
But what makes a good call?
Delay
The delay is the time it takes for the person you called to hear you. Usually, the farther the person is, the longer it takes to hear you. Most people on a call have a very bad perception of the delay. Between 0 and 300 milli seconds (0.3 seconds), people will say there is no delay. Between 300 and 450, people will say there is a noticeable delay, but it is not a problem, and estimate the delay at around half a second second. Between 500 and 750, they will say it is at least 1 second, and people start to be annoyed by the delay and can barely use it. Over 750, they will say there is a 2 second delay and the call is not a good experience. Both are constantly interrupting each other, it's hard to get a good flow in the conversation. Delays in VoIP calls can be measured and improved.
Volume
We asked users to rate 50 different call recordings. The most important factor determining their rating was volume. They rated low volume calls low and loud calls higher. That's the main reason we introduced our own volume adjustment recently.
Sound quality
We took the same calls and adjusted their volume to the same level and asked users to rate them again. Now the rating really focused on the quality of the sound. It's strange in this day and age, where TV has gone from HD to 3D that phone calls are just not following the pace. Mobile phone calls are just awful quality. Compression rates are brutal, having a high impact on the quality. Add a few packet loss and calls are sometimes barely audible. Dropped calls are common. People are used to it and don't complain enough. The technology is there to have high quality calls, but the carriers are too busy making profits to change their technology. Eventually, it will change. The change will probably come from VoIP where there is less technological constraints.
VoIP
VoIP calls also have their problems. The most important factor is the internet connection. The phone must have a good Internet connection. Using WiFi, the phone must be near the WiFi antenna and the Internet must not be congested to get quality calls. If the Internet is congested, there will be packet loss (sound glitches) or even worse, no sound at all. On 3G, the same problem can occur, often when the app is used in heavily crowded areas.
At Tribair, we work on all aspects of sound quality. Every phone call is measured. We constantly find our weaknesses and improve them. Since we launched, call quality has improved and will continue to improve drastically over the next few months. Stay posted for more info.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
New Languages
We have just released version 1.2.5 including 5 new languages: Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese and Russian. The response has been almost immediate. We have observed 5 to 10 times more downloads in those countries. The effort will pay for itself within a month.
The experience has been so good that we will release 5 more languages next month. In a similar effort to become a higher quality international solution, we are adding more servers across the world. Having more servers reduces the call latency or the time it takes before you hear what somebody is saying. If that time is too big, then it's hard to know when somebody has finished talking and it becomes difficult to negotiate who has talking priority.
With 14 languages and servers covering all continents, we are quietly becoming an international carrier with nothing to envy to the big telcos. On the other hand, they can only watch us grow and wonder how we can manage to provide calls so much cheaper than them.
The experience has been so good that we will release 5 more languages next month. In a similar effort to become a higher quality international solution, we are adding more servers across the world. Having more servers reduces the call latency or the time it takes before you hear what somebody is saying. If that time is too big, then it's hard to know when somebody has finished talking and it becomes difficult to negotiate who has talking priority.
With 14 languages and servers covering all continents, we are quietly becoming an international carrier with nothing to envy to the big telcos. On the other hand, they can only watch us grow and wonder how we can manage to provide calls so much cheaper than them.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
New web site
You may have noticed we changed our new home page. Our new web site comes with a few changes in our strategy.
We have added a big promotion. You can now get 20% to 33% more credits when you buy on your phone by entering the promo code: WEBPRO
We have removed the revenue sharing with users. They could earn up to 20% if enough users called using their WiFi. It was difficult, almost no users were getting up to 20%. So we decided to give them the money upfront with our promo. The main reason of the change was to concentrate on our main message: free calls and messages between users, 45% cheaper than Skype calls and over 250 000 free WiFi hotspots across the world. The revenue share with users was just a small feature and adding too much noise to our overall offer, media sometimes focused on this feature alone.
Finally, for communities (calling cards, social networks, free WiFi chains, etc.), we are offering a white label solution of our app. We will build an app with your colors and logos for free and share revenue. We have launched a few partners already and more are to come shortly.
Since these changes took place, we have received only positive feedback from everyone because everyone wins.
We have added a big promotion. You can now get 20% to 33% more credits when you buy on your phone by entering the promo code: WEBPRO
We have removed the revenue sharing with users. They could earn up to 20% if enough users called using their WiFi. It was difficult, almost no users were getting up to 20%. So we decided to give them the money upfront with our promo. The main reason of the change was to concentrate on our main message: free calls and messages between users, 45% cheaper than Skype calls and over 250 000 free WiFi hotspots across the world. The revenue share with users was just a small feature and adding too much noise to our overall offer, media sometimes focused on this feature alone.
Finally, for communities (calling cards, social networks, free WiFi chains, etc.), we are offering a white label solution of our app. We will build an app with your colors and logos for free and share revenue. We have launched a few partners already and more are to come shortly.
Since these changes took place, we have received only positive feedback from everyone because everyone wins.
Monday, May 2, 2011
David vs Goliath
How can you sell 45% cheaper than Skype?
Why doesn't Skype just lower their rates?
I get those two questions all the time. Everyone is surprised to learn how low our rates are.
Both questions are related. I started using Skype in 2005. Their rates have not decreased since. Even worse, they added a connection fee in 2007. Skype is not a startup anymore. They have become a giant. They are bigger than all the other VoIP companies combined. They got big because they were competing with the giant telcos with very low rates. But now, in the VoIP world, they have become the giant. Their snowball got too big, it just stopped.
Skype's goal is now to go for an IPO. They won't lower their rates because they cannot afford to. A company that goes for an IPO needs to show steady increases in revenue. They cannot suddenly cut their revenue by 50% to have a successful IPO. Since the people making the decisions are the ones that want to make the big bucks, they will never even consider lowering their rates unless they can prove it will attract more users to compensate. Skype won't lower their rates for exactly the same reasons the big telcos aren't lowering theirs. It's because they are making more money by keeping their rates high even if they do loose a few users.
Tribair represents the next generation in VoIP companies. It's actually the start of a new generation of companies in all sectors of the economy. In the old days, companies were getting bigger and bigger because it was cheaper to do the work in house than to outsource it. Companies like GM became as big and diverse as small countries, offering all kinds of services and producing all kinds of goods having nothing to do with their core business. Big companies are now turning around, as soon as they can outsource something for less money, they do. Companies are now shrinking. Some companies like Coca-Cola don't even produce and bottle their own product, it's all outsourced. They only have marketing left. Where will it stop?
Tribair can offer rates 45% cheaper than Skype because it's smaller and because it takes a much smaller investment to launch an international telco in 2010 than it did a decade earlier. Goods are going to continue to get cheaper, because the Internet makes it cheaper to produce, market and distribute. The new generation of companies can quickly take advantage of the Internet to undersell big companies and quickly gain significant market share. There will be more and more small and aggressive companies, the future will look a lot more diversified.
Why doesn't Skype just lower their rates?
I get those two questions all the time. Everyone is surprised to learn how low our rates are.
Both questions are related. I started using Skype in 2005. Their rates have not decreased since. Even worse, they added a connection fee in 2007. Skype is not a startup anymore. They have become a giant. They are bigger than all the other VoIP companies combined. They got big because they were competing with the giant telcos with very low rates. But now, in the VoIP world, they have become the giant. Their snowball got too big, it just stopped.
Skype's goal is now to go for an IPO. They won't lower their rates because they cannot afford to. A company that goes for an IPO needs to show steady increases in revenue. They cannot suddenly cut their revenue by 50% to have a successful IPO. Since the people making the decisions are the ones that want to make the big bucks, they will never even consider lowering their rates unless they can prove it will attract more users to compensate. Skype won't lower their rates for exactly the same reasons the big telcos aren't lowering theirs. It's because they are making more money by keeping their rates high even if they do loose a few users.
Tribair represents the next generation in VoIP companies. It's actually the start of a new generation of companies in all sectors of the economy. In the old days, companies were getting bigger and bigger because it was cheaper to do the work in house than to outsource it. Companies like GM became as big and diverse as small countries, offering all kinds of services and producing all kinds of goods having nothing to do with their core business. Big companies are now turning around, as soon as they can outsource something for less money, they do. Companies are now shrinking. Some companies like Coca-Cola don't even produce and bottle their own product, it's all outsourced. They only have marketing left. Where will it stop?
Tribair can offer rates 45% cheaper than Skype because it's smaller and because it takes a much smaller investment to launch an international telco in 2010 than it did a decade earlier. Goods are going to continue to get cheaper, because the Internet makes it cheaper to produce, market and distribute. The new generation of companies can quickly take advantage of the Internet to undersell big companies and quickly gain significant market share. There will be more and more small and aggressive companies, the future will look a lot more diversified.
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