Gold Coast telco gotalk has launched it's offensive in the growing Australian VoIP market with the introduction of the $14.95 Aussie Pack, which according to the company is the only VoIP provider in Australia to offer free mobile calls as part of a VoIP plan.
Calls are subject to gotalk's 'fair use' policy which allows free 300 local and national calls, and 100 mobile calls, or 1000 mobile minutes per month, said gotalk CEO Steve Picton.
"The new plans are not carrier specific; any local, national or mobile call is included."
When a customer signs up with gotalk VoIP they receive an email with their user name and password, along with a PC-based softphone.
The softphone is a virtual telephone program that can only be installed on a single computer.
Users can also request a VoIP telephone number for receiving VoIP calls.
"Once the softphone has been installed, it's simply a matter of entering your login details and using the keypad of the softphone to initiate a call."
Users will require a speaker and a headset with microphone to make calls, or they can purchase an analogue terminal adaptor for around $75-$100 that enables them to use a standard telephone to make VoIP calls.
Picton said that the introduction of gotalk's VoIP plans stem from a belief that the market is looking for plans that do not restrict calls according to network specifics or call type.
"We are usually aware of the mobile network our family and a few close friends are connected to, but for the majority of calls we make, we shouldn't have to know or care about the underlying technology," Picton explained.
"We strongly hold the view that the market should be able to make calls seamlessly and consistently, regardless of the network that the person they are calling is connected to," he added.
Companies such as Google and Skype do offer free VoIP calls, but only to people using the same application.
Others such as engin and Optus charge per minute, or per 30 seconds for VoIP mobile calls.
gotalk offers plans that include call costs charged per minute, but the Aussie Pack offers free local, national and mobile calls.
International calls cost 1.5 cents per minute, and the Aussie Pack also incurs a monthly $14.95 service fee.