Original PhoneGnome concept still stands alone, after all these years
The PhoneGnome product has evolved a great deal over the last couple of years. In particular, the original concept, the PhoneGnome box, is now only one aspect of the overall PhoneGnome service.
Our original idea was actually fairly simple. It was essentially Skype without a PC. We wanted to create a product that provided users the utility of free pure IP-based calling, but simpler, requiring no computer and using real regular telephone numbers (in particular, the phone number you already have). We also wanted this product to embrace open-standards rather than be based on closed proprietary protocols.
We wanted this product to be so simple, anyone that can use a phone could use it. We wanted it to be easy to setup and to easily fit into retail channels. These criteria drove the development of the original PhoneGnome box in 2004.
And it is still a singularly unique product today, despite a lot of recent media attention for a certain new VoIP product/service to be available in a few months.
The PhoneGnome box can sit on a retail shelf. A customer purchases it, takes it home, hooks it up (connecting it to what they already have – think an answering machine with a LAN port), and in a few minutes, use their existing phone connected to that box to make a free call over the Internet to another PhoneGnome customer, without ever signing up or even visiting any PhoneGnome website or filling out any forms. When a new PhoneGnome is first plugged in, it automatically joins the PhoneGnome community, using the phone number the customer already has. The PhoneGnome box automatically figures out the telephone number the customer has. The customer never even needs to contact PhoneGnome at all. They just pick up the phone and they can call anybody else in the PhoneGnome community, dialing the telephone number they already know for that person. They don’t need to change anything on their existing telephone service.
If that’s all they want to do, they never need to sign-in to a single website (they don’t need a computer at all). If people want to take advantage of additional features, they can create an account on the My PhoneGnome website (it’s free to do so), but with the PhoneGnome box, they do not need to do so if they aren’t interested in any of those features – they can still use PhoneGnome to make and receive free calls. There are no behavior changes required to do so – free calls are automatically delivered via the Internet and other calls are unaffected. When you receive a free call, your phone rings, just like it does for any other call. It really is that simple.
That was our original vision and it is still an exclusive PhoneGnome capability today. We don’t usually blow our own horn like this, but given the recent media attention mentioned above, we felt that some perspective is in order.
July 27th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I found something similar: Fritz!Box which is given away in Germany with your DSL. They don’t have the free calling between PhoneGnome users which is obviously a huge plus. I would rather have most of my contacts in the same system as a free call. Can you differentiate the products in any other way please.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:06 am
I don’t think you read what we said. Can a user take a FRITZ!Box device without ever signing up or creating an “account” with any provider, plug it in, and use it? One never has to get any settings, etc. and program the PhoneGnome box. One simply connects PhoneGnome to their existing phone line (phone service from their phone company, or the output of the box for their VoIP/cable phone service, and it configures itself in a few minutes. The user never enters any data, no IP addresses, no usernames, no passwords, no settings at all. When the PhoneGnome box is finished setting itself up, the user can lift the handset and make a free call to any of millions of regular telephone numbers plus users on many SIP systems by dialing SIP numbers.
As far as we know, FRITZ!Box is like all the rest of the VoIP products, where it must be configured for a given service, either manually or when you order the service from the provider, and you must set up an “account” with said provider.
August 13th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
after all this time, PhoneGnome’s “zeroconf” still seems like magic.
September 18th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
like to know how much is for phone number, what area codes available, how much setup cost, 1st month, any incoming call charges, what SIP devices supported, settings etc, any contracts… … …etc. Nothing listed on your site!!!
September 26th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Never heard of Phone Gnome till tonight, so let me make sure I understand this correctly. I can buy your unit, plug it in to my existing phone line (even if I have phone service through cable?) and call anyone for free or at a discounted rate. For instance I want to call my friends in Mexico and they have a regular land line phone, no internet service, and I can call them for 5.1 cent per minute instead of the 9 cents a minute I have been paying for calling cards? I could also call them on their cell phone with this unit? Thanks for confirming or correcting anything for me.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Melinda,
Yes, you can buy the PhoneGnome box http://www.phonegnome.com/box.html plug it in to your existing phone line (even if you have phone service through cable?) and call anyone, either free or at a discounted rate.
They have a regular land line phone, no internet service, and you can call them in Mexico at the rates shown here: http://www.phonegnome.com/ratecalc.html
You can also call them on their cell phone (again, rates shown on the page referenced above).
September 26th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
User, I don’t think PhoneGnome works the way you think it works. You are expecting it to be like Vonage or whatever. It is not. As our headline says “PhoneGnome doesn’t replace home phone service – It just makes it better!”
It is not a replacement stand-alone phone service. It augments an existing service with new capabilities, including free calls, discounted calls, and things like voicemail to email and on-line call logs.
It doesn’t have monthly fees.