Filed under: Business, Fun, Office
Call for free with Futurephone
Have you heard about Futurephone? It sounds sketchy to me, but everything I've read so far makes it sound like it's legit. Futurephone is a service that allows you to make free international calls on a regular phone. It works by channeling you through an access number in Iowa, of all random places. You call the access number, and then dial the international number you're trying to call, and voila! Free international phone call! (Caveat: calling international mobile phones doesn't work yet.)Unfortunately, I don't know anybody in another country whom I can call. So I haven't personally tried it. I'm still not exactly clear on how it works, or why it's not illegal in some way or another. On the other hand, I'm always a proponent of free services and Sticking It To The Man™, so I figured Futurephone deserved a mention.
[Via Pogue's Posts]
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
joshj said 7:34AM on 10-13-2006
I'm going to call the Netherlands in the morning. I'll let you know how it goes :)
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Jean-Marie VUICHARD said 4:13AM on 10-13-2006
You can try to phone me in France with Futurephone.
My phone number is (33) 4 90 55 23 34
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Fred said 12:13PM on 10-13-2006
Calls to Israel are not working today.
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Danny said 9:00PM on 10-13-2006
it is really free?
does it work correctly?
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Max said 9:00PM on 10-13-2006
I tried to call to Russia. The system does not work. It’s just a big hoax. I am not sure what exactly they are trying to do.
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Ksenia said 9:01PM on 10-13-2006
I just tried to call Russia using this service and it seems working fine.
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raj said 9:01PM on 10-13-2006
See Alec Saunders post (http://saunderslog.com/2006/10/11/whats-with-the-712-area-code/)
Iowa gets USF and other tax subsidies for telecom because of their population size (3Mln). Futurephone and others use the 712 area code, and terminate calls on a long distance carrier. They make a fraction of a cent per minute, so they do profit. However, because of the area code, you probably have to make a long distance call first to get that free international call.
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Rob said 6:31PM on 10-20-2006
The cost of the call to Iowa can be circumvented by using Skype to call Iowa. Skype has made domestic calls free until the end of this year. The last press release I saw indicated they may continue the free domestic service past Dec. 31st.
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hector shedro said 2:01PM on 10-20-2006
We call Argentina all the time without any problems.
and it's free !!!
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martin cruz said 7:24AM on 10-23-2006
I TRIED CALLING MEXICO TODAY (10-22-2006) IT DOESN 'T WORK
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Jaime said 1:55PM on 10-24-2006
I used it to call Saltillo in Mexico and it worked fine. Good quality sound and did not get disconnected or anything like that. And it was free. I am glad to have found this site -telephone number.
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jerome said 2:46PM on 10-26-2006
works fine on fixed line. confirmed they block mobile termination.
calling them through Skype ensures free origination
them through tax subsidy, they actually get a few cents per min of calls.
I am not sure how come they wouldn't pay the fixed termination though (fact they block mobile termination is showing they DO pay termination).i don't think their subsidy is enough to cover country B termination though. the business model is weird to say the least, but they might have found a little loophole based on the arbitrage between subsidies and fixed country B termination rates...
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