An Israeli company hopes to reduce the high-cost of phone calls while traveling.
By ADAM GONNRoaming free(photo credit: Courtesy Cell Buddy)
Israeli start-up Cell Buddy (www.cell-buddy.com) promises international travelers “seamless” cellphone roaming at local call rates. “We have solved the roaming problem,” says CEO Yossi Dagan, promising to eliminate the high costs of cellphone roaming.Cell Buddy offers a holster that fits snugly around your smart phone and contains its own SIM card that transforms your device when abroad into a local phone with a virtual local network SIM. You retain you own number and caller ID.“We send you this device for the iPhone.You put your SIM card inside, close it and you are done,” Dagan says. ”We take a local SIM card, we put it on our server and connect it to your phone so it becomes a local phone,” he says.Inside the holster there is a small modem powered by your phone. It connects to the local cellular network and creates a data channel from the phone to the company’s server.“The moment you arrive at your destination, we identify your location and via this data channel we connect the local SIM card to your phone. Your phone becomes a local phone in that country,” says Dagan.The result is a solution that costs the user no more than a local call, eliminating sky-high roaming charges that are one of the banes of modern travel.But that is not all. Cell Buddy has created a system that enables users to keep their original number and caller ID for incoming and outgoing calls, as well as text messages.People who connect via your phone have no idea you are abroad.“We don’t need any agreements with cellular operators and we don’t need any integration with them,” says Dagan.Cell Buddy owns the new technology that has made the breakthrough possible. They have filed two patents and are planning others.Dagan says the solution is not just cheaper than regular roaming, it is better. The delays caused by latency are much reduced and the sound quality is normal. The company charges normal call rates and earns its revenue by purchasing virtual local numbers in bulk. The patent-pending technology is currently undergoing testing in the US, UK and other markets in a pilot due to end in late 2012.Harel Shattenstein, a technology blogger who specializes in the mobile market, tells The Jerusalem Report that the roaming cellphone business is huge.He says there are a number of Israeli companies trying to find a good solution that will enable them to tap a massive revenue stream. “It’s a huge area and there are so many things that can be done and are being done. It’s not all about how much do I pay per second, it’s about carriers, it’s about users, it’s about SIM cards, it’s about coverage and so many other factors,” says Shattenstein.
Related Tagsiphone
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
