According to VoIP and IM provider Gizmo, approximately 11% of landline and mobile telephones in the US are connected to a VoIP network somewhere along the carrier path. Thanks to a relatively new addition to Gizmo’s catalog of services, if you’re lucky enough to have any of your numbers fall into that 11% you can be called for free from anywhere in the world. The project page also includes a search box that allows you to quickly and easily determine whether or not a given phone number is eligible for backdoor dialing. Making use of the service is quite easy; just download the Gizmo5 to your PC / Mac / Linux computer and preface backdoor calls with 0101. The call will be absolutely free for both the caller and the recipient, and Gizmo claims that bypassing the PSTN leg of a connection will sometimes result in even better call quality than standard calling. Once you receive a backdoor call, you can also use the number displayed on caller ID to call back the Gizmo user any time for free! Perhaps the best part of the service is that it’s not tethered to the PC application. Users with compatible Nokia handsets can place backdoor calls using the Gizmo S60 app. In fact, Gizmo supports SIP so you should be able to setup your Gizmo account in any mobile or computer-based SIP client and enjoy backdoor calling. Gizmo states that their backdoor dialing program is experimental but good response might coax them into not only maintaining the service, but also broadening the scope. Definitely check it out; there’s no calling like free calling.

[Via atmaspheric endeavors]

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It’s safe to say that this is not Vonage’s year. First, the company gets bopped with lawsuits from Sprint and Verizon. Sounds bad, right? Yeah. Could it get any worse? Yeah. AT&T has just announced that they will be bringing suit against the beleaguered VoIP company. Claiming that Vonage has violated a single patent relating to internet telephony access, the company said that the recent lawsuits by Verizon and Sprint forced their hand. AT&T has apparently been attempting to reach an out of court settlement for the last two years, but has been unable to come to any sort of mutual agreement. Vonage, for their part, has expressed a desire to remain at the bargaining table. Of course they would…it’s unclear exactly how much AT&T is asking for, but we’re guessing it will be on par with the recent demands from Verizon and Sprint. Sorry, Vonage. We used to love you, too.

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It seems that Skype wasn’t too happy with eBay’s recent recent vote of no-confidence. The company’s co-founder has shot back at eBay, defending Skype’s value and market position. The statement comes on the heels of eBay’s recent admission that they were going to down-value Skype by $1.4 million. Niklas Zennstrom, the Skype’s co-founder and current nonexecutive chairman, has stepped up to the plate to defend his brain child, stating clearly that while the company may have been slightly over valued, its relevance and usefulness are still of great value to eBay. He goes on to point out that while eBay may be taking a bit of a hit, there’s no other consumer-level VoIP software that rivals Skype’s market penetration. He did concede, however, that Skype may have tried to monetize a bit too quickly, and could have benefited from waiting just a bit longer to throw their hat in the "for profit" ring.

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Vonage, one of the country’s biggest VoIP companies has been ordered to pay Sprint at least $69.5 million in fines and restitution. The judgement, handed down by a Federal Court judge references 6 major copyright infringements. Sprint, as the original owner of the aforementioned copyrights is entitled to immediate payment for damages already inflicted, as well as 5% of any future revenue that Vonage generates. We’re not accountants over here, but that’s a pretty significant portion of future profits. This settlement comes on the heels of a ruling earlier this year, granting Verizon a similar deal. Things aren’t looking so good for Vonage at the moment, now, are they?

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Remember Skype? In these days of carrier supported UMA calling, it’s easy to forget the software that started craze and brought VoIP to the masses. Sure, it had been done before, and it has since been done better, but Skype will always hold a special place in our docks and Start menus. Buffalo has been one of Skype’s biggest hardware partners, recently releasing a Wi-Fi phone that pairs seamlessly with Skype’s software. It’s a decent looking handset, leaps and bounds ahead of the fugly Skype phones of yore, though it’s no beauty by any stretch of the imagination. Looks aside, however, there are a couple of problems for anyone looking to swoop one of these suckers. First off, this thing is Japan only. Not tight. Second, if you do manage to import a handset or two into our fine country, you might have some trouble configuring to work with domestic hotspots. It’s paired out of the box with Japan’s network of 5,400 FREESPOT public Wi-Fi hot spots. Such a shame. Perhaps we’ll see an American variant at some point, though we certainly wouldn’t hold out breath.

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