Jajah Buttons - It’s Like Having A Free 1-800 Number

VoIP services have been quite a popular bunch as of late, with the promises of inexpensive and often free calls to friends and family. Of course, it goes without saying that the current exceptions are SunRocket, which has now shut its doors, and Vonage, which has been hit wit legal troubles and is now on its last leg.

That is why I found it so refreshing to hear of a new innovative service that is free of charge and devoid of all the loopholes than can run up the cost of services like Skype, which limits free calls to those made to other Skype users. How does a universal, toll-free internet calling service sound?

Jajah, an internet VoIP company, has just unveiled its new Jajah Buttons service that allows people to call you with the click of a button, while also keeping your phone number private. “This allows people who do not own computers to go to any Internet cafe and make a call,” said Trevor Healy, CEO of Jajah. He also mentioned that the service could be beneficial for small businesses “wanting to provide a free contact point for customers service.”

What's most interesting about Jajah Buttons is the ease of use that it provides for both ends of the spectrum, the users who implement it and the visitors who make use of it.

The 'button' (available in 3 formats) is essentially a widget, which users can then easily implement into websites, blogs or social profiles such as MySpace. The buttons are also customizable by color, size, and style). During the setup process users are given several options including the ability to select when you are free to receive calls by selecting which days of the week and what hours of the day. This is also when users must enter their phone number, which is never revealed to anyone else. Jajah then spits out the code, which users must then just copy and paste over to their site.

When a site visitors come across the button, they can contact the person by simply selecting their country (from 122 choices), entering their phone number, and clicking on the 'CALL' button. After this, both party's phones ring and, when answered on both ends, the call is active. Jajah users do have the ability to accept or reject any call or even completely block a phone number, so don't expect to be able to misuse the service.

Overall, Jajah has a very promising VoIP service on their hands with a lot of potential. Apparently they are already aware of this, as co-founder Roman Scharf has stated that the company would be introducing a business model in October that would make businesses pay to use the service. Expect the free service to be supported by advertising.

Future technologies that the company is working on for the service include the ability to access Jajah through a standard telephone without an internet connection, and also through the use of text messaging (SMS) on mobile phones.

For more details on how Jajah Buttons works, be sure to check out the introduction video.