VoIP provider SIPphone now offers free calls to any landline in Australia, as well a 59 other countries including Canada, China, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, USA and others.
The free calling offer is available through SIPphone's Skype-like software client called Gizmo. The only catch in the promotion is that you have to be an "active Gizmo user" and get your contacts to sign up for Gizmo and add their PSTN numbers to their Gizmo profile.
Gizmo Project is also the first instant messaging network to be fully interoperable with Google Talk, so you can text-chat with Google Talk contacts via Gizmo without having to sign up for a Google Talk account yourself (and vice versa). Gizmo is similar to the Skype client but considerably more feature-rich, including features like call recording and voicemail that are extra cost add-ons for Skype. It's available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.There's even a version for the Nokia 770 internet tablet.
Gizmo started out as a VoIP client that was more standards-compliant than Skype: it uses industry-standard SIP protocols. However, it attracted criticism because despite using SIP, it could only connect to the SIPphone network.
Unlike the promotional offer announced by Skype earlier this year (which allows users to make free outgoing calls to landlines in North America until 2007 and isn't encumbered with active user requirements), Gizmo plans to offer its new free call deal indefinitely. Intense competition in the VoIP market has led to dramatic decreases in price and unusual special offers that will stimulate adoption and promote innovation.
SIPphone Offers Free Landline Calls in 60 countries via Gizmo source
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