Budphone

Rule #186: Don’t pay for something you can get for free.

And that something free is telephone service.

Fibernetics’ freephoneline.ca has developed a VoIP application for Labatt’s Budweiser unit, Budphone, giving people an opportunity to assign incoming Canadian phone numbers for their PCs and Macs.

For our kids travelling this summer with a notebook computer, it is a way for them to stay in touch with home – calls to most of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and BC are free from the application and there is a phone number assigned to the user which will allow family and friends to call to them.

The timing of the release should make college students think about including the free service in their communications plans.

I noticed that there are plenty of warnings about the limitations of 911 access from the application, just in case there is anyone who thinks that making an emergency call from their PC is the most effective way to report a fire. The warnings are at the top of the terms of service and there is a further warning splashed across the screen when the application loads for the first time.

Sponsored phone service has been tried before, with traditional phone lines calling a local number, listening to an ad and then connecting to another number.

Budphone is targeting a demographic that has the highest likelihood of having no home phone line.