DeFi reviewed

DeFi Mobile, a service currently focused on the international traveler, enables a user with a dual-mode phone to make calls over a low-cost WiFi VoIP connection, rather than more expensive cellular roaming service.

For $40 a month, users get a phone number in the country of choice out of a list of 40 (with 20 more to be added soon). Users can make and receive unlimited global WiFi calls at that price and can add on two more numbers in other countries for another $10. The flat monthly fee includes use of a lot of WiFi hot spots, including AT&T Wireless, FON, Orange and T-Mobile; there's more than 50 partnership agreements covering upward of 75 countries, 15,000 hotels and 120 airports. Currently, DeFi Mobile's client software download supports Nokia Symbian handsets with other versions in the works. DeFi's special sauce claim is on call quality. The company has established direct connections with "hundreds" of telecom carriers at a colo facility, proving direct IP links to other IP networks, including cable providers.

DeFi sees big potential not only with overseas travelers, but for U.S. users. The company says that cell phone users are in a WiFi zone about 60 percent of the time when they are making calls. College students are viewed as a big market since they're always looking to save money and they're in a WiFi zone most of the time.

For more:
- VoIP News gives the skinny on DeFi Mobile. Article [1].