My Disappointment of the Year 2008 – Truphone
I’ve been seeing a lot about Truphone lately, but have been a bit reluctant to comment. Reluctant because the folks at Truphone are friends. But, I feel compelled to be honest, and my friends know me for speaking my mind.
First some links to the current conversation:
Truphone Looks Forward to an Exciting 2009
By Greg Galitzine, Group Editorial Director
Truphone (News – Alert) is a free application that’s designed to allow users to inexpensively make international mobile calls from their own phone over the Internet. Earlier this year the company announced a native VoIP client for the iPhone developed with Apple’s (News – Alert) own SDK, available via the online iPhone App Store. The solution routes calls over WiFi, so if the user finds themselves near a hotspot and needs to make a call, they can simply call up the Truphone application on theiriPhone ( News – Alert) and place the call.
[Read Greg's Full Post]
Greg’s very up on Truphone, and his interview questions with Matt Rowntree reflect that. There wasn’t anything but fat pitches in there – not one hard question.
Truphone is a finalist in the 2008 Crunchies.
And they’ve gotten lots of praise in the traditional press. Check the bottom of their home page.
So why am I not jumping up and down? I’ve been a Truphone user for a while – a long while, and yet I rarely find it useful or usable. I don’t think I’m the anomaly either.
I used Truphone a bit on my N95, but I move my AT&T SIM from phone to phone. I’ve been haggling with the Truphone gang for ages to put up a Blackberry version. Recently they did. And if it worked, I might say good things about it. But it seized control of the BB without noting it would in the nonexistent documentation (FAQs and docs are very thin). Then, naturally, it wouldn’t work. I could close my account and open a new one. It’s tied to the SIM so moving it is impossible without support involvement that is interesting when we’re across the pond.
So why is a service that’s tied to my phone number on my SIM set up in a way that I can’t actually use it when I move the SIM without closing the account, losing the credit, dealing with admin overhead of readding the credit. And if I move my SIM daily(and I do)? Ahh, so Truphone doesn’t fit. And to my testing, the Blackberry version may work. I’ve heard a couple of reports that it does. Non glowing from people I know. I’ve seen a lot of “my friends at Truphone tell me…”
Then we got the iPod Touch release. Sheryl installed it and we managed to make one call successfully. One success to Gizmo SIP URL only, and that after two hours of putzing with it. So I installed it on my iPod, and my account can’t work with it. I need yet another Truphone account apparently. Excuse me?
So in the interest of fairness, I went digging for info and found Sorry to our iPhone App users. We don’t have an iPhone, but to be honest, two for two failure doesn’t engender the kind of assurance that would send me rushing to install Truphone on one anyway at this point.
I want to own up to something. The gang at Truphone are friends. Yes, I could spend time on the phone working with them, helping them see the problems and rectify them. As a good friend, I should do that. As a consumer, if I have to do that, where does that leave all the people who are loading this stuff and having problems who don’t actually have the Truphone gang as friends?
I’m disappointed in what I’ve seen from Truphone. And I’m disappointed to see a product at this level up for a Crunchie. It speaks ill of our industry, devalues awards and recognition, and doesn’t serve the public well.
I’m very disappointed.
Technorati Tags: Truphone, Blackberry, iPod Touch, iPhone, Crunchies
on December 29th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I am a huge fan of Truphone Ken and have spoke about them in glowing tones in the past.
This single account thing is a pain in the butt though,I know have an account on my E71,an account on my iPhone and an account on my Blackberry all with different outgoing CLI’s.
I hate coming down on companies especially friends but this should be a simple fix.
I want one account across multiple devices and I shouldn’t have to open three accounts, credit them all and run them all on auto top-up.
Ah well, back to mobivox it is
Have a fantastic New Year the both of you.
P.S have to disagree on The Crunchies, best of luck to Truphone there
on December 29th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Ken,
I was a happy user of Truphone on an N95, where lately I only had a “proxy” SIM chip to use it over WiFi. Voice quality was always excellent; I really appreciated its native Address Book integration (which has continued to the iPhone and BlackBerry versions).
When I acquired an iPhone the “real” SIM chip, that had been on N95, went to my iPhone — this move caused some issues with respect to my Truphone registration but they are now resolved. However, recall that moving SIM chips is only for us technogeeks; normal users do not move SIM chips daily.
I have also been a beta tester of Truphone for BlackBerry (which is still in beta); the latest version I have works for calls outside country code “1″ (USA and Canada). It is also supposed to treat calls from USA to Canada or Canada to USA as International calls (they plan to distinguish here by area code) but my tests have so far found this feature not to be working (a reported bug).
And I just came across the iPhone issue you allude to. The relevant Truphone email talks about showing a “IM” button on the application’s menu bar – a feature they have not officially released. Doing the menu fix for this (to replace the IM button by the Keyboard button) is not working for me.
So at this point I can make Truphone Anywhere calls from my BlackBerry to numbers outside USA/Canada and WiFi-based (Truphone) or GSM (Truphone Anywhere) calls from my iPhone to my iPhone contacts.
A key issue re the iPhone is that a called party must have the Truphone application open on his/her iPhone in order to receive calls as “Free” Truphone to Truphone calls. If you have placed a Contact in your Favorites, then you can see when any of your Favorites have their Truphone application open. This is not the case when using Truphone on a Symbian (Nokia) device.
Truphone for BlackBerry currently only runs via Truphone Anywhere where you can get lower cost calls outside North America. For some reason, probably related to BlackBerry API’s, Truphone for BlackBerry does not work over a user’s WiFi connection.
The Truphone team is very keen, enthusiastic and responsive to my bug reports. However, it seems like Truphone’s new CEO needs to address two initial issues:
1. Product Management to get the feature set and release control right. And on issue here is how to deal with SIM chips and phone numbers such that users can do any required provisioning configuration on moving SIM chips.
2. A QA manager who knows how to deal with both their releases and bug tracking.
Several of my acquaintances have installed the iPhone product but they also have sufficient technical expertise to work around these issues.
Truphone is potentially a great service but not quite yet ready for the Main Street consumer.
on December 29th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I think you really hit the nail on the head Jim, and summed up my disappointment. You said “Truphone is potentially a great service but not quite yet ready for the Main Street consumer.”
I couldn’t agree more, but given that I saw Truphone in March of 2007, approaching 2 years ago, the pace of improvement and development leaves me less than enthusiastic. I hope the new CEO gets things on track or our friends are going to suffer for the lack of leadership, direction and guidance I fear.
on December 29th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Pat – I’ve been a fan and said plenty of nice things. But two years into development, I have to say I think Truphone is fat on funding and staff and thin on progress and direction. I’m just not really happy for the way things have been going.
As for the Crunchies, I could feel really strongly about a friend getting up on stage taking bows and kudos for something that’s in beta, doesn’t work properly and clearly isn’t ready for prime time. I came close to saying I’m appalled that they didn’t decline the nomination. But I understand the business of building a business far better than most people realize. Building on a wing and a prayer and struggling to deliver is part of life, and I do respect that.
Until they can begin to fix some things, do responsible quality assurance, and show me something I have yet to see, I probably won’t say much about them good or bad. I’ll simply watch and see what they do. I hope they find their path, but I don’t think they’re on it right now. That new CEO better seize the reigns and set things on course from all I’ve seen, or they’re going to suffer. I hate watching friends suffer, and I do count them as friends.
on December 29th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I’ve to be honest here, I like Truphone even if I’m not really a power user. I’ve used it to make some tests in the past but nothing more. I use to keep in touch with them regularly, many of them are friends and I love what they are doing.
On the other hand Ken, I know you are not a “normal” user so if you had difficulties in using it, for a normal user would have been even worse. I’m pretty sure it’s just a matter of a fix or two, Truphone released a lot of new clients in the last months for different platforms. All of us involved in this market know very well how much effort it takes to make a stable and reliable version of a VoIP client on a computer, even worse on a portable device.
All that said, I guess the upcoming versions will be much better but I praise Ken for the usual honesty, definitely helpful for the Truphone team as well.
on December 29th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I agree that Truphone has not delivered on the expectations that many of us had this year. I met with their new CEO last week & there does now seem to be a clearer vision of what they want to do & where they want to be. Simplicity is key here & you only have to look at DeFi Mobile to see what’s possible when you keep it simple & make it work.
on December 29th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I hope the CEO takes quick and decisive action. That’s one thing I think has been lacking.
I haven’t looked at DeFi myself and don’t really plan on it, but I will say yours is the only positive comment I’ve heard.
on December 31st, 2008 at 7:35 am
Ken, I have got a lot of value from the Truphone service this year, and for me it worked well on the Nokia E61i. I was using it quite a bit to save money on dialling into international conference calls. Audio quality is good, and the client software is stable. I only experienced one phone crash while using it, and at the time I was running a couple of other social networking and location applications, so I’m not sure which part of the software ensemble made the handset reboot.
I have met the Truphone crew and also like them and what they are doing. Perhaps this also colours my view, but my experience (as a regular user of the service) is that this is a good service at a low price. Being British, of course, my instinct is to shower anything successful with scorn and derision, but I just don’t think Truphone is the target this time.
on January 1st, 2009 at 2:30 pm
We are the first venture backer behind truphone; and we met the founders when no WiFi enabled Nokia phone even existed. The first ((truphone)) working was a Bluetooth bridge on a Nokia 6680. I still have a picture in a pool where I bridged in on holiday via my laptop. This must be three years ago. YES JUST three years. LOT’s has happen since then. But 2008 was a special year for ((truphone)), the company is in a big way taking of (I HOPE) and due to the success lots of issues need to be addressed, some of them are discussed above and all the comments are fair and I do need to deal with it every day. I do have three Truphone accounts not counting 3 truphone numbers all ending on one SIM. But gentlemen do not forget we need a SIM to know the customer actually exist. We do give £2 CREDIT and are not in an IM world in which we just can give out hundreds of MILLIONS of ID’s. YES we do want to grow to huge numbers but our customers make serious CALLS with very SERIOUS VOICE QUALITY and we are developing on platforms as the NEWCOMER, Do not forget that ((truphone)) was the first LEGAL MOBILE VOIP app on the iPhone. It is now the first with a GREAT full Twitter integration. (yes fring had it but not in the way ((truphone)) has done it, which is not yet like twitterific but it is basic and works well.
I THINK the TEAM will do all what is NEEDED to help you, but equally we should not forget that we are all GEEKS complaining. 99% of the population in the world will do not share our problems with 3 SIM’s, 4 ((truphone)) account. SO LET;s be fair, if we want a better world ((truphone)) needs to focus and continue to ENABLE As many users as possible.
The guys have delivered, WHERE – on the NEXT to NONE quality infrastructure. Again I have been saving HUGELY on ((truphone)), i JUST CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT it anymore, especially Truphone Anywhere TPA from my Nokia E71, but also the presence function in truphone on iPhone is outstanding. So I wish the new CEO and the folks WELL and I hope they can speed up execution on this exciting road map in 2009.
Lot’s of new stuff will happen and we will be very excited about the stuff they will release
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on January 6th, 2009 at 9:22 am
[...] user interface, especially its use of the device’s native address book for initiating a call. While they have had some hiccups with their recent product launches, Truphone has become the leader in providing low cost calling from the iPhone while breaking the [...]
on January 6th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
[...] has expressed a bit of dissatisfaction here with regard to Truphone issues. You can read My Disappointment of the Year 2008 – Truphone for Ken’s [...]