I normally use skype or hangout/gvoice to make calls online, but definitely never found them that easy to use, and skype has dropped my calls before which is annoying.
That's what they charge sponsors. They must be making a margin on that.
Who are you using for your provider?
For starters though, I should be able to grow this from just the USA to 38 countries just through Twilio.
After that we're going to have to watch the behavior patterns and compensate for anything that comes up.
It is one of our biggest concerns but something we believe can be conquered.
This project came out of the combination of my work on web telephony from the last several years and the troubles that I've had communicating with the family members that I have overseas.
Skype is amazing. But it can't beat a phone call. And if you're trying to deal with a company, a bank, or (god forbid) trying to sort out Visa issues you need to be able to make a call from anywhere.
I realized that its the 21st century and it doesn't make any sense for international calling to be so difficult or expensive. Calling should be free and available to anyone in the world and I wanted to make that happen.
I believe that through sponsors and a Tom's Shoes-style model where those that can pay for extra features subsidize the costs for those that really need the free service, we can make this work. And not only can this be a viable business model but also something that brings a huge amount of social good to the world.
International communication should be easy. And we want get there, even if its one country at a time.
I appreciate any and all feedback!
It could be offering HD Voice interop with AT&T/VZW/T-Mo, selling user verified CNAM, or anything that adds value you can't get elsewhere.
I'd just avoid trying to become a voice wholesaler, its a very competitive space filled by a bunch of hyper competitive sub-5 person businesses that are super nimble due to their size. Most are pushing a few tens of millions of minutes a month.
Just go to the website, put in the phone number and call.
From what I've experienced with my relatives overseas this is something that's really needed and something they have not been able to find.
