Viber: Make ‘Free’ Phone Calls on Your Mobile Phone
Viber… In the era of pervasive technologies such as instant messaging, twitter, facebook, skype, etc… ,traditional mobile phone calls can sometimes appear to be irrelevant because of high costs of calls involved. Over the years, mobile network operators have been trying to reinvent themselves by diversifying their service offerings, yet, the fact remains — carriers still appear old-fashioned in so many respects.
Part of the problem is that, despite price plans like per second billing, phone calls are still incredibly expensive in comparison to other places in the world. International calls need not be mentioned, they are even much worse. Nevertheless, users that are still paying too much, may soon be saved from the misery of paying a little too much than required for making phone calls.
They say the best things in life are free, so why pay for calls when you call for free? Yes, that’s correct; Viber is cross platform mobile application that allows for free local or international calls on your mobile phones, saving you enormous amount of cash in the process .
It works in 3 simple steps,
(1) Download and install the app
(2) Run the app, then automatically get a confirmation sms,
and
(3) Make free calls to friends who also have Viber installed on their mobile phones.
Viber works much like whatsapp, but with clear full voice capabilities. It also has texting feature, which allows sending images and videos for free. Moreover, It works on all the major platforms, namely, IOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, and Blackberry. However, the voice feature doesn’t work with Blackberry in South Africa, because of BIS issues. Nonetheless, with the new Blackberry 10, the voice feature should work impeccably when the app is announced.
This app is quite popular in Europe, where it has its largest user base, but to my surprise, Viber hasn’t really taken off that much in South Africa yet. I suspect that may soon change.
Viber is a real game changer, and I can already predict that, very soon mobile network providers will be ‘up in arms’ and will probably petition to get this app blocked in South Africa — because this app radically challenges and threatens the old fashioned carriers business models. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen (for now). Meanwhile, enjoy making free calls.