2talk

2talk is a New Zealand owned VoIP service founded by telecommunications entrepreneur Malcolm Dick. It offers free voice and video calls between 2talk users and the ability to call mobiles and landlines for a fee.

2talk
2talk users can conduct calls over a broadband internet connection or use remote access services to make calls over the PSTN and cellular networks. Calls can be made to any telephone number and all users get a New Zealand telephone number that can be called worldwide.

2talkphone, 2talks’ own softphone is available free to all users. It offers video calling, instant messaging and SMS as well as voice calling and is integrated with the 2talk my account service. Any SIP v2 based device can be also be used to connect to the service. Examples include the Nokia Eseries phones, Linksys ATAs and IP phones and Asterisk.

2talk recently won the TUANZ 2007 Initiative of the Year Award. TUANZ are the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand, a non profit organisation that promotes the needs of end users of telecommunications in New Zealand.

Technology
The 2talk core is built on Open Source software from groups such as Asterisk and Wengo Project. The Session Initiation Protocol based platform interoperates with any other SIP based provider. Carrier grade interconnects are used to terminate traffic to the PSTN. On-net calls are delivered over the internet. Voice codecs supported include iLBC, G.711uLAW and aLAW, G.729 and GSM

Features
2talk features are included for free in all plans. Notable features include Call Recording, Voicemail, Conferencing, Faxing, Caller Ring Tunes and Locate Me.

Major Milestones
*2006: 2talk founded, development begins
*March 2007: 2talk commercial trial begins
*June 2007: 2talk commercial release
*September 2007 2talkphone released
*October 2007 2talk win TUANZ Initiative of the Year award
 
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