An inexpensive way to phone home

By: Harvey S. Marcoleta
Philippine Daily Inquirer  
11:22 pm | Friday, May 27th, 2011 

PAO is a college student at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hills. He can only visit  his family in Manila during the holidays; he calls home once in a while. He budgets his allowance wisely, and he looks for an inexpensive way to communicate with his family. Luckily, he discovered MoBIP in the AppStore. He can now call any regular phone anywhere in the world for as low as P1 per minute.

MoBIP is an application that can be used to make free voice calls using smart phones connected to the Internet. In Pao’s case, he installed MoBIP in his iPad. MoBIP allows us to make phone calls on virtually any device that can connect to the internet.

Back home, his brother Migui is using the USB-version of MoBIP. This small  device is ingeniously named USBIP. The name succinctly describes what the device is–an IP Phone in a special USB thumb drive!

Anywhere in the world
USBIP works by connecting it to your computer’s USB port. Once this is done, and assuming that the computer is connected to the Internet, you can use that computer to call anyone and anywhere in the world.

Since Migui and Pao are both in the BIP network, they can now call each other free of charge for an unlimited length of time even if the former is in Manila and the latter is in the US. Unless your mobile phone provider can offer a cheaper deal than this, this is the ultimate unlimited call available.

USBIP is not so pricey at P4,500 each, while MoBIP commands a subscription fee of P900.  These are both one-time payments. In other words, no monthly statement of account, no maintaining balance required to make an unlimited call within the BIP network, and no expiry date to watch out for.

As Pao puts it, “The practical Pinoy youth should amp up their smart phones or mobile devices with this MoBIP to fully utilize the device’s capability without the frightful cost.”

For more information and inquiries about USBIP and MoBIP, visit their website www.mybcnet.net or e-mail Mr. Boyet Cruz at ffcruz@mybcnet.com or Ms. Jonalyn Espeso at jmespeso@mybcnet.net.