The Truphone Blog

Feel as lucky as the Irish, with free St Patrick's Day calls

2010-03-15T12:50:23+00:00

Next Wednesday, March 17, is St. Patrick's Day.

A day of celebration where the Irish paint towns green all over the world.

And we thought it might be a bit of fun to take part in the celebrations too.

So we have picked the top five countries that our Irish Truphone users call the most, and made calls to these countries free all day on March 17!

You don't need to be in Ireland to take part. Wherever you are, calls to landlines in Ireland, Poland or UK, and landlines and mobiles in the USA and Canada will be completely free!

Find out more here, and Happy St. Patrick's Day from everyone at Truphone!

Snap a Truphone Taxi and win a FREE SIM with £5 credit!

2010-03-09T17:25:20+00:00

Tired of roaming?

Well why not hail a Truphone taxi and give your feet a rest?

10 black cabs resplendent in Truphone colours can now be spotted running in and around London. And not only can a Truphone cab take you from A to B but they can also win you a free SIM with £5 credit.

If you spot one, take a photo, email it to us at fun@truphone.com and we’ll send you a free SIM in return.

So you can avoid hefty roaming charges too!

Good luck!

Smartphones make travel easier

2010-03-08T10:28:14+00:00

An article in USA Today recently showed how people are becoming more and more reliant on their smartphone when away from home.

"Beyond online maps and travel guides, travelers are turning to their phones to look up aircraft seat configuration, track taxis, reply to early hotel check-in requests, order room service and locate nearby colleagues."

Read the full article here.

In the past, people have tended to leave their phone off as much as possible when overseas to avoid roaming charges. However, as more and more people see their phone as a vital tool when travelling, we realised a solution was needed to make sure you can keep the convenience of using your phone overseas without spending too much to do so.

So if you are one of the "growing army of tech-savvy travelers whose smartphones are transforming their travel habits" don't forget to check out our new Truphone Local Anywhere service before you leave!

(image via USA Today)

G'day Australia - the newest Truphone Local Anywhere country

2010-03-03T13:13:30+00:00

As the sole Australian working at Truphone's UK office, I am very excited about the following Truphone news.

Australia has just been announced as the third Truphone Local Anywhere country, from mid-2010, following on from the UK and USA.

This has been made possible by a partnership between Truphone and Optus, one of Australia's leading telecommunications providers.

I am very excited about this because, as an expatriate Australian living in the UK, from mid-2010 I can add an Australian phone number and Australian local rates to my Truphone Local Anywhere SIM, alongside my UK number and rates, and all my friends and family (and especially my mum!) in Australia can then call me for the cost of a local call, even though I am on the other side of the world.

And when I go back home to visit, I can avoid paying roaming rates when making and receiving calls, send text messages and use data.

You can read all about the partnership in today's press release.

(image via Behmor)

Miracles happen at Truphone

2010-03-01T17:59:29+00:00

"Truphone has its own killer app that neither Skype nor Google has – you can get through to a real human being when things go wrong. Miracles can happen."

This comment on Truphone's Customer Service's department featured in a recent article on The Guardian's Technology pages. It got me thinking about different support methods and the result vs frustration they entail.

Today, it is difficult to imagine calling a customer service/support department and not being met by an automated voice system. As a customer service Representative I understand their purpose, but when you have a technical issue or query you just want sorted it can be infuriating.

There are many different ways of communicating with a customer service/support department all aimed at providing the customer with an improved service (at least they should) whilst cutting costs for the business. Gone are the days of 'first come first served' within the support world, it's now a case of priority, with many automated voice systems sorting the callers queue position depending on the issue.

Most recently I went to call O2's customer service department but before I did I noticed ‘Lucy’ on their customer support web page. Lucy was luring me in with the line "Asking Lucy is the easiest way to get help online" and so, I clicked Lucy's smiling face. What looked like a 'live chat' screen popped up, Lucy was asking how she could help, and so I typed a question. Unfortunately this wasn't a live chat service (that I've used successfully before on dabs.com) but an FAQ search function with a face. Not impressed. The answer returned was suitably non-helpful and I felt deflated that I would, after all, need to make a phone call.

However new support technologies aren't all bad and I do believe they get a bad name – how often do people complain about a customer service experience, and how rarely do you take the time to say something positive?

Truphone's customer service department do utilise an automated voice system which filters the calls depending on the device. As much as this may not be to every customer’s approval it aids the customer service representative to provide the best support. It also provides the business with invaluable information so we can develop our products and services.

Over the coming months some changes are happening within Truphone's customer service department that should improve the customer experience. If you have any ideas or comments then please let us know.

The most exciting job on the planet!

2010-02-24T12:00:37+00:00

Our CEO, Geraldine Wilson, was recently interviewed by Global Telecoms Business following the launch of Truphone Local Anywhere. You can check out the article, in which she talks about Truphone's plans to become the first global mobile operator (and describes her job as the most exciting on the planet) here

(Image via Wikipedia)

Troubled voice over 3G

2010-02-18T16:45:09+00:00

A few things have changed over the last month in the voice-over-internet arena since our last post about why there’s still no VoIP over 3G on the iPhone. Apple has finally given the green light for voice apps that use 3G mobile internet connection, and some of the developers have immediately jumped on the bandwagon. However, we’d like to remain cautious.

Even though it’s now technically possible to have an app for 3G voice calls, we still believe a lot has to be done both from operators and developers to improve quality of internet calls. Truphone is by no means ignoring this new iPhone functionality, yet unless we have something that offers a top quality Truphone experience, we’ll keep working on it.

And we’re not alone on this – in a recent article The Boston Globe says that even though the ‘concept is darn near irresistible’, according to them until the next generation 4G phone network is available, voice calls over mobile internet remain dubious.

In the meantime, we provide a solution in our apps that allows you to make calls outside a Wi-Fi zone – use Truphone as usual and your call will be routed via a local phone number in your home country, it still costs fraction of a usual international call price and the quality is superb.

(image via wikihow)

Eric Schmidt's a fan of Truphone

2010-02-17T16:00:26+00:00

Amid all the fanfare yesterday at Google's keynote speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where Eric Schmidt talked about 'mobile first' and 'mobile technology being fundamental to human existence', one thing was missing from the reporting of the press conference which we wanted to highlight - Mr Schmidt's inclusion of Truphone in the video of applications for Android handsets that was shown as part of his presentation!!

The Evolution of Truphone

2010-02-16T16:44:46+00:00

We're sure you'll have started to notice a lot of changes at Truphone recently.

For starters we have new branding on the Truphone Local Anywhere side of the website. We'll be incorporating that into the entire website in the coming months.

We've launched Truphone Local Anywhere, our full GSM service that saves you money and keeps you local home and away. You'll be hearing lots more about that in the future.

We've been very busy launching lots of new apps, with new features, new interfaces and trialling new ways of communicating with our customers including some fun promotions.

There's also been lots of changes within our growing business that you won't have seen but may have heard about – we’ll share these as we go along.

One of the next changes you'll see will be to this page - the Truphone blog.

We don't think we've been shouting loud enough about what’s been going on within the walls of Truphone Towers so from now on you'll get to hear the thoughts and opinions of a broader range of the Truphone team, from marketing to PR, engineering to customer services, from the board to the interns.

Everyone will have the opportunity to share their thoughts. And there's no strict guidelines - it could be thoughts and opinions on the latest industry developments or product launches (although does anyone need another opinion on the iPad!), to how our own experiences influence our thinking and product development.

We hope you'll like it, but we look forward to engaging with you more so if you have a comment, positive or negative, you can share it and know we'll get back to you.

Happy chatting,

The Truphone Blog Team

(image via Lifeboat)

Truphone Local Anywhere competition results

2010-02-10T12:09:45+00:00

Thank you to everyone who entered our Truphone Local Anywhere competition to win one of three holiday travel vouchers, or one of 50 Truphone Local Anywhere SIM cards.

We received many thousands of entrants, from all around the world, and the winners have now been drawn.

Congratulations go to George, Joao and John, who each won a travel voucher, and congratulations also go to the 50 winners of a Truphone Local Anywhere SIM card.