Well, it certainly didn't take long for someone to leverage AOL's Open Voice APIs featuring full SIP support. TringMe is apparently the 'first' out of the gate announcing support to millions of AIM call-out users to make calls directly from TringMe. AIM users can use TringPhone - TringMe's fully web-based SIP phone to make calls directly from the browser.
According to TringMe, "with TringMe’s MobileVoIP solution, AOL/AIM users can use a mobile device (e.g. Symbian devices) to make VoIP calls from a mobile device. If they desire to use Gtalk to make VoIP calls over this service, that’s supported too. In general, AOL/AIM users can use any of TringMe’s supported originating devices to make calls (say Gtalk)."
Apparently it's pretty easy to setup. You just login to your TringMe account, enter your AIM or AOL screen-name (AOLScreenName@aol.com or AIMScreenName@aim.com) and SIP password in the TringPhone settings. Make sure to specify “AOL” in the Domain or Proxy setting as well. That’s it! Now you can use TringPhone for making calls through your AIM call-out account.
Via TringMe blog
Update: 11pm. Figured it was worth sharing some thoughts from around the VoIP blogosphere on the AOL Open Voice API news. Obviously, the main gist of the news is that you can now use any SIP-based device and register it with the AOL SIP registrar. TringMe was first to promote succesfully doing this. I thought about trying to register one of my spare Aastra phones or an X-Lite client, but Dan beat me to do it by getting X-Lite to register on AOL.
http://www.disruptivetelephony.com/2008/04/aol-launches-op.html
Dan York gives some good details on how the AOL Open Voice APIs allow you to use any SIP client, such as X-Lite. He also writes "Does accepting SIP connections at your SIP proxy constitute an "API"? Does providing SIP termination services to the PSTN constitute an "API"?" He has a valid point. I thought about that myself, but assumed there was an API in addition to the SIP support, which again TringMe was so quick to leverage.
Alec Saunders has a Squawk Box on the news and also emails fellow VoIP bloggers hinting the news is a non-event, while simultaneously discussing AOL's starts & stops in the VoIP space which directly affected Alec's company.
http://saunderslog.com/2008/04/30/squawk-box-april-30-trust/
Mr. Blog responds, "I agree that it is not an API, by any stretch. But I disagree that it is a non-event"
http://mrblog.org/2008/04/30/aol-open-voice-program-works-with-phonegnome/
One last thought on my end... I'm glad AOL is opening up their network to allow any SIP device to connect. I wish Skype would be so open. Heck, I wish Vonage, which is SIP-based would allow you to have open SIP credentials and use any SIP device. Whether this is enough to get people to switch from using SkypeOut minutes to AOL's PSTN termination remains to be seen. In theory, I can configure an Asterisk server to use AOL as an ITSP. But then AOL just comes another SIP termination service provider, which are a dime-a-dozen these days.
According to TringMe, "with TringMe’s MobileVoIP solution, AOL/AIM users can use a mobile device (e.g. Symbian devices) to make VoIP calls from a mobile device. If they desire to use Gtalk to make VoIP calls over this service, that’s supported too. In general, AOL/AIM users can use any of TringMe’s supported originating devices to make calls (say Gtalk)."
Apparently it's pretty easy to setup. You just login to your TringMe account, enter your AIM or AOL screen-name (AOLScreenName@aol.com or AIMScreenName@aim.com) and SIP password in the TringPhone settings. Make sure to specify “AOL” in the Domain or Proxy setting as well. That’s it! Now you can use TringPhone for making calls through your AIM call-out account.
Via TringMe blog
Update: 11pm. Figured it was worth sharing some thoughts from around the VoIP blogosphere on the AOL Open Voice API news. Obviously, the main gist of the news is that you can now use any SIP-based device and register it with the AOL SIP registrar. TringMe was first to promote succesfully doing this. I thought about trying to register one of my spare Aastra phones or an X-Lite client, but Dan beat me to do it by getting X-Lite to register on AOL.
http://www.disruptivetelephony.com/2008/04/aol-launches-op.html
Dan York gives some good details on how the AOL Open Voice APIs allow you to use any SIP client, such as X-Lite. He also writes "Does accepting SIP connections at your SIP proxy constitute an "API"? Does providing SIP termination services to the PSTN constitute an "API"?" He has a valid point. I thought about that myself, but assumed there was an API in addition to the SIP support, which again TringMe was so quick to leverage.
Alec Saunders has a Squawk Box on the news and also emails fellow VoIP bloggers hinting the news is a non-event, while simultaneously discussing AOL's starts & stops in the VoIP space which directly affected Alec's company.
http://saunderslog.com/2008/04/30/squawk-box-april-30-trust/
Mr. Blog responds, "I agree that it is not an API, by any stretch. But I disagree that it is a non-event"
http://mrblog.org/2008/04/30/aol-open-voice-program-works-with-phonegnome/
One last thought on my end... I'm glad AOL is opening up their network to allow any SIP device to connect. I wish Skype would be so open. Heck, I wish Vonage, which is SIP-based would allow you to have open SIP credentials and use any SIP device. Whether this is enough to get people to switch from using SkypeOut minutes to AOL's PSTN termination remains to be seen. In theory, I can configure an Asterisk server to use AOL as an ITSP. But then AOL just comes another SIP termination service provider, which are a dime-a-dozen these days.
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Yes it defenitely did not take very long for tringme to provide support for AIM Call Out.
I just made an International call & it works great.
Thanks for that update tom.
http://journals.aol.com/opensip/aol-open-voice-platform
This is far from an open SIP server - no registration, no direct IP calls, no inbound calls at all. It is, simply, an (open) outbound gateway, and users need to have AOL/AIM accounts with money. Useful, but not exciting.
Tingme is a SCAM!!!
Please do not use this service. It is very expensive for the receiver.
I signed up for this service and recieved an 876 area code number. My wife and I made a few calls using this service to my cell phone in order to test the quality. Every call that I made to / from this service resulted in an additional charge of $1.62 to the receiver.
Unfotunately 876 area code is not a US area code and is located in the Caribbean
I found the below link regarding area code 876
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6045