Yapper yapping away

I received a press release from Yapper International this weekend stating, "the Company has shortened their corporate domain address to www.yapint.com for ease of use."

Well, whoop-dee-do... Well tickle me pink, this is the greatest press release I have ever read!
The press release did mention the company merged with FoneFriend, which at least gave me some inclination as to where this VoIP company came from.

They seemed to come out of nowhere, started posting in the VoIP Forums, and then sending me releases.

I checked out their Our Technology link and it lists some interesting features.

It states - and I bolded the really interesting part:
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"The Yapper" is a stand alone Internet communications device that connects to any household telephone and gives customers access to the Internet for VoIP calling.

"The Yapper" is lightweight, portable and can be used with any household phone worldwide. The Yapper provides a cost effective pre-paid monthly international and domestic long distance service from any location in the world.

Unlike most Internet communications devices, our technology does not need a computer, a software download, an Internet Service Provider, or a high level of user sophistication to take advantage of VoIP. "The Yapper" is virtually ready to use out of the package with only a simple plug-in needed to start calling.

No computer or software download.
Does not require high-speed internet connection.
Callers can keep their same number.
Call internationally and locally at the lowest rates available.
Connects to any household phone.
911 service is still available.
Encryption available for complete privacy.
Can be configured and upgraded automatically.

The Yap International Network in conjunction with Tier 1 Telecommunication's Companies, is positioned to connect the world to the world.

The network is built on a distributed architecture that inherently decreases points of failure, improves redundancy and recovery within the network, and can be expanded to handle sudden capacity and traffic increases.
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Ok, so no computer, no broadband, no ISP PERIOD, so software? Hmmm. interesting... If it doesn't do any of these things, then how is it VoIP? My guess is that this is a SOHO "dialer". That is, you plug your home analog phone into it and when you dial out, it dials a special phone access number (local POP, 800 number, etc.) and then routes the call over IP from the POP/access number. It probably sends DTMF digits with your account information to the PSTN access number for verifying billing authentication, as well as the number you are dialing.

This is the only conceivable way I can think of that it can do VoIP over the PSTN. Actually, one other method is that it performs a direct modem 56kbps dial-up session to an access number and then it performs Voice over IP using that method. Perhaps they even partnered with an ISP to provide local access numbers?

if this is the case, then this is the first true "dial-up" VoIP solution that doesn't require an ISP (dial-up or broadband), doesn't require a PC, and doesn't require any software. Without being overly-dramatic, this plug-and-play solution (if it works) could set a pivotal point in the history of VoIP.

Now even Grandma or Grandpa, or anyone else that could care less about the Internet and paying monthly internet/ISP charges can get the benefits of low-cost VoIP calling.

I sent Yap International my contact info and asked them to contact me. I'll keep you posted.