Social Newsroom

Call Home For Ramadan: 30 Minutes of Free Calls To 32 Muslim Countries

Stockholm, Sweden – September 2, 2008 – Rebtel, the people’s global communications company, is offering Muslims around the world 30 minutes of free calls to 32 countries in celebration of Ramadan.

“Ramadan Kareem to our 1.5 billion Muslim brothers and sisters around the world!” said Hjalmar Winbladh, co-founder and president of Rebtel. “This is a most important time of year for you – a time for contemplation, spirituality and brotherhood. And we know that the next best thing to being home with family and friends during this special time is a phone call to wish them peace and joy – there’s nothing more personal,”

The limited time offer is available to all new subscribers until 1 October 2008 in any of the 47 countries where Rebtel is available, by entering the voucher code “rebtelramadan” when they sign up to try Rebtel at www.rebtel.com/ramadan.

Rebtel can be used with any mobile phone without modification or software downloads, and does not require any change to customers’ existing plans with their mobile operator. There is no charge to set up a Rebtel account.  And, all newcomers get a free 10 minute call to test the service.  But in celebration of Ramadan, Rebel is adding an extra 20 minutes of free calling to 32 Muslim countries. Thereafter, anyone who chooses to become a customer only pays for the minutes they use.

By: Alex Drewniak, September 2nd, 2008 Tags: ramadan, rebtel, VoIP

Rebtel Releases First-Ever Rerport On Indian American International Communications Habits

San Francisco – July 29, 2008 - A new study issued this month shows several remarkable changes in the ways Indian-Americans are communicating back to loved ones and family in India. The research provided by Rebtel, based on its calling volume from January 1st 2008 to July 1st 2008 shows several key findings.

Perhaps expectedly, Sunday is the most popular day that Indian-Americans call India. Also New Jersey followed by Northern California, Chicago, New York, and Dallas make up the most active callers to India. Surprisingly Richmond, Virginia is number 6 on the list.  Indian-Americans are calling Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmadabad in that order.

As of July 1st, 2008, of those surveyed:

Spend about 210 minutes per month or three and a half hours on its monthly calls to India.

Are now calling friends and families more often on their cell phones in India vs. landlines

Top Indian Phone Lines Receiving Calls from the U.S.:

1. Andhra Pradesh
2. Hyderabad
3. Mumbai
4. Ahemdabad
5. Chennai
6. Bangalore
7. Tamil Nadu
8. Kerala
9. Kolkata
10. New Delhi

Top U.S. Cities Calling India:

1. Princeton
2. San Francisco
3. Chicago
4. New York City
5. Dallas
6. Richmond
7. Detroit
8. Pittsburgh
9. Stamford
10. Boston

“Low rates combined with the most reliable and clear connections are driving the increase in international calling to India,” states Rebtel CEO Hjalmar Winbladh.

Founded in 2006, Stockholm-based Rebtel was established to give people around the world an alternative to mobile operators’ rip-off rates for making international calls. Now thousands of Americans use Rebtel to call India for less than 6 cents per minute to landlines or mobile phones. The company recently was ranked #1 in international calling by Technology Appraisals and has been featured in USA Today, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and The International Herald Tribune for its unique calling service.

By: Alex Drewniak, July 29th, 2008 Tags: indian calling behaviour, rebtel, VoIP

Rebtel Partners with easyGroup to Offer Mobile VoIP Services to UK Consumers

London – June 12, 2008 – Rebtel, the people’s global communications company, today announced a brand licensing agreement with easyGroup that will allow Rebtel to increase its presence in the UK and reach new markets for its mobile VoIP services.

easyGroup is the business of easyJet founder and serial entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Under the agreement, Rebtel-powered services for making low cost international phone calls from any mobile phone, over any UK network, will be sold and marketed on easyGroup’s www.easyMobile.com web site.

Rebtel’s mobile VoIP services offered by easyMobile will be compatible with any mobile phone without modification, is quick to set-up, and work with consumers’ existing contracts with their UK operators.

Terms of the brand license agreement between easyGroup and Rebtel were not disclosed.

“Making international calls using traditional mobile phone operators is no longer the most cost effective and efficient way of staying in touch,” said Anthony Robb-John, Managing Director of easyGroup IP. “Mobile VoIP works and is easy to use. There is a big market for this kind of service to and from the UK.”

There are at least 5.5million British-born people living abroad, and more than 1million non-British EU citizens living in the UK. In London alone, one in three people were born abroad, and at least another 10,000 foreign-born citizens are settling in London each month.

“Sir Stelios and easyGroup are our kind of partners,” said Hjalmar Winbladh, co-founder and CEO of Rebtel, based in Stockholm, Sweden. “They want to make a difference in people’s lives. They offer services for the many, not the few. They take on the big boys in the market and treasure relentless innovation. And most importantly they’re open and honest. Those are all values that Rebtel was built on.”

By: Ola Sundqvist, June 12th, 2008 Tags: easyMobile, Rebtel Partners, VoIP

Filipinos: Cut Up Your Calling Cards – Rebtel Is In The House

Stockholm, Sweden – May 12, 2008 – Calling the Philippines from the U.S. got a whole lot easier and cheaper today from any phone, anywhere, any time day or night with Rebtel’s move to beat even the best calling cards available.

“Use your mobile.  Use a pay phone.  We don’t care.  The rates are the same.  And the best part is with Rebtel you only pay for the minutes you use.  No sign up fees.  No contracts.  No connection charges, surcharges or minute rounding,” said Hjalmar Winbladh, co-founder and president of Rebtel.

Rebtel, the people’s global communications company, today slashed its rates on calls to the Philippines from the U.S. to just 12¢ per minute for call to landlines 14¢ per minute to mobile phones.
Rebtel can be used with any mobile phone without modification or software downloads, and does not require any change to customers’ existing plans with their mobile operator.
There is no charge to set up a Rebtel account.  And, all newcomers get a free 10 minute call to test the service. Thereafter, customers only pay for the minutes they use.

“No one in their right mind uses their mobile carrier to make calls from the US to the Philippines  – the rates are ridiculous,” said Winbladh.  “And everyone knows that calling cards are a rip-off.  Fradulent phone cards are costing consumers the US alone more than $ 1 million a day. That’s why everyone keeps trying new ones in the hope of finding an honest card.  Well, forget it.  Just switch to Rebtel.”

US Carrier Rates: Mobile to Mobile from the US to the Philippines

Calling Card Rates: Mobile to Mobile from the US to the Philippines

By: Ola Sundqvist, May 12th, 2008 Tags: philippines, rebtel, VoIP

Croatia Gets Free International Calling To More Than 40 Countries

Stockholm, Sweden – April 11, 2008 – Croatians can now use their mobile phones to call any phone, anywhere in the world for just a few lipas per minute, and make free international calls to friends, family, and work colleagues in more than 40 countries. Rebtel, the people’s global communications company, today introduced low cost and free international calling to and from Croatia.

Rebtel services can be used with any mobile phone without modification or software downloads, and does not require any change to customers’ existing plans with their mobile operators. There is no charge to set up a Rebtel account.  And, all new comers get a free 10 minute call to test the service. Thereafter, customers only pay for the minutes they use.

“We started Rebtel because we wanted to do something good for the consumer – connect the Internet and standard mobile phones so people wouldn’t have to pay the operators’ rip-off rates for international calls,” said Hjalmar Winbladh, co-founder and president of Rebtel.

With T-Mobile Croatia, for example, calls to Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Italy, or Slovenia can cost 4,27 HRK ($0.90 USD) per minute.  To most of Europe, the U.K. or the U.S., T-Mobile charges 5,49 HRK ($1.16 USD) per minute. But with Rebtel Direct those same calls now cost just a few lipas.

“And if our low-cost rates are still to expensive for you, you can make it a free calls to 45 other countries with our Smart Call system,” said Winbladh. “It’s super simple to use, and after you’ve done it once you’ll never go back to paying for international calls again.”

Rebtel Rates for Calls from Croatia
(Cost per minute in HRK)

By: Ola Sundqvist, April 11th, 2008 Tags: croatia, hjalmar winbladh, rebtel, VoIP

Rebtel Ends rip-off International Calling Rates in Six New Countries and Beijing

Stockholm, Sweden – March 24, 2007 – Calling Bahrain from the U.K. will cost you $2.93 per minute if you’re a Vodafone customer.  A call to Guatemala from the U.S. will cost $1.50 per minute if you’re a Verizon Wireless customer.  And, if you live in Vancouver and want to call your brother in Beijing it will cost $1.80 per minute on Bell Canada.

Well, stop the rip-off!  Use Rebtel and those very same calls can soon be made for the cost of calling around the corner – literally – with the addition of six new countries and the city of Beijing to the Rebtel family.

By the end of March, people living in Beijing, El Salvador, Guatemala, Bahrain, Singapore, South Africa and Croatia will be able to use their mobile phones to call any phone, anywhere in the world for just pennies per minute, and make free calls to friends, family, and work colleagues in 44 other countries.

Here are just a couple of examples of Rebtel’s low-cost rates.  U.K to Bahrain: 15¢ per minute.  U.S. to El Salvador and Guatemala: 12¢ or less.  And, Canada to Beijing: 2¢ per minute.

“But if you think that’s still too expensive you can use Rebtel’s Smart Call system and make all of those same calls for free,” said Hjalmar Winbladh, Rebtel’s co-founder and CEO. With expansion into Beijing and activation of service in six new countries, Rebtel will be up and running in 45 nations making Rebtel the most global communications company in the world.

By: Ola Sundqvist, March 24th, 2008 Tags: rebtel, VoIP

Celebrate Chinese New Year with Rebtel

Stockholm, Sweden – January 30, 2008 – Gong xi fa cai – Happy Chinese New Year! Chinese tradition says that the first words heard on the first day of the year can affect your fortunes for the entire year. In order to help spread good fortune, Rebtel are running a Million Minute Giveaway. During the Chinese New Year festivities, anyone can call friends in China to wish them luck and prosperity for the New Year – completely free!

Starting February 7, 2008, the first day of the Chinese New Year, anyone living in the 39 countries served by Rebtel can use their mobile phone to call any phone, anywhere in China for free. Each person can make up to five hours of free calls to China. The offer will run during the Chinese New Year festivities between the 7th and 21st of February.

“The Chinese New Year is a celebration of change,” said Hjalmar Winbladh, Rebtel co-founder and CEO. “So out with the old way of calling China, and in with the new – the Rebtel way. Give it a try. Saving money on long-distance calls is one way to ensure that you prosper financially for the rest of the year!’
For further information please see www.rebtel.com/china

Rebtel Direct calls to China cost less than 2¢ per minute from any of the other 39 countries that Rebtel serves. By comparison, AT&T charges $3.50 per minute to call a mobile phone in China from a mobile phone in the U.S. That same call from the U.K. using Vodafone costs $3.33 per minute. From Canada, the cost per minute for calls to China on TELUS Mobility can be as low as 8¢ per minute – but only with an $8.00 or $12.00 per month special service plan.

With Rebtel, there is no charge to set up an account. No monthly fees, no connection fees, no hidden costs, and it works with all mobile carriers. No change to your current mobile service is required.

By: Ola Sundqvist, January 30th, 2008 Tags: chinese new year, hjalmar winbladh, rebtel, VoIP, year of the rat

Rebtel Opens Mobile VoIP Services In China

Stockholm, Sweden – December 20, 2007 – Rebtel, the people’s global communications company, today announced low cost and free international calling to and from China.
Starting Friday, December 21, residents of Shanghai can use their mobile phones to call any phone, anywhere in the world for just pennies per minute, and make free calls to friends, family, and work colleagues in 39 countries.

“Entering the Chinese market was not easy, but we’re finally in – just in time for ex-pats to call home for the holidays – and we plan to open service in more Chinese cities in the New Year,” said Hjalmar Winbladh, Rebtel’s co-founder and CEO.

More than 18 million people live in Shanghai.  And that doesn’t include the city’s 6 million migrant workers, making Shanghai one of the most populous cities in the world.
Rebtel’s low-cost calls from Shanghai to the United States, for example, will cost just $0.018 per minute; $0.019 per minute from the U.S. to Shanghai.  By comparison, AT&T charges $3.50 per minute to call a mobile phone in China from a mobile phone in the U.S.
Rebtel calls from Shanghai will cost $0.019 to U.K. landlines, and $0.18 to U.K. mobile phones. Using Rebtel to call Shanghai from London will be the same as from the U.S.: $0.019 per minute. In contrast, Vodafone charges $3.33 per minute to call Shanghai from the U.K.
“There are more than 10 million mobile phone subscribers in Shanghai alone, so serving just a small percentage of that market should be a good test for rolling out service to the rest of the country,” said Winbladh.

Rebtel services can be used with any mobile phone without modification or software downloads.  There is no charge to set up a Rebtel account.  All new comers get a free 10 minute call to test the service.   Thereafter, subscribers only pay for the minutes they use.  Smart Calls between the 40 counties served by Rebtel are always free and only one of the two people on a call must be a Rebtel subscriber.
About Rebtel

Rebtel is a global voice services company for individuals, small business professionals and cord-cutters inside large companies, who regularly call international suppliers, customers, partners, their workforce, or friends and family abroad. Unlike the large mobile telecom carriers that charge exorbitant rates to recoup their high costs, Rebtel offers consumers ultra-low rates for global calling by making all calls local and leveraging VoIP technologies. For more information, or to start using Rebtel services, go to www.rebtel.com.

By: Ola Sundqvist, December 20th, 2007 Tags: china, hjalmar winbladh, rebtel, VoIP

Rebtel Matches New Customers`Spend 2:1 In Holiday Gift

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – December 17, 2007 – Rebtel, the people’s global communications company, today announced it would give new customers up to $20 through the end of the year. Customers can choose to give the money to a friend for making international calls with Rebtel, donate it to charity, or use it themselves to make low-cost calls to anywhere in the world.

“We’re giving new Rebtel users $2.00 for every $1.00 they put into their account when they register and it’s their call where the money goes,” said Hjalmar Winbladh, Rebtel’s co-founder and CEO.
The campaign begins today and runs until January 1st, 2008. Only first payments of up to $10.00 qualify for the program.

Non-paying Rebtel users – people who have previously registered and have been using Rebtel’s Smart Call service for making free global calls, or who joined Rebtel only to get a free 10 minute international call, but have never made a payment to Rebtel – can also participate.

Rebtel is a mobile phone service that allows users to call any phone, anywhere in the world, for just pennies per minute. Rebtel services can be used with any mobile phone without modification or software downloads. There is no charge to set up a Rebtel account. All newcomers get a free 10 minute call to test the service. Thereafter, subscribers only pay for the minutes they use. Smart Calls between the 40 countries served by Rebtel are always free and only one of the two people on a call must have a Rebtel account.

By: Ola Sundqvist, December 17th, 2007 Tags: hjalmar winbladh, rebtel, VoIP

Rebtel Announces New Pricing Structure

MILWAUKEE and STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 24, 2007 – Rebtel Inc. a leading provider of VoIP telephony, today announced a new pricing program that will provide millions of mobile phone users with the ability to make free or low-priced international calls to more than 36 countries around the world, reaching over 1.3 Billion people. By using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to connect pre-assigned local numbers, Rebtel allows its customers to make international calls on the go, regardless of the model of their phone, and, without the use of any special hardware or downloads. In addition, there is no fee to sign up to use the service.

The way Rebtel works is simple:

1. Sign up for free at: www.rebtel.com/
2. Create a local Rebtel number for the all of the international contact the Rebtel member dials frequently;
3. Whenever user wants to speak to their friends, they would dial the pre-assigned number at a low per minute fee;
4. For completely free calls, the Rebtel member should ask the answering party to hang up and call back the local number displayed on their caller ID, if caller ID is not available, Rebtel could send an SMS to their phone;
5. Originator of the call stays on the line and a couple of seconds later, they other party will join the call;
6. Now both are making local calls, and if they use their mobile plan’s inclusive minutes, the international call is free;
7. Talk for as long as the mobile battery holds out.

Available in more than 36 countries, Rebtel members are entitled to ten free international calls every month free of charge. Any additional calls will be charged at a low per minute free ranging on average from 2 – 20 cents a minute depending on the country being dialed. For example, while a local carrier will charge between 9 cents and 26 cents per minute, a Rebtel call from the United States to Mexico would cost 2 cents per minute without the call back option; calls to the United Kingdom from the U.S. would cost 2 cents per minute to land lines and 23 cents per minute to mobiles. Unlike other leading peer-to-peer online telephone services, Rebtel users do not need to sit anywhere near a PC or use a WiFi connection to make low cost or free international calls call.

“We wanted to build a service that would allow mobile phone users around the world to talk to one another for free, liberated from exorbitant charges and from being chained to your PC. We make VOIP calling as simple as dialling a number on your mobile,” said Souheil Badran, Rebtel’s President and General Manager of Americas.

By: Ola Sundqvist, April 23rd, 2007 Tags: rebtel, Souheil Badran, VoIP