StanaPhone – First StartUp

StanaPhone was world’s first free telephone service. StanaPhone used Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, and worked with standard personal computers running Windows 98, 2000 or XP coupled with a PC headset. Perfect for small businesses and consumers, StanaPhone required no monthly fee or set up charges. Simple to activate, users could visit www.stanaphone.com to download the StanaPhone software and sign up for their free telephone number. By adding a standard PC headset that, at the time could be purchased at almost any consumer electronics store to their PC, users were able to make and receive free telephone calls to and from any phone number in the United States, Canada and a selection of other countries.

The big difference with Skype was that with StanaPhone you would get a real phone number, it’s SIP (and so Gnomemeeting should work with the Stanaphone service), supports calling forwarded accounts.

StanaPhone’s advancements in VoIP applications have enabled the Company to provide the same or better sound quality than a “land-lines” like a normal household phone. Years ago, there were legitimate concerns about the sound quality of VoIP. In 2004 technologies were already maturing to the point that industry analysts were predicting that up to 44 percent of the world’s corporate telephone traffic may be IP-based by 2008. StanaPhone was already ahead of that curve, having worked extensively with some of the world’s leading acoustic experts to ensure high-quality voice communications. Plus, unlike other VoIP services such as Vonage and Packet8, the convenience and flexibility of StanaPhone was free.

StanaPhone in the press: