Yuilop recently launched its full phone service in the UK, adding it to an exclusive club that currently includes only Germany, Spain and the US. Yuilop is a novel service whereby users can not only text and VoIP for free à la WhatsApp, but also communicate with non Yuilop users via a cloud-saved phone number for minimum costs and under no contract.
Of course, you’ll need an active internet connection. Whether you achieve this via a payed data plan or by connecting to WiFi is up to you.
What’s the deal?
Yuilop has two services: one is much like WhatsApp and allows users to communicate for free via an internet connection with others who have the same app. The other, which is the one we’re talking about, actually provides you with a phone number that you can use to call anyone, even those who have never heard of yuilop.
A yuilop phone number is stored in the cloud and not on your SIM card. This means that you can travel and still use your phone with standard call rates even when in other countries, so long as you have a SIM that is compatible with that country’s networks.
The benefits when not travelling are also clear: yuilop offers an incredibly affordable service that doesn’t require any lock-in contracts, including free calls and texts to fellow yuilop users.
But if I need to be connected to data, what’s the point?
Yuilop doesn’t seem like it can totally replace a mobile provider just yet. In cities where free public WiFi is abundant it could certainly try, but users will still find themselves often without reception.
What we think it’s most useful for is overseas calls. You can simply open your yuilop app and call an overseas landline or mobile, using only your yuilop credit. This ends up being even cheaper than standard national calls, and most people don’t call internationally enough for patchy reception to be a big deal.
Credit where it’s due
The yuilop credit system is quite simple. Send a message or make a call and you spend credit; receive a message or receive a call and you acquire credit. The amount of credit spent on a call is less than you get back from receiving one, so users will still have to spend a bit to top their credit up, so long as they have as much or more outgoing traffic than incoming.
The good news is that, compared to standard call and text rates, yuilop credit is incredibly cheap. In the UK 300 credits will run you £3.99 (about US$6.20 currently). That works out to roughly £0.013 or two US cents per minute. A text will run you 3 credits; about £0.04 or six cents.
If that isn’t cheap enough, yoilop will give you 2.5 credits for every SMS you receive, meaning you’ve effectively spent £0.01 for each SMS that is responded to.
You can also earn credit by getting friends to sign up, or downloading yuilop sponsored apps.
How is this possible?
The system uses the public switched telephone network via the internet, which is what allows it to provide you with a phone number. We’re not sure how yuilop manages to make things so affordable, but from all reports everything works pretty well.
CEO Julian Doppelhammer, (winner of the ‘CEO with best name ever’ award) has stated “I want to provide really free communication to the user… Free meaning no costs but also free meaning independent from operators, independent from providers. A real Internet service.”
Yuilo is certainly on its way to doing that, but the current reliance on an active internet connection is a serious crutch. As things stand, data tends to be the most expensive part of any mobile plan, so relying entirely on yuilop as your number for calls and texts means you’ll either be paying for a data plan from a provider or jumping from WiFi network to WiFi network. Neither is an appealing option.
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