4 ms·

TellFi (YC W11) brings Google Voice-like service to Canada, for free

51 points by ceelee 16y ago

D-mo 16y ago
blame canadaaaaa
dualboot 16y ago
Signed up! Eager to take this for a test drive. I've been waiting impatiently for Google Voice to roll out in Canada..
- ceelee 16y ago
  Great - We'd love to hear what you think. Email us at support@tellfi.com with questions or suggestions.
holychiz 16y ago
Great idea. signed up for the free plan and didn't read the small print (50 free minutes and 30-days free trial). I'd be ok w/ 50 minutes free but not w/ 30-days trial. I'm an occasional user but my calls may vary in lengths since it's mostly to businesses and gov't agencies. If there was a plan to let me keep my free number but charge for overage minutes, I'd stick around. As it is, I can't use it, even the free plan, since I can't be sure that my TellFi number won't be cancel on me. Therefore, this TellFi number will not go out to my connections in Canada. I'm cheering for you guys, TellFi, even I can't use your services as is. Love your simple sign-up process.
- mp3jeep01 16y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! Canadian numbers automatically get bumped up to 100 free minutes and 1-year free. The only reason we've left off 'overage' at the moment is because we wanted the signup to be seamless and credit card free! Ping us at support@tellfi.com and we can work something out.
boolean 16y ago
I like the simplicity. It took me 2 minutes to sign up, get a phone number and leave a voice mail. The audio file (MP3) was delivered instantly to my email. How are you planning to compete with Google Voice when they roll out in Canada?
- ceelee 16y ago
  Thanks a lot! We're going to be adding some really powerful features soon that Google Voice and others in the space do not have.
- bretthopper 16y ago
  Same experience here. One minor bug - HTML entities shown in the email transcriptions: 5 o'clock
  - mp3jeep01 16y ago
    Thanks for the note, will get that fixed! I wish I knew how to speak in HTML entities when I left voicemails...
afterburner 16y ago
Is this forwarding/voicemail only, or is there actually VOIP service directly to/from the number?
- keidian 16y ago
  Forwarding, voicemail & extensions (basically multiple forwards depending on what the caller hits) Still, could be useful. Unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere with no local numbers on any voip service basically :p
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
rfolstad 16y ago
Anyone know whats taking so long for Google Voice to become available in Canada? How are you planning to compete with free when it is available? I'd love to see conference calls and virtual programmable ivr as a added service. Calling land lines is soo year 2000. I need a local number and a SIP number that forwards to my phone or takes a voicemail if i don't answer.
- tghnjtghn 16y ago
  It's because of the intense competition between Canada's phone providers. Unfortunately the intense competition is limited to the golf course - the rest of the time they are free to fix charges, limit services and ensure that their friends in government keep out any competition
dholowiski 16y ago
Awesome - I got a 403 area code, finally! The front page should make it more clear that there is an extended free trial. .
- nkassis 16y ago
  404 would be cool Page not found 5555 ;p
  - dholowiski 16y ago
    Well, they have 403-888-xxxx numbers, which I thought was pretty cool but I didn't get one because I didn't want to confuse people b
  - jackowayed 16y ago
    Move to Atlanta.
    - nkassis 16y ago
      mmm, or better yet I could just get a virtual number from Vonage but it would be pretty useless ;p
mcdowall 16y ago
Please someone build something similar for the UK.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- biot 16y ago
  Twilio isn't available in the UK, but using Tropo this could easily be someone's weekend project: http://blog.tropo.com/2010/10/20/free-tropo-development-now-even-more-open/ http://blog.tropo.com/2010/10/20/free-tropo-development-now-...
sprice 16y ago
This was super easy to configure which is nice. I'm a little uneasy about the 100 minutes per month meaning at minimum 1 minute for every call I receive. Per-second billing would be nice. My ideal plan would be unlimited calls straight to voicemail. I recognize the transcripts eat up some EC2 time but I have a feeling the total cost would be pretty reasonable.

51 points by ceelee 16y ago

D-mo 16y ago

blame canadaaaaa

dualboot 16y ago

Signed up! Eager to take this for a test drive. I've been waiting impatiently for Google Voice to roll out in Canada..

ceelee 16y ago
Great - We'd love to hear what you think. Email us at support@tellfi.com with questions or suggestions.

holychiz 16y ago

Great idea. signed up for the free plan and didn't read the small print (50 free minutes and 30-days free trial). I'd be ok w/ 50 minutes free but not w/ 30-days trial. I'm an occasional user but my calls may vary in lengths since it's mostly to businesses and gov't agencies. If there was a plan to let me keep my free number but charge for overage minutes, I'd stick around. As it is, I can't use it, even the free plan, since I can't be sure that my TellFi number won't be cancel on me. Therefore, this TellFi number will not go out to my connections in Canada. I'm cheering for you guys, TellFi, even I can't use your services as is. Love your simple sign-up process.

mp3jeep01 16y ago
Thanks for the feedback! Canadian numbers automatically get bumped up to 100 free minutes and 1-year free. The only reason we've left off 'overage' at the moment is because we wanted the signup to be seamless and credit card free! Ping us at support@tellfi.com and we can work something out.

boolean 16y ago

I like the simplicity. It took me 2 minutes to sign up, get a phone number and leave a voice mail. The audio file (MP3) was delivered instantly to my email. How are you planning to compete with Google Voice when they roll out in Canada?

ceelee 16y ago
Thanks a lot! We're going to be adding some really powerful features soon that Google Voice and others in the space do not have.
bretthopper 16y ago
Same experience here. One minor bug - HTML entities shown in the email transcriptions: 5 o'clock
- mp3jeep01 16y ago
  Thanks for the note, will get that fixed! I wish I knew how to speak in HTML entities when I left voicemails...

afterburner 16y ago

Is this forwarding/voicemail only, or is there actually VOIP service directly to/from the number?

keidian 16y ago
Forwarding, voicemail & extensions (basically multiple forwards depending on what the caller hits) Still, could be useful. Unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere with no local numbers on any voip service basically :p

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

rfolstad 16y ago

Anyone know whats taking so long for Google Voice to become available in Canada? How are you planning to compete with free when it is available? I'd love to see conference calls and virtual programmable ivr as a added service. Calling land lines is soo year 2000. I need a local number and a SIP number that forwards to my phone or takes a voicemail if i don't answer.

tghnjtghn 16y ago
It's because of the intense competition between Canada's phone providers. Unfortunately the intense competition is limited to the golf course - the rest of the time they are free to fix charges, limit services and ensure that their friends in government keep out any competition

dholowiski 16y ago

Awesome - I got a 403 area code, finally! The front page should make it more clear that there is an extended free trial. .

nkassis 16y ago
404 would be cool Page not found 5555 ;p
- dholowiski 16y ago
  Well, they have 403-888-xxxx numbers, which I thought was pretty cool but I didn't get one because I didn't want to confuse people b
- jackowayed 16y ago
  Move to Atlanta.
  - nkassis 16y ago
    mmm, or better yet I could just get a virtual number from Vonage but it would be pretty useless ;p

mcdowall 16y ago

Please someone build something similar for the UK.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
biot 16y ago
Twilio isn't available in the UK, but using Tropo this could easily be someone's weekend project: http://blog.tropo.com/2010/10/20/free-tropo-development-now-even-more-open/ http://blog.tropo.com/2010/10/20/free-tropo-development-now-...

sprice 16y ago

This was super easy to configure which is nice. I'm a little uneasy about the 100 minutes per month meaning at minimum 1 minute for every call I receive. Per-second billing would be nice. My ideal plan would be unlimited calls straight to voicemail. I recognize the transcripts eat up some EC2 time but I have a feeling the total cost would be pretty reasonable.