14 DAY TRIAL // RPM Communications announced the launch of a new service that allows phone owners in the U.S. to engage in conference calls with other users regardless of the mobile phone and the carrier network used. FoonzMobile is available free of charge and costs only the minutes used for a regular phone call.
To use the service, consumers need to send a SMS with the message "START" to 36669 (foonz) from any mobile phone. A reply message will then be sent back with instructions on how to start the group call. When the user initiates the call, Foonz sends text messages to the mobile phones of the users invited to take part in the call. Participants who receive the message simply need to call the phone number provided with the message and Foonz connects them automatically to the group call.
"Conference calling isn't just for business anymore," said Michael Bayer, CEO and co-founder of RPM Communications. "People who want to share news, get a group of friends together, or let team mates know that practice is canceled can forget about phone trees or calling people one-by-one. foonzMobile makes group voice communication as immediate and easy as text and IM, and it's available to every one of the 230 million people with cell phones in the U.S. and of course, it's available to businesses too."
Users who wish to gain even more from the service can create a user account at the Foonts website and receive their own Foonz number that can be used to start a group call, or send a group voice message. The registration offers additional features, such as the possibility of organizing their Foonz contacts into groups. Afterwards, users can easily initiate a call with an entire group by texting "START" followed by the name assigned to the group (for example: family, drinking buddies, etc). In the same way, group calls with particular people from the contacts list can be started by texting "START" followed by a comma-separated list of names. If some of the people invited to participate in the call aren't available, the user can leave them a message on Foonz. Also, if the user knows when he wants a group call to start, he can schedule it and Foonz will notify people in advance and remind them again when the call is starting.
Interested users can register for the Foonz service here.