Futurephone is history
Feb 26th, 2007 by Dan
Several months ago while googling around looking for cheap ways to make international calls, I stumbled upon a strange service called Futurephone. You called this number in Iowa, and then dialed your international code and phone number, and boom, you’re talking for free (assuming you have free long distance).
Well my girlfriend is abroad again and I went to Futurephone’s website, and a huge red banner slaps me in the face: “THIS SERVICE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.” Ah, crap. No such thing as a free lunch. A little googling and it turns out Futurephone, and other phone companies base these types of services out of Iowa due to the low population and some phone tax loopholes described here.
I guess it’s back to Skype.
There were no taxes used by Futurephone, because the telco’s they used were not in NECA. The reason the service is no longer available is that AT&T and QWEST are suing them saying it was illegal. Once this goes in front of the FCC these services could become available again, as there was nothing illegal about them.
Clem-
Thanks for the comment. I found some more info here:
http://gigaom.com/2007/02/07/atts-free-call-bill-2-million/
You are correct Dan, TANSTAFL - read the moon is a harsh mistress.
(”There Ain’t No Such Thing As a Free Lunch”)