Million dollar idea - Free phone calls

Last week, I posted a blog titled How to Become a Millionaire in One Year, and surprisingly, when I checked my stats yesterday, I got 63 visitors on that day. I guess people are interested in becoming millionaires. Here is an idea that I think would be worth millions of dollars if implemented, and I would like to see it happen in the near future, hope there is someone that is keen.

I don't know about other countries, but just recently, Vodafone New Zealand launched a new plan called BestMate. It allows you to ring/txt/video your Best Mate (another cellphone on vodafone network) for as long or as much as you want for $6 per month. That got me thinking, for $6 a month ($12 both ways), you can make unlimited number of local calls from your mobile, and you can divert phone calls to your mobile for free. (In New Zealand, local calls are free, you only pay a fixed price per month.)

Picture this. You are out shopping. You want to call your friend at home. You can use your cellphone and pay $0.49 per minute, but you decided to ring your other friend who is your best mate (on best mate plan), and ask him to ring him from home and pass on the message. Now that costed you nothing. If you really wanted to, your best mate could put his cellphone and home phone together, on speakerphone or putting one of the phones upside down, and you can speak to your friend for free, for as long as you want.

Now if a machine can replace this person, guess what, unlimited local calls from your mobile. The way it will work is this: You buy two cellphones, we will call them Cellphone A and Cellphone B. Subscribe to BestMate plan for both phones. Cellphone A will sit at home, connected to this "machine" and connected to your landline. When you want to make a local call from cellphone B, ring cellphone A. The machine picks up cellphone A, then you enter the local number you want to call. The machine dials the number using your landline, and connects cellphone A to the landline.

For call diversion to your cellphone, it works similarly. Machine dials your number using cellphone A when the landline rings, then connects the landline call to cellphone A, which is connected to cellphone B - you.

Here's the challenge, make that machine. If it is done, it will save millions of people billions of dollars, so why wouldn't they buy it. I don't think vodafone or any phone company would be too impressed with it, but can they do anything about it?

There you have it, an idea for anyone that wants to become a millionaire. I don't have the skill or the money to do R&D in hardware, so you are free to use the idea and manufacture it. Just make sure you give me a few of them for free :D. If anyone is interested, let me know how you go, I would like to be updated or possibly involved in this invention.

Oh and here's something that already exists that allows you to make free international calls. It is Jajah. The way it works is this. You register, and your friend registers (registration is free). You make a call using the web dialer. Immediately your phone will ring. You pick up your phone, and you hear - "Please wait, Jajah will connect you." Then your friend's phone rings, and he picks up the phone. They do limit your call length to 1 hour a day last time I checked (or that they just ask nicely), but it is absolutely FREE, phone-to-phone, I'll say that again, PHONE-TO-PHONE, not PC-to-Phone or Phone-to-PC but phone-to-phone. It is only free between registered users between certain countries, but I have not had to ring a country that is not free.

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