Thursday, July 06, 2006

Space-benders

Three days into my new job, I am already made aware of services that bend time and space. I am not talking about the stuff that I do here. It will be a loooong time before my personal doings start having such an impact (if ever). But I can’t wait to tell you about this super cool thing that Orbitel has just recently launched and I have already tested and loved.

The service is BGnomer (BG = Bulgarian; nomer = number, for the uninitiated). It targets Bulgarians living abroad (or other interested individuals) and looking for cheap and simple ways to talk to people within Bulgaria over the phone. The operative word here being CHEAP. What Orbitel has done is so simple and sweet, that you won’t even believe it. A Bulgarian living abroad creates an account and gets assigned a Bulgarian line phone number. Incoming calls to that number get automatically transferred to a foreign-based telephone but the person making the call only gets charged the cost of one local phone call. Ta-daaaa! And that’s it.

There are some country differences. For example, you can transfer your BGnomer to a cell-phone only in some countries like the United States and Canada. Even still, the service is remarkably convenient. I got to experience it in person last night and must admit that the first 5 minutes of the conversation were composed of mostly gasps and exclamations about how unbelievably awesome the whole thing is. On top of that, because the service is still brand new, it’s completely free to sign up. They start charging people in September but the monthly fee is only 20 bucks. So…like I said…it’s still very affordable.

Many of you might not be able to understand my excitement. But all of you who live abroad are probably pretty psyched about this. Being away from the ones you love is hard enough and not being able to talk with them often because of ridiculously expensive international calls makes it even worse. For the very same reason, however, nifty little things such as BGnomer, for example, can make all the difference in the world. Nothing can beat a call from your mom who just wants to tell you that your high-school friend just had a baby. Oh, and that she loves you, too!

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15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

the cost free period is only for the ones who did registrate themselves till the 20th of june...unfortunately ;,(

7/05/2006 6:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that's not true! they extended the deadline, and it's not too late...i just signed up yesterday and have used it already

7/05/2006 6:24 PM  
Blogger petya said...

i love it when people battle it out here before i even realized i had comments. ;)

it IS free! get it! and call everyone you know to tell them about it!

7/05/2006 7:36 PM  
Blogger z said...

yeah, i've friends in germany that use the service and from time to time i just love to call them without having the trouble of counting the seconds. we just talk and talk and talk :)

7/06/2006 11:54 AM  
Blogger The thinkin' man said...

is it cheaper than skype???

7/06/2006 5:07 PM  
Blogger petya said...

Z: Do call them! Speaking from experience, getting unexpected calls from Bulgaria was always the highlight of my day.

Kevin: It is different, because unlike skype, you call from your phone, i.e. you don't have to be at your computer to make a call. I've never used skype for a skype-to-phone call, but given that BGnomer charges you the price of a local phone call, I assume it's cheaper. More importantly, however, the service gives you a lot more flexibility because it doesn't tie you to your machine.

7/06/2006 5:24 PM  
Anonymous jkrank said...

I must speak with you about this. I have an idea...

7/06/2006 7:26 PM  
Blogger petya said...

Uh-oh! ;)

7/07/2006 10:29 AM  
Blogger Александър Кирилов said...

поезия харесваш ли

7/11/2006 3:55 PM  
Blogger petya said...

Страхувам се от поезия. Ти защо питаш?

7/11/2006 5:08 PM  
Blogger jane said...

that IS pretty freakin' awesome!

'course, what i need is KRnomer...

7/13/2006 10:01 PM  
Blogger petya said...

I think Vonage in the States provides a similar service...you should look into it. I will pass on the info if I come across something more specific. :)

7/17/2006 7:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Българският номер който получавате софйски ли е?

9/03/2006 6:00 AM  
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