A conversation with Hjalmar Winbladh, CEO of Rebtel

This is a recording of our conversation with Hjalmar Winbladh, CEO of Rebtel (www.rebtel.com), a new bread of telephone operator focused on VOIP communication during the AlwaysOn conference in Stanford. This video has been produced by CitizenValley.org, the only community-run news web site in French covering Silicon Valley with the support of Gervais Restaurant, Silicon Valley's authentic French restaurant (www.gervaisrestaurant.com).

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• alwayson
• voip
• stanford
• conversation
• rebtel
• Hjalmar
• Winbladh

[umh99]

I know him and I have been in his house!! =) + I go in the same class as his daughter! Thats cool!!!

[nev83]

By the way, there is no longer any weekly charge. So even if you somehow decided that $1 a week was a rip-off, they've now scrapped it. Enjoy it for free!

[camtirol]

Alexander Straub - please do not call Rebtel a rip off! I have never used a telephone service that is cheaper from a mobile in Europe. It saves me USD 200.00 per month.. and I spend more time whilst away from home to talk to my beloved family.... If you do not need it dont use it - but if you do speak you will save tons of money with Rebtel

[nev83]

yeah, that's correct. no chrage if you don't use the service. plus, let's face it. $1?? that's how much you spend for the first minute with most people. Rebtel are hugely hugely cheaper then anyone else out there

[bobbybaines194]

I have to say I've found Rebtel to be a fantastic service, they've saved me tons on my phonebill and basically made my life a lot easier as I can now ring home from my mobile.

Can I also just point out that they scrapped their $1 a week thing - which to be honest if your making international calls isn't exactly going to break the bank, and you only got charged if you made calls that week anyway - a while back.

[nev83]

rebtel is awesome, saves me a hell of a lot of money compared to the services i'd previously used and it's massively easy to use

[petertt01]

alexanderstraub: Funny how you don't bitch about the mobile operators monopoly? like 1$ a week is a rip off... I'd say you probably get ripped of 10 times that a week by your mobile operator.

I for one embrace this type of service and look forward to a future free from the mobile operator monopoly.

[alexanderstraub]

The trick is not the NO usage scenario! If you use it for a call even as short as 1 second they will charge you the full weekly amount of 1 USD! So you used maybe 4 cents you will be charged the full amount and loose all the remaining 96 cent. Maybe they should rename it to Rib-Off Tel rather than Rebtel. ;-)

[boybolser]

I might be wrong but if you don't use the service you don't get charged... Is that correct?

[alexanderstraub]

Rebtel is a rip off, forget the service, they charge you weekly, if you do not use the service it goes all into the pocket of Rebtel. He is a rip off artist.