Recent surveys indicate that more than 50 % of the US population today owns one or more smart-phones. Across the globe this trend is only increasing. For example, in India, one of the most significant smart-phone markets, the number of owners today is reported to be 330M. Currently international calls are expensive, whether through a cellular network or other services like Skype, resulting in prohibitive costs for many individuals, such as teenagers or students or high volume users who would use more than the allowed limit to call landlines and/or mobile phones. As an alternative, the research team has developed a smartphone application (Phone Call Passport) which allows users abroad and at home to call or text message any number for free using unused minutes available at peer phones.
The proposed application is based on the idea that performing phone calls from mobile phones to landline and mobile numbers through the cellular network is still extremely expensive when performed from abroad. Phone Call Passport (PCP) program uses unused minutes available at other phones within the PCP peer network. In particular, users that provide free phone calls and text messages receive a reward for the services they offer to users wanting to call and/or text abroad. The reward can be in the form of coupons, free minutes or preferences when they wish to use peer minutes to make calls themselves. This project creates a radical new avenue to exploit free minutes at phones. With the dramatic increase in smart-phone markets and VoIP technologies, there is a significant commercial impact. The team will design user-friendly cross platforms apps to enable Phone Call Passport, extensively test and validate it, and create opportunities for dissemination and commercialization.
