KipCall is a modest VoIP app that I came across at TechCrunch Disrupt NY. Similar to a few other well-known consumer models wherein you don’t have a standard phone number, KipCall gives you an ID. To handle the enormous coldstart problems, KipCall, thankfully, lets you import your Facebook friends.
Yoann Valensi, KipCall’s CEO, gave me a quick demo at his booth. The ID/URL links you to, presumably, a local point-of-presence, where a VoIP gateway then routes the call over the Internet. Callers are not using any cell phone minutes, and the bits of advertising that gets displayed pays for the short hop onto our aging PSTN.
To take advantage of this free call experience, the called party also has to have the Kip app, which is available in the AppStore as well as the Android Marketlplace.
I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks to be a credible app that makes great sense for Facebook-centric users.