Radio Handi is gaining steam day by day. Besides offering basic voice communities with multi modal communications, one can also get free ad hoc conference calls just by adding an address to the CC list of an email and create group chats using SMS. It is expected that its conference calling feature would send ripples up the voice conferencing industry. In order to create a conference call, one needs to add "invite@radiohandi.com" to the cc list on an email message and every address featured on the message would get an automated email response from RadioHandi along with dial in instructions and a passcode in order to join the free conference call. There is no need for the recipient to register with Radio Handi regarding creating a conference call on the fly.

One can call in to the conference via their local access numbers in over thirty countries and worldwide via VoIP using Gizmo Project, PhoneGnome, SIP Broker or any SIP compatible program. For supporting this free service one has to hear a short ad but it is not so irritating. Its Group SMS chat feature is also great and one can activate the service by sending an SMS to 866-687-2373 with one of the commands mentioned below:

.create groupname (to create a group chat)
.add groupname telephone# telephone# telephone# (to add people to the group chat)
.start groupname (to have the system invite others from the list to join)
.voice groupname (to switch to a voice chat)

These services are being offered free of charge by Radio Handi but one would still have to pay the carrier's SMS charges.

Thnx Bruce