Rebtel no longer blocked by O2, noisy approach payed off

Written on 4th September 2008                                                                                                              4 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

About a week ago, I reported about Rebtel, a Luxembourg and Sweden-based start-up that provides cheap international mobile calls, had been blocked in Germany by operator O2. It didn’t look like it was going to be an easy fight for O2, as Rebtel blogger Alexander Drewniak wrote a post in which he promised Rebtel would fight back as hard as they could. Of course Alexander asked for help from the crowd, in the form of complaining by the operator. The crowd did so, and.., victory is Rebtel’s:

Without your personal support, blogging, Tweets, Diggs, Facebook status messages, emails to O2’s CEO and phone calls to their support staff we could never have made our voice loud enough for O2 to hear us. With the Rebtel community being able to come to terms with O2 on this matter we have proved that together we are strong. We held our ground and the persistency surely paid off.

So guess what, in these times, it sure pays off to make a lot of noise via the web and email. You’ll even get a giant like O2 on its knees.

[Via the redesigned ArtcicStartup]

blog, facebook, germany, Luxembourg, mobile phone, O2, rebtel, Telefónica Europe

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Cheap international calls service Rebtel blocked by O2

Written on 26th August 2008                                                                                                              1 COMMENT
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Rebtel, a Luxembourg and Sweden-based start-up that provides cheap international mobile calls, has been blocked in Germany by operator O2.

Rebtel has found a way to take expensive international calls out of the hands of the mobile operators and make them cheaper by using the Internet. The Word Wide Web functions as a rerouting system that connects local calls around the globe. Users receive an alternative number that’s connected to the number they want to call. There go the operator’s margins.

Here’s Rebtel’s side of the story, as expressed on their blog:

The reason why O2 wants to stop Rebtel is pretty obvious. They have very high margins on their international calling and want to stop any threats to that. Their actions violate not only the crystal clear EU-regulations but are also a breach of your contract with O2(!).

The mobile technology company has now started a so-called “race” with O2. Like a true reb(t)el would, they’ve just launched another series of numbers. Which, of course, O2 will block as soon as possible. Although Rebtel’s fighting spirit is admirable and charming, the service does become unreliable for O2 users. We’ll keep you posted on how the race develops.

germany, O2, rebtel

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