eqo – A Different Way to Chat

February 15th, 2008 by Eric

eqo Earlier this week, I met Bill Tam from eqo at the GoMo News – MyStrands party.

The website has this short description of what they do:

EQO (pronounced “echo”) is a FREE application that brings free instant messaging, cheap calling and cheap texting to your mobile phone. Chat on the go using MSN, AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, QQ (NEW!), ICQ and Jabber, or call and text anyone in the world at super-low rates. Invite your friends to join your EQO network and you can use EQO to call them at 50% off EQO’s regular calling rate, or send them an EQO Message for free.

While I have been using Skype on my mobile device for a while, I have also been looking for a way to also have all of my IM accounts accessible on my phone. I have tried the software from OZ Communications, but it’s limited since I have to log into each one separately and not have all of my contacts available at one time. Perhaps it could be the version of the software that I have on my WM6 device, but Bill showed me how I want to switch to eqo. First, unlike my OZ client, which charges me each IM as a text message, eqo using my mobile data plan. OK, but if you don’t have an unlimited data plan, how much does it use? Here is the answer from their Help section about the service.

The application uses about 1 or 2 KBs every time you start it up. Each call is only 200 bytes (the data connection is used to initiate the call–so the 200 bytes is the same regardless of call duration of call type). The application will use more data if you have lots of contacts or lots of IM accounts with lots of contacts.

Wow, simple honesty. Instead of hiding these facts and getting the phone company to gauge you later, this really helps set expectations for people who are thinking about using this service.

Another thing that is nice is that eqo also provides the ability to do long distance calling. This is accomplished using VoIP. Now provided that you have good reception, calls should be just as clear as a normal call on the cellular network. Pricing is fairly competitive to Skype and similar long distance calling rates, but it’s nice to have an integrated communications application.

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