I was introduced to Truphone several months ago as a result of being part of the Nokia Blogger Relations program. Truphone makes it incredibly easy to use the WiFi feature of Nokia N-Series handsets like the Nokia N95 to make VoIP calls.

Today Truphone announced some new calling plans that provide cost certainty when making international calls. The Tru Zone is a group of 40 countries that you can call via Truphone for:

• $0.06 per minute to landlines
• $0.30 per minute to mobiles
• $0.20 per SMS message
• $0.00 for Truphone to Truphone calls

These are huge savings compared to making mobile phone calls to international numbers. I don't really know what the cost of doing this with my iPhone is, but the rates aren't anything close to this. A release from Truphone compared their prices with the Verizon Wireless prices on calls to Germany, and Truphone would save you $1.43 to $1.65 per minute!

I've been experimenting with Truphone over the past few months, calling landlines of friends and relatives in the United States. No one has ever told me that there was any clarity problem or glitch on the calls I've made. The only questions I've gotten are from people who have Caller ID who don't recognize the number I'm calling from.

I'll have to call my friend Ramona in Switzerland to see how good Truphone calls sound internationally. The only issue with that is Switzerland isn't part of the Tru Zone. No worries for me, however. The rate to Switzerland is $0.10 per minute to a landline and $0.50 per minute to a mobile. What a deal.