Updating yesterday’s post about Raketu’s Flash-based voice over IP application for the iPhone, I’ve been trying to get an answer from the company about why on earth they would release a Flash-based program for a device that does not, and currently can not, support Flash.
Has anyone over there actually ever used an iPhone or an iTouch? This shortcoming is not news.
In lieu of an answer, I received word from Raketu that they have updated the http://iphone.raketu.com Web page to a non-Flash version by default (which is the same thing as the http://raketu.mobi link I looked at yesterday) to avoid confusion.
Just for kicks, I used my PC to take a look at the Flash version of the site, to see if anything was substantively different than the non-Flash-enabled page.
Short answer? Not really.
I could place the same kind of station to station calls as before, although the Flash version actually tells me how much it costs.
Or I could send an e-mail (for free).
Or an SMS (for 5 cents domestically).
It is worth noting that you must configure your Raketu profile with your correct e-mail address to receive replies from messages sent via Raketu. Otherwise, any replies will simply disappear into the ether—or in our case, annoy Raketu’s support personnel (my default e-mail address was support@raketu.com for some reason.)
SMS on the other hand, seems to send messages only from “839-60” instead of the mobile phone number I configured in my profile. So at this time, it does not look like anyone can respond to an SMS sent via Raketu.
*Update: According to Raketu support the SMS problem “is a problem with carriers in the USA. If you send the SMS to someone for example in London, it will pick up the correct number. Unfortunately, we cannot adjust this. If you send it to Canadian phone it works also fine…the problem is JUST US carriers.”