I last reviewed RingCredible a few months ago as they had come onto the scene in Canada to offer Canadians cheaper long distance calling. At the time I had said RingCredible for iOS is a simple to use VoIP app that has good audio quality and lived up to the promise of cheap long distance calling. Now in version 3.0, the Netherlands based company is trying to make this an even more attractive value proposition by introducing a number of improvements.
Besides bringing is iOS 7 compatibility which makes the look and feel of the app consistent with other iOS 7 apps, RingCredible 3.0 also brings a new way of packaging audio so that it sounds great and uses less bandwidth. The company claims that the app uses 0.16 MB a minute. At that level, it would be practical to use RingCredible over a 3G or 4G network rather than just use it over WiFi. When I tested it out, it did not sound any different than any call I’ve made over a cellular network on my iPhone 5. Callers had no problem hearing me clearly and they could not tell that I was on a VoIP application. That sounds lame, but it isn’t as VoIP apps sometimes have lesser call quality than a cellular or landline call. RingCredible didn’t and that’s excellent. Another plus is that because the app uses less data, it will consume less battery life which is a welcome feature. Another welcome feature is the fact that I can make an in-app purchase in my local currency as previously, I could just purchase in Euros.
One thing that didn’t change was the fact that my mobile number appeared the call display of the person on the other end of the call. That’s a nice touch. In terms of price, RingCredible still wins in this department. A 10 minute and 24 second call from Toronto to Houston Texas was 0.22 Euros according to the application. That works out to $0.17 CAD which includes a $0.07 connection fee. That’s a good price but it would have been handy if the app displayed the cost in Canadian dollars seeing as Canadian dollars in other parts of the app. But at that price, this is an app that will stay on my iPhone for use when I travel. You can check the rates within the app and online for other countries and I think you’ll find that they’re more than competitive.
RingCredible is available not only iOS, but you can get it for Android on Google Play as well. I recommend it if you travel or you want to keep in touch with people back home cheaply.