By Sharla Sikes

There’s another mobile VoIP service soon to be available. Sipcall, a startup based in Silicon Valley, plans to offer its Hipsip—a SIP calling service for Skype that will allow users to make VoIP calls from a mobile phone web browser.

Using Hipsip, there’s no need for 3G data or WiFi access—callers can make free calls using Skype on smart phones, including the iPhone.

Cell phone carrier companies won’t be happy, I’m sure, if users begin bypassing the companies’ voice plans. The carrier will still get the minutes used to make local calls, since Hipsip requires a local call. But for callers who routinely make calls overseas, the savings to the customer could be considerable.

“Hipsip turns any mobile phone into a VoIP phone, by allowing users to call their Skype contacts with one click directly from the mobile browser. We believe our users should not have to own an expensive smartphone to take advantage of Skype and cheap VoIP calls from their mobile phone,” said Christian Rees, Co-founder of Sipcall, the company providing the Hipsip service.

To use Hipsip, a caller would install the application on a PC, open a browser on a mobile phone and go to Hipsip’s site and enter a personal Skype contact. Users click the contact’s name in the Skype directory to call the contact from a mobile phone.

The phone makes a regular cell phone call to a local Hipsip number which it locates for the customer, and Hipsip’s server will convert the call to VoIP and transfer it to Skype, where the call is completed.

The system has several drawbacks, one of which is the requirement that a user’s PC has to be on and running the Hipsip Bridge software. So far the service will be available in the United States and six European countries, including Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The company has plans to acquire more local phone numbers and add more countries, as well as eliminate the “inconvenience” of the PC needing to remain on.

Hipsip also offers EmailCall, a service that allows users to turn an e-mail address into a phone number.

Other companies offer mobile Skype applications including IM+,  iSkoot and Mobivox. IM+ is a Skype callback-to-mobile phone service, iSkoot is an application that must be installed and Mobivox has an audio interface and a new click-to-call widget.

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