InformationWeek has an article on Jahjah, a company that offers low cost calling services, but without connecting through a user’s computer, like VoIP service.  Users enter the number they want to call in a box on Jahjah’s Web site and their phone starts ringing.  When they pick up, the other end is already ringing to the number they want to call.

The firm’s rates range from free (for calls to other members) to 2.5 cents per minute for US, Japan and Western Europe, and also the latter rate for conference calls.

InfoWeek says:

Phone companies are losing about 2% of their customers every quarter to mobile carriers and VoIP providers like Skype.

That 2% stat is probably the most interesting part of the article.

Consider Jajah the un-Skype, because unlike that service or Vonage, its customers don’t need a Net-connected phone or headset to use its VoIP service. … Jajah’s on pace to surpass a million users by the end of the year, and Scharf hopes it will become everybody’s "second phone company."

Nothing new here, really.  Calling cards offering cheap rates from phone providers who route the calls over the Internet have been around for a decade now.  Jahjah’s million user mark is interesting, however.  Though one must always consider how active those users are.