Xcelis Communications L.L.C. said it has revamped its call re-routing offering so that now the company will sell its Pantheon product to customers so they can re-route their own calls.
The move comes after Xcelis introduced a trial service that essentially re-routed Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s in-network calls to numbers outside the carrier’s network. The service allowed Cingular customers to place a call to any phone number in the United States and Canada, but have that call billed as if it were a mobile-to-mobile call. Thus, a user with an unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling plan could place calls to anyone in the United States and Canada without having those calls billed to their anytime minutes.
The offering drew the ire of some carriers. Verizon Wireless said Xcelis’ service would violate its business contract. Cingular didn’t comment on the company specifically, but said it would be “investigating this one thoroughly.”
Now however Xcelis has taken itself out of the equation by selling the re-routing technology straight to customers. Glen Alexis, Xcelis’ chief executive officer, said the company changed its offering in response to customer requests.
Under Xcelis’ previous trial service, users who signed up for the service were instructed to first call the number for one of Xcelis’ Cingular accounts. Once the call was connected (which registered as a mobile-to-mobile call for both the user and for Xcelis) the user then could dial the number he or she was actually planning to call. The second number was routed through a landline or VoIP connection-using Xcelis’ Pantheon product-to the call recipient. To offer the service, Xcelis had to first sign up for mobile-to-mobile business accounts from Cingular.
Under Xcelis’ new offering, the company is selling the Pantheon product directly to customers. The offering includes a Bluetooth mobile phone, which the customer must activate as part of a family plan. Thus, a customer can plug the Pantheon product up to a VoIP or landline connection, and also connect it to the Bluetooth mobile phone through Bluetooth. To re-route calls, a customer would call the Bluetooth phone (which would register as a mobile-to-mobile call) and the Pantheon product would then re-route the call to the VoIP or landline connection.
Based in Wayne, Pa., Xcelis runs on private funding and counts a handful of employees.
