VentureBeat

Lypp is a free group calling service that works with your existing landline or cellphone number, and launches a private testing version tomorrow.

It’s a nifty service. Free conference calls. So what’s the catch, you ask?

Nothing to start off with, except for a limited number of minutes: 500 a month.

Here’s how it works: You initiate calls with instant messenger (AIM, iChat, GTalk, Jabber, MSN or Yahoo), from the Web or on your phone, and Lypp will connect you to up to ten people at ten different phone numbers.

The remarkable part of this service is that it end-runs the carriers. Lypp lets you use your IM client on your phones. You send a message to Lypp with who you want to call. Lypp’s server then sends calls out, on its own dime. To sign up, you register through your IM client online. To use it on your mobile phone, you do have to ensure that IM is configured on your phone. Increasingly, this isn’t a problem, though, because IM clients are coming pre-installed. Recent BlackBerry phones, for example, already include GTalk and Yahoo. Or if you don’t have IM, you can download EQO, Nimbuzz or Mig33.

Lypp says it will get several hundred thousand users within 12 months. You can request a test account at beta@lypp.com. You don’t need to download any software to your phone. The company says it will soon add a feature that allows you to initiate calls via SMS and email too.

Here’s the trick: You get a package of 500 free minutes to start off with, and you can earn more minutes by referring friends to the service. You’ll be able to make free calls within the U.S. and Canada.

The company hopes to make money by offering premium service, which will include more minutes and other features. It might consider running ads, too.

The company says the conference call business is $3 billion, and the wireless call market is $200 billion plus. It wants to blow up the conference call business, sucking the costs out of it, says Dan Gibbons, a co-founder.

The application was built on Rails.

One competitor is a Facebook application called Iotum. Another service is Foonz. Both are like FreeConferencecall.com, uses a loophole that allows it to provide free conference call bridging by having the calls bridged in Iowa or other federally subsidized states. However, even with those services, users are forced to pay long-distance rates. They do save the conference organizer from paying the fees charged by other conference call services. But Lypp is offering everything for free.

Finally, there are conference call services provided by folks like Jajah and Skype, which use VoIP and P2P. technologies. However, Lypp is different because it uses the existing telephone (PSTN) network – offering that quality network for free, when these VoIP an P2P services still charge for use, and can be patchy quality.

Lypp has also built an API, allowing people to build on top of Lypp, to be unveiled after launch.

The company is self-funded but is considering raising venture capital.

Foonz, a provider of phone conferencing services, is announcing a service that lets you easily set up conference calls across mobile phones.

All by SMS.

Free or very cheap conference calling services already exist, including popular FreeConferenceCall, and Skype. Foonz itself already offers a web-based way to set up a free conference number and invite either land-line or mobile users through email, calls or text — like many competitors.

Foonz’s new mobile service is different because it lets a group of mobile phone users make a conference call without forcing the call’s organizer to pre-register and set up the conference on a web site or by phone.

You initiate a call using SMS text messaging. You send a text message from your mobile phone to Foonz. Then you receive a text from Foonz asking you to text back with the phone numbers of the people you want to call. Then your invitees each receive an invitation text that includes the conference number for them to call.

Then everyone calls that number and voila, you’ve got a free mobile-phone conference.

It costs nothing more than the minutes you’re already paying for on your mobile plan. It’s only available for mobile users in the United States, but works with any phone on any carrier’s mobile network.

The tradeoff: This SMS-based invite process takes longer than Foonz’s web-based method for first-time users. You’re forced to manually enter everyone’s phone number within your text message on your phone, instead of on your computer.

Once you’ve used the service at least once, you’ll get a unique number you can call to start a group call, or send a group voice message.

Users already include small businesses, family calls, clubs and teams, and distributed prayer groups, the company says. It now has 20,000 active users — though, considering that the company has been around since last year, this is quite low.

Other features include a way to call in and leave a message for other members when you’re not able to participate. If you’re the call organizer, you can leave a message for missing invitees: When the call ends you can do so when the call ends — then they’ll receive the message when they call in to the group.

Foonz is a service provided by Maynard, Mass.-based RPM Communications.