Fring

For years, software companies have provided ways to make free calls from cell phones, and most of them even work. The problem is getting the software onto your phone.

It's not that carriers want to make it hard to load Skype, Fring and other free-calling applications onto phones, although the networks obviously bristle at the idea of giving their customers a way to make free calls (also known as voice-over-Internet protocol,

Israeli company Fring is bringing its Voice over Internet Protocol application to Apple's iPhone. Dubbed fring, the application lets users talk, chat and interact with other so-called fringsters -- and their online communities -- using the iPhone's Wi-Fi connection.

A light, sneak-preview R&D version of the mobile VoIP application, developed in conjunction with the Holon Institute of Technology academic research labs in Israel, is available as a download from fring.com.