Mountain View, Calif.-based Jajah Inc. offers voice-over-Internet services with a twist — callers type in their phone number on the company’s Web site and then type in the number of the person or place they want to call and Jajah connects the call. Among the company’s backers is Globespan Capital Partners’ Venky Ganesan. Photo courtesy of clipart.com

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Does the thought of making free calls from your office desk or wireless phone sans headsets or a broadband connection strike you as a cool innovation? What if you could telephone India for less than a dime a minute?

If this sounds too good to be true, then behold Jajah Inc., an upstart Internet phone company which aims to shake up how people communicate with one another with the promise of free and simple long-distance calling. All you need is a computer with Internet access and a telephone.

Jajah's primary service, Jajah Web, takes an approach called Web-activated telephony, or Voice over Internet Protocol, to connect traditional phones (landline or mobile). Calls are made without downloaded or user-installed software, and in most cases at rates lower than those of traditional phone companies or even free of charge.

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