Freebies???

[keddyboy]

Does anyone out there use SKYPE or VOIP for freebie internet calls, if so, any good? Comments please.

[frank]

I have only used skype a little bit, but found the quality to be excellent. We both had broadband, so not sure how it would work with dial up.

[Marina]

I've recently started using Skype. I had hoped that my daughter would also be able to get it in her halls of Residence in the UK, for free calls between us. Unfortunately the University seems to have some sort of block on audio and visual equipment, so that doesn't work for us. However, I have found landline calls to the UK are very cheap, one I made last night was 44 cents for just over 25 mins. Calls to a mobile don't seem to be any cheaper.
I purchased a small box, very cheaply, from e bay, which plugs into the computer and allows calls on my usual cordless phones. I'm very pleased with it.

[country boy]

Hi
I've used Skype for some time now and find it absolutely excellent. I put €10 into it for calling landlines and have only used €6 in nearly a year calling the YUK to a landline..and other landlines around the world: it is only about 6 cents a minute for landline calls and of course free for computer to computer and the quality is very good.
They are now offering "Festoon" which will allow Video Calls, but I'm not very impressed with the speed on that yet but it is early days.
Go for it, you don't have to pay anything if you just want to talk to another computer user (provided they've got skype of course.

[samizdat]

i use it all the time to call around the world both to other SYKPE users free on their computers and to land lines, as the others say 10E lasts for weeks. A 2 hour call between London/Spain costs about 3 euros!

I have purchased a SYKPE phone number and now we have a london number for people to ring us on. (rings on your computer so you could be anywhere in the world) and we have a voice mail box so people can leave a message. They ring and are charged for calling a London number - so works out cheaper for all concerned.

Dont know about the Video part as it only works with certain PC's., The main problem in using SKPYE is that the application takes up about 6Meg so it can slow down other applications.

[keddyboy]

Thanks all, but anybody, anything about VOIPCHEAP etc?

[fearfulfred]

Hi

Have been using Skype but i am on a cable connection and others are also..Voip costs for the software here so I have not looked into ti. Will need something for computer to computer once we are in Spain though and will be looking into Voip if i can find anyone using it...... Let me know if you find anythign relevant it is $20 CDN here for the software for Voip

[Beachcomber]

VOIP is the name of the technology (Voice Over Internet Protocol) of which there are various providers including Skype.

I have been using Skype and Sipgate for just over a year for both PC to PC calls and for calls to the PSTN. You do need a broadband connection of at least 512 kbps and a computer running Windows XP although it works on my Windows 98 computer as well.

Both work equally well but with Sipgate you do not have to pay for an incoming telephone number. If you sign up with them from within the UK you can have virtually any geographical number but if you sign up from a foreign ISP you are restricted to an 0345 or 0870 number although if you sign up in the UK you can then access your account from anywhere in the world.

The software for both services is a free download but I also have a Skype Dualphone which is a cordless telephone on which you can receive and make both Skype and normal landline calls and costs about €130.

Skype has just been taken over by e-Bay and it is hoped that this will not have any adverse affect on the service.

[jazper]

I have been using voipbuster for a few weeks now and find it quite acceptable. However, the other night my wife was using it and I started to download some files. This caused the conversation to be "choped-up". Best to do one thing at a time.

[fearfulfred]

Sorry Beachcomber you are very right...brain is asleep while body is awake sometimes....You said you are running SKYPE on a Win 98 computer..I am happy to hear this as we have a portable i wan to bring to Spain with us that cannot handle XP but is too good to give away! How much memory are you running with and what is processor and speed please. i would also like to put SKYPE on some friends computers. I have also heard stories of certain servers blocking SKYPE and net2phone has anyone out there come across this. Someone in the middle east this morning told me that the server his hotel was using in Dubai had blocked both sites . We were using Messenger at the time but would prefer to use the other services. Will try to look into sip gate while we re in the UK on our way out to Spain.
Jazper have used Skype while downloading music etc and never had any adverse effect..might just be speed of processor or connection

[Beachcomber]

I have an Intel Pentium 4, 1800MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and 2047MB of virtual memory.

On very rare occasions the processor shoots up to 100% usage and the connection becomes unstable but otherwise I have no problem running Skype on Windows 98. I am, however, running version 1.1.0.79 and am reluctant to upgrade to a later version in case I upset the system.

The Skype Dualphone will only run on Windows XP as it is impossible to instal the software in 98.

[fearfulfred]

Thanxs beachcomber , will keep that in mind and maybe try it in the other portable when it gets back from Bahrain. It will definitely fit in the computer that runs our house when we are away...

[poppylou]

I use Skype for PC to PC calls to UK, and don't have broadband (yes, still can't get broadband in this village, 3km from a town that does have it!!) , but run it on XP. Sometimes there is no delay at all and a sensible conversation can be had, at other times there is a long delay which makes conversation difficult. They are on broadband in the UK, so it must be this end causing the problems.

But, it is very easy to set up and install.

I also work on a UK server from here using RADMIN remote access software, and that manages OK without broadband.

I must get hold of one of those boxes off ebay that allows me to use my normal cordless telephone. Thanks for the suggestion.