Calling USA - Cable

Janetew

My son is about to start uni and his flat has cable for tv/broadband/phone. His girlfriend lives in Florida and he currently spends hours and hours chatting via our talk talk package for nothing.

Does anyone know what the cheapest way to call the USA is when you don't have a BT line? Skype seems to be a good possibility - PC to phone deal?

Any help much appreciated

benjus

CheapVoip (http://www.cheapvoip.com/en/subscription_rates.html) does unlimited calls to landlines in a country of your choice (from a range of about 40, including USA) for £2.56 per month - or unlimited calls to over 40 countries for £6.43/month. Fair Usage is 6 hours/day, 10000 mins/month.

This service is part of the Betamax VoIP system. There are many different brands with different charging structures - see this page for a summary - http://www.backsla.sh/betamax

You can use these services in several ways, including:

• Making the call from your computer using the software you can download from the site
• Using the computer to initiate "phone-to-phone", where they dial your number and when you answer they dial the recipient's number (remember that you will be charged for both the call to you and the call to the recipient)
• Dialling an access number (a geographical UK number) from a number registered to your account, then dialling the recipient's number
• Using an internet telephone (SIP phone) connected to your broadband connection

macman

Skype can't be bettered as it's free PC to PC. Using Skype Out (PC to phone) will be chargeable-but not a lot.

Janetew

Thank you. A friend who has cable has just told me about Sipgate which he would recommend. Has anyone heard of this?

Heinz

Janetew wrote: »

My son is about to start uni and his flat has cable for tv/broadband/phone. His girlfriend lives in Florida and he currently spends hours and hours chatting via our talk talk package for nothing.

Does anyone know what the cheapest way to call the USA is when you don't have a BT line? Skype seems to be a good possibility - PC to phone deal?

He could make calls for 1p/minute on his conventional cable telephone line using 18185's freephone gateway number.

http://18185.co.uk/mobilerates.php

macman

Or he could just find himself a new girlfriend at university whom he won't have to phone long distance. Now that's money-saving!

benjus

Janetew wrote: »

Thank you. A friend who has cable has just told me about Sipgate which he would recommend. Has anyone heard of this?

I use Sipgate too. It's a good service, and the main attraction is that you get a free incoming UK number for receiving calls. The outgoing call rates are not bad, but not the cheapest in the market. Calls to the USA cost 1.5p/minute, so more expensive than most of the options discussed already.

Sipgate is used in mostly the same ways I listed above for the Betamax providers - so I would use the Betamax providers as they are cheaper.

Another alternative might be if his girlfriend can get free local calls, he could get himself a phone number in Florida (http://www.localphone.com/incoming_numbers/united_states/fl) that could be set up to ring on his computer or redirected to his UK landline for 0.6p/min.

OldGreyFox

If he has inclusive cable or mobile minutes he can call USA at no extra charge weekdays via a 020 access number see www.talk2talk.tel


If he has a Gmail a/c or opens one free calls may be possible see http://thenextweb.com/google/2010/08/25/google-voice-in-gmail-does-work-outside-the-us/