VOIP, Discussion, questions and answers

Maddie

Can someone advise me please? We have a voip phone and get inwards calls from sipgate. we used to use Vyke for outwards calls as it was about 2p per call (to UK landlines). However this then went up to about 6p per call and now my credit has run out I want to find a cheaper provider.

We only call UK geographical numbers (have minutes on our mobiles to call mobiles) and do not make many calls. Purpose of the voip line will just be to save our mobile minutes (we get 300 each per month).

It looks like voipcheap may be our best bet - for £10 will get 90 days use plus however long it takes us to use up the credit. Would you guys agree or am I missing a good provider? Would ideally want to get something pike what Vyke used to be - 2p per call for up to 1 hour.

anniecave

I don't know what else is out there - but I use voipcheap, and I'd recommend it. It seems to be reliable for me.

I think the company that owns voipcheap has at least two other similar services, I found one of them when I was looking for options for an incoming number. They certainly seemed to be the best option for low cost voip calls to landlines last time I looked.

You can purchase an an incoming voip number via voipcheap but it's not a "normal" geographical number though!

buglawton

Voipcheap is one of the roster of Betamax companies, they are all clones of each other. Some years ago I tired it out via Nonoh and experienced exactly the issue that everyone was complaining about with Betamax - mysteriously locked account, being charged inexplicably, absolutely no response form customer services, etc,


So before paying anything upfront, read the Tips to prevent getting screwed section here:
http://www.clickfornick.com/freephone/2008/03/the-end-of-betamax-nonoh-problems.html

paulofessex

Just wanted to point out how happy l am with Skype.

Just made a 20 minute call from the UK to a mobile in Cyprus. Total cost £0.96

If we was still using Virgin Media it would have cost approx. £18 and if l had used my '3' mobile it would have been approx. £9

I have the Unlimited Europe subscription, had it for 2+ years so still pay the lower price of £3.39 per month so all my landline calls to both Spain and Cyprus are inclusive.

Personally l have never had any issues with Skype, so well done Skype (hope now my cheques in the post....l wish....lol)

paulofessex

waterman3 wrote: »

Am thinking of using Skype Pay monthly for landlines only. Just wondered if this included 0845, 0870 etc numbers or was just of numbers starting 01, 02, 03?

thanks

I know this post is a couple of months old now....however OP don't forget you can make use of saynoto0870 website, has saved me £'s its rare in fact not to find an alternative number on there.

buglawton

I'm also a happy user of Skype with Pay Monthly (flat rate deal). It is a non-techy solution and you can even use any spare landline minutes on other systems eg your mobile to access Skype Out. But their tariffs on pay as you go are more expensive than the best you can do on 1866/18185 etc.

Maddie

I've spotted that I'm best to go with voipcheap.com rather than .co.uk as then the minimum credit is €10 instead of £10. Can someone please help with the following 2 quesions?

1) Is there anywhere that will still give the old 120 freedays rather than the 90 days from voipcheap?
2) Is there anyway of avoiding the handling charge when funding the account?

Cheers
Maddie

luci

Internetcalls and voipbuster both had 120 days free last time I loaded them. Internetcalls has free calls to UK landlines.

jaygomez

buglawton wrote: »

I'm also a happy user of Skype with Pay Monthly (flat rate deal). It is a non-techy solution and you can even use any spare landline minutes on other systems eg your mobile to access Skype Out. But their tariffs on pay as you go are more expensive than the best you can do on 1866/18185 etc.

Yes but if you use skype for different countries and you don't need unlimited service, then skype rates turns out to be more expensive than most voip providers out there. I already compared it with the one I use (Onesuite) and most of the time, Onesuite rates is a tad cheaper on those countries I frequently called.

sjaddy

this has been informative and i am in the process of changing to VOIP for all calls and had looked at (and set up the free account) with SIPgate.

Since I am on Virgin I can cancel the phone line and save the existing £12.50 a month that they charge for the phone line so can see additional savings ontop of the OP's savings.

I dont like the idea of Voipbuster charging a connection fee per call and also only allowing 300 minutes a week of "free" calls. When you have a wife at home that would soon disappear.

Has anyone tried Vonage and their unlimited package at £5.99 a month even though there is an extortionate set up cost?