Phoning and charges

[joe3k]

This is sort of Remote support related:
When providing remote support and thus making phone calls to customers etc.

Do any of you use the free phone services? i.e. the likes of MagicJack and Vonage? Maybe you use skype, voip, or something similar, maybe your telephone company cuts you a deal?

So my question is: How much are you paying yearly and what do you get for it? i.e. free local, maybe national calls?

I'm from the Uk/Ireland and am wondering which setup would be best for me, so I could spend time on the phone without worrying about costs mounting up. I would love to have something that would enable my mobile to make free local (possibly even national) calls... even should it just be when I am in my house or office. Magicjack sounds good, but does it work in the Uk and is it reliable/good quality? Any better alternatives?

 

[cmonova]

Good question but I have no answer for it in the UK. I know people that use those free services and to me I can always tell for some reason. Not too sure if a free one will cut it.

They might because you really don't have to be on the phone all that long when you contact the person so it's worth a try

 

[ProTech Support]

This is sort of Remote support related:
When providing remote support and thus making phone calls to customers etc.

Do any of you use the free phone services? i.e. the likes of MagicJack and Vonage? Maybe you use skype, voip, or something similar, maybe your telephone company cuts you a deal?

So my question is: How much are you paying yearly and what do you get for it? i.e. free local, maybe national calls?

I'm from the Uk/Ireland and am wondering which setup would be best for me, so I could spend time on the phone without worrying about costs mounting up. I would love to have something that would enable my mobile to make free local (possibly even national) calls... even should it just be when I am in my house or office. Magicjack sounds good, but does it work in the Uk and is it reliable/good quality? Any better alternatives?

Currently I use a normal land line for the business. When I have to make a call that I know will keep me on the phone for awhile, and is long distance I usually use my cell phone. Reason being I don't even come near my plans minutes every month and have a load of rollover minutes.

In regards to Magicjack , I was literally discussing this with someone yesterday. I have heard mixed reviews about it online and through the grapevine, but have never spoken directly to someone who has it. One of my new customers does and apparently they love it. I may give it a swing.

 

[seedubya]

Hey Joe, where you goin with that gun o' yours.

Sorry about that, started off the post with Hey Joe and got carried away.
Joe, have a look at Blueface.ie - you're in the north I believe but I think what they're doing will suit you anyway.

 

[ProTech Support]

Great idea to use it on a fax line. Let us know how the project goes, I am interested.

 

[joe3k]

Hey Seedbubba, Blueface looks pretty good, it appears to be kinda similar to skype. I've heard several people rate skype on here.

$20.00 for the whole year on magicjack, sounds almost too good doesn't it... don't know if it works in UK or not, I believe it might though (ACG can let us know if quality is any good or not).

 

[seedubya]

Joe, BF are tied in with Fring as well. I use the wifi on my Nokia E71 to connect to Fring that way. Free calls.....

It also allowed me to make calls to Ireland from the States on my mobile via Blueface/Fring for free.

 

[krutoi]

When I lived overseas Skype was my best friend. I also had a couple of other VOIP options depending on circumstances. Even now that I am back in the States, I continue to use a VOIP phone at home - it is a lot cheaper than the phone company or mobile for any kind of call volume. Best way to go is get a stand-alone skype phone that plugs into both the landline and your router and is computer independent. Through Skype-In you can assign a real phone number to the account. There are a few wi-fi skype phones as well. Most landline calls end up being .02/minute, though mobiles can cost quite a bit more.

There is a mobile provider in the UK which offers skype calls via their network - might be worth looking into http://www.three.co.uk/Home

There are other voip via sim card deals in europe - I have run across them from time to time.

 

[noki123]

I use skype and i am paying 50$ per month for making unlimited international calls to europe landline and america landline and mobile. Skype had few great offers

 

[purple_minion]

Problem with Skype is that for me they don't have any local skype-in numbers... yet the little piddly towns 45+ miles away have local numbers. GRRRR...

 

[Moaa]

I have been using MagicJack since October 2008. This device gave me more grief than anything I recall. when it works, it works ok. But it is very rare you finish your call without losing connection.

Anothe drawback is the company only has the US numbers. There is no local numbers for many other countries. So if you live in States, you are luck you can use it for Fax etc but for others it is long distance

 

[PatrickB]

ACG,

MagicJack is a type of VOIP, so the sound is transmitted digitally over the Internet. Fax machines generally do not work, or do not work well on VOIP, unless the sound clarity is set at a higher level than normal by VOIP providers. Some providers will bump up the sampling rate for free, others for a charge, others not at all. Please let us know how it goes.

If this would be only for Fax, I would use one of the fax providers like www.efax.com.

If you have phone service like www.onebox.com, then it will give you an 800 number and handle your phonecall routing, accept faxes to the same number, and track you down at whatever phone you happen to be on. It will also send your faxes and voicemail to you as email attachments and you can retrieve over the phone them by calling in for them.

-- Patrick B.