VoIP

[#1]

Can anybody help with bringing me up to speed on making phone calls using my internet connection? With family overseas (and Skype not liking my slow broadband speed) calls are proving rather expensive. 

Cheers guys.

[#2]

Depends on how much (or little) you want to spend.
Best option is a dedicated handset, which will do all the hard work for you, or you can use your mobile phone or your pc with a head set/speakers + mic.

You need to get a voip account, charges vary so look for the best price for the area you want to call. Once you have an account you then need to setup the app or the device with the info given by the provider. Some providers have a dedicated app, I use localphone with the android app.
If you both have the same provider then many give you calls free, but check out the small print. Or if you are calling their landline then check the costs as above.

[#3]

Thanks for the quick reply.

So where and how do I get an account from, and is it something that Plusnet can provide. Also, what sort of price are we looking at for a handset as you suggest? Sorry to sound daft but I really have no idea.

My sister phones us from France and it costs her nothing "by using the internet" yet when I phone my son (also living in France) the cost goes through the roof! Skype used to be the option but as said my speed has been so slow (around 1.5mbps) that using it can be frustrating to say the least and to the point where we have now given up.  

Cheers.

[#4]

Check this thread (link below) as you may find some of it useful.  Ignore the stuff about PN VoIP as its demise is what prompted the thread!

https://community.plus.net/t5/Broadband-Phone-VOIP-Archived/Anyone-recommend-a-FREE-alternative/m-p/...

[#5]

I've been using FreeVoipDeal for about 10 months now and really can't fault anything (except that my initial 10 Euros top-up has just about run out so I've just had to top up!), I've effectively been paying around £1 per month to get clearer calls than on the landline and by dropping my previous Anytime calls package I've made quite a saving. I'm fortunate to have a Fritz!Box router which automatically routes all my calls via the internet (but would route back to the landline if the internet was down or for specific numbers such as 999).

[#6]

Check ebay for voip phone, Linksys do a PAP2T which allows you to plug a normal phone into it and connects to your voip supplier, They can be had for <£20.
Make sure you don't get one that connects to a business pb or a usb connection which is just a glorified headset.

That thread that was mentioned I started when PN announced that they were cancelling the voip service.
As I said above I use localphone (.com), I use zoiper on my android phone to connect to their service but they also have an app.
Found quality to be good, not used it much, I topped up with £1 (£1.20 with VAT) and still have 84p left.
Their rates are good, e.g. France is 0.5p/min, last call to the local vet (1m 2s) was 0.08p.

[#7]

I use a Gigaset N300A base station with two DECT cordless handsets.  That supports land line plus several SIP profiles for VoIP calls.  For what you're needing I suggest looking at "locaphone.com" for call charges.  That's a prepaid service like a pay as you go mobile, so less worry about toll fraud if someone manages to hack your account they can only spend the credit you've added.   Local phone also lets you present your normal landline number as caller ID for IP calls.