VoIP

[Send]

The internet has become..uh, very generous lately, with the large offspring of free voip sites and programs. Ever since Skype stopped its free calling service to US and Canada, more and more programs that have copied Skype's interface button-by-button have risen.

Freecall.com
Voipcheap.com
Voipbuster.com
Internetcalls.com
Freecall.com
Gizmoproject.com
Voipstunt.com

...to name a few. All of them provide free calling to Canada and the USA, and 40 other countries (something that Skype didn't have), at a time cap of 300 minutes per week (multiply that by the list of sites shown). I've tried it, and it works, but it just seems too good to be true when looking at phone bills+phone cards that people still are using. Practically an unlimited amount of calling time, for no price at all is given to the Average Joe, while it would cost a decent sum of money to do it through conventional methods. I know when something is too good to be true, and these are one of the situations, yet everything in the program functions flawlessly as described. Could this be my lucky break or is there some sort of catch to these things? Please explain.

[Kolar]

Could this be my lucky break or is there some sort of catch to these things? Please explain.

There's no catch to the technology, I can't comment on any of these sites or applications but just be smart about it, don't give them your credit card number or personal information unless you know they reputable. Unless you're on a very limited internet service plan like having 1-5 gigabytes of bandwidth a month then you should be fine. Unfortunately ISPs are not happy about people using these (mostly) free services because less people are going in on their new VOIP plans, so they've been degrading the service they offer hoping that people will switch. This does violate network neutrality but it hasn't been made extremely public.

[Zeebu]

AT&T and other communication companies have started to employ snipers to shoot you and your doggy through the face if you attempt to utilize these programs.

[Nycle]

It's not unreal, but I'm not sure if it's here to stay for the long term either.

I've been using VoipCheap since it was still in beta in combination with an ATA for about a year now and I'm very happy with it. I use it to call relatives and friends around the world and within my country... for free! Also the rates to mobile phones are like 50% cheaper than those of the dominant telephone provider in my country. When you've reached the 300 minute cap (calculated over the last 7 days, which I've only managed to do once), €0.01 per minute will be charged, which is still one hell of a bargain.

Most of those free VoIP providers belong to one company: the German Betamax. I'm not sure why one company would have so many providers, but I guess it's to play your own competition. I don't care though, as long as I can call for free

I know that relatively a lot of Dutch people use this service, more info can be found here (in Dutch though).