Skype

[spacebass]

Just joined Skype about GBP7 for 10 hours to a landline in UK , US, Aus most of Europe from computer. Works pretty well. www.skype.com

[bkk_mike]

Just joined Skype about GBP7 for 10 hours to a landline in UK , US, Aus most of Europe from computer.  Works pretty well.  www.skype.com

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Personally I prefer Vonage for £10 a month - unlimited calls to UK/Eire landlines, hardware ATA means phone works even when computer is off (and sound quality is better than any soft phone I've used), and I have a UK telephone number people can call me on.

[Thaicoon]

If you call another Skype user the phone calls are free, better still, i phone up Kringle, and that is anywhere in the world, now i tell all my mates who have a PC to join Skype.

[croftrobin]

Just joined Skype about GBP7 for 10 hours to a landline in UK , US, Aus most of Europe from computer.  Works pretty well.  www.skype.com

Personally I prefer Vonage for £10 a month - unlimited calls to UK/Eire landlines, hardware ATA means phone works even when computer is off (and sound quality is better than any soft phone I've used), and I have a UK telephone number people can call me on.

BKK Mike - what hardware are you using and what area code is the UK phone number you are assigned by vonage?

[spacebass]

If you call another Skype user the phone calls are free, better still, i phone up Kringle, and that is anywhere in the world, now i tell all my mates who have a PC to join Skype.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The internet calls are free but you still have to pay for calls to any landline.

[grahamb]

Just joined Skype about GBP7 for 10 hours to a landline in UK , US, Aus most of Europe from computer.  Works pretty well.  www.skype.com

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Personally I prefer Vonage for £10 a month - unlimited calls to UK/Eire landlines, hardware ATA means phone works even when computer is off (and sound quality is better than any soft phone I've used), and I have a UK telephone number people can call me on.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BKK Mike - what hardware are you using and what area code is the UK phone number you are assigned by vonage?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BKK Mike - I'd be interested to hear about your Vonage UK experiences as well. Which ADSL provider are you using in Bangkok? Have you noticed any downtime from Vonage?

I would PM these questions but they're generic enough that I guess others may also be interested in the answer

[bkk_mike]

Just joined Skype about GBP7 for 10 hours to a landline in UK , US, Aus most of Europe from computer.  Works pretty well.  www.skype.com

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Personally I prefer Vonage for £10 a month - unlimited calls to UK/Eire landlines, hardware ATA means phone works even when computer is off (and sound quality is better than any soft phone I've used), and I have a UK telephone number people can call me on.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BKK Mike - what hardware are you using and what area code is the UK phone number you are assigned by vonage?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BKK Mike - I'd be interested to hear about your Vonage UK experiences as well. Which ADSL provider are you using in Bangkok? Have you noticed any downtime from Vonage?

I would PM these questions but they're generic enough that I guess others may also be interested in the answer

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK - I'm on True, 2Mb downstream, 512K upstream.

Haven't noticed ANY downtime yet with Vonage, but I haven't had it for very long, so people aren't really phoning me on it yet... (Only odd things is, whenever I'm listening to hold music, it seems to cut in and out - but there's never a problem with normal voice...)

My number is an 0207 one (central London), but there is some choice (check www.vonage.co.uk to see the list). It's a bit restricted still - i.e. last time I checked, the only Scottish numbers available were Edinburgh and Glasgow, so if you're not from a big city, you might not be able to get a number that's local for relatives to call you on...

Vonage supplies a Linksys RT31P2 router, which has 2 phone sockets on it. You plug a standard phone into it, and hook it up to the ADSL modem. (so you need a modem/router with an Ethernet port - a USB modem is a non-starter).

I connected it to my router (SMC Barricade), and moved the other locally networked PCs onto the Linksys. (The Linksys will give the phone packets priority - even if True doesn't, so will supposedly reduce the effect of your PCs using the internet on the quality of the voice call.)

I did have to forward some UDP ports to get it working through the SMC's firewall. Other than that - no issues... (Except during setup - the RT31P2 seems to have a fairly long synchronisation time before the phone will work... - i.e. minutes, not seconds).

Both Linksys and SMC are on a UPS, so should handle the odd short powercut that you get during rainy season.

[bkk_mike]

Haven't noticed ANY downtime yet with Vonage, but I haven't had it for very long, so people aren't really phoning me on it yet... (Only odd thing is, whenever I'm listening to hold music, it seems to cut in and out - but there's never a problem with normal voice...)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Have just had a problem with normal voice - my brother phoned and neither of us could hear the other one - phoned back 5 mins later and everything's fine again...

So no longer as bullet-proof as I had thought.

Edited March 18, 2005 by bkk_mike

[grahamb]

Thanks for all the info Mike