Glophone

[ChiangMaiThai]

I've tried internet phone applications before and was never very impressed. Last week I downloaded GloPhone (voiceglo.com) Its absolutley amazing. You choose a US or Canadian based phone number. Say the number is in NY. Friends in NY call the number and pay for the cost of a local call. And your computer in Thailand rings. You answer and they're effectively making an international call for the cost of a local call. Also, I can pull up the 'phone' on my computer and call numbers in NY for free or numbers anywhere in the US for 3.9 cents a minute (less than 2 baht). There are a number of different plans. All very, very reasonable. You can also call international and the rates appear better than what we pay from here.

But what it comes down to is the sound quality. It is 95% as good as a normal phone. The voices are completley clear. There is a delay of maybe an eighth of a second. Not the 2 second delays you get with other services. And voice only travels in one direction at a time so if one person is talking they hear complete silence on the other end, unlike a regular phone.

With this TT&T DSL, I leave the computer connected all the time and I can answer the phone here as if I am in the US. If I don't then voicemail picks it up and I receieve a MIDI file in my e-mail. Its an excellent deal and I highly recommend it. This probably sounds like an ad, but I've got nothing to do with this company. i'm just amazingly surprised at the cost and quality.