How to use internet to cut mobile call costs

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fme

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Hi,
We have a huge phone bill calling home from our landline (Dublin-Kerry) due to family only having mobiles and no landline. However they recently got internet connected with digiweb wireless.
Other than using skype on the PC (which we can do but takes time to boot up, get connected etc), what is the best and/or cheapest way we can get connected using a handset without turning on the PC.?
We have ADSL with a wireless router (always on) in our house. Would they need to get a (wireless) router aswell as a voip phone maybe? In that case, would we also have to get a voip phone?

Cheers.
 
Hi Clubman - I read about 13434 alright, but no, we're with UTV for phone& internet. I guess it still is a bit better at 10c per minute.
I think some kind of adapter is the best solution...maybe if the family get that plus a skypeIn number it might work?
 
Can't you pay UTV an extra €6 or something per month to get "free" national/UK calls to landlines at peak times as well as the normal "free" off-peak calls that come as standard?

I didn't think that you could get Irish SkypeIn numbers or something like that? What about Blueface and an internet phone or ATA and a regular phone?

Update: just checked my UTV broadband account page and I can get Talk Anytime for €6.99 p.m. extra. Normally this costs €9.99.
 
You could just get a wireless phone-completely independent of the computer.You dont need a wireless router to connect it has a wireless card in it -Also means you can bring it with you abroad and connect using any free wifi spots
-mine came from the Apple shop but also available on Skype and I presume other websites its a belkin
Found a link [broken link removed]
 
Best thing I woudl think is do this:-

You want a landline equivelent service in the house in kerry, so you need a pstn number, and a device that effectively is identical in use to a plain old telephone.

This can be done using blueface and an ata. Before you do this though, you need to check that the quality of the bb is good enough to support voip calls, so I would download the blueface trial and use the softphone to make some test calls first. The test calls are to make sure the audio is not choppy etc over the bb connection (you might get some echoe etc, but this happens with software phones, so dont worry about it, it will not be the case if you go with an ata).

If you can make good quality calls using the trial softphone, then purchase an ata (recommend from blueface), and bobs your uncle. The type of ata you purchase depends on the setup of your bb in kerry and what you requre. The ideal scenario is to get a combined wireless router/ata line linksys as this gives you the best combo overall, and the best quality for voice. You can also get good bundled deals from blueface when purchasing the hardware, which effectively means you get the hardware for almost free, and a years subscription equating to unlimited local and national calls for 12 months.

Anyway, first thing first, download trial from blueface and test out the quality of the audio (ignoring echoe etc). You can get this at www.blueface.ie

Wexfordman
 
You can get a Skype phone that doesn't need a computer.

[broken link removed]

However a wireless solution like digiweb might not be very good for Skype or VOIP. You'd have to try it and see first. I tried Blueface with a NTL connection for a while and I couldn't get decent quality on it.

However all the equipment and broadband connections are expensive. You might be better biting the bullet and getting a phone line and using something like UTVIP's free national calls offpeak package.
 
as previous poster said, you need to make sure that voip can be carried on the digiweb connection. You could get them to try skyp, or the digiweb trial. Skype will not solve your problem though as far as i am aware skype will not give you an irish phone number?
 
only problem with this, is that only other users on skype would be able to contact him, as he woul dhave no skype in phone number ? Would this be correct, I am not 100%
 
Wexfordman said:
only problem with this, is that only other users on skype would be able to contact him, as he woul dhave no skype in phone number ? Would this be correct, I am not 100%
Click to expand...

Well they could use their mobiles no? You could get a Skype in for the UK for example. Until the BB connection is tested who knows what will work.
 
What about my earlier suggestion of just paying an extra €6.99 p.m. to get "free" peak rate national/UK landline calls to add to the "free" off peak calls that come as standard with UTV Talk?
 
Do you have the Talk Anytime add-on to UTV Talk or just make most calls off-peak or via VoIP?
 
I'm not sure I get this, just to clarify with the OP, the problem is this:-

1)The calling party (the OP) has a landline in Dublin with a large phone bill
2)The reason for the high bill, is a significant amount of calls to mobiles to relatives in Kerry, who do not have a landline
3) The relatives in kerry have recently got Wireless bb, but still have no landline, so OP still has to call the kerry family branch from his landline to their mobile

So, whatever package the OP has his landline on will make little difference as he will still be making landline to mobile calls to kerry, and as far as I am aware landline to mobile costs will always be expensive no matter which LL provider you originate the call from.

The solution to the OP's would be to get a landline type service provided over the digiweb bb connection in Kerry. This ideally would not require a pc to be turned on 24/7

So the solutions seem to be 1 of 2, skype, using the wireless skype phone pointed out by an earlier poster. Problem with this is they cannot get an irish skye in number, so can only be called from another skype device, or possible get a uk skype in number ?

Get a similar skype type voip service, using an ata from a provider who will give an irish phone number.
 
Wexfordman said:
....
So, whatever package the OP has his landline on will make little difference ....
Click to expand...

I'm thinking this might be free. Haven't tried it though.

1) Dublin could have UTV package (or similar) with free UK calls to landlines.
2) Kerry could have SkypeIn (UK number).



A lot of my extended family are using Skype with a simple headset that costs about €20 connected to their PC or laptop and are delighted with it. They call UK/IRL/Germany/USA for free pretty much.
 
yeah that would work, most inclusive packages on lanlines now include free calls to uk. Skype does dent to be be better quality also if the bb connection is not great
 
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