PeterB

Key Telecom Trends: VoIP and Shift to Prepaid Wireless Plans

Why do articles on VOIP never mention companies offering VOIP service via a local number. We use Tel3 for such a service, call a local number from our landline for anything outside our free local zone, and get Skype-equivalent rates (or better: US 1.9c/min Ireland 1.5c/min, UK 2.5c/min, France 2c, Germany 1.5 to 3c, Italy 2 to 3c, Spain 3.3c/min etc. (Mobiles usual are significantly more). We no longer have any long-distance service on our landline, so that is cheap. From our mobile phones, we use the account for international calls at the same rates. I even used it from a pay phone at a State park (though the pay phone fee was heavy, the call itself was cheap). No monthly fee (unlike Vonage), no broadband connection needed (unlike Skype), no computer needed (except maybe to set up and check the account). Our total phone bill has dropped to about 1/4 what it was before (we were already using long-distance and international carriers cheaper than POTS), and we have many relatives and friends in Europe. Only problem is it does not do us much good from abroad, though I have used it by calling a US access number from one country to call another, saving one of the two roaming charges on the cell phone. Normally it is better to buy a local SIM card (what, you don't have a GSM phone, or it's an iPhone?) for such calls, though it took my ex-daughter-in-law, who now works for a Czech mobile company, to start me on that.

Skype for iPhone: Beginning of the End For Mobile Phone Revenue Growth?

I get VOIP service on all our cell phones as well as our landline through a service called Tel3 (tel3advantage.com), where I dial a local number, it recognizes the callerID, (or I can log in via our primary number and a password), and I get Skype-like rates to any phone anywhere. From the landline, I use it for everything beyond local calls (so my POST is local only; NB 911 works as normal), and for the cell phones all international calls. Only problem is that it is from US only, though I have called it from abroad, to call another international number, only paying the semi-exhorbitant roaming rate + Tel3, rather than the full exhorbitant rate. Quality is usually very good, and they have a try-again routine that reroutes the occasional bad one.