Use Your Broadband Internet to Save Money on Your Phone Bills.
VoIP is here and ready for your home. Now you can save money on your phone bills and make free calls to friends and family anywhere in the world if they are using the same service as you. For a long time VoIP has only been for geeks or computer savvy people who were prepared to download software and hook themselves into a computer to make free and cheap calls. Things have changed in the last few years and now you can use VoIP on your standard home phone so anybody can make cheap and free phone calls.
Free Phone Calls.
VoIP technology has
been around for some years but only in the last
2 years has a solution been able to provide CD quality
phone calls from your computer. The best news is
that you can do it for free. All you need to do
is download the free softphone from a VoIP supplier
and you are ready to
start making free calls to anyone who has the same
software installed on their pc.
A number of VoIP companies
offer a range of plans and all of them provide the ability to
make free calls provided you are calling someone else with the
same provider. I can recommend Skype as one the most reyable
viop providers for those wanting to try out thise service. Skype
provide a free softphone for you to download which you use in
conjunction with a headset and speakers or a USB phone which
plugs into your computer.
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You can download Skype and many other useful softwares for your computer when you download the Google Pack. (Banner on the right)
Click on the banner on the right and select the progames you would like to install on your computer.
We recommend Skype, Picasa, Google Earth for most people.
If you do not have spyware and malware protection you should also select Spyware Doctor. If you do not have an office suite for documents, spreadsheets and presentations you can download Star office however it is a large download.
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Cheap Phone Calls.
Once you have downloaded the
free soft phone you can also call your friends
and relatives who have not heard about VoIP
by ringing their normal (land line) phone number.
These calls are very cheap as they are charged at
a fraction of the regular phone carriers rates.
Most calls are 10c to local numbers and Engin
offers 10c calls to local and national numbers untimed and calls
to mobiles at 29c per minute. Skype also has a similar service
called Skype Out. Think about how much you can save
when you can talk to anyone anywhere in Australia for 10c and
29c to mobiles is about half the price from a regular phone.
Setup Costs and Plans.
If you are happy
to make calls from your computer the only cost will be your
broadband connection and headset and speakers if you do not have
them.
If you want your VoIP service to work like your existing
phone service I suggest you look at the Engin
website and purchase a series 2 voicebox (and the plan of your
choice) which connects you phone to the VoIP service and still
allows you to receive calls on your home phone number. Many
VoIP offerings from other providers only provide VoIP out which
means you cannot receive calls on that phone line and they recommend
you use the VoIP on a second line. Engin
is one a few providers offering a solution which allows you
to use the VoIP service seamlessly with your existing phone
service.