Noob looking for some VOIP advice

white_westie

Family member moving to Germany to study for 6-9months. Not sure of broadband setup yet but should have decent wifi. Mobile is an iphone, so they will be getting a local sim with some sort of data plan.

Besides the usual skype, viber and Google Hangouts/Whatsapp options, looking into VOIP options to see if they will be any use to them. They will need to be able to call 2 Irish landlines and a few irish mobiles on a regular basis. Also option required for someone to ring them from an irish mobile/landline on a regular basis.
As usual, only free or cheapest options required.

Outbound calls from Germany
My understanding from reading would be that they could open a FreeVoipDeal (or similiar Dellmont) account, put €10 credit on it, install something like Linphone/Zoiper/3CX on their iPhone, and they could ring Irish landlines for free and Irish mobiles for 1.4c/min, as long as they have a working wifi/3g internet connection. Is that correct?

Outbound calls to Germany
Not seeing too much here.
Could you setup 2 freespeech free acounts and make free voip calls between them using sip clients on pc/mobile over internet?
What about paying for 2 goldfish accounts for a few months - Could you make free voip calls between them?
Any other suggestions to look at?

WW

Mr. G

Skype/Vibre/WhatsApp etc are all VoIP just so you know.

Yes that's correct. A provider that uses SIP (most do, Skype etc are closed systems and only work using their systems) will give you a SIP server, username and password. You input this into the device softphone and it will register with the server.

You should be able to call each other from username@sip server to username@sip server. Most providers allow this.

If you need a landline number for others to ring you, Goldfish do this for €3 a month. You just divert it to the username@sip server within the web portal. Again, the provider (FreeVoipDeal)
will need to support inbound direct calls.

If you have a goldfish account, yes you could call each other for free.

I think the Betamax companies (FreeVoipDeal etc) are the most competitive. Goldfish are cheaper than Freespeech for numbers.

Blueface offer free 076 numbers if you top up €5.

I would remind you that if you pay less, expect less in call quality. The quality of the routes for Goldfish would be better than FreeVoipDeal etc because you pay for it. The calls also are routed through Ireland and not the US so you would not suffer as much from high latency which causes delays in conversations.

Keep in mind that Comreg have regulations with regard to the issuing of Irish geographic numbers to parties outside of Ireland. If you live outside of Ireland you are not supposed to subscribe to a Geographic number. But you can get an Irish 076 number which can be dialled from any phone for the phone in Germany.

Shout if you have any other questions.

white_westie

Thks for info, especially your comment on quality on cheaper services.
Will do a bit more reading.

Mr. G

white_westie wrote: »

Thks for info, especially your comment on quality on cheaper services.
Will do a bit more reading.

Don't let that put you off using VoIP. The quality is generally much better than ordinary landlines. A lot of providers give a free trial option.

white_westie

Mr. G wrote: »

Don't let that put you off using VoIP. The quality is generally much better than ordinary landlines. A lot of providers give a free trial option.

Got diverted for a bit, as family member's laptop took a walk.
Not put off by VOIP at all - using UPC at home and have used Nortel kit in last job.
Created an account for them on FreeVoipDeal and they are testing Zoiper client on their iphone to see how things go.
Calls to house landline and some mobiles all sound good so far.