VOIP in UK

[The PIT]

Well it's still 7.99 Per month and you're still using the BT Line so it's not free really is it. Still trying to find the catch though.

[Jammrock]

Check here

£7.99 for unlimited local and national calls.

Paddy
xxx

Broadvoice is the best for international calling. At least in the US. For $5 less a month you can call 20 countries for free. They have UK numbers (US residents can get one for $5 a month) so I would guess they are available in the UK.

[Sasq]

Borat, skype and VoIP are a little different, however, you can buy skype hardware adaptors here at least for about $80 in the local (maybe 50quid) that you plug into the network, plug your incoming line in, and outgoing line to your phone. that will act as a switch.

This relies on your skype service as opposed to any ISP related services.

[Claymonkey]

Listen to the man for he is the skype king of Murc!!!!

[Claymonkey]

or he just plays one on TV.

[The PIT]

Whens free is not free when you pay a fee. Still getting better though.

[borat]

Borat, skype and VoIP are a little different, however, you can buy skype hardware adaptors here at least for about $80 in the local (maybe 50quid) that you plug into the network, plug your incoming line in, and outgoing line to your phone. that will act as a switch.

This relies on your skype service as opposed to any ISP related services.

Yes, did a little digging last night on this, seems VOIP is a term that a lot of products fall under. The main protocols for doing VOIP seem to be skype and SIP, although googletalk has its own protocol too from what I gather. skype and SIP services cannot talk to one another, and you can't get a skype 'hardphone' (ie one that doesn't need a PC to work).

Untill skype gets hardphones out then its nothing more than a novelty for people who have 24/7 access to a PC.

I've decided to purchase a SIP hardphone and use it through sipgate, no PC needed for this:

http://www.sipgate.co.uk/user/index.php

and of course its completely free from IP to IP. As the phone in my house is an IP hardphone I will use this a fair bit, as it can be dialed from any 'normal' telephone (pretty sure about this) although calls from the IP hardphone to conventional landlines and mobiles do of course get charged by sipgate, not that I will be using it for that.

It's very annoying that skype and SIP are not compatible.

[Sasq]

god damn it, where did they go, about 8 months ago here, we had skype ethernet adaptors

[borat]

I'm sure I read of such things as skype ethernet adapters too. Never seen a single one for sale.
Just out of interest, why use skype ahead of a SIP based service?

[Sasq]

I have both, simply put, my sip hardware gets confused every so often, and needs a hard reboot.
that and my skype in I can use at work, a friends home, where ever, I don't need to care about router settings for SIP numbers, uPnP which my SIP hardware needs etc.
I just bought my japanese number with skype, so another option could be, get UK based skype-in number, and use it on the road with your lappy.

[borat]

I have found that in the USA vonage do a $25 a month service giving unlimited calls from SIP to landlines in the USA. europe Canada and puerto Rico.

Does anybody know of such a service offered to the UK? IE for a fixed monthly fee free calls to USA and European landlines? Vonage do not offer the service to UK customers