Any alternative to Voipbuster?

[Bionic]

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I have been using voipbuster happily for a long time, but the last few versions will not work for some unknown reason and I cannot revert to the previous working version anymore as they have made it invalid. Thing is, I probably will get a solution eventually, but I could do with a decent alternative as a fallback. Would prefer something in the same great price range as voipbuster as opposed to the Skype possibility.

Anyone have any ideas?

[paulatukcamera]

Broadband arrived fairly recently out here in rural West Wales.

Consequently I looked at the various systems on offer and decided that the BT Voice system had one advantage over most others - the recipients of my calls didn't have to have a computer or sign up for anything.

The only snag was that you had to plug the phone in to the modem. So I went on eBay and bought 4 cordless phones to duplicate my existing system (we long ago abandoned one phone as it was forever getting lost!) Why eBay? - because I paid a third of the price for the same set of four that I had previously bought at Comet.

The family are now getting used to the fact that they can receive calls on any phone but must use the ones I painted blue for all outgoing calls.

Result? For £10 a month most calls are now free and there is no feeling that this system is any different from a standard phone line (quality is pretty good in my opinion). The bills are now literally a fraction of what I spent previously on an ISDN line & Business & Private telephone Calls.

Downside? Only one - the phones "pip" when the signal fails & is restored. I tend to disconnect the VOIP sstem overnight (I don't make outgoing calls when I'm asleep - though with the pressure of work, I sometimes feel I should!)


Paul

[Bionic]

Nice one Paul, glad you got a solution. With voipbuster, I can call anywhere. The recipients just need a phone. A lot of the time it is free to most countries, and very, very cheap to others. So I would be happy with it if I didnt have this technical problem.

[John Jupp]

PM sent detailing a voip system for you to sign with.

[pricethat]

The other user does not need to have viop buster installed to call you either, they provide you with a free telephone number as well unlike skype although you can buy one.

I got your pm about it bionic but no i dont use any of the others, between skype and voip i seem to be quite happy with them at the mo. Even have it all working with my bluetooth headset so i can wander around the apartment like a dipstick too.

[JamieJelly]

I own a small box called a Sipura SPA-3000.

You plug your normal phone in to it, and you also connect it to your phone socket. There is an ethernet interface which goes to your switch (usually on your broadband router/modem).

It is platform independent, you can use pretty much any VoIP supplier with it. Your phone rings as normal if someone calls your house number, your SIP number or the DDI associated with your SIP number.

You can set up dialling rules via a web interface so the box can automatically select the cheapest route for your calls (you might get free evening calls via your landline provider and free international destinations from your VoIP provider for example).

If the power fails the box automatically routes calls to your landline (your landline picks up voltage from the exchange so you usually still have a dial tone during a power cut). This is important with issues associated with dialling the emergency services!

You can also dial your landline from say your mobile, enter some codes and route your international calls over your voip connection from your mobile.

This is what I call a real VoIP solution

I forgot to mention, you will get better quality if your router/modem supports QoS (quality of service). This gives priority to data packets containing voice data over that of normal internet traffic.

[ian]

voipcheap.co.uk

You have to pay £10 (last time I checked) to open an account, then its free calls to the countries listed below. The £10 has a life of 180 and after that you need to put in more cash to keep going. Great if you travel around - free calls back to the UK.

Australia free
Belgium free
Chile free
Cyprus free
Denmark free
Estonia free
Germany free
Hong Kong free
Italy free
Japan free
Liechtenstein free
Luxembourg free
Malaysia free
Mexico free
New Zealand free
Norway free
Panama free
Peru free
Puerto Rico free
Russian Federation free
Slovenia free
South Korea free
Spain free
Sweden free
Thailand free
United States free
Venezuela free