VoIP intro: Look for gateways

Of course you first need a phone. Either as software on your PC ("softphone"; only usable with good headset) or an adapter for a normal phone (100-200 Eur, I'd recommend AVM FritzBox) or a standalone VoIP phone. The current standard is SIP.

If you want to call normal phones with normal phone numbers, you need a public gateway that routes your call from the Internet to the phone network. There are quite a few around the world - typically they are cheaper in the country they operate in, and not expensive around the world.
In Germany, I'd recommend sipgate (good and independent) or maybe Schlund (flatrate for Germany, good deals on AVM hardware).
The american BroadVoice offers flatrates for lot of the world. Also in USA is sipphone.com.

If you want to call other people who use VoIP/SIP, you can use their SIP address directly and call without cost.

-- Ben Bucksch

Anonymous 29 Apr 2005, 11:44 - Report