Not Geeky!

When I discovered this a couple of years ago I thought this was simply too good to be true. Using VOIP, even without my PC, I can make free phone calls or send text messages for 5 cents. OK, I’ll be honest sometimes a call costs me just a bit more. The weird thing is though I can hardly find any info on it on the internet. So I thought I might as well share this knowledge here….

I love VOIP. It saves me a lot of money, is convenient and allows me to make phone calls I wouldn’t make if it didn’t exist merely because of the costs. I make a lot of international phone calls. I live in country A and some of my clients in country B and so does a major part of my family.

How do I VOIP? I’m not using Skype, Fring, Vonage, BT or what have you. Nope, I make use of Voipstunt. And no, I’m not using a headset, computer microphone or Voipbox but just a regular phone, or in VOIP lingo: Phone2phone calls.

This has 2 major advantages: You do not need to have access to a PC and, even more importantly, the sound quality is really good. This is often not the case when you use a headset attached to the computer.

When I’m in my car I use an Access number and when I’m home I sometimes use a PC. I can make calls, using my mobile, often completely free of charge. (It depends on how many minutes I’ve used in the last 7 days). When I’m at home I often make use of the VOIPStunt application running on my PC and I can make phonecalls for 5 Eurocents per hour. Another major advantage is you can use VOIPStunt without a subscription.

It’s all very simple:
1. Download Voipstunt. It’s a small application for windows (only) and can be found here
2. Create a user (first screen) and buy credits. You can start with a tiny amount, depending on which country you live in. I usually credit buy for 10 Euro’s.
3. Fill out your personal details. Most important is your landline- and mobile number. You’ll get a textmessage (SMS) or talking computer call for verification purposes.

After you’ve completed your registration you can start calling. Basically, Phone2phone call wise, you’ve got 2 options:

• Use an Access number, best used from mobile to landline
• Use your computer, best used from landline to landline

Note: You have to type in the complete phonenumber including the country code, so 0044 or +44 for the UK, 0032 or +32 for Belgium etc.

Use an Access number
First you need to lookup the Access number in your area. Go to your VOIPStunt application and click on here to go to your account page. Click in your webbrowser on Make VOIP Calls from your fixed/mobile phone. The nearest Access number can be looked up now.

• Dial the Access number
• Dial the phonenumber you wish to call and finish with the # sign.
• A computer voice will tell you about the calling costs. Phoning a landline abroad is, in my case, usually 0 cents.

Use your Computer
Go to your VOIPStunt application

• Click on the Phone2Phone tab
• Select the phonenumber you want to call from (Landline or mobile)
• Type in the number you wish to call
• Click on the Call button
• Pick up the phone
• On your screen the calling costs will appear. Phoning a landline abroad is, in my case, usually 5 cents.
• You can call now for one 1 hour for a small amount, in my case 5 cents.

Edwin

“Phoning cheaper, phoning for free!” The wild wild west in the digital Age. About 10 years ago I experimented with Net2Phone. I had just bought a new PC with an ISDN connection. Net2phone promised phonecalls almost for free. You could for instance phone the US for free. I tried it, and yes I could hear a voice at the other end of the line. Unfortunately no one could hear me.

Then a few years later there was Skype. Thought it was pretty good but it took me a while before I had found a friend that also had Skype. However he was always off-line when I was on-line so that didn’t work very well in real life either.

In 2006 a colleague of mine told me about this Voipstunt thing. I got my microphone out and gave it try. Too much echo and delay so I discarded this as a costsaving workable solution pretty quickly. I couldn’t really see what this nerdy colleague was so enthouisiastic about. The Phone 2 phone option that I tried the day after did work remarkably well. One hour phone conversations, long distance for 5 euro cents. Sound sound quality, no delays.

So, to cut a long story short: Last year I made a Squidoo page about this. And then I accidently deleted it. But Hurray! My Squidoo VoipStunt page, that I made last year is back online now. You can find it here.

Edwin