In article <nc9du395ilnopl3viigfnm7drc0918j11d@4ax.com>,
JakeD <JakeD@fsdsdvsdv.com> wrote:
>On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:02:32 +0000 (UTC), Gordon Henderson
><gordon+usenet@drogon.net> wrote:
>
>>>Is there a VOIP phone service that can be used via a mobile phone?
>>
>>I suspect you really want to ask the question: Is there a mobile phone
>>that can be used via a VoIP service ...
>
>I can't see any error in my wording of my question. I like the VOIP
>service I use (at home), because, unlike Skype, (as I understand it),
>I can make calls to any landline or mobile, and any landline or mobile
>can call me. The VOIP service is much cheaper for making calls abroad
>than is the mobile phone service. So what I'd like to achive is to be
>able to make calls via my VOIP provider, using my mobile phone,
>without getting billed for a call by the mobile phone company. This
>may be impossible; I don't know.

Well - what you need is a mobile phone that can be used via a VoIP
service ...

Unless you are using Skype, nearly all VoIP providers use a standards
based system called SIP. Some mobile phones have SIP software built in.
Eg. The Nokia E95 and E90... Maybe others.

>I'm not very familiar with wifi internet access, at wireless hotspots,
>but I was hoping that there was a way to make the call via the VOIP
>service, once one is connected to the net (free of charge) at a wifi
>hotspot. Perhaps not. My own VOIP customer services said not - but
>then they are infamous for not knowing much! Or it could be true that
>their own service cannot be accessed that way, but others can...

So you need a phone with both a SIP client and Wi-Fi access...

Once you can establish an Internet connection you should be able to use
VoIP - however, in my experience, a busy Wi-Fi access point is worse
than useless for making VoIP calls. VoIP is quite demanding in terms of
what it needs to make it work, and it's easy for other users of the same
Wi-Fi access point to interfere with VoIP communications. (And I don't
even mean interfere deliberately, it's a shared resource, and if it's
busy, then ...)

>I wouldn't expect to be able to receive incoming calls via the VOIP
>service, on my mobile, necessarily, but I could hopefully pick up
>messages left on my VOIP voice mail service.

You need to either divert your VoIP service to your mobile number,
or have a mobile phone with SIP and Wi-Fi, and be in-range of a Wi-Fi
access point. I have no problems recieving a VoIP call on my mobile when
I can satisfy those requirements.

So even if you have this (which I do, with my Nokia E90), finding a
"free" Wi-Fi access point is not easy, so you'll end up using a paid
service which might well work out more expensive than simply making a
call via the "normal" mobile phone network...

Some contracts do give you free access to various Wi-Fi hot-spots, but
you'll need to go through the contracts, websites, etc. to find this out.

And of-course, you'll need the details from your VoIP provider to
enter into your SIP+WiFi enabled mobile phone; server, username and
password, which they might not have told you if you bought something
pre-configured...

Gordon