I'm going to the USA for a period soon and will be staying in
wi-fi-enabled (ie, free) homes. Will be taking a laptop with me.
It's just occurred to me that buying a Skype (or other VOIP?) phone
would be a good idea, to keep down my costs of calling within the USA
and home to the UK. Dos this sound a Good Plan? Don't know a whole lot
about voip but from what I've read to date I can't find any info about
taking a UK-based phone away with me. Will that work OK (ie,
economically?) or do I need to procure one in the USA with a US number
or something?
Am also wondering whether a wifi voip phone would be a good option,
given that I'll have free access - no need to be tied to the laptop then?
(BTW I'll also have a roaming UK mobile with me as well).
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:56:54 GMT, Lobster
<davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>I'm going to the USA for a period soon and will be staying in
>wi-fi-enabled (ie, free) homes. Will be taking a laptop with me.
>
>It's just occurred to me that buying a Skype (or other VOIP?) phone
>would be a good idea, to keep down my costs of calling within the USA
>and home to the UK. Dos this sound a Good Plan? Don't know a whole lot
>about voip but from what I've read to date I can't find any info about
>taking a UK-based phone away with me. Will that work OK (ie,
>economically?) or do I need to procure one in the USA with a US number
>or something?
>
>Am also wondering whether a wifi voip phone would be a good option,
>given that I'll have free access - no need to be tied to the laptop then?
>
>(BTW I'll also have a roaming UK mobile with me as well).
>
>Any thoughts most welcome.
>
>Thanks
>David
In my opinion it is not a good plan to limit yourself to Skype. If you
go for Skype you will be commiting yourself to a single provider. If
you go for SIP voip you will have the choice of hundreds of providers.
Some mobile phones are SIP voip capable - the E65, N80 for example (
though you do need to check that the SIP capability has not been
disabled by the mobile phone network that sold it.
As far as an incoming number is concerned you can get a free US one
and, of course continue to receive calls on a UK one also, if you have
the right set up.
In practical terms, as you say you know nothing about voip, it depends
on how much time you have to get a system up and running. I would
advise signing up with a suitable UK voip company and trying your set
up here first. e.g. voip.co.uk, voipfone.co.uk, vyke.co.uk (not as
reliable but 2p/call to Europe and the US.) Vyke does not provide
you with an incoming number it is just for outgoing calls.
If you are tied to wifi, as opposed to a wired link to the Net, then
you will not be able to easily use a wifi adapter. This means the use
of a wifi phone. I'll leave it to others to suggest what phone would
be best.
Alternatively, you could use a softphone on a laptop, if you have
one, that would cost you nothing but you would be tied to your laptop.
Such software could be x-lite. I would recommend a voxalot set up for
that as it would permit numerous incoming and outgoing providers.
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On 2007-06-20, Lobster <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I'm going to the USA for a period soon and will be staying in
> wi-fi-enabled (ie, free) homes. Will be taking a laptop with me.
>
> It's just occurred to me that buying a Skype (or other VOIP?) phone
> would be a good idea, to keep down my costs of calling within the USA
> and home to the UK. Dos this sound a Good Plan? Don't know a whole lot
> about voip but from what I've read to date I can't find any info about
> taking a UK-based phone away with me. Will that work OK (ie,
> economically?) or do I need to procure one in the USA with a US number
> or something?
Whatever Skype or SIP equipment you have configured in the UK should
function technically in exactly the same way in the US. Broadly
speaking, if the provider set up is economic for you to use here it will
be economic to use there.
> Am also wondering whether a wifi voip phone would be a good option,
> given that I'll have free access - no need to be tied to the laptop then?
Skype WIFI phones seem to start at about the 70 GBP mark. A SIP WiFi
phone can be over 100 GBP. Does this fit with your plan to keep calling
costs as down?
Brian A wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:56:54 GMT, Lobster
> <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm going to the USA for a period soon and will be staying in
>> wi-fi-enabled (ie, free) homes. Will be taking a laptop with me.
Thanks everyone for the advice - much appreciated.
> In my opinion it is not a good plan to limit yourself to Skype. If you
> go for Skype you will be commiting yourself to a single provider. If
> you go for SIP voip you will have the choice of hundreds of providers.
Got it. Have signed up at sipgate.co.uk for now, and will see how I get
on (if ever they get round to emailing the activation link! :-( )
> If you are tied to wifi, as opposed to a wired link to the Net, then
> you will not be able to easily use a wifi adapter. This means the use
> of a wifi phone. I'll leave it to others to suggest what phone would
> be best.
> Alternatively, you could use a softphone on a laptop, if you have
> one, that would cost you nothing but you would be tied to your laptop.
For now I have a earpiece/mic combo I can use to test it all out, but I
thought you could buy a voipy-type phone with a USB plug on the end
which connected to the computer... is that not the case (at least with
wifi?) What's the difference with a wifi and hard-wired connection?
> Such software could be x-lite. I would recommend a voxalot set up for
> that as it would permit numerous incoming and outgoing providers.
Seems to be n/a - is that temporary or is it defunct? Have downloaded
x-lite from Sipgate.
So... given that shortly I will be able to call a UK number from my
laptop here in the UK, at 1.2p/min, or a US number at a whopping
1.5p/min - am I right in thinking that when I go to the US and use the
laptop there, the tariffs will be identical when calling those countries?
Lobster wrote:
> Brian A wrote:
>> On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:56:54 GMT, Lobster
>> <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
> So... given that shortly I will be able to call a UK number from my
> laptop here in the UK, at 1.2p/min, or a US number at a whopping
> 1.5p/min - am I right in thinking that when I go to the US and use the
> laptop there, the tariffs will be identical when calling those
> countries?
> Thanks
> David
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:35:47 GMT, Lobster
<davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Brian A wrote:
>> On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:56:54 GMT, Lobster
>> <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I'm going to the USA for a period soon and will be staying in
>>> wi-fi-enabled (ie, free) homes. Will be taking a laptop with me.
>
>Thanks everyone for the advice - much appreciated.
>
>> In my opinion it is not a good plan to limit yourself to Skype. If you
>> go for Skype you will be commiting yourself to a single provider. If
>> you go for SIP voip you will have the choice of hundreds of providers.
>
>Got it. Have signed up at sipgate.co.uk for now, and will see how I get
>on (if ever they get round to emailing the activation link! :-( )
>
>> If you are tied to wifi, as opposed to a wired link to the Net, then
>> you will not be able to easily use a wifi adapter. This means the use
>> of a wifi phone. I'll leave it to others to suggest what phone would
>> be best.
>> Alternatively, you could use a softphone on a laptop, if you have
>> one, that would cost you nothing but you would be tied to your laptop.
>
>For now I have a earpiece/mic combo I can use to test it all out, but I
>thought you could buy a voipy-type phone with a USB plug on the end
>which connected to the computer... is that not the case (at least with
>wifi?) What's the difference with a wifi and hard-wired connection?
>
>> Such software could be x-lite. I would recommend a voxalot set up for
>> that as it would permit numerous incoming and outgoing providers.
>
>> Also, check out the services of
>> http://www.voxalot.com
>
>Seems to be n/a - is that temporary or is it defunct? Have downloaded
>x-lite from Sipgate.
>
>So... given that shortly I will be able to call a UK number from my
>laptop here in the UK, at 1.2p/min, or a US number at a whopping
>1.5p/min - am I right in thinking that when I go to the US and use the
>laptop there, the tariffs will be identical when calling those countries?
You could use Vyke for 2p/call to these destinations (not per minute).
voip.co.uk UK pack is very good and you will get a free geo number as
well.
If you want more outgoing providers though, with the free x-lite,
you'll have to use voxalot..
You are right re voxalot. I've never known their site go down before.
The voxalot phone service (Eu server) is still working well for me
though. No doubt the web site will be up again soon.
--
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Sign the petition to get High Definition TV via Freeview.
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--
Brian A wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:35:47 GMT, Lobster
> <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Brian A wrote:
>>> On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:56:54 GMT, Lobster
>>> <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm going to the USA for a period soon and will be staying in
>>>> wi-fi-enabled (ie, free) homes. Will be taking a laptop with me.
>>
>> Thanks everyone for the advice - much appreciated.
>>
>>> In my opinion it is not a good plan to limit yourself to Skype. If
>>> you go for Skype you will be commiting yourself to a single
>>> provider. If you go for SIP voip you will have the choice of
>>> hundreds of providers.
>>
>> Got it. Have signed up at sipgate.co.uk for now, and will see how I
>> get on (if ever they get round to emailing the activation link! :-(
>> )
>>
>>> If you are tied to wifi, as opposed to a wired link to the Net, then
>>> you will not be able to easily use a wifi adapter. This means the
>>> use of a wifi phone. I'll leave it to others to suggest what phone
>>> would be best.
>>> Alternatively, you could use a softphone on a laptop, if you have
>>> one, that would cost you nothing but you would be tied to your
>>> laptop.
>>
>> For now I have a earpiece/mic combo I can use to test it all out,
>> but I thought you could buy a voipy-type phone with a USB plug on
>> the end which connected to the computer... is that not the case (at
>> least with wifi?) What's the difference with a wifi and hard-wired
>> connection?
>>
>>> Such software could be x-lite. I would recommend a voxalot set up
>>> for that as it would permit numerous incoming and outgoing
>>> providers.
>>
>>> Also, check out the services of
>>> http://www.voxalot.com
>>
>> Seems to be n/a - is that temporary or is it defunct? Have
>> downloaded x-lite from Sipgate.
>>
>> So... given that shortly I will be able to call a UK number from my
>> laptop here in the UK, at 1.2p/min, or a US number at a whopping
>> 1.5p/min - am I right in thinking that when I go to the US and use
>> the laptop there, the tariffs will be identical when calling those
>> countries?
> You could use Vyke for 2p/call to these destinations (not per minute).
> voip.co.uk UK pack is very good and you will get a free geo number as
> well.
> If you want more outgoing providers though, with the free x-lite,
> you'll have to use voxalot..
> You are right re voxalot. I've never known their site go down before.
> The voxalot phone service (Eu server) is still working well for me
> though. No doubt the web site will be up again soon.
>
>
I had tried Voxalot in the past, but wasn't happy with the service.
On 2007-06-20, Brian A <no_spam_bca1000@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:35:47 GMT, Lobster
><davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Seems to be n/a - is that temporary or is it defunct? Have downloaded
>>x-lite from Sipgate.
> You are right re voxalot. I've never known their site go down before.
> The voxalot phone service (Eu server) is still working well for me
> though. No doubt the web site will be up again soon.
It is. There was a power failure at the datacentre housing their web
servers. The phone service was unaffected.
May I mention your signature delimiter. You might like to know there is
a space missing after the two dashes. "-- " is the norm. Without the
quotes of course.
On 2007-06-20, {{{{{Welcome}}}}} <bhx___spam@trapped___hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
> I had tried Voxalot in the past, but wasn't happy with the service.
I've always found Voxalot very reliable. Unless you want to use some of
the services they offer it is probably not needed with a single
provider. As has been said already though, it is great for handling a
number of different providers and the company is responsive to requests.
On 2007-06-20, Lobster <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
> For now I have a earpiece/mic combo I can use to test it all out, but I
> thought you could buy a voipy-type phone with a USB plug on the end
> which connected to the computer... is that not the case (at least with
> wifi?)
Voiptalk sell a USB phone called the Corinex. Is that the sort of thing
you had in mind?
Brian wrote:
> On 2007-06-20, {{{{{Welcome}}}}} <bhx___spam@trapped___hotmail.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>> I had tried Voxalot in the past, but wasn't happy with the service.
>
> I've always found Voxalot very reliable. Unless you want to use some
> of
> the services they offer it is probably not needed with a single
> provider. As has been said already though, it is great for handling a
> number of different providers and the company is responsive to
> requests.
>
> What was the cause of your unhappiness with them?
>
> Brian.
At the time they had forced voicemail, which now they have so you can
switch off.
A few other things I forget now.
And service went down a few times.
I did have several services, and wanted to use Voxalot instead of
running my own Asterisk / Trixbox, but have simply just dropped down to
a couple of services on my ATA with others sip forwarding to these.
I had set up Trixbox but have decided against it due to the electricity
costs of having the PC on 24/7/365.
On Jun 20, 8:56 am, Lobster <davidlobsterpot...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I'm going to the USA for a period soon and will be staying in
> wi-fi-enabled (ie, free) homes. Will be taking a laptop with me.
>
> It's just occurred to me that buying a Skype (or other VOIP?) phone
> would be a good idea, to keep down my costs of calling within the USA
> and home to the UK. Dos this sound a Good Plan? Don't know a whole lot
> about voip but from what I've read to date I can't find any info about
> taking a UK-based phone away with me. Will that work OK (ie,
> economically?) or do I need to procure one in the USA with a US number
> or something?
>
> Am also wondering whether a wifi voip phone would be a good option,
> given that I'll have free access - no need to be tied to the laptop then?
>
> (BTW I'll also have a roaming UK mobile with me as well).
>
> Any thoughts most welcome.
>
> Thanks
> David
Apart from VoIP on the PC ...
Forget about using a roaming mobile, as the rates are much too high.
If you'll use a mobile much, get a local SIM card in an unlocked
phone, then rates are from 10 cents a minute incoming and outgoing.
For times when you are outside wi-fi coverage but near a landline, a
callback service or calling card would be useful.
I'd go for Tuyo mobile, on which the credit balance can also be used
as a calling card from landlines, and use Voxalot mobile callback with
Voipcheap to make 4p calls between landlines - that's per call, not
per minute
On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:36:08 GMT, "{{{{{Welcome}}}}}"
<bhx___spam@trapped___hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
>Brian wrote:
>> On 2007-06-20, {{{{{Welcome}}}}} <bhx___spam@trapped___hotmail.co.uk>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I had tried Voxalot in the past, but wasn't happy with the service.
>>
>> I've always found Voxalot very reliable. Unless you want to use some
>> of
>> the services they offer it is probably not needed with a single
>> provider. As has been said already though, it is great for handling a
>> number of different providers and the company is responsive to
>> requests.
>>
>> What was the cause of your unhappiness with them?
>>
>> Brian.
>
>At the time they had forced voicemail, which now they have so you can
>switch off.
>
>A few other things I forget now.
>
>And service went down a few times.
I think that the Eu server is better...well I've had no trouble
anyway.
>
>I did have several services, and wanted to use Voxalot instead of
>running my own Asterisk / Trixbox, but have simply just dropped down to
>a couple of services on my ATA with others sip forwarding to these.
>
>I had set up Trixbox but have decided against it due to the electricity
>costs of having the PC on 24/7/365.
I tried using an old laptop, power consumption around 20W so about the
same as standby on my Sky box. However, I found the set up to be
unreliable. I think that the Trixbox didn't work well with my router,
though I could never pinpoint the exact problem. Anyway I've ditched
the idea for now - until I get another router.
I think, anyway, voxalot does most of what I want.
--
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Sign the petition to get High Definition TV via Freeview.
Get your friends to sign too!
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Brian wrote:
> On 2007-06-20, Lobster <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> For now I have a earpiece/mic combo I can use to test it all out, but I
>> thought you could buy a voipy-type phone with a USB plug on the end
>> which connected to the computer... is that not the case (at least with
>> wifi?)
>
> Voiptalk sell a USB phone called the Corinex. Is that the sort of thing
> you had in mind?
Would that work OK with Sipgate on a wifi laptop? I've now got sipgate
working fine using their x-lite softphone - would I effectively gain or
lose anything by using the above phone instead?
On 23-06-2007, Lobster <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Brian wrote:
>> Voiptalk sell a USB phone called the Corinex. Is that the sort of thing
>> you had in mind?
>
> I liked the look of this one actually, at 17 GBP:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/ywzu8h (or
><http://www.amazon.co.uk/VoipVoice-Traveller-Skype-Compatible-Internet/dp/B000ET1ZM4/ref=pd_sim_dbs_ce_1/026-5345353-7024418?ie=UTF8&qid=1182612205&sr=1-1>)
>
> Would that work OK with Sipgate on a wifi laptop? I've now got sipgate
> working fine using their x-lite softphone - would I effectively gain or
> lose anything by using the above phone instead?
It appears to be a Skype only device so it will be a struggle to get it
to work with a SIP based service such as Sipgate.
Brian wrote:
> On 23-06-2007, Lobster <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Brian wrote:
>>> Voiptalk sell a USB phone called the Corinex. Is that the sort of thing
>>> you had in mind?
>> I liked the look of this one actually, at 17 GBP:
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/ywzu8h (or
>> <http://www.amazon.co.uk/VoipVoice-Traveller-Skype-Compatible-Internet/dp/B000ET1ZM4/ref=pd_sim_dbs_ce_1/026-5345353-7024418?ie=UTF8&qid=1182612205&sr=1-1>)
>>
>> Would that work OK with Sipgate on a wifi laptop? I've now got sipgate
>> working fine using their x-lite softphone - would I effectively gain or
>> lose anything by using the above phone instead?
>
> It appears to be a Skype only device so it will be a struggle to get it
> to work with a SIP based service such as Sipgate.
Don't think so... seems to be "VOIP" or "Skype" AFAICS?
This is the manufacturer's URL for the item:
<http://www.voipvoice.com/webshop/product.php?xProd=3>
so does the panel reckon this phone will work OK with the above setup? :-)
(my theory is that I'll have more chance persuading SWMBO to "go voip"
on our trip, [and save me a small fortune] if we have a 'proper' phone
she can hold in her hand...!)
On 23-06-2007, Lobster <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Brian wrote:
>> It appears to be a Skype only device so it will be a struggle to get it
>> to work with a SIP based service such as Sipgate.
>
> Don't think so... seems to be "VOIP" or "Skype" AFAICS?
Skype is VoIP. Not all VoIP is Skype. Read the specifications for the
item. You could start with those given on Amazon.
> This is the manufacturer's URL for the item:
><http://www.voipvoice.com/webshop/product.php?xProd=3>
> so does the panel reckon this phone will work OK with the above setup? :-)
The phone would have communicate with x-lite, or another SIP based
softphone. It does not appear capable of doing that.
> (my theory is that I'll have more chance persuading SWMBO to "go voip"
> on our trip, [and save me a small fortune] if we have a 'proper' phone
> she can hold in her hand...!)
I'd agree with you so, to keep her happy, do a search on 'yealink'. At
some point you could vary the seach pattern by throwing 'sipgate' in.
Taking UK Skype phone to USA? 
Linear Mode
