There are more and more companies moving towards the cheap international calls model. Today we talk about this interesting VOIP Service provider who offers extremely competitive international calling rates.
Local Phone has been around for a while, however it seems they recently reduced their rates to bottom low. VOIP Providers have realised that free international calls was good enough to ramp up customer base and can't be a long term revenue model.
LocalPhone works off the access number based model. You call up a access number in your country and then dial your international number. They offer some really cheap international calling rates to India and some other asian countries.
They are currently offering India at 5.5 cents per minute + no connection charge. Considering betamax as closest competitor, betamax always charges you connection rate and in the end it turns out to be a costly affair.
Lets see how you can use LocalPhone:
1) Go Signup at Local Phone
2) On Dashboard, add a new contact with Phone number.
3) Localphone gives you a local number to replace theirs, shown in red.
4) Now you can call that number from your landline/Mobile Phone.
5) LocalPhone also gives you a international calling card option with access number and PIN code which you can use from anywhere in the world as long as you are able to dial into one of their access numbers.
Local Phone is definately an interesting VOIP startup and with their rock bottom calling rates they look lot better than costly companies such as Jajah Direct. However please remember that you would have to incurr cost while calling their local phone numbers, unless you have unlimited calling package (if you are in US, you can check out Lingo Phone Unlimited Package). Another limitation of this service is its currently only available in certain countries namely UK, USA, Australia, Canada etc. Not bad for a start but I would love to see some more asian countries included in the list especially Singapore, India, Pakistan etc.
If you are using Local Phone, do let us know about the service.
Have Question about VOIP, PBX, Asterix or Conference Calls? Join us at our VOIP Forum
Monday, July 21, 2008
Local Phone offers cheap international calls
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Didnt find what you are looking for? Search VOIP Guide
Dont Forgot to Bookmark This blog. Press CTRL+D
Or Subscribe
16 comments:
I have been using local phone to call india. I would say the quality is not good some times. If you have free days on free betamax application u can use to call their number in US or canada.
The rates for india is 5 UScents/min
I guess dats comparable to mediaring talk which is next best(Betamax blocked my account so dats out of question).
The only diff is they charge tax when u buy credit lik 11.75 usd for 10 usd talk time, where as mediaring u pay 10 or 10 usd credit.
Also for india guyz pingo is providing free 10 usd on 10 topup n 5 on 5 usd topup. Dats juz for new users.
Hope dis comment is useful to all d needful peopl.
-Amit
Thanks for reviewing our service.
You may be interested in our new recommend badges.
@Vinay - It’s only 5¢ to call India now.
@krissboy - We’re always very quick to act to resolve quality issues - you can call our friendly support team, or fill out a fault report on the site. We hope to bring up a new carrier for calls to India in the next few days. This should resolve any issues you may have experienced.
Thanks Kriss for a quick review.
Dave, thanks for dropping by and i didn't notice its 5 cents coz against one of my added numbers, it shows 5.5 cents. Thanks for correction and you might want to look at that bug :-)
It would be great if you can improve voice quality and of course, reduce prices even further.
@vinay - Ah, my mistake - sorry. You were correct to put 5.5¢. The 5¢ is to India mobiles.
I've been using a company called WQN for years now to call to both India and UAE. There are no taxes, fees, or equipment to set up. The quality is great and the rates are very competitive. They give FREE minutes to their customers all the time with special bonus offers. They also have a loyalty program that gives their customers up to 3000 FREE minutes every 6 months. I'm able to get lots of free minutes to call my destinations with great quality.
Check them out at www.WQN.com
I have seen the WQN site, and most of the sections show sevice unavailable..
There is a section of online chat and i tried it number of times but i nevr got through any customer service.
Moreover the rates are 0.079 usd that are fairly higher then rest.
Hi
I am using intervoip which costs 3.5 cents if calling from pc
and voipraider at 4.8cents these two are better if calling from pc.
There is a slight voice delay in LocalPhone. I have used it to call India but quickly switched over to RebTel, the only reason being the voice delay. Otherwise the clarity is good.
Yes intervoip is cheapest, but i guess they block cards after 5-6 recharges. I really donno d reason :S
Also rebtel is little bit more costly then local phone n mediaring which is ok but matter to peopl lik me who use heavily lik 10 hr/week
Points not covered in your article,
1) they currently offer a FREE inbound UK number you can link to an SIP device to receive calls,
2) they have no plans to offer peer to peer calling through sipbroker,
3) The Global access numbers, do not work, I confirmed this with customer service, they say they will be updating the web page soon to correct this.
Local Phone is really cool. Thanks Vinay.
I need to try it out. I have been a TeleBlend customer for a while and just signed up for their Platinum package. With that the rates are 6 cents per minute to India.
LocalPhone has great rates, and a convenient way of dialing overseas numbers, HOWEVER...
The quality, at least to Chile is absolutely horrible. Actually, its unusable, its choppy on both ends, and I have yet to make a call lasting more than 1 minute.
Gizmo5 is good quality, and is SIP based so you don't need a computer if you have an sip phone, however their payment plan is right out of the stone ages. It often takes 2 weeks after paying before seeing the minutes show up! (Read the forums)
JaJah is also good quality, but the rates are higher, and you must initiate the call with a computer.
Skype is also good, although they aren't the cheapest, and I can't use my SIP based voip adapter.
@anonymous: Sorry to hear you’ve been having trouble with calls to Chile. If you fill out a fault report on the Localphone website we can usually resolve quality issues very quickly by trying out different routes.
I have been using Local phone to call India. I love their quality very much. I recommend to anyone who is looking for an excellent rate as well as good quality. Give it a try. This is lot better than calling card.
Ravi
I have been using localphone for about 15 days very heavily! I like the concept and also the fact that they hand out free uk numbers. I connected a SIP device and now people can call me on that number. The call quality to India is good!
Post a Comment