Airtel Call Home Phone Service IndiaOne 1cent offer review

Airtel Call Home has brought back the IndiaOne offer to compete against Truroots and reliance global call. Airtecallhome indiaone offer gives 1 cent per minute to India but whats the catch? Lets find out!

Airtel Call home claims that You can call India at just 1 cent/min with extended validity, superior connectivity and the assurance that the offer is here to stay! Well we are confident that airtel call home offer is here to stay especially when airtel can make money off rentals.

Don't get too excited about the airtel call home India One offer. The offer says,
The $ 9.99 pack of IndiaOne has a rental of $ 3.99, on the balance $ 6 you get the rate of 1 cent /min on Local Access. Lets do some simple calculation.

For $9.99, lets say $10, you get talktime of only $6. That means for $6 you can make upto 600 minutes to India based on 1 cent per minute rate advertised by airtelcallhome.

If instead of using airtel, you put your money to actionvoip, you would pay 1.1 or 1.2 cents for call India landline and mobile respectively. That means, you can make upto 833 minutes of calls to India considering 1.2 cents per minute as average calling rate.

That means, you would get 233 more minutes if you stick around with Actionvoip instead of airtel call home.

At the same time, I would also like to point that betamax is extremely unreliable to deal with but airtel is professional VOIP Provider. If you think quality, customer service and VOIP Provider's reputation matter to you, airtel call home could be your choice.

Tell us what you think of airtel call home India one offer and write your airtelcallhome reviews under comments.

Ringcentral Office Business VoIP Phone System Review

Enterprise and Business VOIP is getting popular in US, mainly due to its cost effectiveness and quality of service. Enterprise VOIP at some stage would actually grow faster than residential VOIP. Ringcentral is all out to grab the business VOIP system market share.

Ring Central announced a new RingCentral Office VOIP Phone service for business consumers. The company claims that RingCentral Office would be the first online, self-service offering for small businesses to buy and set up phone systems, comes with four hosted voice lines, hosted fax, call routing, unlimited long distance and pre-configured phones.

"The fact that RingCentral offers a unique self-service capability with an all inclusive pricing model and no contracts is, frankly, quite revolutionary in the business phone systems market," IDC senior analyst David Lemelin said in the release.

RingCentral Office offers 3 plans for Office Users:

1) 1 line complete business hosted phone system: The plan comes at a cost of $49.99 per month with unlimited minutes and has following features:

• One VoIP phone line with unlimited calling (US and Canada)
• One local number with area code of your choice
• 1 toll free or local main company number
• 1 toll free or local fax number - secure Internet fax service, send and receive
• Virtual PBX with multiple extensions

2)4 line complete business hosted phone system: The plan comes at a cost of $99.99 per month with unlimited minutes and has following features:

• Four VoIP phone lines with unlimited calling (US and Canada)
• Four local numbers with area codes of your choice
• 1 toll free or local main company number
• 1 toll free or local fax number - secure Internet fax service, send and receive
• Virtual PBX with unlimited extensions

3) 8 line complete business hosted phone system: The largest ringcentral office plan and comes at a cost of $179.99 and has following features:

• Eight VoIP phone lines with unlimited calling (US and Canada)
• Eight local numbers with area codes of your choice
• 1 toll free or local main company number
• 1 toll free or local fax number - secure Internet fax service, send and receive
• Virtual PBX with unlimited extensions

All RingCentral Office plans comes with standard features such as it virtual PBX, VoIP phone service with unlimited calling (based on user plan) and with voicemail, auto-receptionist, call forwarding and more.

Besides Virtual hosted PBX Phone system, Ringcentral offers Toll-free numbers and Fax systems for years and have been leaders in this business area.

Would you use ringcentral Virtual PBX Business Phone system for your small or large business? Do let us know your feedback/comments/reviews of RingCentral Office Phone system.

flash2Voip Online SIP Softphone Service

If you like to bypass all VOIP blocking in your country, we probably got the solution for you. We already covered the news about gtalk2voip bypassing UAE VOIP Block and now on reader's request gtalk2voip designed a much simpler interface for a online SIP softphone service.

Many readers noted that they found gtalk2voip interface a bit too advanced to try and use their services mainly in UAE where local ISP's block VOIP usage. Responding to those request, Gtalk2VOIP launched flash2VOIP service, basically a web based SIP softphone which you can use with any SIP Provider and it works from UAE or for that matter anywhere in the world.

Flash2Voip interface is extremely easy to use. You can use the SIP Provider from the list at the sign in menu or enter your preferred SIP Provider along with username/password. Once you are signed in and you can make calls rightaway.

Flash2VoIP allows to make unlimited number of free calls, but each call will be hung up after 5 (five) minutes. To make it working uninterruptedly, you have to subscribe to paid service, which is available for $5/month fee. This is similar to gtalk2voip call limit and paid service fee.

A few things you should remember before using flash2voip. Flash2voip is designed in adobe flash player that means it will ask you to confirm if flash2voip can use your microphone, you must select Yes or the other party won't hear you.

How do i pay to use flash2voip?

On the personal account page on which you can proceed with the service sign up and payment. Flash2Voip accepts Paypal and Google Checkout.

Do let us know if you have any comments/feedback on flash2voip service.

Download VoxOx 2 Free VOIP Video Conference Calling Softphone

If you fancy a all-in-one VOIP, Video conferencing and Fax Softphone, then VoxOx will suit your needs. VoxOx has released its version 2 which adds even more cool features to tempt you download it today!

VoxOx 2 comes with some really cool features. Lets focus on some of them:

1) Free Phone Number: You can get a free US incoming number for your VoxOx. You can get multiple numbers for a fee.

2) Free Fax Number: Do you send faxes? Well it does cost money but with VoxOx 2 it won't cost you a penny. They give you a free fax number and full fax service. You can track all your faxes from voxox inbox. All faxes can use electronic documents like PDF/Word.

3) Video Conference Calls: You can do upto 3 people video conference call.

4) SMS Service with your Caller ID: SMS can be sent from your phone number. Your Phone number shows up to the receiver.

5) Personal Assitance Service: Personal Assistance services are often part of a PBX or Hosted PBX systems. Voxox offers this for FREE. Setup Personal assistant to answer your voicemails.

6) Reach Me Call forwarding service: Have calls forwarded to your home, your office, your cell from your central VoxOx phone number.

7) Call Back Service: Works as advertised, lets you call back anywhere in the world. standard voxox calling rates apply for both destination and origin.

Of course they also offer cheap international calls service. The only drawback is perhaps no way to setup an SIP service of your choice. If that option is added, Voxox will be one heck of a killer VOIP softphone to own.

Even without the SIP option,It still has got enough reason to be taking some space on your PC/Laptop. Go download voxox today and try it out!

TOP 10 ways to make Free Calls to USA

After Jaduka closed down earthcaller VOIP service to make free calls to usa, we review VOIP Providers who still offer free calls to USA.

Earthcaller and dukadial terminated their services a few weeks back and that means, many users are left wondering what's the best alternative way to make totally free international calls to USA. I am not considering any VOIP service which charges users in any way to make free calls. e.g betamax VOIP services need you to make a purchase to use their free calls service.

1) ViatalkFree: Viatalk free is offered by vitalk, VOIP Phone service provider in USA. You can make 10 minutes of call each time you call. You can redial the same number. Viatalkfree offers a phone to phone service that means its restricted to US residents. However you can use it from outside USA by getting a free US number from IPkall and setup that number on X-lite.

2) Callingamerica : Calling America offers no obligation free calls to usa service. They recently blocked a few countries to make calls to USA which includes India. It should be available from many other countries.

3) Poketalk: Poketalk offers free international calls service which includes USA.

4) RingtoNumber: Ringtonumber offers a access number based free service. You need to call their access number in iowa and then enter a short code to make the call to the desired number. First you need to register the number you wish to call, they will give you a short code for that. If you wish to use the service outside of usa, satphoneguy(VOIP Guide reader) has discovered that the access number can also be called via sip by dialing 10digitringtonumber@talkdigits.net. you will than be prompted to enter the shortcode and be transfered to the cell phone or landline free of charge.

5) icall: One of the early VOIP Providers to offer free calls to usa. However they have reduced the free calling minutes to mere 3 minutes per call.

6) MediaringTalk: Another great VOIP Providers who is offering free international calls to many destinations for almost 2 years now. They offer 10 minutes per call to USA. Voice quality is very good. You need to download mediaringtalk softphone.

7) Tuitalk: Tuitalk offers free calls to USA and many other countries. They lately reduced the free calling minutes but i believe you can still call for 5 minutes to USA per call depending on the country you are calling from.

8) Voixio: Voixio offers free international calls with 30 Minutes FREE daily allowance. You can call usa and many other countries.

9) Gizmo5 Backdoor Dialing: Gizmo5 offers backdoor dialing, a new way to bypass traditional phone lines and directly connecting to phones in USA. Not all USA phone numbers are available for gizmo5 backdoor dialing but you can always try your luck.

10) Ringplus: Another access number based service which offers free calls to usa and lot of international destionations. Its congested these days becoz of its popularity. If you wish to call usa, you might be better off using one of the 9 providers above.

Hope this new list of free calls to USA Providers will help you get back with calling to US numbers. Let us know if we missed any VOIP Provider in this list.

0800buster.co.uk Free Calls to 0800 0808 0500 UK Numbers

We recently covered the news that 0870 numbers are now free to call from all BT landlines and now we got some more phone numbers which you can now call for free from your mobile phone in UK.

All thanks to Localphone for launching 0800buster , new way to Call 0800, 0808 & 0500 Numbers Free From Your Mobile. As you know almost every cellular operator in the world charges you for calls to toll-free numbers. Similar Mobile phone providers in the UK still charge their users for calls to 0800, 0808 and 0500 numbers.

0800Buster lets you call these numbers using your mobile’s inclusive minutes, by providing you with a UK landline number to dial instead.

Why you should use 0800buster Phone service rather than directly calling to a toll-free 0800 number from your mobile?

Well you could save 10-20p depending on your provider.

How does 0800buster can save you money?

When you call 0800buster access number, these numbers should be charged at the normal landline rate. You can use inclusive minutes to UK landlines as part of your mobile phone contract to dial to these access numbers and thereby saving money.

How to use 0800buster service?

Dial 01207 45 0800
Enter the 0800, 0808, or 0500 number you want to phone
Press # to start the call

If you are from UK, do let us know your feedback/comments on this service. Localphone team is always active on our blog to keep up with your new request or support questions.

MetroPCS stops Unlimited Free Calls to India Mobile

We recently reviewed MetroPcs, Unlimited Free International Call Provider in USA which offers free international calls to lots of countries.

After reading our review, a bunch of people have bought MetroPCS unlimited calling plan to make free international calls to India. Obviously people are expecting to make calls to India landline + Mobile. However we have some confirmed news that MetroPCS suddenly stopped offering free calls to Indian mobile numbers. The reason for the sudden change is unknown. If anyone knows about why did they actually stop the service, please share with us.

I spoke to a few VOIP Guide readers who are now thinking of cancelling MetroPCS plan. I am not sure if this change will affect new signups for MetroPCS unlimited calling plan but the existing users aint at all happy about this change, especially without any prior notice.

If you are an existing customer, Please let us know your feedback/review/comments on this change. We will try our best to communicate your comments directly to MetroPCS for their consideration.

Russia might ban VOIP Services

Traditional Telecom Companies all over the world are forcing local govt to take action against VOIP Services which are almost 70% cheaper than traditional phone companies. Russia might just join the league of VOIP banning countries.

In Russia, business lobby is busy with local government to restrict VOIP Providers to operate VOIP services in russia. The local phone companies are claiming that landline and cellular phone companies are losing revenue to foreign operators of the Web-based services.

The Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the country’s most prominent business lobby, recommended on behalf of the Russian cellular company MegaFon that lawmakers regulate VoIP service. The lobby is specifically targeting prominent VOIP Providers such as Skype which is extremely popular in russia.

According to NYTimes, Skype has immediately responded to the news and said, "The imposition of such surcharges unfair and discriminatory against the services involved, which are a threat to phone company revenue from voice calling."

The final decision is not officially out yet but it could either mean a heavy surcharge on VOIP calls terminations or a service tax being imposed on VOIP services which would automatically make VOIP calls costlier than national IDD services.

I would say, There will be more countries like russia which would ban or impose taxes on VOIP services to favour local telecom companies. Its all about money!

I am wondering if this regulation comes into effect, whats the future of VOIP providers like gtalk2voip and flaphone ?

Sipcode Brazil DID Virtual Phone Numbers

Do you fancy different virtual phone numbers in countries across the world, today we look at getting a brazil DID number.

One of our regular readers, Jose Pinto has originally written an article in latin language about getting a brazil DID number and have translated the article in english exclusively for VOIP guide. We thank him for his effort.

Sipcode is a Brazilian company that is giving an opportunity to small business to have a DID number in all the Brazilian states, and this is possible since Sipcode work with VoIP Peering.

Sipcode sell extensions that are connected at the 4004-0435 using openser technology.

How this works?

you buy an extension, set it up in an ATA or in a Softphone as a SIP account and you will be able to receive call from 2300 cities of Brazil, people will call 4004-0435 and after they get an answer they will enter an extension and the owner of the extension will be able to get the call in their office, home, or whenever he is connected. The process is simple and very cheap, people that call will pay for a local call and the person that will receive do not pay for the call, each extension cost U$100,00 and this is one payment only, no more costs.

The Sipcode also has a 1800 number that can be used in USA and Canada to call a Sipcode extension in Brazil or in any place that the extension is working. The extensions are connected to the Sipbroker Network, you can dial any one of the Sipbroker Access Numbers available in over 20 countries around the world and at the voice prompt, just dial the VoIP number as this: *8839+extension and *387+extension.

The Sipcode extension also has s a free service that provides unlimited VoIP calls to millions of people around the world just using SIPbroker service, you just need to look at the Sipbroker website and find the SIP-Code for the network you wish to reach in the Sipbroker Network Directory. You will be able call free of charge to any SIP broker number

SIPcode also offers following benefits:

1) Can call another Sipcode user for free

2) Can call for free over 2,000 VoIP networks in world.

3) Can call and receive call from Google Talk users

4) Can receive calls from PSTN in 2300 cities in Brazil and others 200 around the world

5) Can receive calls form a 1800 number in USA and Canada (toll free limited calls 3 minutes)

6) Can call 1800 number in USA for free

7) Can call free Google 411

8) Can call free 1800 numbers in Europe.

Please note that Sipcode extensions are VoIP and are international so they can work anywhere in world and the only requirement is an Internet connection. Is a good options for people that would like to make free calls to Brazil and that would like to receive free calls from Brazil and also others place in world.

Last but not the least, you can get in touch with Jose @ his blog or email him at hddlab(AT)sipcode.com.br

Do let us know your feedback on SIPCode DID service.

Unblock VOIP in UAE with Gtalk2Voip

If you live in UAE and want to use VOIP, Lets understand a great way to use all betamax providers or any other VOIP Provider from UAE without getting blocked. You can now bypass local VOIP restrictions by using Gtalk2VOIP.

Gtalk2Voip has been around for years and provides an excellent VOIP/SIP gateway service. Not Only Gtalk2Voip Team has been close friends to VOIP Guide but we have used their services to create some world class VOIP hacks. Ruslan from Gtalk2VOIP shared with me an awesome way to bypass all VOIP blocks in UAE region by using their gtalk2voip gateway service.

Ruslan mentioned that its very likely that gtalk2voip website has been blocked by UAE ISPs. However, their VOIP service is still working fine. Gtalk2VOIP doesn't use SIP and run a wide spread of relays world-wide to avoid being blocked by local telephone providers.

You first need to setup a Gtalk2VOIP account. If you can access gtalk2voip then read this complete guide to setup SIP with Gtalk2voip or read one my guide on gtalk2voip

You can setup an external SIP account in dialing plan. This account can be smartvoip , actionvoip etc as long as that VOIP service supports SIP, you are good to go.

Please note the following:

1. HTTPS protocol must be used everytime to access gtalk2voip, because this is part of block overcoming mechanism and it makes connection secure, so ETISALAT will never know about any connection made to our site.

2. We run a set of relays, some of them are blocked by ETISALAT aready, so if our web site is not opening, it's good to flush DNS cache (Go to Start-Run, Type cmd, a black windows will open. Now type ipconfig /flushdns and then you can close the window) to make it request another relay.

3. The service works fine with most Betamax clones, including Actionvoip.

4. The service is available on WIFI equipped mobile phones through our Talkonaut mobile app, available from https://www.talkonaut.com/

5. The service is premium, they charge $5/month to allow unlimited calls. For demo/test purpose they allow to use our serivce in unpaid mode, but they would drop calls after 3 mins, there is no limit on number of calls made, so one can use it in unpaid mode to make short calls as much as needed. Additionally, since you need to pay $5 for this service, gtalk2voip will return the money within 12 hours of your testing if it failed to connect or you can't use it.

Give Gtalk2voip a try and let us know if they can offer a solution to VOIP problems in UAE.

shalomtalk.com Shalom Talk Free VOIP International Phone Calls

If free international calls and free voip haunts you more than anything else, then we just found another Free VOIP Calls Provider to keep you busy calling your friends abroad.

Shalom Talk is a isreali VOIP Phone to Phone Free international calls services powered by Poketalk

Shalomtalk.com allows making free international calls from only 10 destinations which include, Canada, USA, Denmark, UK, Singapore, Japan, Netherlands & Italy. If you belong to one of these countries then you can make calls with shalomtalk. Now lets look at which countries you can call.

With shalomtalk, You can call 40 countries including mobile phones for some countries.

Please note all calls are limited for 10 minutes each. There is no need to register at shalomtalk to use this free international calls service.

Just enter your phone number and the party's number and click call to get connected. Please note, you need not add a country prefix once you select the country from the list, the country code prefix automatically inserted. Also remove any leading 0 to the numbers. Once you click call, you will receive a call back immediately. Then shalomtalk will place a call to your party.

We suggest you give them a try and let us know your feedback/review of shamlomtalk

Use Google Voice from anywhere in the world with GUAVA

Google Voice recently launched Google Voice Mobile site which will allow you to access your Google Voice account from Mobile. However, You can now use a standalone application to use Google Voice from anywhere in the world.

What is GUAVA? GoogleVoice Unauthorized Android Voice Application. Notice the word, Unauthorize. GUAVA softphone for Google Voice is totally experimental and still in beta.

What GUAVA Android Application for Google Voice can do for you?

1. GUAVA lets you make free calls to any US number using your Google Voice and Gizmo5 account.
2. GUAVA lets you receive calls to your Google Voice number from wherever you have a net connection.
3. Lets you send SMS messages to US phones.
4. Lets you read incoming messages (via the browser)
5. IT works fine without a SIM card in fact that's how it was tested.
6. You can get GUAVA software from www.gizmo5.com/guava
7. This version only works on Android phones

You must note that you need a Wifi connection in order to use GUAVA for Google Voice.

How to setup GUAVA on your android Phone?

Step 1: Register at Gizmo5 and get your 10 digit 747 number beginning with 747 from my.gizmo5.com.

Step 2: Signup for Google Voice account and then in the initial setup or in the Settings: Phone section select the Gizmo option and enter and validate your Gizmo5 747 number from step 1.

Step 3: You need android phone. If you don't have one, get one :-)

Step 4: Download GUAVA . Its a .apk file which you need to install onto your Android phone.

Step 5: Open GUAVA and then enter in your GoogleVoice username, password and phone number. Then enter your Gizmo5 username and password.

You're ready to make calls to any US number, receive calls, send SMS and check SMS messages all for free! Now if you are travelling outside of USA, you are still very close to Google Voice and your family/friends. Just connect to nearest Wifi and enjoy free calls across USA.

Via NoSIMCard

RingPlus Vs 1-800-FREE-411 Long Distance VOIP Provider Comparison

If you have used 1-800-FREE-411 toll-free phone service to make long distance call to your home country. There is one more VOIP Provider which will let you make free international calls. Today, One VOIP guide readers wants to share his view on RingPlus and compare their VOIP services to 1-800-FREE-411

First of all, thanks everyone for their feedback and comments on 1-800-FREE-411 and its still working great for making long distance calls to many countries. It probably won't work for countries where termination charges are extremely high like UK Mobile, Most of middle east, African countries. However, you can keep trying your luck :-)

One of our regular reader, Rishi Kohli from USA wants to share his view on another long distance VOIP Provider, RingPlus which offers free international calls for listening to ads. An extremely similar business model to 1800free411 service. He has used both the services and would like to compare them.

he says, 1-800-Free-411 might be good but Ringplus is great too.

1) RingPlus:

- It gives you 7 mins for each call to India from U.S.A. and depending on destination minutes might be less or more and did I mention its FREE.. example : from U.S.A. to China it gives 14 mins/ call. Read Vinay's Guide to use Ringplus from outside USA
- Instead of the ring you hear an advertisement and as soon as receiver picks up the call ad goes away.
- You can make around 10 calls with each account.
- Call quality is great. 1 out of 500 calls might be bad quality but that understandable as it FREE.u can't complain
- Sometimes you get a message when you make a call "Ringplus is at maximum quantity". That means Ringplus servers are overloaded with calls. In that case, just try again after some time.
- You need to setup Ringplus once which could however take some time.

2) 1-800-Free-411

- It gives you 5 mins for every call and you can call anywhere in the world (from U.S.A.) and obviously Free call guru "Vinay" has a found a solution that people in other countries can make calls too.
- You have to listen to an advertisement first for about 5 secs before phone starts to ring on the other end.
- From what I have see no setup is needed
- You can make as many calls as you like
- Call quality is great
- Beware !!!! -- do not do not ....let me repeat do not click dial button after you punch in the international number.Just wait for the call to be connected.

So are you going to try RingPlus today or just going to continue using 1-800-FREE-411? Do let us know your views, feedback and reviews.

UAE VOIP VPN Block Update

One of VOIP Guide reader shares his experience on using VOIP in UAE and his findings on using VOIP over VPN. You can participate in this discussion to help each other out to get VOIP back in UAE. This post complements the discussion regarding Etislat blocking VOIP in UAE

An anonymous reader from UAE today shared with us his experience on using VOIP in UAE and the issues he is facing while using VPN based VOIP.

-----
I am writing this post to give you all comprehensive information about VOIP usage in UAE.

I used VOIP in UAE for a long time, till the day of 24th April or 25th April 2009, when one fine day, suddenly my VOIP client stopped connecting and I was unable to make VOIP calls anymore.

A little bit of inquiry and research revealed and I got to know that the ISP - Etislat had blocked most of the VOIP clients.

There is a very popular company, which was operating freely in UAE by the name of BetaMax. It provides popular VOIP clients such as FreeCall, SmartVOIP, BudgetSIP, JustVOIP, InterVOIP etc. All of these VOIP clients had different rates and different designs but all of them belong to the same company Betamax. So, the ISP - E T I S A L A T put a full block on BetaMax and all these clients stopped working.

Some days passed and I tried to use the client using Hotspotshield and Ultrasurf but the voice quality was not good and people in my Home country, where I used to call, complained very often that the voice was cracking and often it would get disconnected.

Then after doing a little bit of more research, I came to know that I could try using a VPN connection to make VOIP calls. I then used VPN connection from two different VPN companies but the result was the same... although I would be able to login and connect and even make calls but while I was able to hear the voice of the other party very clearly, my voice would not travel to them clearly and it would crack a lot.

This could also be because while uploading information on VPN, the ISP - E T I S A L A T has de-prioritised traffic and they deliberately cause data-packet-loss, which results in cracking of voice (may be, I am not sure here).

But the end result is that even using VPN, the voice is not travelling without cracking...

I have also heard about three people getting fined by Etisalat. A person in my own office was fined AED 2,500 for using VOIP. It is indeed true that E T I S A L A T is cracking in on users, who are making VOIP calls. So, you would have to be extremely careful or pay penalties to E T I S A L A T.

I am now trying to see if there are any alternatives to this and if yes, I would post.

Thanks to our reader from UAE to share this story with us. I just want to invite every single VOIP guide from UAE Region to get together and find a solution to overcome this block and report real stories about this ban. I believe a lot of rumours have been floating around for a while but the real stuff is hidden.

1-800-FREE411 offering free international calls anywhere in the world

This is huge! You can now make free international calls anywhere in the world. It doesn't matter where you live, you can now make totally free international calls anywhere you like.

USA's largest and first free directory assistance service, 1-800-FREE411 has launched yet another awesome service which could be a boon to people who want to make free international calls from USA. Don't give up if you are not in USA, I will explain how you can use this service to make calls irrespective of where you live.

I live in USA, How can i use 1-800-FREE411 to make free international calls ?

1) You need to call a toll-free number, so if you call from Landline its a free call for you. Mobile calls am afraid could be charged.

2) You can talk upto five minutes per call. You can make multiple calls.

3) Call 18003733411 from your US Landline/Mobile. The operator will greet you with a welcome message and ask you to select one of the FREE411 service. The Last option is Free Call. You don't have to press any number or key to select but instead say FREE CALL loudly in your phone. This voice message will be read by their server and you will go to next step to actually make a free international call. Now they will run a short ad about 5 secs. When the ad stops, you can start dialing your international number in countycode+citycode (if any)+phone number format. Please do not press # or *, its not required. The call will be automatically placed to the desired number. The operator prompts your call is getting connected. Once connected you can talk for upto 5 minutes and then your call is disconnected.

Oops, I live outside of USA. Does that mean I can't use this cool free international calls service?

You still can use this service because you are reading VOIP Guide. I will tell you exactly how to use this service from outside USA.

1) FREE411 service toll-free number is based in USA. All you have to do is to make a call to this toll-free number using one of the free calls to usa services like callingamerica , icall etc.

The best however is Yahoo Messenger-Voice. Yes, not many people know that Yahoo Voice can be used to make unlimited toll-free calls to any toll-free number in USA from anywhere in the world and you do not need a yahoo voice paid account.

Just go to yahoo messenger and dial 18003733411. Your call will be connected and you would notice a prompt, which says there is no charge for this call. Cool huh? See Pic below:


3) Now The operator will greet you with a welcome message and ask you to select one of the FREE411 service. The Last option is Free Call. You don't have to press any number or key to select but instead say FREE CALL loudly in your phone. you will go to next step to actually make a free international call. Now they will run a short ad about 5 secs. When the ad stops, you can start dialing your international number in countycode+citycode (if any)+phone number format. The call will be automatically placed to the desired number. The operator prompts your call is getting connected. Once connected you can talk for upto 5 minutes and then your call is disconnected.
You can make multiple calls using this service.

You will have to listen to two short advertisements and there is no limit on the number of calls they can make in a day. Please note that this service is totally advertisement based so please do not abuse/violate the system.

Enjoy making free international calls anywhere in the world.

DukaDial DukaBar DukaUS Jaduka VOIP Services Closed Down

One of the most surprising move by Jaduka, they closed down all their Jadula Labs VOIP applications. Earthcaller was closed a few months which used to offer free international calls to USA. Now Dukadial, DukaBar & DukaUS has been closed down.

Thanks to Sidhartha Kumar for sharing the news with us. I wonder what made Jaduka closed down these VOIP applications. I know its hard to run these free VOIP , free conference calls services off your network without being able to monetise them. However, I have never seen an attempt by Jaduka to actually monetise these VOIP services. They could have easily inserted audio ads for DukaDial, Earthcaller and DukaUS conference service.

Jaduka in fact developed a few really great applications such as Credit card PIN verifications via Jaduka API. The banks using this application can help customers verify each credit card transaction via phone. Whenever you make a purchase using your credit card, the request is made to Jaduka API which reads your mobile number and places a call to you before authorising the credit card purchase. It will ask you to confirm the transaction. Once confirmed the credit card transaction goes through. This way banks can avoid credit card fraud.

I wonder if these Voice based API will now be open for enterprise users only and Jaduka will most likely focus on Enterprise VOIP or Hosted VOIP business where Jajah has been very successful.

If you visit Jaduka Labs homepage, you will notice the following note:

Effective July 2, 2009, Jaduka Labs has been discontinued. Jaduka Labs was launched in 2008 and tens of thousands of Internet users joined with us to experience the effectiveness of our API for implementing new voice and messaging services.
We offered a variety of free applications built on the Jaduka API, including dukaDIAL, dukaBAR and earthCALLER that demonstrated easy-to-use and efficient ways of enhancing personal and business communications. As a result, Jaduka was able to refine the performance of our API and put into production a wide range of business services now available through Jaduka partners and resellers.
After July 2, 2009 you will no longer be able to access your Labs account. At Jaduka, we respect your privacy. To protect your privacy, your Jaduka Labs account information has been removed from our servers. We thank you for your participation.

This ends another VOIP Application Service Provider for retail users. Now who's next?

Download PortSIP Pangolin VOIP Softphone for Windows Mobile

Mobile VOIP is taking over the traditional PC based VOIP and we need more than fring and truphone to survive 2010 communication needs. VOIP guide reader Priyanka reviews PortSIP VOIP softphone for your windows mobile. I have added a few lines to the review.

We discussed about a VOIP SIP Client for Windows 6 a few weeks back. Today we look at Pangolin. It is the newest free softphone application from PortSIP and it's built based on PortSIP VoIP SDK. Lets find out how Priyanka rated and reviewed PortSIP.

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I have found a better VOIP client for windows. It's free and supports both win5 and win6 for mobile. It also has an option to have the calls to be heard on earphone. Please tick this when you sign in to your sip login. The issue of sound coming through speaker in case of HTC TILT and other win phones is thus overcome.
When the call is being connected, you may want to click on the speaker icon and again click on it so that the sound would come through the earpiece.
Other features that the phone client has which I did not checkout are: 1. Call transfer. 2. Call recording.

Good part is that if you have multiple sip accounts it saves your sip login and config information for each sip userid as a dropdown list. You just have to select the relevant account and click on login.

The url to download the free client:
Win5 Client
Win6 Client

They also offer a PC based VOIP softphone if mobile voip is too geeky for you :-)

I observed that we need to manually type the phone number to call. The calls go through 3G in case of USA and the voice quality is very good.

Happy calling. I am very happy with PortSip and would recommend you to try it out too!

If you have been using PortSIP, please provide your feedback and comments. Thanks to Priyanka for writing a PortSIP Review.

Localphone reduces cheap international call rates for many destinations

Localphone, winner of cheap international call provider of the year 2008 at VOIP guide has once again slashed calling rates for many destinations including India, Pakistan,Bangladesh.

As you might have noticed, Lot of large telecom/VOIP Providers are slowly moving towards a standard 1 cent per minute rates for India. Pakistan is still hovering around 6=9 cents per minute. Although betamax services like actionvoip, smartvoip and jumblo offers one the most cheapest calling rates to most asian countries, they are not reliable when it comes to your money.

VOIP Providers like Localphone are focused on providing quality service. If you still don't know yet, I personally use only localphone to make all my international calls. VOIP Guide was instrumental in making Localphone service better in some way or the other. All comments on this blog are read by localphone staff and localphone has always responded with new features and offers.

Not only they offer local access numbers in various countries, they offer a great VOIP service which you can use from anywhere in the world. You can simply download their Localphone VOIP softphone or configure localphone SIP settings on X-lite or your voip adapter. I will write a separate post detailing how to setup localphone using SIP.

Coming back to the news, localphone has slashes calling rates for the following countries effective from 12:00 GMT (noon) on Monday 13th July. The new calling rates are as follows:

Bangladesh- 3.5¢ /min
India- 2.5¢ /min
Malaysia- 1.4¢ /min
New Zealand - Mobile- 16.0¢ /min
Pakistan - 7.9¢ /min
South Africa - Mobile- 10.9¢ /min
Thailand- 1.0¢ /min

If you still haven't tried localphone, you are simply missing on a great VOIP Provider for making cheap international calls. Go signup for localphone today!

SIPdroid VOIP SIP Client for Android Phones

Android is already makings its way into your phones and there are more and more android phones coming up in the market. VOIP/SIP is possible with symbian but how about VOIP on android? We got the solution-SIPDroid.

SIPDroid is a powerful open source SIP VOIP client for your android phone. In short, it enables mobile voip for all android based mobile phones. When using Sipdroid, it allows you to choose where you will use VoIP, on WLANs only, on 3G, or EDGE networks. Sipdroid primarily supports G.711 A-law.

Great! I got a android phone. Where can I download Sipdroid?
In order to install Sipdroid , you need version 1.5 "Cupcake" of Android on your phone. You can download sipdroid from here.

Sipdroid suggest using PbXes, a free hosted PBX service to route your calls via SIP. Pbxes can route incoming calls over SIP and PSTN to you. If you are online you can take it as VoIP, if off line you can take it as GSM.

If you own a android phone, Sipdroid is a must have VOIP application for you. Let us know your feedback if you are already using sipdroid.

Voipscanner.com Secure Your Office IP PBX system

If you run a small business phone systems or a simple IP PBX system, security of your PBX system is extremely important. Are you sure your PBX is secure? You can now check for security holes with this free IP PBX security scanning service.

Voipscanner scans your public facing IP PBX for security holes and if you have an account with voipscanner.com, you just need to enter the IP address of your IP PBX and you will receive a report of what attackers out there might find about your IP PBX.

Why is it important to secure your IP PBX?

every small business or large business have Office PBX systems these days for internal office or external client communication. however many business still are not aware of what hackers can do to their PBX systems while they happily talking to their clients. Recently three people in the Philippines charged with hacking the private branch exchanges (PBX) of more than 2,500 companies for stealing pass codes they sold to call center operators in Italy. In fact at this stage, there are hundres of cheap international call services running off your PBX. Yes, don't be surprised if your office PBX is being used by someone in Pakistan to provide a cheap calls service.

How can voipscanner can help you?

1) The scanner will first check if the given IP address has a SIP-based IP PBX listening.
2) Proceed with extension enumeration
3) For each extension found, it will try to crack the password
4) Finally it will send you an email report in PDF format. Check this voipscanner sample report.

How can i start using Voipscanner IP PBX Scanning Service?

You need to register for voipscanner beta. Voipscanner service is in its early stage and its open for limited users. First Signup for Beta and wait for email confirmation. Confirm the link and then start using Voipscanner.

Checkout some Videos on Voipscanner:

If you are running a office PBX, scanning your IP PBX system using Voipscanner is a MUST. Guys at enabledsecurity have a great job with this application.

callforfree australia VOIP Service offers free international calls

Lately a lot of australian VOIP Providers are betting on the free international calls industry. Today, we look at another VOIP Provider who is offering free international calls worldwide including India using their local access number.

We reviewed Callr.com.au last month and today, we found callforfree.net.au almost a copycat of callr service.

These local access number based service really nothing much to offer than a simple dialin free international call service. They make money through termination charges and you get to make free calls. Everyone goes home happy!

How do we call using CallforFree?

You need to call their gateway number (0413 707 650) using your landline or mobile. At any time during the prompt, press 1 and you can Dial the international number. Prefix 0011 + Country code + Destination Number + # e.g. to make a free call to India 0011 91 98100 89750 #. You will be connected to your india destination number.

Note: Please note even though the free call to India leg is free, your local phone company is going to charge you for calling their gateway number. This depends on your phone company plans and their calling rates.

Call For Free provides free international calls to 70 countries inclding India, Pakistan & Bangladesh.

If you are in australia, you really a lot of options to make free calls to India.

Best SIP Softphones for VOIP on Linux

Today we look at how to use VOIP on Linux using SIP softphones and which are the best SIP softphones available today that can do this job.

Linux (with different flavours) is one of the most widely used OS now and Linux users surely need a good way to communicate using VOIP. Thank god we have Open Source protocol such as SIP which are not Windows driven. However, still compared to Windows Linux falls short on VOIP exposure.

There are however some solid SIP softphones which can be as perfect as a windows based SIP Client and offers better or equal features. Lets quickly analyse what SIP Softphones work on Linux.

1) Twinkle: Perhaps the most widely used Linux based SIP softphone. Twinkle only supports Linux and its totally open source SIP Client. Some of the interesting features of Twinkle, I would like to highlight.


a)Supports upto 2 parallel lines.
b)Multiple active call identities
c)3-way conference calling
d)Inband DTMF
e)Out-of-band DTMF (SIP INFO)
f)STUN support for NAT traversal
g)Secure voice communication by ZRTP/SRTP
h)Available as Firefox Extension- TwinkleFox

2) opensoftphone: This SIP softphone is written in Java as an eclipse RCP application. It uses the pjsip SIP stack for connecting to SIP servers. The phone runs on Windows and Linux. The phone is tailored to be used in a Callcenter environment based on asterisk. Strongly recommended for Small Business Usage and not recommended for personal use coz it lacks basic features.

3)Ekiga (GnomMeeting): One of the best SIP Softphones around in the market today. It supports VoIP and video conferencing using H.323 and SIP protocols. You can also get a Free SIP address with Ekiga.net


Some Major Features of Ekiga:

a) supports many audio and video codecs, and is interoperable with other SIP compliant software
b) support for the G.722 audio codec: Now supports HD Voice by Polycom.
c) ENUM support
d) Transparent NAT Support using STUN
e) Line Monitoring



4) Linphone: linphone works under Linux and Windows XP and its open-source.

Features of Linphone:
a)Works on Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Windows versions
b)SIP proxy support: registrar, proxies, with digest authentication
c)IPv6 support
d)STUN support for traversal of UDP NATs

5)X-lite for Linux: Yes, Good old X-lite is also available for Linux. Do we really have to talk about this award winning and most widely used SIP softphone in the world. Its just perfect for newbies, easy to use and easy to configure. Read our X-lite Configuration Guide.



X-lite Features:
a)Enhanced Quality of Service (QoS) for voice & video calls
b)Multi-party and ad hoc Voice and Video Conferencing [IP & PSTN]
c)Voice & Video Call Recording
d)Very Easy Interface for SIP Account Configuration

6) KPhone: KPhone is a SIP User Agent for Linux and also acts as a VOIP/SIP softphone.


KPhone Features:
a) IPv4 and IPv6 support
b) Multiple parallel sessions (in the case of audio, one may be active, the others are held).
c) NAT-traversal and STUN support
d) SRTP encryption for voice (not yet for 64bit processors)

7) SJPhone: A SIP Softphone from the guys who developed Magicjack. It supports SIP and is fully inter-operable with most major VOIP vendors and ITSPs. It takes some time to get used to this softphone.



Features:
a) Supports both SIP and H323
b) free and paid versions of SJphone available.
c) Supports Windows, Linux,Mac OS X,Windows CE or Pocket PC 2002/2003

We hope you like our guide on SIP softphones for Linux and enjoy using these VOIP softphones on your Linux. Do let us know your feedback.

Free Calls to USA and Canada for 4th July Weekend

Its time of the year again for free calls to USA and Canada. On 4th July, Independence Day and Canada day weekend you can make totally free international calls to USA and Canada from anywhere in the world.

Starting from midnight on Saturday morning on the east cost of Canada and lasting until the end of Sunday in Alaska, new and existing Localphone customers can make unlimited free international calls to any US or Canadian landline or mobile. Yes, I almost forgot you don't have to pay for it. Its all FREE.

If you still don't have localphone account, go get it today! Localphone was chosen as the best cheap international call provider in 2008.

This is your opportunity to make the most of it and make totally free calls to USA and Canada. Localphone offers access numbers in over 45 countries but some countries still do not fall under localphone access number coverage such as India.

How to use localphone in India?

Simply, just loginto Localphone and then from dashboard, select VOIP. You will go to VOIP account of localphone which you can configure on your SIP Phone/VOIP Adapter/SIP softphone like X-lite. The best way is to actually download localphone SIP Client. It works fine as i have been using it for a while.

Let us know your memorable moments calling your friends and family in USA and Canada on 4th july weekend. Till the happy independence day and Canada Day!

Zer01Mobile offers free international calls to 40 countries

Defi Mobile, Witel and MetroPCS certainly got another competitor in USA who can offer unlimited free international calls and local national calls. Its Zer01Mobile.

Zer01Mobile launched on 1st july will offer unlimited calling and unlimited data plan. Zer01 use VoIP for unlimited call packages unlike other mobile carriers in USA. For $69.95 each month you will get unlimited voice, data and mobile web access on your Windows Mobile device. Zer01 purely runs via Wireless so all your VOIP calls will be through Wifi which is often better than 3G.

With unlimited data, you can pretty much use any Mobile VOIP from your phone along with Zer01 unlimited free international calls service.

Now is $70 worth the features and plan Zer01 offers? Well, it really depends on your usage. If you are going to use Zer01 for making international calls and lotsa local national calls, it might end up being a cheaper deal. Its your choice afterall.

Download Skype 3.0 VOIP For Windows Mobile

Fring dominated Mobile VOIP scene for long and then many VOIP Providers released their apps for mobile VOIP. Skype also saw the opportunity in the Mobile VOIP Space and launched Skype 3.0 for windows mobile.

Skype's 3.0 Windows Mobile version is now out of beta and finally went Gold. Along with that,Skype also officially released Windows PC 4.1 version out of beta.

Skype Mobile VOIP version works just like Skype Softphone and you would be able to make cheap international calls using skypeout and also use the functionality of skypein.

Can Skype for Mobile VOIP damage Fring/Truphone/Nimbuzz's market share? Will people show brand loyalty for Skype Mobile VOIP? These questions are unanswered unless we get some clear indications that skype is able to penetrate Mobile VOIP market with good numbers. Of course, 3 skypephone has certainly got a thumps up for being unique but mobile VOIP apps are nothing new to VOIP users. The only think people don't like while using Mobile VOIP is setting it up. Now if they got skype, then dont need to worry about anything which might work in favour of skype.

Download Skype 3.0 for Windows Mobile and let us know your feedback. If you own a windows mobile phone, Will you switch to Skype Mobile VOIP or stay with your current mobile VOIP Provider? Do let us know.