ex_banana-eater Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Hi I'm sure some of you are fairly familiar with how VoIP works, and have heard of the PC companies like Skype that offer free PC to PC calls, but actual VoIP that travels through landlines requires a charge. I stumbled over a product called Babble that is based in the UK the other day. Right now they're offering completely free calls within America, Canada, UK, Australia, and other countries they deem "Zone 1." This means if you have a mic, you can talk as long as you want to people with landline or cellular phones in long distances without any charge or entry fee. www.babble.net No, I don't work for them or anything, nor am I completely hyped about their service. I'm just reporting a free deal to those I think would enjoy it. Make sure you have a headset so the service dosn't echo. They're probably going to start charging in 2005, so you can make free Christmas calls to friends around the world as it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGroarty Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 Skype offers outbound VoIP to land lines. They will be offering inbound access early next year. Voice quality is good, however in my tests I found it adds about a quarter of a second delay, as compared to a land line. I have ordered an adapter that will let me plug my regular phones into my computer and use VoIP to dial out as though it were a regular phone. Apart from not accepting incoming calls until next year, it should be just like a regular phone. The adapter works as a standard USB audio device with an extended interface to let the computer make the phone ring. The hack value is excellent -- it should be possible to turn my cordless phone into a remote control when I'm not making calls, or even to make the home phones ring briefly for important email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen_speicher Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 The adapter works as a standard USB audio device with an extended interface to let the computer make the phone ring. The hack value is excellent -- it should be possible to turn my cordless phone into a remote control when I'm not making calls, or even to make the home phones ring briefly for important email. That is so cool! A bit ironic, though. We develop a "do not call list" to stop those phone spammers from bothering us, and then you set up spammed email to ring the phone. (I realize you said "important email," but I could not resist the irony.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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