[thelist] VoIP questions

[Paul Howard]

Alex Beston wrote:
> Hi Guys
> 
> A fellow contractor in town recommended me get a VoIP phone to mitigate 
> the exorbitant startup costs involved in business.
> 
> skype [1] have a USB plug n play phone (looks like a normal phone) that 
> costs £30. before i rush out to get one, what are the differences 
> between this phone regards to phone costs and a normal phone?  
> differences in general? sound quality for instance? what are the 
> downsides of using it? how frequent are cutoffs? is the sound quality of 
> a consistent kind or does it range from good to bad erratically?
> 
> my contact said that there is some sort of central switchboard that you 
> dial into which make the calls to conventional phone lines on my behalf 
> (ie i dont have to run a VoIP server on my machine). ok so thats how it 
> works, but  if i plug this thing in to my computer, does the 
> "switchboard" give me a temporary phone number? how would i go about 
> getting a permanent telephone number? surely someone must be making some 
> money out of this. are BT / AT&T worried? is there a line rental?
> 
> any ideas /  refs welcome..
> 
> [1] http://www.skype.com/  i can read http://www.skype.com/products/ but 
> i was hoping from someone that doesnt work for skype marketing dept - 
> you get my drift...
> 

Alex,

if you to go www.sipphone.com and sign up for an account (which is free) 
you get a sipphone number with free voicemail etc. Voicemails are 
emailed to you as .wav files.

Then go to http://sipphone.com/siphandset/ and buy one of these. Its a 
phone handestthat plugs into your PC speaker and mic sockets.

Then go to http://sipphone.com/softphone/ and downlooad the sipphone 
software. (also free)

Once you have all that set up and working go to http://www.voipuser.org 
and sign up for a free account. This will allow you to set up 3 virtual 
numbers (0870 and the like) and assign it to your sip number.

That way you have a fixed UK landline number that will ring you whenever 
you are logged onto your PC.

If you need to make calls using this phone then buy some sipminutes from 
   http://sipphone.com/minutes/

Currently its about 2pence per minute to all UK landlines.

You dont have to use sipphone.com - there are many alterative providors 
- some offer better services than others.

Let me know if ytou need more info.

cheers



-- 
Paul Howard

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