voip on S Anand

VoIP rates

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 12:00:00 +0000

While hunting for a VoIP service to call India, I found a fair variety of services that I'm sharing below.

FreeCall appears the cheapest when calling India, at 2.5¢ per minute to a land line. I'm listing the rate from London to Chennai below. I'm not sure of the difference in voice quality between these. The only one I've tried is VoIPDiscount, which is not too bad. As a benchmark, remember that Reliance offers a calling card at around 7.3¢ per minute.

(Incidentally, if you wanted to call the US/UK, there's no reason why you should use your phone. Calls to the US, the UK and parts of Europe are free with most of these services.)

2.5¢/min	freecall
3.3¢/min	calleasy
3.3¢/min	webcalldirect
3.9¢/min	net2phone
4.2¢/min	smsdiscount
5.0¢/min	internetcalls
5.0¢/min	nonoh
5.0¢/min	voipdiscount
5.0¢/min	voipwise
5.5¢/min	freshtel.net
5.9¢/min	pc-telephone
6.0¢/min	mywebcalls
6.7¢/min	12voip
6.7¢/min	justvoip
6.7¢/min	poivy
6.7¢/min	sparvoip
6.8¢/min	gtalk2voip
7.1¢/min	vbuzzer
7.5¢/min	webphone
7.9¢/min	yahoo
8.0¢/min	click4
8.0¢/min	callserve
8.0¢/min	hotfoon
8.2¢/min	blasterphone.net
8.4¢/min	netappel
8.4¢/min	sipdiscount
8.4¢/min	voipbuster
9.1¢/min	voipstunt
9.9¢/min	iconnecthere
9.9¢/min	lowratevoip
10.0¢/min	phoneopia
10.6¢/min	skype
11.4¢/min	sipnet
11.6¢/min	voipcheap
13.8¢/min	wengophone
14.6¢/min	gizmo5
16.1¢/min	peneo
19.9¢/min	voipbusterpro

Comments

Saurabh 14 Sep 2008 6:21 am: I was using Tpad (Linksys PAP2T device at both ends) for VOIP Calls, which is completely free as long as internet works fine at my place in India (and without the need of keeping laptop switched on). With the occasional call out from tpad to mobiles, but freecall is indeed much cheaper as per their website! Infact the rate is listed as 2c/min (.019GBP). Thanks for sharing this!
Kannan Ekanath 19 Sep 2008 4:29 am: Dude, most of my international calls while I am on the commute using lycatalk.com. All these websites are using the computer (VoIP). Have ya got a similar list for phone based (Landline based) ones ??
Neha 24 Sep 2008 3:58 am: Hi Anand,

I have been reading your blog for a while now, and I really love it!
I just had one query, since you’re in UK… What do you use to call back home? esp, mobile to mobile… could you suggest something to me? I am going to be in France for a year and need some pointers in this regard :)

Thanks for the good read(S)(emphasis on the plural :) )
S Anand 26 Sep 2008 1:36 am: @Neha: Thanks, Neha. I use Reliance’s calling card (relianceindiacall.co.uk) for personal use and Tata’s (VSNL’s) calling card for official use. You could also look at Jajah as an option, but I haven’t tried it.
Neha 26 Sep 2008 5:42 am: Hey Anand,
That was fast! Thank you so much, will have a look and try it out :)
Saran 5 Dec 2008 7:43 am: srilanka low rate line please sent my mail
Thejesh GN 14 May 2009 8:09 am: I use Jajah to call from India to US n UK. It works pretty well for mobile to mobile calls.

Broadcasting on Google Talk

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 12:00:00 +0000

Broadcasting on Google Talk.

Comments

Dhar 28 Aug 2005 3:32 am: I tried streaming music to friends… Cool hack. The only thing is that it is not a broadcast… Can be streamed only to a single person unfortunately… :(
Arun 29 Aug 2005 7:10 am: wow, this is pretty cool. Dhar, next time you are free, let’s try this out :-)
S Anand 31 Aug 2005 7:20 pm: I did, this afternoon. I could hear Dhar’s broadcast clearly, but he couldn’t hear mine. Problem with my laptop, I think.

Google Talk

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 12:00:00 +0000

Google Talk is a Google instant messenger. It’s quite small (900K), very simple, and uses HTML+Javascript+CSS+XML. But I’m yet to figure out it it has any cool features. Quick review at DownloadSquad.

Comments

Prasenjeet 24 Aug 2005 12:53 pm: Not sure about the HTML/JS/CSS … looks like a tightly-written Win32 app to me
S Anand 24 Aug 2005 2:07 pm: Oh, is it? Looked quite like a web page to me… will check out.
Dhar 25 Aug 2005 12:08 pm: I tried out the voice chat. Leaving comparisons aside (as I have not used Skype), the sound quality was amazing. It was almost as if the person was in the room with me. Other than that, no cool features. :(
S Anand 25 Aug 2005 1:35 pm: Probably thanks to all the fiber optic bandwidth they’re supposed to have purchased. But I wonder how.
Dhar 26 Aug 2005 1:57 am: Finally got it working at home and tried exploring various features. At the end of the process, realized there are hardly _any_ features. Will take it some time to catch up with features of clients like Yahoo Messenger.
jayant 27 Aug 2005 9:21 am: I guess it is better with less features. Thin client is all about that. Less download time. More functionality which avg users click more. Voice quality is great if both parties are using broadband. On dial up, it comes with bit of lag and some echo.
Dhar 9 Sep 2005 3:42 pm: Anand, had some thoughts on where Google Talk may really be headed. Have put a rough outline here.

Death of telephone calls

Wed, 27 Jul 2005 12:00:00 +0000

Skype allows you to call toll-free numbers free. This, to me, completely removes the need to use a telephone line. With a cable internet connection and a calling card, you’re set.

Skype

Wed, 15 Oct 2003 12:00:00 +0000

Skype – the software I’ve been looking for. It permits VoIP across corporate networks.

IP Telephony

Fri, 22 Mar 2002 12:00:00 +0000

IP Telephony in India. At last.

ISPs to start offering Internet Telephony

Sun, 10 Mar 2002 12:00:00 +0000

All ISPs are going to start offering Internet Telephony pretty soon. Good.

Net calls are legal

Mon, 18 Dec 2000 12:00:00 +0000

Phone calls through the Net are legal. This is based on the GOT-IT report.

Internet telephony legal in India

Fri, 11 Aug 2000 12:00:00 +0000

Internet Telephony in India is legal. Some stories: 1 | 2 | 3