India is fast becoming the most happening VOIP destination in the world with ever changing calling rates and healthy competition, consumers can expect even better prices.
We recently review IndiaMinutes, today we review IndiaLD, a promising new VOIP long distance service at wholesale rates.
IndiaLD currently has one of the lowest rates in the market at 1.9 cents per minute to India when you buy credit in bulk. That means, if you buy 2000 minutes per month, you will be charged at 1.9 cents per minutes. The minimum monthly minutes package starts at 1.99 cents per minute and you must buy 1000 minutes. The max is 3000 @ 1.9 cents per min. If you go over your minutes, you calls will be charged at 3.9 cent per minute.
Although, this is not the lowest as Mediaringtalk offers 1.7 cents per minute to India. IndiaLD still is a good competitive service for people who do not like to use a softphone based service such as Mediaringtalk. IndiaLD however only works for USA. They give you 10 US phone numbers that you can program to automatically call numbers in India. Once you set them up, you just need to dial the US number and it automatically rings the number in India. This function is very similar to LocalPhone which offers upto 5 free numbers.
IndiaLD offers service via Access Numbers in USA, you can call two access numbers: (424) 757-1111 or (530) 645-5555.
At this stage, We would advice you to be safe and test the service before you go all out and buy 3000 minutes package.
If you are currently using IndiaLD service, please post your IndiaLD review under comments.
Update: IndiaLD has received significant positive reviews, You may signup for IndiaLD now.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Opomi SIP VOIP Cheap International Call Service
Free International calls with every top up credit is a good choice. Opomi is just doing the same with their cheap international call service.
Opomi promises to offer free international calls to around 26 destinations around the world whenever you signup for their service and buy credit. Each time a credit is bought, opomi will give you free talktime minutes.
Opomi offers free international calls to following destinations (Landline only)
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Canada (+mobile)
China(+mobile)
Denmark
Greece
Hong Kong (+mobile)
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico (+mobile)
Singapore (+mobile)
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand (+mobile)
UK
USA (+mobile)
Note:Free minutes expire after a certain time.
Just to let you know that Opomi offers 2 free trial calls of 15 minutes each to all the above destinations, so you can give them a try and get a feel of their service. You MUST register with Opomi.
Do I have to even mention a hack to register multiple times and make as many calls as you want? :-). For each account, you would get 30 minutes of calls, 15 minutes each call.
Opomi also offers their services through SIP.
You can use the following setup for Opomi SIP Settings:
Registrar: sip.opomi.com
Proxy server:sip.opomi.com
Outbound proxy server: leave empty
Account name: your Opomi username
Password: your Opomi password
Display name/number: your Opomi username
Stunserver (option): stun.opomi.com
When we tried using Opomi, the quality of the call was satisfactory. If you are using Opomi, do let us know your feedback.
Opomi promises to offer free international calls to around 26 destinations around the world whenever you signup for their service and buy credit. Each time a credit is bought, opomi will give you free talktime minutes.
Opomi offers free international calls to following destinations (Landline only)
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Canada (+mobile)
China(+mobile)
Denmark
Greece
Hong Kong (+mobile)
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico (+mobile)
Singapore (+mobile)
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand (+mobile)
UK
USA (+mobile)
Note:Free minutes expire after a certain time.
Just to let you know that Opomi offers 2 free trial calls of 15 minutes each to all the above destinations, so you can give them a try and get a feel of their service. You MUST register with Opomi.
Do I have to even mention a hack to register multiple times and make as many calls as you want? :-). For each account, you would get 30 minutes of calls, 15 minutes each call.
Opomi also offers their services through SIP.
You can use the following setup for Opomi SIP Settings:
Registrar: sip.opomi.com
Proxy server:sip.opomi.com
Outbound proxy server: leave empty
Account name: your Opomi username
Password: your Opomi password
Display name/number: your Opomi username
Stunserver (option): stun.opomi.com
When we tried using Opomi, the quality of the call was satisfactory. If you are using Opomi, do let us know your feedback.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
IndiaMinutes Offers Cheap International Calls to India
Lately, India Calling rates are falling faster than getting the stimulus bill signed in USA :-). Always better for consumers like you and me, VOIP providers are at straight out war when it comes to calling rates to India. Almost every week, we hear news from leading VOIP Providers with new india calling rates.
Today, we look at a fairly new VOIP Provider called IndiaMinutes. The funny thing is, its only for India. A dedicated VOIP Provider for India, a unique approach to business. IndiaMinutes at this stage is a USA based and works only from USA unless of course, you can call into USA number for free and utilise their service.
India Minutes claims that they offer the best calling rate to India. However not the best calling rate to India, Its definately one of the lowest when calling Indian mobiles phone which cost only 1.9 cents per minute. The rest of India calling rates vary between 2.4-2.9 cents per minute. We currently have no idea about their quality of service or quality of call.
How does it work?
IndiaMinutes offers their service via a toll-free access number in USA. once you register at their website and buy credit. You can dial the toll free or local access number provided on your receipt. A voice prompt will read you your available balance and prompt you to enter the number you wish to reach. You do not need to enter pin numbers. They can automatically recognize your phone number.
Of course, they provide online account management of your account. Being a India only outbound VOIP Provider, We might want to give them a chance however at this stage, we can't say enough about this VOIP Provider.
If you are of the existing IndiaMinutes customer, do share your IndiaMinutes Review with us and all other readers.
Today, we look at a fairly new VOIP Provider called IndiaMinutes. The funny thing is, its only for India. A dedicated VOIP Provider for India, a unique approach to business. IndiaMinutes at this stage is a USA based and works only from USA unless of course, you can call into USA number for free and utilise their service.
India Minutes claims that they offer the best calling rate to India. However not the best calling rate to India, Its definately one of the lowest when calling Indian mobiles phone which cost only 1.9 cents per minute. The rest of India calling rates vary between 2.4-2.9 cents per minute. We currently have no idea about their quality of service or quality of call.
How does it work?
IndiaMinutes offers their service via a toll-free access number in USA. once you register at their website and buy credit. You can dial the toll free or local access number provided on your receipt. A voice prompt will read you your available balance and prompt you to enter the number you wish to reach. You do not need to enter pin numbers. They can automatically recognize your phone number.
Of course, they provide online account management of your account. Being a India only outbound VOIP Provider, We might want to give them a chance however at this stage, we can't say enough about this VOIP Provider.
If you are of the existing IndiaMinutes customer, do share your IndiaMinutes Review with us and all other readers.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Calling India through VOIP becomes even Cheaper
VOIP has really broken into traditional telephony in a good way which saved everyone millions of dollars in each year which often ended up with greedy telecom operators. Most telecommunication providers in almost every part of the world have made enormous amount of money through traditional POTS lines and VOIP is a technology of revenge. India is one such destination where VOIP did wonders.
I remember when IDD rates to USA were far out of reach of average indians and were quoted in the range of Rs. 40-50 per minute. Today, you can call USA for less than 1 cent or even FREE. Calling India was also very expensive however since last 6 months, more and more VOIP Providers are almost making India a free destionation. We believe calling India at half cent per minute would be a dream come true, hopefully soon.
Today, we are announcing latest calling rates to India by LocalPhone and Mediaringtalk. Although, Mediaringtalk was always providing cheaper international calls to India, they now reduced the rate further to mere 1.7 cents per minute to Indian landlines/Mobiles.
LocalPhone, my personal favorite VOIP Provider has slashed their rate to just 2.9¢ now. I believe LocalPhone will push this to around 1.5 cents very soon if they continue to generate revenues and get large user base. They are currently one of the few VOIP Providers doing extremely well with their Service and Profits.
Lets' hope the price war continues so we have more choices to call India and of course, its a healthy competition amongst the VOIP Providers. Personally, I don't fall for cheap prices, I consider Cheap rate + Quality of Voice + Customer Service. LocalPhone has been excellent to me in all this categories, so I stuck to them even though I pay higher rate. I however strongly recommend MediaringTalk if you are looking for a cheaper alternative, the choice is yours.
I remember when IDD rates to USA were far out of reach of average indians and were quoted in the range of Rs. 40-50 per minute. Today, you can call USA for less than 1 cent or even FREE. Calling India was also very expensive however since last 6 months, more and more VOIP Providers are almost making India a free destionation. We believe calling India at half cent per minute would be a dream come true, hopefully soon.
Today, we are announcing latest calling rates to India by LocalPhone and Mediaringtalk. Although, Mediaringtalk was always providing cheaper international calls to India, they now reduced the rate further to mere 1.7 cents per minute to Indian landlines/Mobiles.
LocalPhone, my personal favorite VOIP Provider has slashed their rate to just 2.9¢ now. I believe LocalPhone will push this to around 1.5 cents very soon if they continue to generate revenues and get large user base. They are currently one of the few VOIP Providers doing extremely well with their Service and Profits.
Lets' hope the price war continues so we have more choices to call India and of course, its a healthy competition amongst the VOIP Providers. Personally, I don't fall for cheap prices, I consider Cheap rate + Quality of Voice + Customer Service. LocalPhone has been excellent to me in all this categories, so I stuck to them even though I pay higher rate. I however strongly recommend MediaringTalk if you are looking for a cheaper alternative, the choice is yours.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Nepal Unlimited VOIP Service by Worldlink
We have received several comments since last 4-5 months about Nepal VOIP. VOIP in nepal is still extremely costly and it really need a large telecom provider to actually beat the prices.
Worldlink, ISP from Nepal has launched a new voice-over-internet (VOIP) service called D2D, charging Rs 500 per month excluding VOIP Adapter which you need to run this service. A subscriber requires two VOIP devices (provided by WorldLink), and an account to use the Device-to-Device VOIP service. Each device costs Rs 4,500, while those without a router cost Rs 4,000.
For Rs 500 per month you can call the other end. The talk-time is unlimited. The service works on a broadband of a minimum 64 kbps.
Another ISP, WebSurfer, has also launched VOIP services. The service can be availed at Rs 4,000 for the VOIP device and a call to US would cost around Rs 2 per minute.
I do not know how Nepal ISP block or allow SIP, however if they are asking you to buy two VOIP Adapters for 4000Rs and then connect them at both end and also pay Rs. 500 per month, they are cheating on you.
This is pure SIP. you can get any SIP Adapter/VOIP adapter such as Linksys PAP2 from amazon for only $53. Buy 2 of these and connect one at your place and one at the other party where you want to call. Now you can make unlimited calls to each other and no need to pay Rs. 500 to worldlink :-)
I always get amazed when people just ignore the power of SIP and pay to these telecom providers who try to make money by keeping people ignorant about the technology.
Worldlink, ISP from Nepal has launched a new voice-over-internet (VOIP) service called D2D, charging Rs 500 per month excluding VOIP Adapter which you need to run this service. A subscriber requires two VOIP devices (provided by WorldLink), and an account to use the Device-to-Device VOIP service. Each device costs Rs 4,500, while those without a router cost Rs 4,000.
For Rs 500 per month you can call the other end. The talk-time is unlimited. The service works on a broadband of a minimum 64 kbps.
Another ISP, WebSurfer, has also launched VOIP services. The service can be availed at Rs 4,000 for the VOIP device and a call to US would cost around Rs 2 per minute.
I do not know how Nepal ISP block or allow SIP, however if they are asking you to buy two VOIP Adapters for 4000Rs and then connect them at both end and also pay Rs. 500 per month, they are cheating on you.
This is pure SIP. you can get any SIP Adapter/VOIP adapter such as Linksys PAP2 from amazon for only $53. Buy 2 of these and connect one at your place and one at the other party where you want to call. Now you can make unlimited calls to each other and no need to pay Rs. 500 to worldlink :-)
I always get amazed when people just ignore the power of SIP and pay to these telecom providers who try to make money by keeping people ignorant about the technology.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
OurFreePhone Review Not a free international calls Service
We have received lot of reader's email about reviewing OurFreePhone and find out exactly how these guys work and claim that they offer Free International Calls.
After spending several days without any real success, I figured out that OurFreePhone is nothing more than a scam. Unfortunately I had to say this. They claim that they offer Free International Calls when you start using their VOIP service.
Let me just outline how exactly I reviewed OurFreePhone.
1)I got a few emails from readers saying there is a new VOIP service OurFreePhone and they are claiming to offer worldwide free international calls. Aha, I stared investigating rightaway. Unlike,most other VOIP bloggers who just jump on any news which comes their way, I spend more time in finding out if that VOIP company is worth my and my readers time. If not, then I don't post reviews about them.
2) So I found a few press releases on OurFreePhone. Big claims, big dreams, it had it all. Eventually I figured out that OurFreePhone is a venture of Seven Rings International, a multi level marketing firm from Italy. MLM marketing is probably the best industry to be associated with scams lol.
3) OK. I still decided to go ahead and give them a try. I headed on to their website. After spending literally 45 minutes moving around their obsolete signup pages,I still couldn't sign up. By the way, they have like 3 different signup pages, its just way too crazy. On each signup page, OurFreePhone would basically ask you for OFP number of Introducer. I obviously didn't know the OFP number, so i started doing investigation on OFP number. I sent them email about OFP agency, no reply after 7 days now.
4)Whats a OFP number? As i said earlier, OurFreePhone is not a free international calls service. They first ask you become OurFreePhone's commercial agents who would sell their services to consumers and more consumers signup under you, you start making money which in turn you can use for free international calls. Is this a joke? lol.
5) OK. So I decided to actually signup for this OFP agent. Guess what? It costs around $220 to actually become a OFP agent. Great way to make money for OFP indeed.
6) Now consider, if at all you actually signup as OFP agent, will anyone even consider buying OFP VOIP service to make calls? Who has to do the hardwork of selling their VOIP service to the consumers? YOU, in this case me. However, I chose not to for the simple reason that i do not want to be associated with scam VOIP service.
OurFreePhone is a pure money making MLM scam. Imagine, even if 1000 people (dream of making money through VOIP lol) signup to become agents, OFP already made 1000 X 220 = USD 220000. Forget about selling their VOIP service to you, this is easy money :-)
My strong advice to all of you who want to use Our Free Phone or want to become their agents, STAY AWAY from ourFreePhone.
After spending several days without any real success, I figured out that OurFreePhone is nothing more than a scam. Unfortunately I had to say this. They claim that they offer Free International Calls when you start using their VOIP service.
Let me just outline how exactly I reviewed OurFreePhone.
1)I got a few emails from readers saying there is a new VOIP service OurFreePhone and they are claiming to offer worldwide free international calls. Aha, I stared investigating rightaway. Unlike,most other VOIP bloggers who just jump on any news which comes their way, I spend more time in finding out if that VOIP company is worth my and my readers time. If not, then I don't post reviews about them.
2) So I found a few press releases on OurFreePhone. Big claims, big dreams, it had it all. Eventually I figured out that OurFreePhone is a venture of Seven Rings International, a multi level marketing firm from Italy. MLM marketing is probably the best industry to be associated with scams lol.
3) OK. I still decided to go ahead and give them a try. I headed on to their website. After spending literally 45 minutes moving around their obsolete signup pages,I still couldn't sign up. By the way, they have like 3 different signup pages, its just way too crazy. On each signup page, OurFreePhone would basically ask you for OFP number of Introducer. I obviously didn't know the OFP number, so i started doing investigation on OFP number. I sent them email about OFP agency, no reply after 7 days now.
4)Whats a OFP number? As i said earlier, OurFreePhone is not a free international calls service. They first ask you become OurFreePhone's commercial agents who would sell their services to consumers and more consumers signup under you, you start making money which in turn you can use for free international calls. Is this a joke? lol.
5) OK. So I decided to actually signup for this OFP agent. Guess what? It costs around $220 to actually become a OFP agent. Great way to make money for OFP indeed.
6) Now consider, if at all you actually signup as OFP agent, will anyone even consider buying OFP VOIP service to make calls? Who has to do the hardwork of selling their VOIP service to the consumers? YOU, in this case me. However, I chose not to for the simple reason that i do not want to be associated with scam VOIP service.
OurFreePhone is a pure money making MLM scam. Imagine, even if 1000 people (dream of making money through VOIP lol) signup to become agents, OFP already made 1000 X 220 = USD 220000. Forget about selling their VOIP service to you, this is easy money :-)
My strong advice to all of you who want to use Our Free Phone or want to become their agents, STAY AWAY from ourFreePhone.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Vyke offers Unlimited Landline VOIP SIP Calls
Vyke VOIP Provider has been around for a while and has been making forays in Middle east VOIP markets. Vyke enjoys a huge user base in Middle east and some parts of asia. Vyke has started a new promotions for unlimited landline VOIP Calls to about 22 countries worldwide for a flat charge of 4 cents per minute.
Vyke's offer is more like Pennytel used to offer as Flat charge for a untimed call. You can call any standard landline in the Vyke Zone(see below) and talk for as long as you want for just 4¢ per call.
No matter where in the world you are calling from, you can now make unlimited length calls for just 4¢ per minute to any standard landline number in the following Vyke Zone countries:
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
USA
Vyke offers competitive cheap international calling rates to other countries. However 4 cents per minute as flat untimed rate for calling the above countries sound really good.
Another good thing about Vyke is they support SIP and allow external SIP devices to connect to their service. Vyke also supports IAX.
You can use following Vyke SIP Settings to configure your SIP Phone/ VOIP Adpater:
1. NAT settings
o NAT Keep Alive Enable = No
2. Proxy and Registration
o Proxy = sip.vyke.com
o Outbound proxy = [blank]
o Register = Yes
o Use Outbound proxy = No
o Make Call Without Reg = No
o Answer Call Without Reg = Yes
3. Subscriber information
o User ID = [Your Vyke ID]
o Password = [Your VYKE password]
o Auth ID = [Your Vyke ID]
o Use Auth ID = Yes
4. Supplementary Service Subscription
o Three Way Call Serv = No
5. Audio Configuration
o G729a Enable = YES
o DTMF Tones = RFC2833
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Pennytel VOIP Untimed Plan Update
Pennytel VOIP Phone Service was extremely popular for over a year due to immense popularity of their Untimed Plans which offers unlimited talktime for a flat charge. However, Pennytel has now made changes to their talk till you drop untimed plan and made it more in favor of them.
Pennytel's Website says," From 1 Feb 09, we're changing the Talk Till You Drop plan. Calls to the 38.88c destinations will now be charged at PennyTel's low standard per minute rate (billed per second) for the first 38 minutes. The next 38 minutes is free! The following 38 minutes is charged at the per minute rate, and then the next 38 minutes is free. And so on. This keeps the charges low for short calls, but still delivers low charges (up to half price) for longer calls."
What this means to you as a Pennytel User: Earlier, you used to pay 38 cents and talk unlimited. Now you have to pay the normal standard calling charge to all those destinations and only after you talk for 38 minutes, Pennytel will allot another 38 minutes credit for that call only. That means you will have to talk another 38 minutes to actually utilise the benefit.
I would call this offer as literally milking the customers and pretty lame. I am confident that a smart customer will eventually go away from Pennytel to try other services such as LocalPhone or Nymgo, who in very short time gained a huge customer base and provided good quality service.
Please note that these changes only apply to 38c destinations, the 8cents destinations remain unchanged and will continue to offer untimed plan.
You can see Pennytel Official Details on the rate change.
Pennytel's Website says," From 1 Feb 09, we're changing the Talk Till You Drop plan. Calls to the 38.88c destinations will now be charged at PennyTel's low standard per minute rate (billed per second) for the first 38 minutes. The next 38 minutes is free! The following 38 minutes is charged at the per minute rate, and then the next 38 minutes is free. And so on. This keeps the charges low for short calls, but still delivers low charges (up to half price) for longer calls."
What this means to you as a Pennytel User: Earlier, you used to pay 38 cents and talk unlimited. Now you have to pay the normal standard calling charge to all those destinations and only after you talk for 38 minutes, Pennytel will allot another 38 minutes credit for that call only. That means you will have to talk another 38 minutes to actually utilise the benefit.
I would call this offer as literally milking the customers and pretty lame. I am confident that a smart customer will eventually go away from Pennytel to try other services such as LocalPhone or Nymgo, who in very short time gained a huge customer base and provided good quality service.
Please note that these changes only apply to 38c destinations, the 8cents destinations remain unchanged and will continue to offer untimed plan.
You can see Pennytel Official Details on the rate change.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Betamax SmartVoip SIP VOIP Offers free international VOIP Calls
Its time of the year again, the great Betamax VOIP Factory keeps rolling their new VOIP ventures almost every quarter and now launched a new VOIP Provider called SmartVoip.
SmartVOIP like many other Betamax VOIP Services offers free international calls and cheap international calls. SmartVoip is offers free international voip calls to the following countries: Canada,USA,UK(Landline),Singapore,Taiwan,China,Portugal,Thailand,Spain,Russia.
SmartVOIP is offering cheap international calls to India at only 1.5 eurocents per minute to India landline and 2 eurocents per minute to India mobile. Of course, if you are already using Nymgo or LocalPhone then you might not like to switch :-)
Although, not a lot of free calling destinations, lets just hope smartvoip can offers some better international calling rates to certain destinations.
One good thing about Smartvoip is they offer SIP support.
Here are the SmartVOIP SIP Details:
SIP port : 5060
Registrar : sip.smartvoip.com
Proxy server : sip.smartvoip.com
Outbound proxy server : leave empty
Account name : your SmartVoip username
Password : your SmartVoip password
Display name/number : your SmartVoip username or voipnumber
Stunserver (option) : stun.smartvoip.com
SmartVOIP supported Codecs
G.711 (64 kbps)
G.726 (32 kbps)
G.729 (8 kbps)
G.723 (5.3 & 6.3 kbps)
GSMFR (13.2 kbps)
If you have audio problems:
Use a STUN server (e.g. stun.smartvoip.com) with port 3478 (if supported by your device)
Use the G.711 codec
You can download SmartVOIP Softphone from their website. Let us know your feedback/comments on this new Betamax VOIP Provider, SmartVOIP.
SmartVOIP like many other Betamax VOIP Services offers free international calls and cheap international calls. SmartVoip is offers free international voip calls to the following countries: Canada,USA,UK(Landline),Singapore,Taiwan,China,Portugal,Thailand,Spain,Russia.
SmartVOIP is offering cheap international calls to India at only 1.5 eurocents per minute to India landline and 2 eurocents per minute to India mobile. Of course, if you are already using Nymgo or LocalPhone then you might not like to switch :-)
Although, not a lot of free calling destinations, lets just hope smartvoip can offers some better international calling rates to certain destinations.
One good thing about Smartvoip is they offer SIP support.
Here are the SmartVOIP SIP Details:
SIP port : 5060
Registrar : sip.smartvoip.com
Proxy server : sip.smartvoip.com
Outbound proxy server : leave empty
Account name : your SmartVoip username
Password : your SmartVoip password
Display name/number : your SmartVoip username or voipnumber
Stunserver (option) : stun.smartvoip.com
SmartVOIP supported Codecs
G.711 (64 kbps)
G.726 (32 kbps)
G.729 (8 kbps)
G.723 (5.3 & 6.3 kbps)
GSMFR (13.2 kbps)
If you have audio problems:
Use a STUN server (e.g. stun.smartvoip.com) with port 3478 (if supported by your device)
Use the G.711 codec
You can download SmartVOIP Softphone from their website. Let us know your feedback/comments on this new Betamax VOIP Provider, SmartVOIP.
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