Travel Technology - Recommend a VOIP softphone provider

I'm going to be in Sweden for 17 days this summer, and I may work some evenings to offset some vacation time.

What I'm looking to do is...

* Subscribe to a VOIP provider for one month
* Get a local Denver number assigned to the account
* Get a voicemail box that I can access via a softphone client
* Install the softphone client on a computer in Sweden so that I can make/receive phone calls (local Denver numbers and 800 numbers)--and people at work (and family members, for that matter) can reach me via a local number

I would only probably use the phone for about 200-600 minutes for mainly conference calls--I can do the rest via e-mail and IM--so call quality is also pretty important.

The only provider I've found so far that meets my requirements is RocketVoIP (http://www.rocketvoip.com), but I haven't seen any reviews.

Any input would be appreciated. You don't have to see if your provider has local Denver numbers available--I can do that legwork.

Thanks in advance!

(Edited to add: Okay, the reviews for them on DSL Reports are horrible. I guess I need to find a new potential provider.)

Personally, I am on Sunrocket and havent used the Softphone yet. I want to try it out.

As such Broadvoice and ViaTalk have pretty good BYOB / Softphone programs you can try.

Can't Skype-In give you a Denver number?

Won't Vonage let you sign up for just a month?

Can't Skype-In give you a Denver number?
I don't have a Skype account, so I can't see if they have 303 or 720 area codes available. I'll look into that.


Won't Vonage let you sign up for just a month?
Vonage requires you to buy their hardware, plus they charge $9.99 on top of that to use a softphone.

SunRocket (although they give the hardware for free) also requires you to receive hardware.

Since this is a one-time deal (well, I might be doing this annually, but only for about 3 weeks a year), I'd rather not deal with receiving/returning hardware.

Anyone have experience with voipyourlife.com (http://www.voipyourlife.com)?

I don't have a Skype account, so I can't see if they have 303 or 720 area codes available. I'll look into that.

I just checked and they do have 303 and 720. Skype-In comes with free voice mail.

My only real beef with SkypeIn is that it's still in beta and "there might be some kinks and it might not be entirely stable all the time." Maybe that'll change by this summer.

How's your experience been with it?

Sorry, but I only use SkypeOut. It works Ok for most calls. But if a call doesn't work well, I usually just hang up and try again.

I might try SkypeIn myself since they have French numbers.

Borrowing a Vonage box (and lugging along a cheap phone) that has a second number activated (say for one month use in Sweden) has been an option for some.

I personally prefer taking the ATA to Sweden, along with one of those cheap phones that can be picked up from RiteAid, DuaneReade, CVS or the like. Softphones seem to leave me cutoff once too often. :eek:

Skype will give you the most flexibilty when it comes to conferencing. It also requires less bandwidth then other VOIP providers.

Gizmoproject has U.S. numbers, but you'll need to check re: Denver.
Their rates are high, though, and they block calls to some countries I need (Georgia, Romania).

So I also use one of the voip family. Rates are REALLY cheap (as in free to many countries, very low to lots of others) so best for outgoing calls. Dial-in numbers available, but not in the U.S.

[B]Sound quality: Regardless of what people will tell you, sound quality varies from just o.k. to poor, unless they're using a high bandwidth codec, and the only one I use that does is iconnecthere.com (http://www.iconnecthere.com) (which is far more expensive than the ones mentioned above).

Have you considered an Asterisk server?

Frankly Skype is probably your best bet, but the geek in me can't help suggesting Asterisk@Home. I've done exactly what you are looking for several times recently (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=491164&highlight=spacebass and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=522393&highlight=spacebass).

You could do a couple things...
Perhaps the easiest thing is to e-bay a old PC- it doesnt take much, a PIII 750mhz will do- and a x100p card. You could get both for under $100 total I'm sure. The x100p card will allow you to connect your existing regular phone line to the computer. Then you load the Asterisk@home CD which will install linux, compile the asterisk server and install the web gui front-end.

Then you can run any softphone you want on your laptop, connect back to your Asterisk@home server and use your home/office phone line just like you were in Denver. You can answer it or make calls out over it.... Asterisk provides voicemail too...

You can also get a Sweedish VoIP account and have a local number...or get a Denver VoIP accound with BroadVoice (I use them) or someone else and have that as a dedicated number.... Freedigits.com has numbers for free, but they are not in Denver.

Like I said, probably not the easiest way, but its the most geeky and most flexable.

There are a few blogs that deal with a lot of this stuff.... www.archatechs.com is good as is Nerdvittles.com

-N

My only real beef with SkypeIn is that it's still in beta and "there might be some kinks and it might not be entirely stable all the time." Maybe that'll change by this summer.

How's your experience been with it?

I used SkypeIn for a trip I made (similar to what the original post mentioned) to europe last year. Overall I was pretty pleased, with one exception (which would be true with all VOIP providers, really) - if I VPNed into work and used Skype the quality would drop, but if I went direct it was fine.

Overall I was quite happy, and the SkypeIn number you could buy for just a year for next to nothing.

Have you considered an Asterisk server?

Frankly Skype is probably your best bet, but the geek in me can't help suggesting Asterisk@Home. I've done exactly what you are looking for several times recently (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=491164&highlight=spacebass and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=522393&highlight=spacebass).

You could do a couple things...
Perhaps the easiest thing is to e-bay a old PC- it doesnt take much, a PIII 750mhz will do- and a x100p card. You could get both for under $100 total I'm sure. The x100p card will allow you to connect your existing regular phone line to the computer. Then you load the Asterisk@home CD which will install linux, compile the asterisk server and install the web gui front-end.

Then you can run any softphone you want on your laptop, connect back to your Asterisk@home server and use your home/office phone line just like you were in Denver. You can answer it or make calls out over it.... Asterisk provides voicemail too...

You can also get a Sweedish VoIP account and have a local number...or get a Denver VoIP accound with BroadVoice (I use them) or someone else and have that as a dedicated number.... Freedigits.com has numbers for free, but they are not in Denver.

Like I said, probably not the easiest way, but its the most geeky and most flexable.

There are a few blogs that deal with a lot of this stuff.... www.archatechs.com is good as is Nerdvittles.com

-N

LOL so much more complicated than just using "Skype" :D. Skype has worked great for me. I've never been to Asia and used it though, I guess as long as the ping number is good?

LOL so much more complicated than just using "Skype" :D. Skype has worked great for me. I've never been to Asia and used it though, I guess as long as the ping number is good?

Complicated, yes...geeked out totally!
:D

Have you considered an Asterisk server?

Frankly Skype is probably your best bet, but the geek in me can't help suggesting Asterisk@Home. I've done exactly what you are looking for several times recently (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=491164&highlight=spacebass and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=522393&highlight=spacebass).

You could do a couple things...
Perhaps the easiest thing is to e-bay a old PC- it doesnt take much, a PIII 750mhz will do- and a x100p card. You could get both for under $100 total I'm sure. The x100p card will allow you to connect your existing regular phone line to the computer. Then you load the Asterisk@home CD which will install linux, compile the asterisk server and install the web gui front-end.

Then you can run any softphone you want on your laptop, connect back to your Asterisk@home server and use your home/office phone line just like you were in Denver. You can answer it or make calls out over it.... Asterisk provides voicemail too...

You can also get a Sweedish VoIP account and have a local number...or get a Denver VoIP accound with BroadVoice (I use them) or someone else and have that as a dedicated number.... Freedigits.com has numbers for free, but they are not in Denver.

Like I said, probably not the easiest way, but its the most geeky and most flexable.

There are a few blogs that deal with a lot of this stuff.... www.archatechs.com is good as is Nerdvittles.com

-N

SB .. Are you saying in theory I could put such a set up in an Asian country where my family lives and get a virtual personal VOIP i.e. Local number from that country when called I could received incoming on a VoIP SIP phone that would ring and also call out using the same for local charges to the LAND PHONE LINE I get in that country ?

Have you considered an Asterisk server?

I read that thread you mentioned a while back.

Sounds really cool, but too much effort for just a few days a year.

I'm probably just going to use SkypeOut/SykpeIn option.

Thanks everyone! :)

I read that thread you mentioned a while back.

Sounds really cool, but too much effort for just a few days a year.

I'm probably just going to use SkypeOut/SykpeIn option.

Thanks everyone! :)

I hope wherever you are staying is wired -- well, wireless internet is ok too :D -- before you get there.

SB .. Are you saying in theory I could put such a set up in an Asian country where my family lives and get a virtual personal VOIP i.e. Local number from that country when called I could received incoming on a VoIP SIP phone that would ring and also call out using the same for local charges to the LAND PHONE LINE I get in that country ?

If I understand your question, then YES, I am saying exactly that.
(warning shamless pulg ahead) check out the example on this post: http://archatechs.wordpress.com/2006/04/11/voip-a-year-later-part-1/
If you build your own Asterisk server (I prefer Asterisk@home) then you can customize it any way you want...you can get incoming numbers (called DIDs) and outgoing lines (called trunks) which can call land lines in just about any country.

So my server is physically in Virginia USA, but I can get a number in France that rings my desk phone in VA, my cell phone in GA and my SIP softphone on my laptop in Starbucks while I'm in San Francisco.

Broadvoice has a Softphone package and I'm sure they have Denver. I use them with a Softphone with a Chicago (312) number. As far as Softphone, Xten software as a lite version of their eyebeam product. I bought the pro version for the address book and a few other features since I use it everyday.

Have you considered an Asterisk server?

Frankly Skype is probably your best bet, but the geek in me can't help suggesting Asterisk@Home. I've done exactly what you are looking for several times recently (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=491164&highlight=spacebass and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=522393&highlight=spacebass).

You could do a couple things...
Perhaps the easiest thing is to e-bay a old PC- it doesnt take much, a PIII 750mhz will do- and a x100p card. You could get both for under $100 total I'm sure. The x100p card will allow you to connect your existing regular phone line to the computer. Then you load the Asterisk@home CD which will install linux, compile the asterisk server and install the web gui front-end.

Then you can run any softphone you want on your laptop, connect back to your Asterisk@home server and use your home/office phone line just like you were in Denver. You can answer it or make calls out over it.... Asterisk provides voicemail too...

You can also get a Sweedish VoIP account and have a local number...or get a Denver VoIP accound with BroadVoice (I use them) or someone else and have that as a dedicated number.... Freedigits.com has numbers for free, but they are not in Denver.

Like I said, probably not the easiest way, but its the most geeky and most flexable.

There are a few blogs that deal with a lot of this stuff.... www.archatechs.com is good as is Nerdvittles.com

-N

FreeDigits is a good choice since it is a free digits :-) Long distance in the US is a non issue. It costs the same to call you across the street or across the country from your cell phone. FreeDigits gives you the most options for receiving calls. My mom is a Mary Kay dealer and she uses freedigits for her business number. It's also cool that you can receive a call from the US and ring anywhere in the world. Oh, if call quality is important, freedigits has the best quality of ANY VOIP provider. I can attest to that. ^ ^ ^