Travel Technology - VoIP

What service would you recommend for someone primarily US based, with frequent calls and travel to Europe? Low cost is good, does not have to be free. Bonus points if service available to the Middle East.

Looking for a PC based service (requires the PC to be turned on all the time) or a service with a "box" like Vonage?

I'm a big fan of Magicjack, because it is dirt cheap (their intl. rates are low too), but it does require a PC to be turned on to use it.

I've had Vonage for several years and am very happy with it. The big drawback with MagicJack, for me, is having to leave a computer on all the time if you want to receive incoming calls. Here's the link to Vonage's international plans and the countries you can call:
http://www.vonage.com/intplans_details.php?refer_id=WEBIN070907017W1

I'll second MagicJack -- I have three, two permanently installed on machines at home and in my office, and one which I use for travel. Nothing beats being able to call back the US for free, and international from the US are very, very reasonable -- usually a penny or two a minute.

The MagicJack is a small USB device. You can plug a regular telephone into it, or else you can use the microphone and speaker on your computer. It's very reliable and call quality is usually excellent.

Anyone use Skype? How does it do for you. I have it here at home but only use it occasionally. Have not tried it from overseas or to call a land line or cellphone.

Leaving the PC on is not a deal breaker. Thanks so far for the reviews.

Anyone use Skype? How does it do for you. I have it here at home but only use it occasionally. Have not tried it from overseas or to call a land line or cellphone.

Despite all the broohaaha about Skype, I've never been a fan. Call quality has never impressed me, and since it is generally a free service, customer care is nowhere to be found.

I was a very early adopter of Vonage, but I left them when their rates began to go insane. My $15 plan started off with about $1 in taxes, and by the time I canceled I was paying almost $9 a month in taxes and fees. Plus their service just got downright useless.

Anyone use Skype? How does it do for you. I have it here at home but only use it occasionally. Have not tried it from overseas or to call a land line or cellphone.

Im a big fan of Skype. I get the occasional bad connection but then just reconnect. I use it routinely at work. I have an almost daily conference call with a remote worker in my lab that I call on a Skype USB speakerphone. I also call other people on that speakerphone and I have one of the Philips dual mode (Skype and landline) cordless phones in my office that I use a lot. Im very happy with it. When traveling internationally I forward my US cellular to my Skype in and forward that to my UK or United Mobile SIM. I recently renewed my Skype account. It is about $3 per month for unlimited US calls and it has very good rates in international calls. I like it also because it is software based. So I can use it at home or in my office without anything other than a headset (including a BT headset is I want).

Nobody mentioned ooma. no pc left on and free after the initial $200-$300 investment.

I have used Internetcalls.com for several years and have been very happy with the pricing from the US to Europe.

I am not a fan of Skype, it steals your bandwidth.

Keep in mind that the magicjack will analyze your called numbers to target ads, and there is no uninstaller for their software (you must rip thru the registry and delete things). Their customer support is virtually nonexistant, and when it is, they have no in depth knowledge of the product.

It is, however, dirt cheap.

Keep in mind that the magicjack will analyze your called numbers to target ads,I've yet to see a targeted ad or, for that matter, an ad for anything other than MagicJack services.

and there is no uninstaller for their software (you must rip thru the registry and delete things).You can just delete the directory to which the MJ software installs.

Their customer support is virtually nonexistant, True.

and when it is, they have no in depth knowledge of the product.Not necessarily -- there are ways of reaching second tier and above and they do know their product.

I've yet to see a targeted ad or, for that matter, an ad for anything other than MagicJack services.

What you see is irrelevant to what they can do once the device is installed on your computer. I suggest (since I believe you are a lawyer by trade) that you review carefully the EULA you agreed to with the service and see if anything strikes you odd.

You can just delete the directory to which the MJ software installs.

Sure, you can do that, but it does not remove the registry entries and a few other goodies they drop. Moreover, they (unlike almost every other major software vendor known to man) don't give you an uninstaller to do this work.

Not necessarily -- there are ways of reaching second tier and above and they do know their product.

Really? I was helping someone debug one of these things, and the online chatdude insisted that it was a PC problem after three reboots and re-insertions did not solve the problem. As a customer, one should not have to jump thru hoops to get help.

If it works for you, that's fine. Keep in mind that the company's EULA allows them to do various nefarious things to your PC, the support is lousy, and you cannot uninstall it. Essentially, you get exactly what you pay for (eg, these reasons are why it's so incredibly cheap).

What you see is irrelevant to what they can do once the device is installed on your computer. I suggest (since I believe you are a lawyer by trade) that you review carefully the EULA you agreed to with the service and see if anything strikes you odd.I've reviewed the EULA. It doesn't bother me. And I have three MJs installed, and none display ads.

Sure, you can do that, but it does not remove the registry entries and a few other goodies they drop. Moreover, they (unlike almost every other major software vendor known to man) don't give you an uninstaller to do this work.I've run lots of uninstallers that don't remove registry entries. That's hardly unique to MJ.

Really? I was helping someone debug one of these things, and the online chatdude insisted that it was a PC problem after three reboots and re-insertions did not solve the problem. As a customer, one should not have to jump thru hoops to get help.I agree. You might find this thread interesting:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/925073-microsoft-technical-support-stinks.html

If it works for you, that's fine. Keep in mind that the company's EULA allows them to do various nefarious things to your PC, the support is lousy, and you cannot uninstall it. Essentially, you get exactly what you pay for (eg, these reasons are why it's so incredibly cheap).Two of my three MJs run on dedicated thin clients. The third runs on my laptop and I keep a close eye on things -- nothing nefarious to date.

As for not being able to uninstall it, sorry, but you're wrong. I've done complete uninstalls of the MJ when I've moved it from one laptop to another.

I've reviewed the EULA. It doesn't bother me. And I have three MJs installed, and none display ads.

Great, so the part that says:

If magicJack sees excessive use, including but not limited to, a customer whose usage is twenty (20) times more than the average magicJack's customers usage, or systematic or intentional misuse, it reserves the right, in our sole discretion, to terminate your use of the magicJack device and/or Software immediately, and you will not be entitled to get a refund of any licensing fee or any other fee you may have paid to us.

Which means it's not really "make all the free calls you want" and various other things they advertise.

You may also not be bothered by the part that reads:

Your registration data and certain other information about you are subject to this Terms of Service. You understand that by using the magicJack device you consent to magicJack's collection and use as set forth in these Terms of Service, including the transfer of this information to and from the United States and/or other countries for storage, processing and use by magicJack, its affiliates and business partners to provide you with information about communications-related service.

Or,

You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device and Software will include advertisements. Advertisements will be served through the magicPage™ Software or the magicJack softphone – the software/softphone attempts to serve local advertisements and classifieds using a completely automated process that enables us to effectively target dynamically changing content. Our computers may analyze the phone numbers and your registration information you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads. We do not provide any personal information to our advertisers or third parties. magicJack has a policy of restricting advertisers that it believes are inappropriate, but it does not guarantee the accuracy or integrity of any advertisers and does not endorse any of the advertisements that may appear in connection with use of the magicJack device. You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device and Software may include certain communications, such as service announcements, administrative messages and newsletters, and you will not be able to opt out of receiving them.

Can't opt out. It gets better, but you get the gist.

I've run lots of uninstallers that don't remove registry entries. That's hardly unique to MJ.

Really? I don't generally run them, or prefer ones that give me the flexibility to choose. It strikes me that there is a reason.

I agree. You might find this thread interesting:


As for not being able to uninstall it, sorry, but you're wrong. I've done complete uninstalls of the MJ when I've moved it from one laptop to another.

I'd be interested to see your list of registry keys and directories.

Yeah, one can uninstall it. Not without more work than every significant competitor and more work than most reputable software vendors. And I that's how they can make it cheap.

You want to load your machines up with this to save a buck? Your call.

Great, so the part that says:



Which means it's not really "make all the free calls you want" and various other things they advertise.Right, I'm not bothered by that. I've had the three MJs for almost a year and my service has been terrific and uninterrupted. I've read about people on the "unofficial magic jack" forum who would make 6-8 hours of calls and they were the ones who got their service cut.

You may also not be bothered by the part that reads:That's right. I'm not bothered. What data, exactly, do you think they have?

Or,Nope, not a problem. It's better than what Google does with gmail, in which the actual content of the email is analyzed, but I also use gmail, too. Can't opt out of the email? I couldn't care less -- if I ever got any, and I never did, it's easy enough to block it with my spam software.

Can't opt out. It gets better, but you get the gist.You seem to think I'm unfamiliar with MJ's TOS. I'm very familiar with it. It's very simple: I think the quid pro quo for the TOS, namely free calling, is worth it. You don't, so you don't have to take the deal.

Really? I don't generally run them, or prefer ones that give me the flexibility to choose. It strikes me that there is a reason.I've seen plenty of installers that leave keys in the registry which is one reason why, from time to time, I'll run a registry cleaner (fully manual) just to see what's sitting around.

I agree. You might find this thread interesting:




I'd be interested to see your list of registry keys and directories.There is only a single MJ directory, as I recall, under app data. As for keys, I didn't keep a list -- just searched and removed the references. There were only a few.

Yeah, one can uninstall it. Not without more work than every significant competitor and more work than most reputable software vendors. And I that's how they can make it cheap.I disagree with respect to "reputable vendors." Do you consider Logitech reputable? As for "significant competitors," MJ is the cheapest, the most portable and the most convenient. As I said, you may not think it's worth it. I do.

You want to load your machines up with this to save a buck? Your call.Exactly. And my call was to do so and it's worked out fine. No spam, no invasion of privacy, no ads, no incompatibilites -- only free and reliable phone service.

Yahoo has calling via its instant messaging. Calls to USA toll free numbers are free.

Anyone use Skype? How does it do for you. I have it here at home but only use it occasionally. Have not tried it from overseas or to call a land line or cellphone.

I was evaluating a number of services for my younger brother who moved to Europe, and from all VOIP providers Skype proved to be the cheapest. His main requirement was to have a cheap way to call US based phones, and for us in th US to be able to contact him at home.

The key that sold us with Skype is the $3/unlimited calls to US numbers, and Skype-to-skype being free. Skype depends a lot on the implementation, we bought PC-Free skype phones (Philips VOIP841 and a GE one) and this works just fine (and serves dual purpose as a regular phone). When he is travelling (i.e. he was in China last week) he used his laptop and the skype client. All worked fine.

There were some quirks, like Skype to Skype calls being dropped, but I was able to work those out by changin the settings on my router.

In addition, what we liked about skype is that there is no monthly contract/charge. The $3 is month to month, and for all other countries we use top up (at $10 increments) in case we need it, use the credit until it expires.

There are a million ways to slice and dice Skype service, from using the free client, to using handsets, bluetooth sets, PC-phone adapters, and Wifi Phones, and PC-independent phones. With phones independent of the PC, while the service is not perfect, it works well.

The next step would be to get a proper SIP set up, however his usage does not warrant this currently.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I have to agree and say that skype is my favorite voip of choice.. I also have the unlimited plan and skype in.. (currently live in dubai).. for 5-7 a month.. i can receive/make calls and never watch the minutes.. and the international rates are decent (when i need them)

another great thing is that i have the fring app on my ipod touch 2nd gen.. which means i can access my skype and chat/make or receive calls anywhere i have a wifi connection.. perfect for those times at the airport!

having a notebook with bluetooth is great also.. i usually connect while walking around my room/office at home..

One question on Magicjack. I haven't been able to find this in any reviews, but will MJ ring 2 numbers at once? i.e. someone calls my home number and my cell will ring at the same time?

And during power outages, can calls be routed to another number?

Thanks

One question on Magicjack. I haven't been able to find this in any reviews, but will MJ ring 2 numbers at once? i.e. someone calls my home number and my cell will ring at the same time?It will not. That would be a nice feature, though.

And during power outages, can calls be routed to another number?Yes, but . . .

I believe that MJ lets you forward calls to another number. However, if I recall correctly, you must do this on-line. If you have a power failure, it would be difficult to do this. At any rate, it won't automatically fall over to another line.

One question on Magicjack. I haven't been able to find this in any reviews, but will MJ ring 2 numbers at once? i.e. someone calls my home number and my cell will ring at the same time?

And during power outages, can calls be routed to another number?

Thanks

Vonage allows you to do both of these, ring simultaneous numbers (up to 5 numbers) and set up a number to route calls to if your internet connection goes down.

Vonage allows you to do both of these, ring simultaneous numbers (up to 5 numbers) and set up a number to route calls to if your internet connection goes down.
I have Vonage now, but am tired of the rate I pay per month going up and up with stupid fees and taxes. I'm looking for a new option to vonage.

I have Phone Power...$153 per year with all taxes included. It kind of chaps my A that my total taxes are like 35% for a freaking VoIP line, but my wife insisted that we keep a "real" service at home with all of our existing phones around the house.

Otherwise, I'd just dump it altogether and use my mobile + a Skype or Packet8 download to the mobile for free/cheap int'l calls.

As an alternative take a look at Gizmo. It works like Skype but is based on an open protocol called SIP.

I have my Vonage account on a small USB stick (provided by Vonage) and it works incredibly well. I transfer the account to a standard Vonage wireless modem when I'm at home. Even if I'm in an internet cafe I can adjust the quality on the USB downward and make calls just fine. I do business all over the place and none of my clients know the difference whether I'm in Seattle or London.

I was going to move to Vonage, but two things stopped me:

1. The insane amount of taxes - $9 of taxes on a $15 account (I didn't need the unlimited plan), and
2. Lack of support for my home security system, which meant that I still would have had to keep the most basic landline package.

I use Skype when I travel internationally on vacation, but only because I usually spring for Internet access once every other day at my hotel. The call quality is good, not great. I buy the minimum 3-month package with SkypeIn/SkypeOut/voicemail, and if I'm expecting a call after turning off the computer I use call forwarding to either my local cellphone or the hotel front desk. It is not the cheapest solution due to the 3-month minimum, but three weeks in Australia, being sick a bunch of the time and calling back to family, doctors, etc., still cost me less than $30 over the HSIA charges which I would incur anyway.

I have my Vonage account on a small USB stick (provided by Vonage) and it works incredibly well. I transfer the account to a standard Vonage wireless modem when I'm at home. Even if I'm in an internet cafe I can adjust the quality on the USB downward and make calls just fine. I do business all over the place and none of my clients know the difference whether I'm in Seattle or London.

Do you have this?:

Getting to Know the Vonage V-Phone

Your V-Phone comes with a 2.5 mm stereo headset with an integrated microphone and foam earpiece covers. You'll notice that the earpiece cords are different lengths. This is by design; the short cord ensures that the microphone is placed close to your mouth while the long cord can be comfortably draped behind your neck for ease of use. If you would prefer to use a different headset, the V-Phone supports your favorite mono or stereo 2.5 mm headset. A 2.5 mm headset is a typical cell phone-type headset.

Take it with You
The V-Phone is small and fully portable. Simply remove the V-Phone from the USB port of your PC and take it with you. There is no need to shut down software; Vonage Talk shuts down automatically when you remove the memory stick. Then, plug the V-Phone into any PC with a USB port and broadband Internet connection and your Vonage line is ready to go, wherever you want it anywhere in the world.

If yes, I may have to get this ... I am using Vonage already.

You mention ... call from London ... so you need to have an International Calling Plan? Correct?

Thanks!

You mention ... call from London ... so you need to have an International Calling Plan? Correct?

You do not need an international plan. When you have a Voip service like Vonage, you can make a call from anywhere in the world as long as you have the equipment with you and can connect it to a fast enough, unrestricted internet connection. Vonage's servers don't care whether you're in London or Des Moines.

You only need an international plan if you make a lot of calls to other countries.

When mrsmicah lived in Israel, she took a Vonage box with her and hooked it up to her DSL modem at her apartment in Jerusalem, and it worked no differently than if it was hooked up to our cable modem in NYC. She had unlimited calling to the US, and we could call her in Jerusalem simply by dialing her regular NY number.

You do not need an international plan. When you have a Voip service like Vonage, you can make a call from anywhere in the world as long as you have the equipment with you and can connect it to a fast enough, unrestricted internet connection. Vonage's servers don't care whether you're in London or Des Moines.

You only need an international plan if you make a lot of calls to other countries.

When mrsmicah lived in Israel, she took a Vonage box with her and hooked it up to her DSL modem at her apartment in Jerusalem, and it worked no differently than if it was hooked up to our cable modem in NYC. She had unlimited calling to the US, and we could call her in Jerusalem simply by dialing her regular NY number.

themicah:

Thanks ... I had forgotten this....

I wanted to order this USB V-Phone but did run in some problems and did sent an e-mail to Vonage.
Problems:
-I have already Vonage and just want the USB .. but Vonage sells this only with one of their services .. a very nice agent in the Philippines could not help me.
-Next, I have a 64-bit Windows Vista SP 2 laptop .. looks that at least Vista can cause a problem.

I am a former Sunrocket refugee - after being absorbed into Teleblend, I found the service to be fairly stellar and reliable. About $18 a month or so all-in, using the standard VOIP box gizmo you connect to your cable modem.

themicah:

I wanted to order this USB V-Phone but did run in some problems and did sent an e-mail to Vonage.
Problems:
-I have already Vonage and just want the USB .. but Vonage sells this only with one of their services .. a very nice agent in the Philippines could not help me.
-Next, I have a 64-bit Windows Vista SP 2 laptop .. looks that at least Vista can cause a problem.

Got this answer:

I understand you would like to use V-phone along with Windows Vista.

I am sorry to inform you that at present Windows Vista is not compatible with V-phone. If you would like to use V-phone, you can use either Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

Moreover, if you add V-phone via your Vonage Online Account, you need to add an additional line. You will be charged only for $14.99 (along with the instant rebate of $15.00, where as the original cost of the adapter is $29.99) along with the rate plan, you choose.

regarding vonage.. I used vonage in dxb prior to the ban and loved the service and call quality.. also loved the vtech phone that i was using..

if it were not for the ban i would probably have never used skype.. but skype is more convenient now.. i can use at the pc, wifi spots (through ipod), and they have their own handhelds and the prices are much better..

I use Vbuzzer for inbound calls ($25/yr)

and Voipdiscount for outbound (EUR 10 / 3 months + 1,000 min)

with a 3rd party VoIP client that allows me to switch between them (SJ Phone or EyeBeam)

Also Google Voice looks very promising based on the demo NYTimes' David Pogue posted today.

I use Broadvoice and am quite happy with it!

does anybody have experience with any VOIP products that are non-standard and therefore harder to block? (Either PC based, WM5 based, or standalone).

I know that some countries, hotels and cruise ships block skype, vonage and other VOIP products. I assume they can only block products based on SIP/H323 with recognizable voip activity. So I wonder which products might exist that use a proprietary protocol, possible based on Port 80 which would not likely be blocked.

I've heard that magicjack (discussed earlier in this forum) is such a product... but I am not 100% sure.... can anybody confirm if it uses non-standard protocols? Or does anybody have any info about this or similar products which are able to get around efforts to block VOIP?

Started w/Vonage back in 2003. Dumped them due to pricing, a few reliability problems at key moments, and adapter issues. Broadvoice...ugh..don't get me started.

For residential or small business "plug & play" for 1-2 phone lines, I'd recommend Viatalk. Practically an identical service to Vonage but $12/mo with lower international rates. More features as well. Not 100% reliable, but probably sufficient for most people. And they'll let you use any equipment you want with their service. Want to use Viatalk with your ATA and softphone on your laptop with the same number? no problem.

BUT I wouldn't use Viatalk with an IP PBX. They're set up more to provide traditional replacement for a POTS (plain old telephone service) line than PRI/T1 replacement. 2 outgoing & 2 incoming channels per DID, but their service ignores the CallerID your IP PBX is sending and replaces it with what the channel's registered as with their service.

Skype's not bad, especially the newer versions. Sound & video quality's quite good and it does tunnel nicely through most firewalls. There's a setting inside it you can enable if you don't want it using your bandwidth for other people's calls. Tweaked out properly, it's just a notch below broadcast TV quality. I'm not as much a fan of their SkypeOut/SkypeIn service, but that's only because we have MUCH better options through our phone system (below). SkypeOut/SkypeIn use the G.729 audio codec which is closer to cell phone quality than landline and it's 2-3x more expensive compared to wholesale VoIP providers. Not that we're talking huge #'s compared to traditional telcos here. It's still a bargain compared to the telcos.

If you've got some tech savvy, go wholesale VoIP. Aretta.com is cheap if you're not going to use it much or your # of simultaneous calls varies drastically. We use them for our conference bridge and as a backup to our main service. Bandwidth.com is good if you need absolutely bulletproof service and are willing to pay for it. I know a couple of people who use Vitelity, CallCentric, and Voicepulse and have been happy with them. I've not tried them personally.

We currently have an Asterisk 1.4 PBX at the office, feeding 3 other offices in 3 other states. We also let employees take VoIP phones home. Some of them have chosen to port their home #'s over to us as well and charge them $5/mo for phone service, all-you-can-eat local & US/Canada LD. Actually costs me ~$2.50/mo to maintain DID for their home #, with the extra $2.50 going to pay for the bandwidth/minutes used/staff support hours. Not a bad deal.

By the time all is said & done, we've got unlimited US/Canada calls, paying $0.0125 to call London and my phone bill dropped from $900/mo to ~$150/mo, including all of our conference calls. The Cisco & Polycom phones are dirt cheap ($20-$150) on the used market (eBay) and superior to the Samsungs they replaced. Then there's the features. The vast majority of our employees now work from home at some point during the week, people routinely take their "extension" phone on the road. At this point the only one who truly knows whether people are in the office or not is the receptionist. As I write this I'm watching roseate spoonbills along the Gulf of Mexico, office phone sitting on the desk next to the laptop. My clients (and coworkers) are none the wiser. VoIP's a beautiful thing. :D