Steps

1. Find a service that offers free or very affordable international calling. Some services that might be useful are listed under "Tips".

2. Make sure that the country you want to call is included in the chosen service. There are roughly 40 countries where VOIP calls can be delivered for free or at very affordable rates. These include larger countries such as China, the UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and France.

3. Dial one of the VOIP access numbers listed on the service's website. This will connect you to the company's VOIP gateway.

4. Listen to the prompt which will give you dialing instructions.

5. Dial the international number you want to speak to.

 Tips

* Suggestions for service providers include: FreeCallPlanet.com, Skype, etc.

* These services tend to be very popular on the weekends when people have time to call back to their families. Try calling during the midweek or at off peak time.

 Warnings

* The access number will be a US long distance number. Unless you have unlimited long distance on your home or cell phone, you will be paying US long distance charges for the length of the call.

* Check the country list to make sure the country you want to call is on there. If the country you want to call is not on there, it is probably because they treat VOIP like regular calls and would charge the service to deliver them.

* The catch? Expect an upsell message for paid calling plans that include the non-free or more expensive countries.

                      [How To Compare Residential VOIP Offerings]
 by: Jon Arnold

Many people are turning to VOIP phone for several different reasons, the biggest reason being cost. The landline telephone has been in existence for one hundred years; however, many people are finding that VOIP offers a great deal more, for a great deal less. There is one requirement though, you must have a broadband connection, otherwise known as a highspeed Internet connection. While there are some minor differences between the traditional telephone and a VOIP phone, many people simply enjoy the money saving features.

What cost savings you say? With a VOIP phone (using your highspeed Internet connection to make and receive phone calls), you can make unlimited local and usually also unlimited long distance calls in the continental US for one price, where that one price is frequently less than the cost of just getting a DIAL TONE from your local phone company. Is it starting to make more sense now?

With VOIP, you receive comparable reliability and quality of traditional telephone service without all the added fees we tend to experience from our phone company. Have you ever opened your bill and noticed the big jump in cost? Here is a personal example, this writer has experienced with a local telephone company. I simply have a phone, yes some of the perks as well, such as call waiting, call waiting plus, caller ID, and caller ID plus. When I ordered the service, of course it was all conveniently placed in a package that was to cost me $35 a month. Imagine my surprise when I open my phone bill and it was $89 for the month, that is just the phone, does not include the cost of internet, which put the bill over $100.

Now you are probably thinking well long distance calls will do that. Yes, it would, except I purposely do not have long distance on my telephone, so that was not the case in this scenario. I had a ton of hidden charges for this, that, and everything else. Now with a VOIP phone, it hooks up directly to your internet connection, and most VOIP providers offer several different packages that are designed to fit both your needs and your budget. For example, one company offers unlimited long distance calling, local calling, plus all the perks such as E-911 service, voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, Call forwarding, 3-way calling, and such others, for only $24.99. That is your bill, one flat rate each month. Tell me, which you would rather pay, $89 a month or $24.99 for just about the same service. The choice is clear.

When considering a VOIP phone it is important that you do some comparison shopping. The internet is full of fabulous deals from VOIP providers and it is important that you take a look at the various companies and find the one that fits your needs, as well as your budget. Another thing about VOIP is that you can choose from several different packages with each provider. Some may include a VOIP phone line with long distance, without long distance, or for multiple phone lines, perfect for kid’s phone or a home office.

There are some disadvantages to VOIP service. For example, your fax machine may not work reliably over the VOIP. Furthermore, if you have satellite internet within your home, you may find that the VOIP fails to work in a reliable manner as well. It is very important that you do your homework, finding out exactly what options you have, and what works best for your specific needs.

                     [ How to Shop for a VOIP Provider]
                         by: Amit Mukherjee

The advantages of switching from a regular phone service to a VOIP service are manifold. The biggest advantage being cost savings both for residential consumers and small businesses. With broadband internet (dsl and cable) having garnered a critical mass among residential customers and small businesses, voip presents itself as an extremely viable option. The cost advantage comes from the voip technology which uses the ubiquitous cheap internet as the back bone for communication.

Several companies have established themselves as worthy players in this field challenging major telecom companies. Vonage by far is the biggest voip service provider in the US and Canada followed by Packet8 , Verizon, SunRocket, Lingo and Viatalk, not in that order though. The more the number of service providers, the more confusing it becomes to choose from when you go voip shopping. Alll voip providers aren't made equal. Each provider having some advantages over the other.

There are three major yardsticks you should consider before choosing a voip company.

Call QualityPriceVOIP Features1. Call Quality - Voip being a newer technology, it still hasn't matured enough. So call quality varies between different providers. Also sometimes the call drop rate is high among some providers. Read reviews, do some research about a provider's call quality before signing up.

2. Price - Most provides have multiple price plans. The basic plan, which is always the cheapest, most providers offer is a fixed number of long distance minutes every month. Its pretty much like cell phone calling plans, where you get a few hundred minutes of long distance calls every month. Rates like $9.99 per month for 200 minutes will beat any regular phone company rates. The higher priced plans come with unlimited long distance calling in the US & Canada for a higher fixed fee. Though prices for unlimited plans are higher that the basic plans, they are still cheaper than regular phone company price plans. There are also plans tailored for small businesses which may include video conferencing.

3. VOIP Features - The most important VOIP feature you must have is the ability to make 911 emergency calls. VOIP companies provide E911 service, which is similar to the 911 service provided by the cell phone companies. Some voip providers do not provide an E911 service. Make sure your provider has a E911 service if you are dumping you regular phone company altogether and switching to a voip provider. Other features include voice mail, call forwarding, call waiting, 3 way calling, online account management, current phone number transfer and many more. Do some research and make a list of features you want to have with your voip plan and ensure the voip provider you are choosing has those features.

Promotions and Offers - Though the VOIP plan pricing are always cheaper than your regular phone company rates, most voip companies come up with limited time promotions like free 1 year or six months of service when you sign up during the promotion period. SunRocket and Viatalk seem more aggressive in offering such deals to gain some market share. If you can sign up during these ongoing promotions, it will save you some additional money. There are many voip related web sites that keep an up to date listing of the current voip promotions. These web sites also provide visitors with user and expert reviews and will be a great tool for your research and helpful in choosing the right voip provider for your need.

              [ Can VOIP Calling Save You Money on Your Phone Bill ]
                              by: Jessica Liu

As high speed and broadband internet connections are becoming more prevalent in homes across the United States, people are asking themselves can VOIP calling save me money on my phone bill? To answer this question you need to take a deeper look at VOIP calling and the expenses related to switching to VOIP.

The first thing to you should know is how VOIP calling works. When you place a VOIP call it works by converting the voice signal that you speak into the phone handset into a digital signal and sending it over the internet. This signal is then converted back into a voice signal and comes out of the earpiece on the other end. By sending the signal over the internet it doesn’t matter how far it has to go, a call across the street costs the same as call across the country. For people who have monthly long distance bills that are over $20, VOIP calling may be able to save you money on your phone bill.

When evaluating VOIP services you should have an idea of your monthly calling volume. The best thing to do is look at your phone bill for the past three months and figure out how many minutes you are using. If you are using less than 500 minutes a month you will find VOIP calling plans that are probably much less than your monthly phone bill. If you are using over 1000 minutes each month you’ll probably find unlimited calling plans will be more cost effective. If you make a lot of international calls, check to see if those calls are included in the plans you are evaluating.

Some VOIP services require that you update your telephone equipment. This is especially important if you have more then one phone in the house. The key to the VOIP system is VOIP router. It connects your broadband internet access to your new phone system. Some routers only interface with newer VOIP phones, meaning you will have to purchase new phones. Some routers allow you to plug conventional phones into them and keep your existing equipment. This really becomes an important factor if you have more than one telephone in your house.

Another factor to consider is the length of the contract. Many companies offer month to month contracts, others offer yearly, and some offer two year contracts. While a two year contract may look attractive from a price standpoint, locking yourself into a developing technology for twenty four months is something to give serious consideration to. A one year contract usually provides the best trade off between price and time commitment.

 
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