deals for skype refugees

[ColloSus]

If you got accustomed to talking LD for free with Skype, you might consider other programs rather than paying. Since you can easily get LD (i.e., North America) for $0.04/min after taxes (e.g., g3telecom), you would have to speak for almost 500 minutes to make their unlimited charge work for you. Looking in my Skype history, I only spoke for about 40minutes in North America. There's no way I'll ever have 500 minutes long distance, so for me it's not worth it. Still, I wondered if there aren't some other voip freebies out there, and this is what I could find:

1. VoiceStick - signing up for their "next to nothing plan", you get a $5 credit to start, a free incoming phone number almost anywhere in North America, free voicemail, and a bunch of other very cool features

2. Betamax/Finarea companies (see below) used to offer unlimited free SMS to be scheduled for New Year's Eve, but now the offer has been restricted to 30 only. You can get it easiest through VOIPbuster. The following are the Finarea/Betamax services, which is essentially the same service but at different combinations of discounts:

2. www.cheapvoip.biz
3. www.freecall.com
4. www.internetcalls.com
5. www.internetcalls.net
6. www.poivy.com
7. www.sipbuster.com
8. www.sipbusters.com
9. www.sipfoon.com
10. www.spk2.com
11. www.spk2.net
12. www.telbo.com
13. www.voicebuster.com
14. www.voicebuster.net
15. www.voicebusters.com
16. www.voicebusters.net
17. www.voiparound.com
18. www.voipbuster.com
19. www.voipcracker.com
20. www.voipcracker.net
21. www.voipdiscount.biz
22. www.voipdiscount.info
23. www.voipdiscount.net
24. www.voipdiscount.org
25. www.webcall.biz
26. www.keenvoip.com
27. www.librevoip.com
28. www.lightvoip.com
29. www.loginvoip.com
30. www.lowratesvoip.com
31. www.lowratevoip.com
32. www.skp2.com
33. www.skp2.net
34. www.skypsite.com
35. www.voipappel.com
36. www.voipbarato.com
37. www.voipdescuento.com
38. www.voipgigant.com
39. www.voipgigante.com
40. www.voipshark.com
41. www.voipskyp.com
42. www.voipsmasher.com
43. www.voipsmasher.net
44. www.webcalldirect.com
45. www.webcalldirekt.com
46. www.webdirectcalls.com
47. www.yourvoipnumber.com

[FAQ]

I don't think VoiceStick offers any Canadian DID number . Does it work with Pap2 ?

[majesus]

ColloSus, THANK YOU BIG TIME for posting this info up. It is super helpful. I bookmarked your thread and I will go throught them when FREEBIE Skype is over..

You rock. Happy New years :)

BTW, LOVE THE TITLE. SKYPE REFUGEE... Hahah

[mgazer]

According to their website, they only support PC and not Mac OS... anyone know of any free alternatives to Skype for PC-to-landline calls that will work on a Mac?
Thanks

[ColloSus]

ColloSus, THANK YOU BIG TIME for posting this info up. It is super helpful. I bookmarked your thread and I will go throught them when FREEBIE Skype is over..

You rock. Happy New years :)

BTW, LOVE THE TITLE. SKYPE REFUGEE... Hahah

cheers, m8!

no need to check them individually, backslash armed with a script is doing this 4 u:

http://backsla.sh/betamax
(prices are in eurocents per minute before taxes)

[wiresncode]

According to their website, they only support PC and not Mac OS... anyone know of any free alternatives to Skype for PC-to-landline calls that will work on a Mac?
Thanks

I've used SJPhone (http://www.sjlabs.com/sjp.html) on OSX with good results. You can use it with any SIP based VOIP service - skype is one of the few voip services that is not SIP based.

Of course it won't help you in BC where shaw screws with voip packets to make the audio quality useless (so you get dsl and then you have a phone line which you might as well use for calls).

[brunes]

If you got accustomed to talking LD for free with Skype, you might consider other programs rather than paying. Since you can easily get LD (i.e., North America) for $0.04/min after taxes (e.g., g3telecom), you would have to speak for almost 500 minutes to make their unlimited charge work for you. Looking in my Skype history, I only spoke for about 40minutes in North America. There's no way I'll ever have 500 minutes long distance, so for me it's not worth it. Still, I wondered if there aren't some other voip freebies out there, and this is what I could find:


If you talk less than 500 minutes a month total (thats 9 hours), it's cheaper to just ditch your local telco and long distance provider altogether and go with Vonage.... it's only $19.95 a month for 500 minutes, and free voicemail / caller ID / every feature you can imagine.

Been with them 3 months now, saving $10 / month over the local telco PLUS $10-$15 / month in long distance (was using yak at 3.5 cents / minute before). Had some hiccups at the beginning but once I re-flashed my router to enable QOS controls, it's been smooth sailing.

[st7860]

If you talk less than 500 minutes a month total (thats 9 hours), it's cheaper to just ditch your local telco and long distance provider altogether and go with Vonage.... it's only $19.95 a month for 500 minutes, and free voicemail / caller ID / every feature you can imagine.

Been with them 3 months now, saving $10 / month over the local telco PLUS $10-$15 / month in long distance (was using yak at 3.5 cents / minute before). Had some hiccups at the beginning but once I re-flashed my router to enable QOS controls, it's been smooth sailing.

with vonage you are required to have internet. and it wont work without electricity(but your home phone will) and if you call 911 the police/fire/ambulance wont necessarily be able to find your home without assistance, and you don't get a free phone book nor a phone listing

[NG]

Best title I've seen in awhile! Thanks for posting that *huge* list.

I'll be looking forward to seeing what the consensus is on what the best free service is. I actually think I'd use the 500 minutes in a year since I don't have a home phone anymore however hell free is better :D

[ColloSus]

Best title I've seen in awhile! Thanks for posting that *huge* list. Gorge yourself, fellow sky-fugee :D

[GeeCee]

Skype is still only $15 for a year of unlimited NA long distance.. it's not free, but it's still red hot.

[aquariaguy]

Skype is still only $15 for a year of unlimited NA long distance.. it's not free, but it's still red hot.


Yea I'm sticking to skype. I get good service from it. And for $15 thats peanuts.

[look30]

Why bother compiling that huge list when all of them redirect to voipbuster ?

[ColloSus]

Why bother compiling that huge list when all of them redirect to voipbuster ?
they do not all redirect to voipbuster
they have different rates for different markets, almost all of them lower than skype
see http://backsla.sh/betamax
you can use that chart to decide which offer is best for your calling patterns
furthermore, all of them offer free SMSs for New Year's

[ColloSus]

Yea I'm sticking to skype. I get good service from it. And for $15 thats peanuts.

first, it's USD 15, which works out to CDN $17.50 + taxes this side of the border.
it's certainly a good deal if you use more than 500 min of long distance yearly. i (and i suspect most of skype's paying users) don't.
it's easy to decide: look into your calling history and total your North American LD calls for the year. you might find that even if you decide to stay with skype for whatever reason, it's cheaper to pay as you go rather than get the unlimited version.
then again, "limited time" offers tend to mess up our critical thinking :)

[MUSKAMIKE]

I just used Skype to call my cell phone, and I have no credits/never purchased anything via Skype. Are they slow in disconnecting 'free' calls? I thought it ended on the 1st???

[teknobabble]

I considered the skype deal, but figured I didn't do that much LD in US/Can. I like my Vbuzzer service as they only charge about 1.5c/min Can/US. I also purchased a toronto number for $2/mth.

I've found sound quality to be pretty good (I use a PAP2 device) but don't expect much from their support or their "public" forum.

[redflagcountry]

I just used Skype to call my cell phone, and I have no credits/never purchased anything via Skype. Are they slow in disconnecting 'free' calls? I thought it ended on the 1st???

Free until Jan 18th

[teknoluv]

Thanks to this thread, I purchased Skype's unlimited calling for US$14.95. Guess it's not the intention of the OP. LOL!

[aquariaguy]

I considered the skype deal, but figured I didn't do that much LD in US/Can. I like my Vbuzzer service as they only charge about 1.5c/min Can/US. I also purchased a toronto number for $2/mth.

I've found sound quality to be pretty good (I use a PAP2 device) but don't expect much from their support or their "public" forum.

Skype is so much better than Vbuzzer, unless you're using vbuzzer from those voip boxes which was complicated.

[st7860]

exactly. and skype is unlimited for that once yearly fee.

[Rizeup]

anyone knows if it would be possible to combine skype and vbuzzer?
So I could have a phone number for 2$ from vBuzzer and unlimited phone calls for 15$ thru skype.

[crasher]

Thanks Collosus
Voipbuster works good with PAP2 for free calls:cheesygri

[HunkaHunkaBurningLove]

Just as an aside, apparently Ebay is planning to purchase Skype for $5 billion so I wonder if they will be improving service quality.

"San Jose, California-based EBay Inc., the largest Internet marketplace and auction site, is in talks to buy Luxembourg-based online telephone company Skype Technologies SA. According to the Wall Street Journal, the acquisition would cost EBay $2 billion to $3 billion. The New York Post even reported that eBay is offering to pay about $5 billion for Skype, which, as an online enterprise, is extremely difficult to value. The proposed deal is in a very sensitive stage at the moment and could be easily settled soon."

[Tinku]

I bought the Skype unlimited for 14.95$. I am very happy with their voice quality.

[brunes]

with vonage you are required to have internet. and it wont work without electricity(but your home phone will) and if you call 911 the police/fire/ambulance wont necessarily be able to find your home without assistance, and you don't get a free phone book nor a phone listing

Well, all of the above is true for Skype too, which is what this thread is about, so that's a moot point IMO.

Oh - and that 911 thing is total BS. When you activate your phone you tell them the address of it. As long as your adatpter is at YOUR HOUSE the E911 works properly.

Like everything else to do with your phone, you can change it all online. If you take it on a trip or something for a few weeks and want 911 to work at that other location, it is up to you to sign in online and change your E-911 address, and then change it back when you get back home.

This isn't a problem IMO, since you can't take a PSTN phone on a trip ANYWAY it isn't really compareable IMO and is a huge plus for Vonage.

Also - if you want a dead tree phone book (I only use the dead tree book maybe once every 3 months anyway), just stop in at the telco kiosk in the mall and pick one up! It's not like they ask for ID.

And my number is still being listed in the book so I don't know what you're talking about there.

[brunes]

Just as an aside, apparently Ebay is planning to purchase Skype for $5 billion so I wonder if they will be improving service quality.

"San Jose, California-based EBay Inc., the largest Internet marketplace and auction site, is in talks to buy Luxembourg-based online telephone company Skype Technologies SA. According to the Wall Street Journal, the acquisition would cost EBay $2 billion to $3 billion. The New York Post even reported that eBay is offering to pay about $5 billion for Skype, which, as an online enterprise, is extremely difficult to value. The proposed deal is in a very sensitive stage at the moment and could be easily settled soon."

eBay bought Skype like 6 months ago. That is all very old news you are quoting.

[slaman]

I use Skype as my local phone during daytime so I don't waste my cell phone daytime minutes (no landline).

Skype's voice quality is horrendous in my opinion - echos, loud buzzing, dropped calls... it's not my internet connection either. Most of the time, it's great... but when it's bad, it's reallllly bad.

Any other suggestions? Anyone try freecall.com?

[flamenko]

I am now using Skype regularaly and the party at the other end cannot tell the diff. No dropped calls, no static....

[consumerPI]

Never though of myself as a refugee. ;)

[Beradon]

Thanks Collosus
Voipbuster works good with PAP2 for free calls:cheesygriNot exactly free. You need to maintain some credit with them if you want to talk for beyond their time limit for trial users.
And when everyone starts using voipbuster, the quality goes down the toilet.

[HunkaHunkaBurningLove]

eBay bought Skype like 6 months ago. That is all very old news you are quoting.

OOohhh :| welcome to yesterday's news I suppose! Old news is good news!

[ColloSus]

They paid quite a bit for it too, hence the pressure to "monetize" their investment. Expect prices to rise further.

[warthunder2k]

hey anyone else having problems paying for the 14.95$ skype unlimited calling? Both my credit cards were refused, and I cant pay with my bank account either because the closest bank of montreal (where i am supposed to be making the deposit) is at 5hrs in car from where I am.

[st7860]

skype uses a very irritating credit card processor. even if you;'re just buying a $15 pack of credits or that 1 year skypeout thing, its very touchy. you can more easily buy a $4000 tv from future shop than a $15 phone card from skype.

[warthunder2k]

So how did you get around it?
direct deposit?
oh I also tried moneybookers, to confirm the credit card they need to send you an sms... I dont have a cell phone, so I borrowed me gf's, but I never received any sms, so still I cant buy the unlimited package

[teknoluv]

So how did you get around it?
I used PayPal.

[ibintegra]

I used PayPal.

Had a lot trouble with buying the skype thing as well with my credit card. Used Paypal.

[underpants]

Anyone have any success in purchasing this Skype deal with their Mastercard?!?

I don't have paypal and don't plan on getting an account to sign up with Skype.

I would like to get in on this deal however.:cheesygri

[hagbard]

Thought the Skype deal ended Dec 31.

[underpants]

The email I got from them says I have 'til Jan. 31st to get the $14.95 unlimited deal.

I want to see if anyone has had any success with Mastercard yet.

[Loomy]

VOIP is an interesting conundrum because the service doesn't really cost much to provide. So almost everyone getting into it wants to fix prices up by normal telco prices to get rich, and normal telcos want them to fix prices so they keep a chance to compete.

Right now you can get a free telephone number service (american phone number http://www.ipkall.com/ http://www.iaxtel.com/), free software PBX to do the voip stuff (http://www.asterisk.org/), free client software or cheap/free phone adaptor... it is all very complex right now. But the amount of free stuff will only grow in the future as more nice people contribute to the cause ala open source software.

That voipbuster price comparison site is good for comparing retail voip prices, though!

[HunkaHunkaBurningLove]

I had no trouble with my Citibank mastercard.

[sircool]

Skype is so much better than Vbuzzer, unless you're using vbuzzer from those voip boxes which was complicated.

I am using Vbuzzer for a month by now, so far so good. $2 usd/month for a 416 number, $2 usd unlimited local calls. Linksys pap2 line1 for vbuzzer; line2 for voipbuster, which calls LD to the rest of CA and the U.S. for free. Voice quality is just like any regular landlines, a little bit of delay for LD tho, but I can live with that as long as it is free.

As for the phone adapter, I learned something from setting it up, not that complicated tho. There are references in the forum. If I did not try the adapter, I would never know how it works. Now, I know.

I used to use Skype in the free days, they don;t have "skype in" numbers at that time, don;t know now.

Cheers,

[wattsgm]

Still learning VOIP and this thread has helped a lot. Can anyone suggest an easy to set up SIP VOIP provider for:
-Vancouver, BC
-mostly local calls (no home phone)
-have a Sipura SPA 2100 box http://www.sipura.com/products/spa2100.htm

thanks

[digdeep]

Still learning VOIP and this thread has helped a lot. Can anyone suggest an easy to set up SIP VOIP provider for:
-Vancouver, BC
-mostly local calls (no home phone)
-have a Sipura SPA 2100 box http://www.sipura.com/products/spa2100.htm

thanks

Highly recommend PeopleLine http://www.peopleline.net

You can contact Russ, he is knowledgeable. I selected the $99/year plan instead of $9.95/month. You can PM me if you need help.

;)

[koivu_11]

thanks for this thread, i just signed up with skype, never used it before but their 5 min free trial worked really good so I was sold for the price.

the only thing is their incoming numbers, i don't see canada on the list?

[Arrow]

Highly recommend PeopleLine http://www.peopleline.net

You can contact Russ, he is knowledgeable. I selected the $99/year plan instead of $9.95/month. You can PM me if you need help.

;)

I like them too. I've been using them for about a year now... maybe more. No problems with them. They also have a referral program.

[chestnut]

I just using a calling card that is 1cent / minute to the USA. Personally, I prefer using a real phone.

There's no connection fee and it rounds up to the minute (what do you expect for 1c / minute?)

It does expire 6 weeks after 1st use though.

I use the "License" calling card, although there are others for the same rate.

[Kasakato]

I just signed for for Skype too! I hope it works as good as it did during the trial.

[consumerPI]

You hope that it's just as crappy?


I just signed for for Skype too! I hope it works as good as it did during the trial.

[jackass_ca]

I just using a calling card that is 1cent / minute to the USA. Personally, I prefer using a real phone.

There's no connection fee and it rounds up to the minute (what do you expect for 1c / minute?)

It does expire 6 weeks after 1st use though.

I use the "License" calling card, although there are others for the same rate.

I like the sounds of 1c a minute... which one is that? Where can I find it?