freetalk Internet Phone Service - provided by Dan
For anyone considering VoIP as a primary or second line phone service, I can recommend freetalk. While it’s not technically correct to call freetalk a “phone line”, that’s how freetalk looks, feels and sounds – like a “normal” home phone service.
Low call rates, easy to find
Before you choose freetalk, take a look at their website at
www.freetalk.co.uk You’ll find details of the 2 current calling plans, One Year and Monthly (more about that later). What impressed me the most was how easy it is to find different call rates. For example, it takes about 5 seconds to find out it costs 10p a minute to call a mobile phone in Egypt. Log on to BT at
www.bt.com and see how long it takes you to find the same rate!
…Are you there yet? I gave up on BT after about 5 minutes – I still don’t know how much it costs! I know that my previous provider (I’ll spare their blushes) charged me £1 a minute to call my Egyptian friend – those days are over.
Where can you buy it?
I bought the One Year freetalk plan from The Link – see
www.thelink.co.uk if you want to order online. I know that you can buy it in PC World and Currys too, as well as Dixons, sorry make that Currys Digital.
What does it cost?
The Yearly plan costs £79.99, which includes all calls you make to UK local and national landlines for a year. So, that’s £6.67 a month if you’re splitting hairs, but why not split a few hairs when you’re comparing freetalk to BT’s Together 3 plan at £14.50 a month, plus the £70 BT will charge you to install a second phone line!
BT have their own VoIP service, BT Broadband Talk. It costs £7 a month, the same as freetalk’s £6.99 Monthly plan. However, many non-inclusive BT Broadband Talk rates are charged at higher BT Together rates – overall, it doesn’t stack up.
freetalk mobile rates are competitive and easy to understand. freetalk's international call rates are very low – see
www.freetalk.co.uk
All features are free
I’m using freetalk to call friends and family in the UK and overseas, as well as using it as a second line when working from home. For that, I need a normal UK phone number and some features like voicemail and 3-way calling.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Again, BT, Talk Talk and many other providers will charge you £1 or £1.50 for each feature you need. The most extreme case I’ve come across is a friend who wanted Call Barring with her Talk Talk service –
www.talktalk.co.uk – they wanted to charge £3.18 a month! All features with freetalk are free – see
http://freetalk.co.uk/Features_.aspx
How does it work?
The technology behind freetalk internet phoning is VoIP. The backbone is provided by one of the best US VoIP providers, 8x8 -
www.8x8.com. freetalk the product is a small box that connects to your broadband connection and to any normal home phone. Mine is plugged into a Netgear modem-router and a Panasonic multi-handset phone.
Why is that a BIG DEAL?
That means a couple of things: firstly that I don’t need my computer switched on to make and receive calls (coz the freetalk box is not connected to the computer. This is a key difference vs using Skype or Tesco Internet Phone, which require a headset or USB phone plugged into your PC - see
www.skype.com and
www.tescointernetphone.com). Secondly, it means that while I’ve got my freetalk box tucked away in the study next to my router, I’ve also got phone handsets in the kitchen and living room – I’d say that freetalk is for people who want a cheaper, quality home phone service, rather than those who want to play or dabble with VoIP only.
What set-up is best?
Whilst freetalk will work with any broadband connection (it’s “broadband-agnostic” vs tied services from BT or Wanadoo etc), it’s best to use it with an ADSL modem-router or a cable modem. If you’re connecting to broadband with a USB modem, your PC will need to be switched on. Also, a colleague with AOL broadband needed to do some extra configuration, to share the internet connection (there are details on the freetalk site).
What about billing?
Billing is monthly, online, with an email telling you that you can review your bill (i.e. for non-inclusive calls). Also online, you can change your feature settings. So that means I’m now doing all my shopping, banking and phoning on the web!
What’s the quality like?
I’ve listed a few reviews I’ve come across:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/82397...etalk+freetalk
http://www.webuser.co.uk/products/fr..._2945-665.html
http://www.ciao.co.uk/freetalk_co_uk__Review_5582093
Overall, my own experience has been very good. Most people I call or who call me don’t know that I’m using a VoIP service. My number shows on their caller ID as per normal. The call quality is good, with no lag or echo. Sometimes the call is a little quiet, but this is nothing serious and no different than many mobile calls. I agree with one of the above reviews, that freetalk is almost indistinguishable from landline.
Conclusion
When you add the quality of landline to low cost calling and a rich feature set, I’d say that’s worth having!