Soon you will be hearing more and more about "VoIP" or "voice over internet". This means if you have broadband at home or in your office you can junk your BT line and get a VoIP phone and makes calls via your broadband connection.

I have done just this!

I pay no line rental and outgoing calls to normal phones are really cheap. But more importantly calls to other VoIP phones or networks are FREE.

Now most large companies are already using VoIP - which means they should be able to provide you with a VoIP number you can call for FREE. This is non-geographic and they can't use any of the excuses they use to make you call 0870 numbers. VoIP numbers are actually just internet IP address and so they can be redirected etc... untill the cows come home and it costs them NOTHING. Rather like emails.

A VoIP number looks like this:

93012345@sip.gossiptel.com
54512345@siphone.com

or even:

customerservices@sip.orange.co.uk
sales@sip.argos.co.uk

Seems like they are email address - but they are VoIP telephone numbers.

I have a VoIP hardphone which has an IP address - this means that I can click on a VoIP telephone number on a website and it dials the number automatically!! And for FREE anywhere in the WORLD.

VoIP is going to be the biggest thing since email.

So in many ways if you have a VoIP phone the whole argument about 0870 numbers etc... will become redundant. Companies should be giving out their VoIP numbers!!!

So when you complain to a company about their 0870 numbers - ask them for their VoIP number!!

The saynoto0870.com database should be extended to list VoIP numbers as well!!!

If you want a VoIP account just Google for: VoIP UK or something like that.

Thanks for that.

I'm a Techie & I'm still learning so much obliged for the info.  ;D

I am not very techy, what I do not understand is how you are able to ditch line rental - doesn't the broadband connection have to run down a phone line? And, why do you need another IP address for the phone when you already have an IP address for the broadband?

I will shortly be a reseller for VoIP (any day now they tell me, once the tracking is sorted). The package I will be offering will offer an 0870 number for incoming calls. From what I can make out, this is how the service is going to fund itself because the software is free and the calls are free. You need a router for a VoIP phone but can run it with a headset connected to PC instead of a phone.

I can see that this is an area that is going to make the controls on a video machine look simple.

I have cable broadband - so I was able to ditch my BT line.

VoIP phones have an IP address - but this can be a private IP address behind a firewall. What this means in practice is you can "log-on" to your VoIP account from anywhere in the world (just like Hotmail) and make and receive calls via your account. So for instance I willl shortly have a 020 7 London number linked to my VoIP account. That means if I was in an office in New York, and I was logged into my account on a VoIP phone, then if you called me on my London number it would ring in New York. And the caller would just be paying a local call as if I was in London.

0870 numbers are free with VoIP; but soon you can pay a fee and have geographical numbers. Plus your supplier will take a small cut of your outgoing call charge. But some big players are coming into the market and they are sinking millions in. But as more and more folks have a VoIP number - then there is less money to be made as VoIP to VoIP is free. In the end phone calls will be just like email - FREE - apart from your connection to the web.

You do NOT need a router for a VoIP phone - you can plug it directly into your cable/ADSL modem. Plus many VoIP phones have a 2nd ethernet socket for you to then plug your computer in. VoIP phones can be "hardphones" (sit on you desk) or "softphone" (software on your computer).

It's actually quite easy. Try:

www.xten.com - VoIP softphone FREE
www.gossiptel.com - VoIP supplier

As this is internet based it means leaving the pc running, and what happens if service is down, or a power cut without a landline you have no phone, or have I missed something?

You dont' need a PC at all if you have a VoIP Hardphone which just plugs straight into your modem/router - or can even be Wi-Fi!

If the net is down or you have a power cut you use your mobile for emergency calls.

When my net went down for 7 minutes last week I used my mobile to connect my laptop to the net, went to my VoIP webpage and diverted my VoIP 020 7 number to my mobile - so I missed no calls. Could have even done this via WAP.

 Quote: You dont' need a PC at all if you have a VoIP Hardphone which just plugs straight into your modem/router -                   Is that a fact PeDaSp, I don't have a computor at all, I use NTL's TVinternet service. So I don't have a modem/router. How do I go about using this VoIP system?  robinp.

Sorry - don't know about your NTL set-up. Give them a bell. Sounds like they are piping the net down a cable direct into your TV and you have no modem. So VoIP will not work in this setup.

But if you have a regular broadband connection it's easy :-))))