Quote:
Originally Posted by andy
I'm sorry if this will sound argumentative, but what you are suggesting is also complicated. You've said you're going to call this DID number and access your SIP rates, perhaps via a choice of providers you've registered with Voxalot ...
But there are parts of this that you still refuse to explain. Most of all, how much are you going to pay to call this access number? - it certainly is not free
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Actually, if you have a good cell plan it pretty much is free.
Quote:
Originally Posted by andy
Let's say you're in a hotel that tells you outgoing calls cost 25 cents a minute - what call do you make to where that means you make the best use of your VoIP rate of 2 cents a minute? I say either use callback that costs you 4 cents a minute, or a calling card that costs maybe 10c, but I don't see how you can get below 27c aggregate cost.
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Most *not all* hotels use Auto Attendants which means you can cross this off your list.
Quote:
Originally Posted by andy
From a mobile, if you don't want to use a different SIM when abroad, then with a couple of exceptions like Vodafone Passport you're either restricting yourself to roaming tariffs or accepting that you won't use it at all.
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their are tons of free sip inbound providers out there for different countries. Just register a bunch. (i.e. speed dial 1=USA, speed dial 2=Italy etc...)
Quote:
Originally Posted by andy
You can't magically call a local number and get your VoIP tariff to anywhere from anywhere - well you can but this access call when roaming might cost you €1 or more per minute
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you can't avoid "roaming charges" if you are outside of your calling area with a cell phone. Who get's roaming charges anyways? I haven't had roaming charges in years in the USA... I'm assuming you mean when abroad which again you can avoid if you pick the right cellphone company to use.
Quote:
Originally Posted by andy
If someone asked for advice when visiting Europe, I'd say get a local SIM if visiting only one country, or one of several global ones with free roaming in many countries. It depends on the balance of outgoing and incoming call charges. In some countries there are mvno SIMs with pretty cheap direct-dialled int'l calls; in others you'd use callthrough via a freephone or local number while for some you'd be best off using callback.
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somewhat agreed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by andy
But if it's all too complicated to go into getting another SIM, then you are losing the chance to make mobile calls for 10 or 20 cents per minute, even less in some cases (2c or 8c is cheapest), and no local DID can help you unless you have cheap roaming (but if you do have Vodafone Passport, you might as well call home as the local number - same price)
Chat up the receptionist in a quiet moment and say your family want to call you, and it will save them bother if they can tell you the direct incoming number. I and plenty of friends have done it, usually for that reason. Not everywhere has a phone number for each room, but most do (if there is a phone!). And then callback is possible at VoIP tariffs ...
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Again, will not work for most hotels. Let's take the whole traveling to a different country scenario out for a sec. When I'm on the road here in the US I have my cell phone with me and I want to make a call to a different country. I don't want find a hotspot, configure my call back etc... I want to pick up my cell phone, hit my speed dial to a sip number I configured (i.e. stanaphone) and dial out using my voipstunt sip rates. I've been installing PBX systems for some time now including legacy Merlin systems, Nortel, Asterisk and TrixBox so I do know it is possible. Point is most folks want something easy to program on their cell phone to connect to their sip without much fuss. By taking the extra steps, we might as well buy a sipura3000 which has this feature but I think a 'device free' scenario would be such a HUGE benefit(less chance of it going down).