DSK Guide #4: Use VOIP

Unless:

1) You have a lot of money to spend
2) You are comfortable with the call charges in your country
3) You don't have broadband
4) You don't really make a lot of long distance/international call

I don't see the reason why you should not embrace VOIP.

VOIP = Voice Over Internet Protocol. It's the technology that allows you to make call at a very competitive rate.

One of the most famous VOIP is Skype. People have been using it to make free PC-to-PC call, and its voice quality is crystal clear.

I've been using three VOIP providers to make paid call, I'll write my review below:


I've been using Skype to make oversea call. It's one of the most expensive VOIP service in the market (if you could refer to other service like VoipStunt, they'd compare how competitive they are with Skype - you get what I mean?)

But I've been using it, because of its good voice quality - apart from occasion unsuccessful connected call, the rest - people can't really differentiate between call from landline or from computer.

Skype offers other service like:
SMS (expensive though, rate: SMS to Malaysia - USD 0.097)
VoiceMail: USD 20 for 12 months
SkypeIn: it lets you buy a "local landline number"(choosing from one of the countries: USA, UK, France, Germany, HongKong/China, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Poland, Switzerland).

Which means, if you buy a Switzerland number, when the people from Switzerland call that number, call will be routed to your Skype. And they'll be charged at local rate. (Yes, because it's treated as Switzerland local call)

SkypeIn is USD 38 for 12 months, it comes with a free voicemail service.

However, the reason why I started finding alternative is due to its "disruptive price plan". Starting from 18th Jan 2007, a connection fee of USD 0.039 will be charged for every successful SkypeOut call you make.

Pros: Good call quality with a range of service available
Cons: Expensive charges, unreasonable connection fee for the normal user of Skype (Skype introduced the connection fee in the name of SkypePro, which is not available in many countries yet)

Rating: 3.5/5
Summary: While I'm disgusted with the introduction of the connection fee, I'm pleased with the overall call quality and the range of service they have.



I found Yahoo Voice when it advertised about its cheap rate.

To purchase the credit is a bit painful - it needs credit card verification, which will put a small charges on your credit card, and need you to call to credit card company to check what are the charges in USD, then write in the registration page, before you could proceed to buy the USD 10 credit.

Call quality: Bad. I've been making test call and found that it's lagging, and the line is even breaking.

I actually searched for some review before I purchase. It seems that those positive testimonial are from those who resides in USA.

Poor me, right now I still have USD 8.54 that is yet to be used.

Pros: Cheap call rate, if you are a YM user, you'll find it handy to make call
Cons: Poor call quality in my country, there's no successful good call made YET

Rating: 1.5/5
Summary: I can't even make a proper call, I should have given 1/5 actually :)



Then I found PennyTel in late January 2007. I found it because a Skype forumer mentioned about this alternative.

Registration is a bit troublesome - just like Yahoo Voice, they need credit card verification.

Furthermore, you'll have to ask the credit card company (just call the credit card company in next 2 days) for the amount in Aussie currency.

It doesn't directly offer the traditional landline number like SkypeIn does, but rather, it's packaged with the Untimed package of which I'm not discussing it here. (Skype has a similar package called SkypePro)

However, PennyTel does offer some little 'surprise' frequently. For example, rebate on the call made to certain destination, occasionally.

And I like its group SMS feature and not to forget, Web Call Back as well as ANI call back.

The Web Call Back functions similar like Jajah, which you can use its web interface to connect two phones (either mobile or landline)

To understand how it works, you can go to www.jajah.com and try out the service as shown below (for FREE, of course)

What will happen is, after you press "CALL", your phone will ring. After you answer it, Jajah will connect to the second phone et voila, that's how you make calls! (that applies the same with PennyTel's web call back ;) )

ANI callback is the latest add-on since 1st Mac 2007, it's even handy that you do not need internet connection at all to make an oversea call. What you'll do is:

1) Set your phone number into your PennyTel account profile (this is the only step that needs internet connection)
2) You use the phone to call the access number
3) Your phone will be disconnected
4) PennyTel will call you back (as set in the profile)
5) You'll then key in the number you wish to call

Take note that, both Web Callback and ANI callback will charge both the phone calls, which is, the first phone(your phone) and also the destination call.

But well, after all, it's still cheaper than IDD call in most occasion ;)

I introduced Amy about this service, since she makes a lot of oversea calls with SkypeOut.

Surprisingly, she said the call quality is better than SkypeOut! (reason is because, her housemate is a heavy bittorrent user, you get what I mean?!)

Pros: Super cheap call rate, good call quality, innovative features, per-second block charges(!!), occasional bonus/surprise ;)
Cons: The first time purchase is a bit painful(but it's better than Yahoo's), i got the softphone provided by PennyTel not working (but it works with the X-Lite) but hey, that's it.

Rating: 4.8/5
Summary: PennyTel is the One! I really hope they'll continue to provide this good service. Keep it up!

I've put a price comparison table below and yes, PennyTel has the cheapest call plan!
The price is good as of 4/3/2007


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Note that, I didn't compare the SkypePro and PennyTel's Untimed call plan because
1) SkypePro is not yet available in Malaysia
2) I'm not a heavy user of overseas call, after all