The simple way to call home for free
All of us living abroad know just how vital it is to call home—and just how high those phone bills can get. Luckily, we have technology on our side. Thanks to technical advances, it’s now possible to make free local and international phone calls, by simply using your old Internet connection. Sounds too good to be true? Read on.
The technology in question is called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which is making huge waves on the technology scene by enabling computer users to make voice calls from their PCs to any other computer in the world—and it doesn’t cost a cent. Although the technology is not yet present in every household across the globe, VoIP is quicky catching on. In fact, some people are even predicting that it will replace the traditional telephone system before too long.
So how does it work? Put simply, VoIP changes analog audio signals, heard on the telephone, into digital signals that can be transmitted over the Internet. Using it is, dare we say, relatively easy. All you need are: a VoIP provider (Anbieter) and software, available to download for free from many Websites (www.skype.com, for example), a microphone and speakers (either in the form of a headset, a stand-alone mic or a USB phone) and a broadband (high-speed Internet) connection, through a cable modem, DSL line or local area network. Once you’ve downloaded the software, plug in your mic and speakers and dial away.
There is a multitude of VoIP providers on the market right now. Some of these charge a monthly rate (Grundgebühr) for use of the service, such as T-Online and freenet, and others, such as web.de, Sipgate and Skype, do not. With its more than 70 million users, Skype is undoubtedly one of the most popular. In addition to the free VoIP calls between computers, Skype users can also, for a smaller fee than what traditional calling plans charge, use their computers to call landlines and mobile phones worldwide (a service called SkypeOut), which is convenient if you want to get in touch with someone who doesn’t have Internet access. Rates for these calls remain constant, no matter what time of day it is. Calling from your computer to a landline or mobile phone in the most popular global destinations, including the US, UK, Australia or Ireland, will cost you just € 0.017 per minute. A full list of rates can be found on the company’s homepage (see above). To use SkypeOut, you must purchase in advance a certain amount of credit on the Website by credit card. No contracts are involved. With the SkypeIn service, you are assigned a phone number with a Munich prefix and you can receive calls on your computer from traditional telephones. In this case, the caller foots the bill and can expect to pay the same amount as they would pay for a regular call to Munich. Skype also offers other services, including conference calls for up to five people, video calling and even voice mail.
Now that you’ve had this little crash course on the basics of Internet phoning (to quote some classic American telephone commercials), you’re ready to reach out, touch someone—and save a buck or two.
