Free "phone" calls - free Internet telephony

Initially what is needed is a PC with sound card, microphone and speakers or headphones, or a laptop with inbuilt microphone and speakers and a piece of free software, like Skype.  There are others out there but Skype is the current leader in this area, so do a web search for Internet telephony to see what's available.  Along with this you need a broadband connection and a suitable one can be found at the bottom of this page, so just scroll down!  A standard Dial-up connection will not be really suitable as it won't have the necessary bandwidth.

A headphone is preferred to speakers as the sender could get feedback, where the microphone of the recipient's PC feeds the signal back through the mic to the sender, hence they receive an echo of what they've just said, which can be annoying, if not confusing.

The Skype software can be downloaded from their site, (approx 6.3Mb) and runs on Win2k, WinXP, Mac OS X and Linuxm, and suitable headsets can be bought, costing around £10, from the likes of Evesham's Lowestonweb site as an example.

Visit the Skype site, details above, for further details of how this all works.

If the person you want to contact doesn't have a PC then you can still use the service but it's not free then but if you're calling someone abroad it could be cheaper as the call is billed at local rates. Again, visit the Skype site for more details.

If you're not making that many calls home or abroad, and the recipient doesn't have a PC then your cheaper option again might be to use one of the cheap telephone companies Call1899.  See Martin Lewis's MoneySavingsExpert.com web site for up to date information.

PhoneSkype has recently brought out a telephone that connects to the PC via an USB port and hence to the internet and can be used to connect to other Skype users anywhere in the world.  These phones were on sale at a fraction under £30 at a

As they say, the world is your oyster and you can connect virtually for free or the cost of a local call!  Just get yourself organised.

I have setup the system on two PCs this evening and it's simplicity itself.  It was whilst communicating with a friend that we realised about the feedback and hence using headphones is a better option and that's when I started a search for a cheapish headset.

We did try using MSN Messenger 7.0 to hold an audio conversation but found the system was badly distorted in both receive and send modes, even after running the setup utilities for the speakers and microphone within Messenger Options.

The whole experience was much better using Skype than Messenger but if anyone would like to try Messenger out with me, then feel free to contact me to arrange the demo.

Latest Information - free calling from PC to Phone

Latest information fed through Thursday 2nd June 2005 

Free phone calls all around the world:

In order to do this you'll need to download and install a piece of software, free VoipBuster but before you do you'll need to make sure your system meets the following criteria.

System requirements:

There is a catch to this so read the site carefully, the Newsflash, but it may be useful to you if you need to call abroad.

It should also be made clear that the software is in Beta form and the company does ask that if you get any problems then you inform them accordingly.

If you do try the software can you also keep this site informed so that we can let others know how good or bad it is.