I read the lengthy and quite techy VioP threads and am still sadly unsure. Our case is that the mobile bills are getting a little silly, and whilst we don't have a problem with Skype, and we are wireless (Cablecom) it's just not that convienient, especially when someone is trying to contact us. Most of the time any calls will be in CH, UK and very occasionally France

I was given info' on a Tesco deal that comes with a uk number etc. (http://www.tesco.net/internetphone/p...net-phone.html)
So my question is for the scenario above is this a reasonable thing to get, or is there something better, and what the big diff' between VoiP and SiP. To save my embarrasment please keep the answers simple....just like me

There's a thread about the Tesco phone and a thread about VOIP in general, but they're both kind of old. I know the Tesco info has changed since then.

I often call a UK mobile, and they call here (my husband's temporarily living in London...), and it would be great if they could call a UK number for me, and I could save a bit calling the mobile.

Anyone have suggestions in that situation?

Some one told me that the Tesco deal gives you a UK number and anyone calling it is charged UK rates, and because it's a UK number it also fools Sky for a subscription as I remember . I wish I could recall who I was talking to about it. I know I checked the Tesco site and the phone was out of stock, but that was like June. Sadly I really am a dullard with anything technical so any help greatly appreciated.

I have a Sipgate.co.uk number with some credit on it. I have Switzernet also - free to UK landlines and US fixed/mobile.

9 francs a month plus my internet connection

edit: to clarify, the sipgate line is incoming-only and I use switzernet for outbound. Ergo I have "local" UK number and Swiss number to call out on.

There are at least a couple of things you can do:

1) Internet phone: This is either VOIP or SIP and they basically achieve the same thing - i.e. you can call people if you have the internet and some additional hardware/software. I personally use http://www.sipgate.co.uk/ without any problems. The hardware I'm using is my mobile (N95) and this was quite easy to configure (just follow guide). If you do not have a wifi-enabled mobile, you can buy a SIP phone or use a "soft-phone" which is a program that you can download onto your PC and use with a headset. The website tells you how to do this and I thought it was pretty clear.

You can register a local number (e.g. in London), but for my particular provider (SIPGate) this needs to be actually done from (e.g.) London - so get your other-half to do it for you. Then you just follow the instructions, credit your account with a credit-card payment and start paying local rate as if you were calling from the place that you registered the number. You can also recieved incoming calls to that number for free.

2) "Special mobile deals": I don't know too much about this, but my friend got a special SIM-card that was designed to call the UK from CH. I think calls were about 10p per minute, texts for about 10p as well. SwissCom I think - can't remember. Obviously not as good as internet, but you can use it anywhere with mobile reception and it's better than the 60ppm that it normally costs!!!

Good luck!
Alex.

One word: Rebtel (www.rebtel.com) it's a VoIP that works through your mobile (or landline) phone. I can talk to a Swiss mobile from my US mobile for free (or to pretty much any European country). Both you and whomever you're talking to both get local numbers to dial, it connects you both, if you have free minutes or free access to local numbers it doesn't cost anything.

So like for swisscom, they charge 50 rappen/hour to local numbers, Sunrise and orange can be free. Just try it, I've used pretty much everyway to talk to and from Switzerland and it is by far the best and cheapest.

I call the UK (landline) from my landline using Helvatel - 3Rp per minute. Works a treat, never had a problem.

I've been looking for a solution for my iPhone, and at first glance I thought Rebtel was going to beat that, however you also pay the local rate for your phone on top of the cheap int'l part, and as I only have 30 mins of free calls in my mobile plan, I'd quickly use that up.

I'm sure there must be a way of calling UK landlines from a CH mobile for less than 3 Rp per minute, but I'm still looking...

In the UK I've just subscribed and got an adapter from vonage. It connects to broadband, and you connect an ordinary telephone to it - you get a new number. It costs around £6 a month and all uk calls are free, internaional calls are cheap around 1p/min. UK Mobile calls are bit expensive at around 15p/min.

+1 for Switzernet - free untimed calls to UK, France, US etc. for 9 CHF a month which includes a CH landline number ( eg Geneva 022 xxx xxxx ).

Between a lot of countries there is no fee for the international part. They're called rebtel countries and rebtel doesn't charge to call between them.

Rebtel is ideal if your landline or mobile provider does not charge you for local calls. For some Swiss mobile companies if you pay a little bit more a month, they give you free local calls so depending on how much you would use rebtel and how much money it could save you, it would be something worth looking into.

http://www.rebtel.com/en/Rates/Rates/

Any countries in blue are rebtel countries and no fees from rebtel are charged.

Definitely agree with the bit I've highlighted, but unfortunately that's the killer for me. As I only have 30 mins of free calls I'd quickly use that up, and at that point it becomes cheaper to use Helvatel on the landline. But of course that's no use when I'm out and about...

I use Gradwell <http://www.gradwell.com/>. I pay £4 a month which includes a UK number (I have a Manchester 0161 number for example) and use a Siemens C450 IP phone.

Works great. Quality is good and the customer service is excellent. They also appear to be well rated against other UK VoIP providers.

--> This is a SIP service by the way.

Thanks for the advice so far folks. I think the Siemens for will work for us. I'm still not getting the diff' between VoiP & SiP though , so could someone fill me in please.

VOIP is Voice over Internet Protocol.

SIP is Session Initiatiion Protocol, part of the VOIP Application layer, i.e. is a type of VOIP subpart.