hey,
I was wondering if anyone here has made a comparison of all the options for a landline or VoIP, especially what is the best price option if one does a lot of phone calls to other European countries.

Looking forward to your help

I use a VOIP site called VOIPwise (www.voipwise.com ) to call within Europe , in addition to my cablecom line . Very cheap or even free for some countries ... Australia is free too !

We use VOIPBuster.com who are mostly free around Europe and have excellent rates to Africa.

This thread discusses the voip options - [VoIP] Swiss VoIP services: Experience

If you want to use the regular phone line then a company called Helvatel does really cheap rates to Europe - 2 to 4 cents per minute. You just call a free (0840 ...) number and then enter the one you want to call after the message in German has finished. You get charged on your regular phone bill. Works great for calling all over the world!

if you have a single country in mind, have a look at www.comparis.ch which should allow you to compare traditional offerings when calling to certain countries. Also look at hte VoIP section to see what you can get as a best deal.

If you spread your calls to many countries, you might have to do some calculations yourself. Don't forget to consider VoIP offerings from other countries - they might tick boxes for you.

Thanks all

I'll focus on your tips in my research.
Another question (as I am not such a technic freak ): For VoIP I don't need a landline, do I?

Not necessarily ... However , VOIP buster and VOIP wise mentioned above have the possibility of redirecting the call to a land line . This is especially helpful if the person who wants to make the call has no access to a computer but wants to take advantage of the VOIP prices ( or free calls )

A landline is not required for VOIP service but a reliable internet connection is, ideally 256Kbps or higher if possible. In fact, I am using VOIP purely on a wireless connection, with a DID ( "landline" number if you will ) for ordinary folks to reach me.

If you search the threads, you will find information on internet services without requiring a landline.

ok great, thanks

I use helvatel as well for phone calls to a sister in Paris, one in Las Vegas, and my mom in Seattle. 0840 567 567 is the dial up code for France and USA and it's only 4 Rp/min.

We use voip discount - you charge it with 10 euros once in 120 days and you have free phone calls for almost all countries in the world. Those 10 euros you can spend on mobile phone calls. I have not even one complain about it - it is saving my ass, cause I talk a lot with my friends and family.

Excuse me if this question has been answered before...

Is there a VOIP service that allows you to call from *and* be called at a certain number?

That is, when I call someone I want some number to be displayed at their end, and when someone calls me back at the same number I want to be able to take that call, like Skype In...

I was also wondering if anyone knows if something like that is available in Greece (in addition to CH)?

Hi etc

This thread [VoIP] Swiss VoIP services: Experience discusses a little more about VOIP and a service provider called Switzernet ( www.switzernet.com ) which allows you to do exactly that. The catch is that their provide a Geneve 022 "landline" number for you to call from and to be called at, for 9 CHF monthly with calls to Swiss landlines and several countries free and untimed. It works with a softphone dialer as well as with an ATA attached to a standard corded or cordless phone. It is portable and a local call irrespective of your actual location. They have a tariff for calls to other destinations, not exactly the cheapest, but attractive enough for me to subscribe. To get some free or very low cost calls to some destinations that I need, I sign up with other SIP based service providers purely for outgoing calls, usually on a prepay basis such as World DialPoint ( www.worlddialpoint.net.au ) and Pennytel ( www.pennytel.com ).

If you are thinking of subscribing, you might want to try this link instead: http://www.switzernet.com/public/070...f=022-550-0584 which is supposed to give me some incentive for the referral.

Hope this helps you and others.

I have another question, hopefully somebody can help.
I have had a look at voipcheap.com which seems ok to me. However, I did not understand the difference between a DID and a voip-in number???

[quote=Lob;170387]if you have a single country in mind, have a look at www.comparis.ch which should allow you to compare traditional offerings when calling to certain countries. Also look at hte VoIP section to see what you can get as a best deal.
[quote]

Comparis only lists companies that pay them to be listed on their website, so you may not be getting the best deal out there.

Thank you! Can't believe I missed this thread...

Been looking for "cheap" calls to Poland Mobiles forever. Most people over there forego landlines as Mobiles are much cheaper and I've been searching for decent prices to Polish Mobiles forever. Prior to your info cheapeast I found was over 30 raps a minute. 10 raps with this company is great!

Cheers.

I use www.Voipdiscount.com

The service quality is good and you can call without the need of an IP or USB phone or use the multimedia in the computer, you just use the web site to setup the call and the call goes telephone to telephone.

Lookup raptel.ch...

Cheers for that one also. 6 raps a minute, using headphones in computer doesn't bother me (my wife).