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 Technology News | November 2005 
Making Phone Calls Over the Net
 BBC News
Telephone calls made over an internet connection are predicted to be the next revolution in telecommunications. Cheaper broadband costs and user friendly software is helping users to start making Voice over IP (VoIP) calls, with a number of companies offering products. The BBC News website's business editor Tim Weber is a Skype user, while acting technology editor Darren Waters has been getting to grips with Vonage.
SKYPE
We've got a new word in our family dictionary, "to skype", as in: "we can skype this evening", or "I'll skype you now".
The ugly word stands for a little piece of software called Skype, which allows computer users to make calls over the internet using "peer-to-peer" technology.
The beauty of it: the software is free, the sound quality of calls is outstanding, and if the other party has Skype as well, calls to the other end of the world won't cost a penny.
I use Skype mainly to call my parents, who don't live in the UK. Every three months I used to get a painful reminder of the distance between us, when British Telecom sent me my quarterly phone bill.
But half a year ago we downloaded and installed Skype at my computer and that of my parents, and our phone bills have been slashed.
How does it work?
To use Skype, you need a computer (Mac or PC), an internet connection (ideally broadband), and a microphone headset hooked up to your computer - although the external speakers and microphone that come with most modern computers will do fine.
Skype looks a bit like an instant messaging programme, like Windows Messenger.
You have a list of contacts - either other Skype users, or a phone number.
To call someone, you select (or add) the name or phone number and click on a green button.
After a few seconds you hear the phone "ring" ... the other person answers and you have a normal chat "on the phone".
Conference calls are easy to set up, and instant messaging is possible, too.
What's good?
The sound quality is at least as good as a normal phone call if you use the speakers/microphone combination, and excellent if you use a headset.
A "call" to a Skype contact is free, regardless of duration and where the other person is based.
When I "skype out" - call a normal landline telephone - in Western Europe, the United States, Australia and a few other destinations, I pay about 1.7 euro cents per minute - much less than what I would pay BT.
Call charges to other countries are higher, but still cheaper than most other deals.
So what are the drawbacks?
Well, for starters you need a computer to make it work - and sit in front of it.
If you've switched off your computer or are off-line, nobody can skype you and you may not be able to hear a call coming in, if you are away from your PC.
There is one remedy, but it is not cheap: Siemens is selling an antenna that plugs into your computer's USB port, and connects a cordless home phone to Skype. And other companies are bringing out phones which plug straight into a USB port.
Twice over the past six months Skype failed me because of "network problems", although they usually went away after a few minutes.
All in all Skype is brilliant, very user-friendly, very cheap... but you won't be able to do away with your old home phone yet.
VONAGE
The premise of Vonage is simple - plug your existing phone or a second handset into a specially adapted router and start making phone calls over the internet.
Vonage charges £9.99 a month, and for that price local and national calls are all free, while calls to mobiles and international numbers are much cheaper.
Features such as voice mail, call waiting etc are all included in the price.
How does it work?
The monthly price includes a broadband router with two phone ports, which is connected to your existing broadband modem.
You plug a normal phone into the one of the ports on the router and hey presto - you get a dial tone. Vonage also allows you to create a "virtual number" with a UK dialling code, which means people can ring you for the cost of a standard call to that area.
At the moment, there is only a limited number of UK dialling codes to use for your virtual number - mainly the metropolitan areas.
But the advantage is people can call you on a "normal number" and your PC does not have to be switched on in order to make or receive calls.
What's good?
The flexibility to simply pick up your phone and dial out and receive calls makes Vonage very attractive for people who do not want to be sat at a computer.
The pricing is also very attractive and many people will save money on their calls. Calls to another Vonage user are free - no matter where they are in the world.
The quality of the calls to both local and international numbers is also good.
So what are the drawbacks?
New technologies always bring with them teething problems and I had initial problems getting a dial tone on my phone. Friendly, knowledgeable technical support staff helped me and the support number is free.
It did take more than an hour to sort out and if you don't have any technical knowledge you might be daunted by some of the steps you have to take.
But overall, Vonage succeeds because it takes the PC out of the VoIP equation.
Making free internet phone calls via my own cordless handset feels revolutionary.
Alexander Graham Bell would be proud. |
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