Thursday, July 16, 2009

How can I get free VoIP?

The first thing to know about free VoIP calls is that none of them are actually completely free. Even in the best hypothetical case in which the VoIP provider doesn't charge you at all, remember that you still have to pay for your broadband Internet connection. You must understand that the goal is not to achieve completely free calls to all destinations, but to use the VoIP operator that suits your needs best. Keeping that in mind, you will learn that most VoIP companies will let you talk for free in their own network but also they will charge you for making calls outside their proprietary network.

The main way for free VoIP calls companies is to offer free calls inside their own network and also towards other specially selected destinations. Using this tactic users are drawn to make calls to free destinations and afterwards purchase credits to make calls towards paid destinations.

There are several ways used by VoIP companies to lure customers and make a profit in the same time. The great thing about VoIP calls is that they're very cheap, but not completely free, here are some systems used today in the VoIP calls market:

If you take Skype for example, one of the most popular VoIP services on the market, you will see that you can initiate conversations with other PC users of Skype free of charge. Of course, this is an advantage for long distance calls, as there is no fee for calls inside the Skype network. But if you want to make calls to regular landlines, you'll have to pay. The subscription fee for calls in North America is $30 per year. It's not a great deal of money but it still isn't free. You can make free phone calls on a PC to PC basis using the Skype software, and the number of users on the Skype network is continuously growing. On the other hand if you want to reach someone that doesn't have a PC or an Internet connection, you'll have to pay the required fees.

Another approach to this, could be the way Raketu is seeing things. Raketu is offering free phone calls to landlines in 42 countries and besides that, it also offers live video television. The downside to Raketu's service is that they ask you to pay $9.95 up front in order to use their free services. They say it's used as credit if you happen to call destinations that are not on the free call list, but either way you look at it; it's money that you have to pay to use the service.