VOIP issues

[marksi]

Something that is more and more of an issue is that with BT, I can't have a broadband connection without paying for line rental (tell me if I'm wrong). But I don't need to pay BT line rental if I use VOip.

[cdd]

The thing about these USB phones is I don't recognise any brands or know if there's any known 'good ones' to go for. Anyone got any experience or got one that they can recommend?

I've just bought one so I'll tell you what it's like when it arrives.

[Uncle Bruce]

My friends and family all have Skype - I have a handset, so do my brother and parents - which means that we can all phone each other free. And I use it all the time for calling landlines, too - saves a lot of money compared to using my mobile constantly. I also have the program from Sipgate (http://www.sipgate.co.uk/), which assigns you a free landline number for your PC, which is more useful for me than most, since my student house doesn't have a landline - just a broadband conneciton. Skype has a similar service, but it's not free. So I just use both - using Sipgate only for incoming calls (and freephone calls, which are actually free, unlike on Skype).

Got the same here, but I've got a box attached to my router which allows me to plug in a normal phone line and essentially my Sipgate number becomes a house phone - I don't need the PC on to make phone calls. I've also got broadband from Telewest, so no need to even pay money to BT.

Sipgate does have odd reliability issues every now and again, but that's got better with time. Considering you pay nothing for the line, and only pay for calls, it's quite a bargain.