Free or cheaper International calls

How it is useful for me

2008-06-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

Change is nature of world...There have been so many inventions changed our lives dramatically... invention of telephone changed the world by showing a new way of communication. We have been using it for the centuries to be in touch with friends, families and relatives.. Today many of us need to make international calls (ISD calls) to be in touch with our family, friends and relatives who are staying away from us in other countries or continents...

Eventhough using phone is most common, we have various options for making cheaper and almost free calls. I thought of sharing all my knowledge on this, with the hope it would be useful to you.

I can say this article is defintelly useful to you, if any of the following questions are in your mind..

Is there anyway, so I can call to my friend/family and talk to them without worrying about my telephone bill?

Is it only option I have, making ISD calls, to call my friend in abroad?

I have a computer at home in my home country, but I am not using it atleast to chat with my friends/family, as nobody there can operate my computer.. Is there anyway I can use it?

If you feel, this article is so long or not useful now, I suggest you to bookmark this and have a look at this when any of the questions come to your mind. In some contexts in this article I have given few details related to India, but most of the details of this article are useful to everyone in this world..

How to make free or cheap international calls

2008-06-07T09:14:00.001-07:00

Today there are 4 following options are available to make international calls.

1. calling from Computer to Computer
2. calling from Computer to Phone
3. calling from Phone to Phone
4. calling from Phone to Computer

1. PC to PC calls

2008-06-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

We will explore all the possibilities available for each of the above mentioned options.

for this we need computers with internet facility in both sides(caller and receiver).

The possible scenarios under this:

Caller and receiver both can operate computer

Only caller can operater computer

Caller and receiver both can operate computer :

If this is the scenario, we can use Yahoo messenger or Google or Skype or similar software installed on both computers. This is the cheapest way to make international calls. We can make unlimited calls with this option.

Only caller can operate computer:

If this is the scenario, we can use Yahoo messenger or Google or Skype or similar software installed on both computers. As there is a constraint, the receiver cannot operate computer, we need one more extra software for remote controlling the receiver's computer.

We need to install a remote controlling software in receiver's computer.(ex. logmein, teamviewer). So caller himself control the receiver's computer.

If everytime the receiver needs to login to ISP website, to connect to internet, we can write our own macro(we can use AUTOIT for this) and keep it in the Windows startup. So when the computer is switched on, the macro will be running and computer will be connected to internet.

We need to keep the remote controlling software link in the Windows startup, so it will be invoked automatically.

......Now the scenario will be... the receiver will switch on the computer as if it is a television, then automatically it will be connected to internet and then the remote controlling software will be invoked... and in within few minutes after switch on, it will be in caller's control.

Now caller can start Yahoo messenger or Google talk or Skype on both the computers.. and go for a voice call..

2. PC to Phone Calls

2008-06-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Internet to Phone calls has 3 sub categories as following.

Computer to a DUAL Phone

Computer to a Skype mobile

Computer to a Regular phone(Regular Landline or Mobile).

for making calls in any of the above option, receiver need not to have any computer.

We will see the above options in detail

Computer(Internet) to a DUAL Phone:

Today's technology advancement brought us DUAL Phones into use, DUAL phone is a phone,that can be used on internet and normal telephone connection simultaneously. When we use it on a internet connection, it works as VOIP phone, and when we use it on a normal phone connection, it works as a land line phone.

Various models of phones available on Skype for sale.

We have to choose a username, while installing it. Now we can login to Skype from anywhere in the world and call to that phone...

These phones are available in India with http://www.lanbitnetworks.com/

Computer(Internet) to a Skype mobile:

Recently Skype has launched Skype for mobiles. These skype mobiles are available in few countries listed in their website http://skype.com/. We can receive calls from any skype user in the world and we can call any skype user in the world. Caller can call from a computer to a skype mobile.

Computer(Internet) to a regular phone(regular Landline or Mobile):

Still many are in the false assumption, that we cannot call from a computer to a normal phone. Even many think calls made from computer will not be as clear as the calls made from landline. But today we are using broadband in many places of the world.. and there is lot of improvement in the quality of sound for the calls made from computer.

We can use Yahoo messenger or Skype or similar products to make calls to landlines. For using this facility we need to purchase call credit from them. For using Yahoo messenger, we need to sign up in http://www.voice.yahoo.com/ to purchase call credit. This is called Phone out credit. Once we have enough credit in our account, we can call any landline/mobile in the world using Yahoo messenger. This is pretty cheap compared to normal call charges we pay for landline/mobile.

3. Phone to Phone Calls

2008-06-07T06:39:00.000-07:00

This is the scenario, both caller and receiver uses phones. Available options can be catergorized as following.

Calling from Dual phone to Dual phone
Calling from Regular phone to Regular phone

Let us see each of the above in detail..

Calling from Dual phone to Dual phone:

Dual phone need internet connection. So both caller and receiver need internet connection.

Once the dual phone (most of these are skype installed) is set up, we can call that phone using the Skype user ID used on that phone...

Its similar to calling from computer to computer using skype. Instead of computers, we are using Dual phones. So there is no need of computer, but we need internet connection. It can be used anywhere in the world.

Just by paying internet bills, we can go for unlimited calls on this method.

Dual phones are available for sale on http://www.skype.com/

Calling from Regular phone(landline/mobile) to Regular phone(landline/mobile):

this method has been in use for long time....

either we can use call cards available or we choose a suitable plan from the phone service provider to make international calls. To call India from countries few selected countries (like US, UK, Australia,Malaysia), we can purchase prepaid credit from service providers like Reliance and Airtel.

for more info https://www.relianceindiacall.com/web/globalhome.aspx or

https://www.airtelcallhome.com/ics_war/ics.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=How+to+use_page

4. PC to Phone Calls

2008-06-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

This is the scenario.. where people call you from a regular phone and you receive it on your computer.

To avail this, receiver need a online number.

Caller can call receiver online number from any phone at their local rate.

The calls reach receiver on his/her computer, anywhere in the world. Receiver doesn’t pay to receive the call.

This facility can be availed from Yahoo or Skype.

for more information browse the following

http://www.voice.yahoo.com/phone_number.php

http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/onlinenumber/