TELEPHONY - INTERNET TELEPHONY - 04.02.2014

Cheaper phone calls with Viber?

Viber

Everyone knows Skype ( http://www.skype.com ): it allows you to phone other Skype users free of charge and it also lets you call ordinary phone numbers. Viber ( http://www.viber.com ) has also been offering free calls to other Viber users, but now there’s Viber Out, which allows you to make calls to any landline or mobile number.

Buying credit

Like with most VoIP apps for smartphones, you have to buy credit before you can start making phone calls. In Viber, select More ; Viber Out ; Buy Credit . Credits can be bought from 79p to £7.99. Payment is done via the app store - Viber exists for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, a number of Nokia devices, Windows, Mac and Linux. Tip. You can also create an account on the Viber account website ( http://account.viber.com/account ) and buy credit there through your credit card (£3, £6 or £15.20). When you enter a telephone number, a connection will be established through the Wi-Fi network or 3G. Calls to landlines in most European countries and the US cost around 1.2p per minute. Prices for calling mobile numbers differ from country to country: from 3.7p to 19p. During our tests, the audio quality was good and we always obtained a quick connection.

Skype Out

Skype Out is a bit more expensive. You pay 1.4p for calls to landlines in most European countries, but you should add a 3.1p connection fee per call. Mobile phone calls cost 2.5p per minute, plus 6.2p per call. Conversely, Skype offers good value subscriptions (without connection costs), e.g.  unlimited Europe or Unlimited World at £4.59 and £9.76 per month respectively (landlines only). For calls to mobile numbers, you can’t use these unlimited packages. Like Viber, Skype also offers a good audio quality, although the app appeared to be relatively slow and crashed once in a while. There’s a Skype app for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Windows, Mac and Linux.

Alternatives

There are dozens of other apps for Internet telephony via your smartphone, e.g. WiCall ( https://itunes.apple.com/app/wicall-cheap-voip-phone-call/id489885695 for iOS and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wicall for Android). This service charges slightly over 1p per minute for calls to landline numbers and around 4.2p per minute for mobile numbers. Fring ( http://www.fring.com ) charges around 0.6p per minute to landlines and up to 17p to mobile numbers in its FringOut service. For iOS, there’s a subscription for £5 per month (unlimited to landline numbers).

Cheaper mobile calls

To make cheaper calls to mobile numbers, check out Betamax/Dellmont ( http://www.dellmont.com ). Under dozens of brand names, they offer VoIP services, which all work via the MobileVoip app ( http://www.mobilevoip.com ). On the Compare website ( http://abvuk.co.uk ), you can enter any country in order to find out which services are cheapest. Mobile calls are from 0.4p per minute. Tip. Certainly check the Exclude Sites with Connection Fee option. Note. You may hear a slight echo when using these services.