This is included here and not in the Forums since it is not a Primus TBB feature, although it may be of interest to some TBB users.

Most of you already know that you can make a "free" VoIP call using one of the following:

•Computer to Computer (FreeWorldDialup, Skype, etc). Requires a microphone & speakers - adapters (incl a USB phone) are sometimes available for different service providers.

•VoIP Phone to VoIP Phone (TBB, Vonage, etc). Requires an ATA generally supplied by the service provider.

Most of these require the use of Broadband connections, but the location you call often (Eastern Europe, India, or China, or some remote Canadian town) may not have Broadband access, or it is prohibitively expensive. Otherwise, you might have shipped your family or friend a Primus ATA with a Canadian Phone number to make unlimited calls to or from them (on the basic plan) !

However, did you know that you can make some VoIP calls on a dial-up connection?

»www.skype.com works with a proprietary iLBC codec at 13kbps, so it should work well over most dialup connections. The quality of this codec is in between what you get on TBB with the G.729 (good) and g.711 (best) codecs.

If 56kbps dial-up internet access is available at the called location, it may be advantageous to use a free »www.skype.com account with dialup there. It depends on how much you now spend on such LD calls. You should also take into account any dial-up hourly connection charges or maximum bandwidth caps, monthly plan, telephone metered charges, etc.

You will need a Skype account also, and can use either Broadband or dialup too. The disadvantage is that you each have to use computers to make a call (unlike TBB which only uses the ATA). Skype also needs to be ACTIVE on both computers when you make a call, so you might have to agree upon a time in advance - especially since your caller has to dialup first ! Or you can leave your computer on, with the speakers volume high, so you can hear the "Skype" phone ring when they call you instead !

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I would appreciate your feedback on any successful calls to post below (include which dialup ISP is used).

List of Dialup ISPs used to make LD calls with SKYPE
...TBD...

got feedback? got feedback?

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by canoe edited by Styvas
last modified: 2008-07-26 12:39:34