Voip Service - Free Calls?

[tiddler]

Can anyone suggest any voip companies or providers that allow free calls? All the ones I am finding are quite high call charges to mobiles, around 8.5p per minute ( I do quite high volume calls).

Thanks

 

[lazypbx]

Calls cost carriers. Nobody is going to provide you with a high volume of calls to mobile for free. The best you will find be a bundle option that suits you. You also need to consider quality, some providers will do something called tromboning, which routes calls outside the country then back in but quality suffers (and you will likely have no or incorrect caller-id).

 

[tiddler]

Thanks for confirming. Yes, happy to pay a bundle cost but so many seem expensive for per minute based. I will have a call around some companies and see what I can find. Thanks for your help.

 

[dotcomdude]

I've used yay.com for unlimited UK landline and mobile calls, about £15 a month.

 

[tiddler]

Thanks dotcomdude. I have emailed them but can only seem to find them providing USA numbers and I think a London number. Have you found this to be the case?

Thanks

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

@cjd might know someone...



no idea TBH

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

The costs are so cheap to run these phones that free calls should not be a requirement

 

[tiddler]

I have to disagree Jeremy. Why should a start up not look at keep costs down?

When 8 hours a day is spent on the phone to mobiles which an average cost with voip is 10-15p a minute, 5 days a week, 20 days a month - it swift adds up.

Based on 10p per minute is close to £12,000 a year!!! That is not cheap - not when mobiles offer unlimited free minutes to mobiles and landlines which I use now but the office I am moving to has poor mobile signal.

 

[cjd]

Where can I get free steak, I need a lot to keep my restaurant going. It's really expensive!

Telephone companies pay the mobile companies in pence per minute to send a call to a mobile user. This means that you'll never find free calls to mobiles. Various companies do various deals, you'll have to look around to find one that suits you. But beware, cheap steak often stinks.

We all have the same costs so you'll find that there are different ways of recouping them from users and the marketing headline rate of x pence per minute is usually the tip of the pricing iceberg only. Choosing a telephone company on price alone is generally a bad idea. Telephony is dirt cheap these days, saving a few quid here and there is a false economy. You might find this useful

https://www.voipfone.co.uk/scams-of-the-telephony-trade.php

 

[tiddler]

I understand what you are saying but for a small business such as mine, £12,000 a year on phone calls for a company with around a £40,000 turnover is a big hit. I work from home but want to spend 2-3 days a week hot desking in a local business centre which has diabolical phone reception.

Yay.com have some excellent reviews and offer an unlimited mobile and landline package for £15 which I am going to try as suggested above.

They do have a fair useage policy which I would hit nowhere near and the 0845 numbers etc come at a cost but I don’t use them. There is no tie in contract as well so if it’s not suitable at least I’m not tied in.

I had a quote last night from a uk provider and they wanted £600 per month. I can’t justify that when I could stay working from home and have all free calls.

It’s not about getting a free lunch, I am just not in a position as a start up to go all out on high telecoms when it’s not essential or really needed, the choice is stay home and work at nominal cost (but isolate myself) or hot desk and network etc at a small cost.

 

[tiddler]

I am sure all business users nowadays have unlimited free minutes on their mobiles. But ask for free minutes on voip and you want something for nothing and are unreasonable !!

 

[Mark T Jones]

I understand what you are saying but for a small business such as mine, £12,000 a year on phone calls for a company with around a £40,000 turnover is a big hit.

It’s not about getting a free lunch, I am just not in a position as a start up to go all out on high telecoms when it’s not essential or really needed, the choice is stay home and work at nominal cost (but isolate myself) or hot desk and network etc at a small cost.

It's OK to shop around (bearing in mind cost/value relationship), but if your core costs can't be justified you have to accept that the business model itself is flawed.

 

[cjd]

I am sure all business users nowadays have unlimited free minutes on their mobiles. But ask for free minutes on voip and you want something for nothing and are unreasonable !!

There's a very big difference between 'free' and 'unlimited'. Most of us do unlimited, no-one does free. Free is a quick route to bankruptcy.

Also, no-one does unlimited without some form of contraint. These days it tends not to be a call limit but a list of prohibitions. If they didn't do that people would be setting up hundred seat call centres for £10 per month.

 

[tiddler]

Yes, fair play - I probably worded it incorrect by saying 'free'. What I was meaning was a bundle type idea - pay a fee and have unlimited minutes etc.

Mark I don't think it's flawed by not wanting to spend out £12K a year on telecoms when there are solutions out there, I was simply looking for a more viable option to keep overheads to a minimum and wasn't expecting to not have to pay a sausage. I just didn't want to be paying premium rate per minute/call if there was a better solution of a 'package deal' so to speak.

 

[dotcomdude]

Thanks dotcomdude. I have emailed them but can only seem to find them providing USA numbers and I think a London number. Have you found this to be the case?

Thanks

No, we had a Birmingham number - but I'm sure you can select one in more or less any UK city for free...

 

[lazypbx]

I am sure all business users nowadays have unlimited free minutes on their mobiles. But ask for free minutes on voip and you want something for nothing and are unreasonable !!

Bear in mind you're normally going to be paying a higher contract to a mobile operator, many of the calls remain on their network and they have reciprocal arrangements with other providers. VoIP also allows for a 'trunk' (simultaneous calls) and can easily be shared across multiple phones.

I think VoIP providers would happily offer free minutes to everyone if the mobile operators would kindly allow free termination

 

[ffox]

Skype do bundles -

https://secure.skype.com/calling-rates?language=en

Skype comes in for a lot of flack regarding QoS, but I use it and find it to be reasonably reliable.

 

[NickGrogan]

When 8 hours a day is spent on the phone to mobiles which an average cost with voip is 10-15p a minute, 5 days a week, 20 days a month - it swift adds up.

Based on 10p per minute is close to £12,000 a year!!!

£12,000 a year on phone calls for a company with around a £40,000 turnover is a big hit.

If you're spending 8 hours per day / £12,000 on the phone to mobiles and your turnover is £40,000 then you might want to review your business model.

That seems like a lot of calls for a very low return.