It’s now 4 months since I bought a Fritz!Box router with VOIP capability which seamlessly integrates the VOIP and regular telephone networks. Since setting the system up I’ve cut the cost of our calls (both BT and mobile) to next to nothing! So long as I don’t exceed a total of 300 minutes (5 hours!) per week it is absolutely free to call, not even a connection charge, to landlines in the UK and these countries:-

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Chile
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong (+mobile)
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Monaco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Puerto Rico (+mobile)
Russian Federation
Singapore (+mobile)
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Taiwan
United States (+mobile)

Which basically, for us, only leaves 0870, 0845 and calls to Zimbabwe as being chargeable. Even these calls are at low rates, Zimbabwe is 3.2p/min, 0870 is 8.0p/min and 0845 is 3.2p/min. These rates are with VoipStunt. The only catch, if you can call it catch, is that you must buy a minimum of €10 credit, this credit is then used for those calls which are chargeable, but so long as you remain in credit you get the free calls for 4 months. In our case we use up the credit by calling Zimbabwe but even if you never made a chargeable call the cost of the free calls will only have been the value of the unused credit equal to €2.50 per month!!

The beauty of the Fritz!Box is that it makes the whole thing work on the ordinary phones in your house. My Fritz!Box has a digital cordless phone plugged into it. So we are able to pick up any phone in the house and simply dial the number we want, the Fritz!Box takes care of whether it uses the BT line (eg 999 will go via BT) or the VOIP network which covers almost everything else. Incoming calls ring the phones as usual.

Call through is also possible with the Fritz!Box whereby I ring my VOIP number at home from my mobile, the Fritz!Box knows my mobile number and detects it, the Fritz!Box answers with a tone and I dial a 4 digit password after which I get dial tone and can then make a call. This means that using inclusive minutes on my mobile I’m actually able to call the USA, France, Italy etc. at no cost. Or, calling Zimbabwe from my mobile at 3.2p/min. Beat that!

I’ve used adapters in the past to make VOIP calls and the call quality has been variable. With the Fritz!Box every call is a clear as if I’d dialled using the BT line, this is because it will reduce the bandwidth being used for anything else which is going on at the same times athe call. For example file downloads will be slowed to allow the phone call to maintain top quality. VOIP is the future of telecoms.