VoipBuster beats SkypeOut's rates
posted August 9th 2005 7:30AM
There's a new kid in town in the VoIP game, and it's hitting
Skype hard in the wallet — if you open an account
and buy a single Euro ($1.27) worth of credit, you can place calls absolutely free to all points in the US, UK, Canada,
Australia and a slew of other countries, plus low calling rates to a far larger list of nations. The client itself
cannot be construed as feature-rich — there are no bells and whistles, no chat, no conference calling, presence
information or other of the niceties that Skype provides. It's definitely stripped down calling, but free is a darn
good price, although no one is quite sure how they're doing it or what the business model will be. The service is in
beta (as all such things are these days), and call quality is reportedly excellent. If you try it out, let us know your
experiences in the comments.
[Thanks, Jim]
Hey everybody, I tried it out yesterday and called a few landlines and cellphones. Not once did I experience any of the slight glitches during communicating like I have with Skype. Indeed, it's a bare bones phone. If the next iteration of the Treo is working with Windows Mobile, I'm sure it'll be a big hit by Skype fans.
Wow, just tested it in Spain, and it sounds like a normal phone. Bought the 1€ credit and can call for as long as you want. If it just could call mobile lines too...
Come on, can we get some OS X love?
i've been using this for a couple months now. i just use the laptop mic and it works great. if you don't buy that first credit you can still test it out 1min. at a time.
WOW! It works, and it's free. Wow. Pefect quality. All we need now is an "Incoming" feature.
Strange. Just installed, logged in and tried to place a call but got "Call ended (cause 12)". Not much fun. And there's no help on their homepage...
Just seems to drop out the calls about 5 seconds after connecting...
I started using this a few days ago, the only thing I find annoying is that there seems to be about a 2 second delay from when I say something to when they hear it. Although this could be because I am calling from Hong Kong to Oregon. Anyway, awsome deal, you cannot beat the price!!
Finally got through after trying 3 times in a row..
I'm with Zach... where is my 0S X love?
I could be wrong but I thought I read that you could not call cell phones in Canada and US.
Ohh My God, this is the best thing invented since slice bread... wow
I was SKYPE user but this blows it out of the water.... I'm in the U.S. NYC and it's so clear, I called my brother at work and the first time after a 1 min it cut....
Because that's the free service let's you call a landline phone for 1 min for free. So it was so clear and so amazing I paid the 1.OO euro which is $1.28 US. using paypal, ohh yeah they take paypal too, how cool is that...
Now after buying just $1.28 I now have unlimted talk time to any landline in the U.S. how cool is that... SKYPE i don't know what to tell you but your done, i'll never use skype again.
So then I called my brother back and after a min... it didn't cut because now that I purchased 1.00 euro I get free unlimited calls to landline phones anywhere in the U.S. --- ohh my god is it just me or is this amazing... I Love this thing.
I was going to call a cell but I don't want to waste any of my minutes.. since a cell phone is 1.1 to call if i'm not mistaken... here is the rates list see for yourself: http://www.voipbuster.com/en/rates.html
I love this thing... it's amazing if you have not tried it, don't wait it installs real quick and works like a charm.. it' priceless.. enjoy
I'm loving mine I got to go call some more people, free is free..... lol
Jim, Windows Mobile != Windows. VoIPbuster doesn't have a Windows Mobile version of their client yet and they don't seem to have any plans to release one.
Im sure they are having fun with all your credit card numbers now. This has scam written all over it, good luck :P
What do the rates really mean? For instance, to call US cellphones, they list "1.1". Does that mean 1.1 euros a minute? 1.1 Euro flat fee? 1.1 cents a minute? Anybody know?
It's eurocents a minute, they mention it at the bottom of their rates page.
I used it to call a landline in Germany and it works great! She couldn't even tell I wasn't on a regular phone. Even though it says US mobile calls are not free, I have been able to call them without any charge.
With so many people (that I know) switching to cell phones, this is useless for me and a great marketing tactic for them.
Hope others can take benefit.
Crazyglues - Wow, are you in broadcast?
Now what would be really cool, is if I could hoop up Asterisk to use this as an outgoing line.
Couldnt get it to let me start an account.... seems broken maybe too busy.
The rate to call a US cell phone is € 0.01 cents a minute for US users. (We don't have to pay Europe's VAT here, if I'm not mistaken.)
€0.01 is about ¢1.2
So a five minute phone call is about $0.06.
Does anybody know how this behaves when calling a VOIP phone? I'm thinking of calling a Vonage customer whose only other phone is a cell phone in Canada and I don't want to get into the installations and small fee if I know in advance it won't work.
Awaiting the OS X love.
A couple more things.
As for Tod #14, I meant if/when the new Treo comes with Windows Mobile, I can see a lot of Skype fans buying the thing just for its use as a Wi-Fi phone.
As for the Vonage question, I called people from the PC to their Vonage numbers and it was clear as day! The same with cellphones. I'm not sure what is going on there, but I called cellphones without signing up for the pay service and it worked without any problem. I've even had calls go as far as 1:30 and then end because of not signing up for the 1 Euro.
I have tried it for couple of days now, and it's a truely great software.
I live in the UK. Since I have installed it, I am calling my mates in China for at least 1 and half hours per day. The sound quality most of the time is no different to any other calling cards available, sometimes even better.
When calling UK, it's just like using a landline.
However, my dad in China said that when he calls other people in China, he can listen very clearly but the other side can't hear him without noise. Not sure whether this is because of the service or it's because he has got a bad mic.
Not sure how long this company will stay on for. But since I have tried to pay the 1 euro bill for two accounts, and the company rejected the second payment on the ground that they only accept one account per paypal account. So I think they should be a decent company. Well, still need to see.
I've called several mobile phones in the US and it's not charging me anything.
NickT - why did you say am I in broadcasting...?
was i a little to excited about it, it's just that I use skype a lot and it is always having problems, so when I tried this I was just amazed by how clear it is, but my brother said so is gizmo so i don't know maybe I posted my review too quickly.
But I still think it's real nice... haven't tried Gizmo yet but I will post again after trying it if I ever get around to it.. getting real busy here. - oh and no i'm not in broadcasting, but i do love to write (working on a book).
and I too used paypal, i wouldn't give my creditcard info so if there was no paypal option i would not have did it. (so for personal info i put a fake name and address so no AD mail for me)
How about this: Eventually, all voip will be free, land-lines will be free, and we'll only pay for our mobile phones. That is, until we acheive complete wireless fidelity, when that happens, all communication will be free. What that means for businesses and economies, I don't know.
How could possiblely everything become free? In the end of the day, someone needs to be paid to maintain the cables and equipments, and it's not cheap at all.
Well, I just called Australia and they charged me like .25 euros per minute! I'm pretty sure it was an office, but if it was a cell phone that's not the rate they have listed. There goes my 1 euro credit!!!
Crazyglues - hahaha. I was just jokin' around. You sounded like a commercial... EVERYone I know says the same thing about me.
I'm trying to sign up for this, but it is saying that it is not yet globally available (but to check supported regions on the website). I can't find it on the website. Im in Pennsylvania, in the USA. Does anyone know what this problem might be, and if there is a way around it??
I'm trying to sign up for this, but it is saying that it is not yet globally available (but to check supported regions on the website). I can't find it on the website. Im in Pennsylvania, in the USA. Does anyone know what this problem might be, and if there is a way around it??
sorry for the double post
I'm having the same problem as you, elistoughton. This is very annoying because everyone else is raving about the thing and I can't even try it. I'm in Washington state, which last I checked is part of the US, which is supposedly included in their "covered regions". Meh.... figures.
Any help here would be much appreciated.
It was a server error, the problem is fixed now though!
Is there a way to dial *82? I'm getting a message saying that the number does not allow blocked calls.
same here as James, the phone rings but when you answer you dont hear anything and it drops out the call after 5 seconds... :(
Signed up for it too. Didnt pay the 1 euro yet. But i plan on. I have tested it on landlines but most of the calls i made were to cell phones and they last on average 1.5 mins. I also detected the slight delay mentioned earlier on some calls. It only happenned when i use the laptop tho. From the desktop, which is directly connected to the router, its almost instant.
I just tested this and it charged me nothing, worked perfectly :)
Works great, my buddy hooked it up to Asterisk, no problems at all.
As a regular Skype user I must say that this system does immediately seem clearer. I'm mainly referring to things like using the Dial Pad to check my VM. The numbers seem to click instantly and transmit flawlessly. It always takes me a couple of tries with Skype. And calls overseas have been as clearer if not better than a land-line and Skype. Plus, calling cells in the US seems to be free too.
been playing with it today. Worked Ok with calls within the US, cell or land line. Made two calls to China, one mobile and one land line and both disconnected after 10 seconds. I even paid the 1 euro! I guess this is still beta.
试用了一下，音质不错，但支付信用卡1欧元，每个电话只能持续1分多小时。
Now there just need to be OS X and Linux versions...
I'm still a little skeptical about this though. Will they raise rates after they get x million members? How can I tell if I'm calling a cell phone ahead of time?
Ok mister hacker, crazy programer people. Some one get this thing working on a pocket pc. First one to do it I will give them 1 euro. Grin.
Ive been using voipbuster for the past few months, during the early stages of beta development. I Live in the UK and the quality is amazing no-one can tell the difference, the sound quality is perfect sometimes better than my own land line. As i was early signing up, early adopters where isued with an 0845 number so people can call me through voipbuster, via a landline. The advantage of this, that anyone in the UK can call my voipbuster account for the price of a local Call. As ive freinds all over the uk they can call me and i answer on voipbuster and they get charged only local call rates. So i could in Theory get rid of my landline, line rental, and use it as my main phone to make and receive calls. AMAZING
Wow i have tried it in Germany and it works really very well and sound quality is also quite good i had no Problems to Phone to the USA or to Switzerland.
I hope they will release a Linux client soon
Just use it Have fun :)
Sean, you get your internet via cable?
Have you tried a SIP client together with viopbuster yet? You can call your own land line and make, conference call and leave the computer. Or even better, call a bunch (depending on your bandwidth) friends land lines and everyone talks for free, all routed via your computer.
I hope that VOIPbuster can tackle the arrogant Skype.
Hello Guys,
I tried the voip buster for three days, but today I can not make any unlimited calls. The calls will be cut in 1.5 minute. Is this a bug?