(yellol)

This site is actually surprisingly helpful. I’m sure that there are those times where you want to check on your grandparents but are limited because of those ridiculous international call rates. Well, VOIP technology has largely resolved that issue but what if you don’t happen to use Skype? Well, you can always download Skype and buy a few minutes, but I know that my dear readers are too cheap to.

Evaphone is an online service that allows you to make free international calls from the comfort of your computer. The service is streamlined and simple as well. However, it has one major fault. You are limited to a certain time before you either purchase minutes or your call will be ended. Now, before you get all disappointed, first check out the available free time. For example, calling a mobile phone in Algeria, you are limited to eight seconds. On the other hand, a call to Estonia gives you almost two minutes. The average is around a minute or so, not to shabby for a quick call.

The only requirements is a broadband internet (which you have…of course ) and a microphone. If you don’t have a microphone, you can get a cheap bluetooth headset with an adapter for less than ten bucks nowadays. So what are you waiting for, check out Evaphone right here (and go buy that headset)!

Skype has got some serious competition now, as of this week. Released in public beta, VoxOx has great potential. Loaded with features like call encryption, the service gains some big momentum in that area. Possibly the best feature of all would be the free phone number. Yeah, you heard that, a phone number with no strings attached. The only downside is that you can’t pick your phone number, but I suppose that I shouldn’t be complaining since it is free. To top that, you get two hours of free calling (120 points)! Along with cheap calling rates, you can “earn” minutes by referring users over to VoxOx, an extra two hours for every new user. There are also rumors that they’ll have an ad system, where users can earn points by viewing advertisements.

All of this is pretty sweet stuff, but in the end it comes down to quality. Can VoxOx match Skype’s relatively high-end call quality? And to answer myself, it would be yes. During some test calls I made, VoxOx has solid quality, whether I called landlines or mobile phones going sixty miles an hour  down the freeway. The only time quality lagged was against some poor VOIP services I put it against, but it was completely the fault of the other provider and definitely not VoxOx.

If you’re still reading this and not already signing up, stop waiting and get to it! To sign up, just click here! By the way, if you want to get me two free hours of calling time, enter your email in the comment section and I’ll email you an invite as soon as possible! I remember favors…