Question to my dutch friends here at tweakers.net

[Anoniem: 248159]

Hey,


I would really appreciate some input on this if possible
I recently moved to the Netherlands. I am currently learning dutch but it is still difficult for me.
As for how this relates to internetproviders
Here's my question

I am currently with KPN IPB and I have the basic account for 49€. Its working out fine for me except that most of my family lives in the United States and Germany and I call there very very frequently.
I am looking for the cheapest and fastest alternative to KPN or maybe an option to wire VOIPBUSTER to my KPN account in the fashion of having an own phone that connects via voipbuster so I can call my family for cheaper because the KPN prices are simply outrageous to foreign countries.

I am also willing to switch providers if cheaper. I am paying about 600€ in phone costs for 2 month which is simply too much and the phone quality is mostly crappy too.

Can you suggest any combo packages for fast broadband internet + freely configurable voip ip services for less money than IPB ? I am currently locked with the Experia box from KPN which does not allow me to configure VOIP services outside the already offered KPN ones.

I read some posts about IPB here in the forum and I found that there are many experts among you, I just cant read enough dutch to help myself with whats already availible.

What are you using? which provider? which phones?

thank you so much for helping me, i wish I could write to you in dutch but for now I can only say
bedankt for het hulp !

[ Voor 4% gewijzigd door Anoniem: 248159 op 09-01-2008 01:44 ]

[cc bcc]

Skype would probably save you a lot of money. If your family and friends don't have Skype installed, you can use it to call to landlines, and it's quite cheap.

[MAX3400]

Dunno much about IPB but a quick Google with some Dutch words concerning your question, revealed that Skype and VoiPBuster should work with your current KPN-subscription.

The installation/configuration is unknown to me at this moment but maybe someone else will help you on that one.

[Anoniem: 248159]

that's great news, max3400, as for you cc bcc, I already use skype thing is that my wife is not very fond of computers and she just likes to pick up the phone and talk, if i can provide her with a regular phone that calls cheap it would be great.

[Alex)]

Skype offers SkypeOut, this is a service that lets you call to landlines. Visit www.skype.com for more information about that.

At home, our ISP (and telephony too) is Telfort, www.telfort.nl. The modem/router they offer allows SIP-configuration, you're not forced to use Telfort's VoIP-service.

[Anoniem: 131051]

Skype Out is definately an option for his problems, but i think he's refering to the other way around.. His wife calling him (and not being very fond of computers)

I'm not sure wether you can call to a skype account using a landline. Anyway, a solution could be: just have her phone you, when you see or hear it's her, hang up and call her back using skype.

It's not a very elegant solution, but it should work fine.

[DizzyWeb]

Anoniem: 131051 schreef op woensdag 09 januari 2008 @ 02:31:
Skype Out is definately an option for his problems, but i think he's refering to the other way around.. His wife calling him (and not being very fond of computers)

I'm not sure wether you can call to a skype account using a landline. Anyway, a solution could be: just have her phone you, when you see or hear it's her, hang up and call her back using skype.

It's not a very elegant solution, but it should work fine.

Yeah, that's possible, that's called SkypeIn. However, I'm not sure if they already have Dutch SkypeIn accounts.

[Alex)]

DizzyWeb schreef op woensdag 09 januari 2008 @ 03:00:
[...]

Yeah, that's possible, that's called SkypeIn. However, I'm not sure if they already have Dutch SkypeIn accounts.

He could take a SkypeIn-line on a US number. Then his wife only pays for national calls while he still receives the call...

[Anoniem: 248159]

All very smart ways, and I do as you told most of the times but I just want to reduce general costs of telephony and much of the money is drained by telephone. The only thing I really want to be able to do is configure the SIP for my experia box and plug a phone into it to call via voipbuster. If thats somehow possible that would be all I need. Whats the easiest way to accomplish that given that I have KPN at the moment, the experia box.

Thanks folks for coming up with all those ideas

[Alex)]

As far as I know the Experia box is locked down to the KPN-VoIP-servers only. If you want to use another telephony provider you would have to switch to another modem.

As I said before, Telfort (www.telfort.nl) offers fast internet (up to 20 megabit/s) but also telephony. The rates for calling to the US is € 0,045 per minute. (source)

[Workaholic]

I've had the same problem since most of my friends live in the states as wel.

I've purchased a seperate VOIP phone and I'm using that to make Skype calls. Really easy once set up!

FYI, I have a Philips Skype phone which does not require a computer or any 3rd party software.

Good luck!

[TrailBlazer]

you could switch to xs4all. This is one of the first dutch ISP and are well known for their quality although not the cheapest around. It might also be an option to get pack from them. This are all their services but without internetaccess. This will give you two VOIP numbers and the rates to the UK are very reasonable.

overige (UK) 1,083 ct/m 0,910 ct/m
131 (UK-Edinburgh) 1,083 ct/m 0,910 ct/m
844 (UK-Local 0845) 8,128 ct/m 6,830 ct/m
20 (UK-London) 1,083 ct/m 0,910 ct/m
161 (UK-Manchester) 1,083 ct/m 0,910 ct/m
55 (UK-National 0870) 13,780 ct/m 11,580 ct/m
70 (UK-Personal Numbers) 32,166 ct/m 27,030 ct/m

http://www.xs4all.nl/en/allediensten/pack/

[ Voor 32% gewijzigd door TrailBlazer op 09-01-2008 08:21 ]

[Kristof]

What do you think of anything like these?
http://www.expansys.be/p.aspx?i=132448
You just buy such a phone, and all you need is a wireless internet connection and skype account.

Personally, I don't have experience with this, but I remember an ex-collegue of mine bought it. He was very pleased with it so...

[Cloud]

TrailBlazer schreef op woensdag 09 januari 2008 @ 08:19:
you could switch to xs4all. This is one of the first dutch ISP and are well known for their quality although not the cheapest around. It might also be an option to get pack from them. This are all their services but without internetaccess. This will give you two VOIP numbers and the rates to the UK are very reasonable.

He needs to call the US, not the UK

[TrailBlazer]

wolkje schreef op woensdag 09 januari 2008 @ 08:45:
[...]

He needs to call the US, not the UK

264 (Anguilla) 22,539 ct/m 18,940 ct/m
268 (Antigua & Barbuda) 13,804 ct/m 11,600 ct/m
242 (Bahamas) 5,343 ct/m 4,490 ct/m
246 (Barbados) 13,852 ct/m 11,640 ct/m
441 (Bermuda) 6,557 ct/m 5,510 ct/m
284 (British Virgin Islands) 11,722 ct/m 9,850 ct/m
306 (Canada) 0,892 ct/m 0,750 ct/m
403 (Canada-Alberta) 0,892 ct/m 0,750 ct/m
250 (Canada-BR Columbia) 0,892 ct/m 0,750 ct/m
204 (Canada-Manitoba) 0,892 ct/m 0,750 ct/m
289 (Canada-Ontario) 0,892 ct/m 0,750 ct/m
418 (Canada-Quebec) 0,892 ct/m 0,750 ct/m
345 (Cayman Islands) 9,734 ct/m 8,180 ct/m
767 (Dominica) 12,436 ct/m 10,450 ct/m
809 (Dominican Republic) 5,843 ct/m 4,910 ct/m
473 (Grenada) 12,673 ct/m 10,650 ct/m
671 (Guam) 1,559 ct/m 1,310 ct/m
5399 (Guantanamo Bay) 105,767 ct/m 88,880 ct/m
876 (Jamaica) 8,330 ct/m 7,000 ct/m
664 (Montserrat) 16,636 ct/m 13,980 ct/m
670 (Northern Marianas) 3,927 ct/m 3,300 ct/m
787 (Puerto Rico) 1,714 ct/m 1,440 ct/m
869 (St. Kitts & Nevis) 15,815 ct/m 13,290 ct/m
758 (St. Lucia) 15,042 ct/m 12,640 ct/m
784 (St. Vincents) 14,804 ct/m 12,440 ct/m
868 (Trinidad & Tobago) 10,424 ct/m 8,760 ct/m
649 (Turks & Caicos Island) 13,602 ct/m 11,430 ct/m
overige (USA) 1,190 ct/m 1,000 ct/m
907 (USA-Anchorage) 2,868 ct/m 2,410 ct/m
404 (USA-Atlanta) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
312 (USA-Chicago) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
216 (USA-Cleveland) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
214 (USA-Dallas) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
808 (USA-Hawaii) 2,190 ct/m 1,840 ct/m
281 (USA-Houston) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
213 (USA-Los Angeles) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
305 (USA-Miami) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
212 (USA-New York) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
215 (USA-Philadelphia) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
415 (USA-San Francisco) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
206 (USA-Washington) 1,285 ct/m 1,080 ct/m
340 (Virgin Islands USA) 2,011 ct/m 1,690 ct/m

unless he has friend in Guantanamo Bay it is still not very expensive.

[Fish]

http://www.callsdiscount.nl/nederland/index.htm

Verenigde Staten 020 321 92 92 (€ 0,00 / minuut*)

worth while trying, from the lookds its normal dutch landline. so like 2 ct's a minute

[ Voor 7% gewijzigd door Fish op 10-01-2008 21:54 ]

[defusion]

It is possible to buy a stand-alone SIP-phone, and connect it to your router. Then configure it to use voipbuster directly.

It's also possible to call VOIP-buster from a landline, and pay local net fees, and let them connect you to any other line at their usual rates.

That would mean you'll pay the landline fees + the voipbuster fees, but you'll save some money because you don't need a stand-alone SIP phone.

[RemcoDelft]

Assuming you have a KNP-phone with "normal" tarifs:
http://www.telestunt.nl/toegangsnummers.php#V ==> This provider makes you call a 0900-number (charged on your normal phonebill, DO NOT use it from your cellphone, which is very expensive), after which you call the number you want in the USA, for which you pay 2 cent per minute.

[bjck]

't Completely against policy to do it in English. But since a lot of helpful people pickup this topic and English isn't a real problem for most of us I'll leave it open.