SIPDiscount.com
 

Hi there :),
I would love to register with SIPDiscount but unfortunately I can't download their softphone (needed to register with them).
They have 0.00€ calls for Portuguese landlines ;-).
Does someone here have the softphone?
Can you download it?
I can't and I've tried from several computers/internet accounts with no success.
Cheers

Hi Rui,

This is another of the branches of "VoIPBuster" types :D
You can use ANY soft phone to connect, but you must register first in order to create an account.
Then you can use Pulver, XLite, or better yet, FireFly soft phone :)
http://www.virbiage.com/firefly/down...thirdparty.exe

-kwag

That's what I'm saying.
I want SIPDiscount because their one-time-fee is the cheapest of all VoipBuster clones and because they have free calls to PTG landlines.
But in order to register with them I need their softphone.
That's what I was asking, if someone could download their sofphone because I can't seem to download it from their site.
After registering I'll be using SJLabs sofphone with SIPDiscount's account ;-).
Cheers

I see what you mean. I tried, and couldn't download the registration client.
Well, then go here: http://www.voipcheap.co.uk :D
Calls to Purtugal are also free :)

-kwag

Yep, I know but VoipCheap's one-time-fee is not as cheap as SIPDiscount's...
I have already registered at VoipCheap a few weeks ago but I would rather go with SIPDiscount ;-).
Cheers

I didn't findout any softphone, but installer.exe
Could you post a link, please?

Hi Luis :),
Here, try this link http://www.sipdiscount.com/en/register.html .
Now hit the "download now" button and you'll know what I'm talking about :(.
They also do Spanish landlines for free if you sign up and pay the one-time-fee which I believe is 5€.
But if you don't pay the fee you get "1 minute only" free calls anyway.
Good bargain for us Iberians ;-).
Cheers[/url]

Hi Rui,
today I managed to download from your link above a little (860 KB) aplication named "sipdiscount.exe".
When I double-click on it, launches a "SIP Discount Registration" formulary, when you can enter Username, Password, Retype password and Email address.
I didn't fill the formulary so I don't know what happens next. Did you manage to download this aplication, does the problem you find come later?. If you didn't manage to download it, I could upload it to mytempdir or whatever. Just make me know.

Hi Digi.doc :D,
That's exactly my problem.
I can't download that "sipdiscount.exe" that will further allow me to register.
It would be great if you could upload it to mytempdir for us who can't download it :P .
Cheers

Here it is: http://rapidshare.de/files/8812814/sipdiscount.exe.html

BTW, could you say me what is a nice way to having telephone on pc and how my friends could from telephone, call me to my pc.
There are so threads about this that im confused.
I interested in your answer as you are in Portugal, near me, so a good solution for you also will be for me.
Thanks.

Thanks Luis :D.
You're right.
Maybe we should make a guide or something because it's getting messy with so many threads :lol:.
That's the tricky part Luis.
These providers are only cool for you to use them as SIP to PSTN or SIP to SIP gateways allowing you to call someone else (SIP or regular landline).
But only a few have the SIP_In service which is actually what you want.
That's why there are a couple of SIP proxys.
They act like Dynamic DNS providers by linking your SIP service account to a telephone number that they will provide you.
The big problem here is that these proxys offer USA phone numbers or at the best UK phone numbers.
I don't know a single one that offers Spanish phone number or Portuguese phone numbers.
And you know what happens when someone in Spain dials a USA or UK phone number? Yep, they get charged with an International call :(.
Check out http://www.ipkall.com/.
They give out free USA/Washington phone numbers.
So if for instance Karl wants to call you, he'll pay local call charges ;-).
So I guess we still have to wait some more time until Spanish and Portuguese proxys arrive to the scene.
Until then we can do SIP to SIP calls paying 0.00€ and we can also call SIP to regular landline also paying 0.00€ with VoipBuster, VoipCheap, SIPDiscount, etc...
As you see above, the best solution to Portugal might not be the best solution to Spain ;-).
Cheers

So recommend me one of them.
Is there any totally free?
Thanks.

I will try SIPDiscount but i have not a softphone.
Where i can get one?

I registered but free calls to spain are 1 minute long!!! :(

Right here Pro: http://www.virbiage.com/firefly/down...thirdparty.exe

-kwag

Hi Rui,

:lol:

Well, you already have been well and fast helped.

I'll keep wired to see if I also try this VoIP thing.

Hey doc, but thanks anyway ;-).

@Luis,
I guess that the best of these 3 providers is SIPDiscount but I still haven't tested everything.
I have already registered with the sipdiscount.exe that you sent us a link for.
But they seem to have not activated my account yet.
From reading other forums where this issue has also been raised, I guess I have to wait ~24 hours after registering before service gets 100% available.
Only then I'll be able to pay the one-time-fee and then I'll tell you which is best.
BTW, here in portugal some internet service providers give us 20GB of national downloads and 1GB of international download.
If that's the same case in Spain, you might not enjoy SIP calls as much as I do because my provider gives me 10GB of international or national downloads ;-).
Anyway here's what gives.
A 1 hour talk with a SIP phone using a "GSM quality" codec will take 5.9MBytes of download + 5.9MBytes of upload.
Anyway that is ~12MB of traffic with a 13.2kb/s codec and I'm not including the RTP overheads...
On the other hand professional SIP providers can give you G.729 ACELP that takes 8kb/s = 3.6MB = 7.2MB for a 1 hour talk not considering the RTP overhead.
Or G.711 A/u Law that takes 64kb/s that will take you ~57MB of traffic on a 1 hour call...
This is not an exact science because you might configure your softphone for "silence supression and you can end up using less than what I wrote above but this might interest you.
Cheers

Thanks.
I've already installed:


http://www.digitalfaq.com/archives/i.../2005/12/1.gif

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/expresstalk.html

What of them seems you better?

Do you need to pay a fee only once?
I registered but i only can call to spain for a minute calls!!!
What im doing wrong?

Never tried Express Talk so I wouldn't know.
But the most awarded SIP softphones are:
- X-Ten lite is considered the best of the best.
But if you ask me the horrible GUI and horrible setup procedures leads me to think that's it's not the best choice for newbies.
- Pulver Communicator is very nice for newbies and it even comes with an MSN/ICQ plugin.
But the phone is slow and lacks some features such as multi service providers and it's not the best at anything besides having a busy lamp field that tells you immediatly if someone is online or not.
- SJPhone is a nice softphone with good looks, good features and a nice integration with Microsoft ILS servers that are +/- yellow pages of SIP.
- Firefly as suggested by Karl is a very good option.
Nice and clean GUI, SIP and IAX support, easy setup and multi service providers support.
If you ask me, there is no "close to perfect" softphone.
But my oppinion is Firefly and SJphone are the best options for newbies.
Cheers

Exactly, before paying the one-time-fee you can only place 1 minute free calls.
After paying the fee you should get unlimited free calls to the list of countries that is on their web page.
At least that's what they say but they don't promisse to keep the countries that are on the list and they don't promisse that it will always be free ;-).
Cheers

Nice one Pro :D
I like it a lot :!:
However, FireFly has the advantage that you can connect to SIP and to any IAX2 (Asterisk) provider :)
If you don't care about this, then expresstalk seems to be a better (prettier) choice. I don't know about audio quality, though.

-kwag

BTW, if anyone wants to make some quick audio tests, you can dial me at 200@kvcd.dyndns.org (Works fine with Express Talk too :!: )
That's a direct address into my Asterisk PBX, redirected to my telephone extension :D
If you call today, please don't make fun of my voice, as I'm just coming out of a laryngitis, so I'm quite not me yet :nasty: :lol:
If I'm not in, you'll get the voice mail, so feel free to leave a message :cool:

-kwag

I'm trying Cubix which is based on FireFly2 code from Virbiage.
And I was trying to call Karl but unfortunately I get no audio on my side otherwise I would have heard him (with or without a funny voice :P).
And if he wasn't there to pickup my call then his Voicemail picked up and I couldn't hear nothing.
I'm not quite sure if it's a Cubix problem or if it's my firewall...
I'll let you know latter.
BTW, if it was not this huge issue with the audio I would say that Cubix rocks!
And that's because of all the neat settings that I saw along with all the codecs and protocols that it uses.
Cheers

STUN, STUN, STUN server :lol:
If the one you're using doesn't work, which seems likely, try: stun.voipbuster.com ;)

-kwag

@all,

D/L X-Lite soft phone and tried to configure it for SipDiscount which I
finally registered successfully.

I used the following settings:

Username: sipdiscount username
Password: sipdiscount password
SIP/Proxy registrar: sip1.sipdiscount.com
Domain/Realm (optional): sipdiscount.com
STUN Server: stun.sipdiscount.com

When dialing with X-Lite nothing happens, no connection :roll:
If anyone has setup X-Lite with SipDiscount, I would appreciate some help?

-BP

Hi BP,

Did you try another softphone client :?:
How about Firefly :?:

-kwag

Pardon me for my French but IMHO x-lite sucks when it comes to setup.
You should try Firefly which is veeeery easy.
They're developing Cubix based on Firefly code.
Don't know if Cubix will be freeware but the betas that I tested looked wonderful.
Cheers

@Kwag and Rui,

I configured X-Lite for SipDiscount as follows:

This worked when my firewall Kerio was briefly disabled and
turned on again. So, now I'm trying to figure what port is
being blocked :roll:

X-Lite can be setup with multiple SIP proxies, so you can easily
switch to another Sip, like Voipbuster. :)

BTW, I did try Freshtel Firefly and couldn't find information about
setting up SIP proxy. Maybe you could post a brief example of
how to do this.

Thanks

-BP

Hi BP,
Try opening UDP and TCP port 5060 for SIP.
Also try to open UDP port 3478 (and perhaps 3479) for STUN server.
This works for me.
Cheers

@Rui,

Rui wrote:
Thanks Rui. Will try your suggestions this evening :wink:

-BP

@Rui,

To get X-Lite to connect with either SipDiscount, FWD or VoipBuster,
I configured Kerio Personal Firewall v4 to allow TCP/UDP for ports 5060
and it Works!!!. :mrgreen: Here's the steps:

1) Open Kerio configuration
2) Select tab Network Security (upper left)
3) Select button Packet Filter (lower right)
4) Select Filter Rules
5) Select button ADD
6) Select drop down Name
7) Select from drop down TCP. In Direction area select Both and Permit.
8 ) Select from drop down UDP. In Direction area select Both and Permit.
9) Press Apply button
10) Press OK, then OK.

Now X-Lite works for SipDiscount, FWD and VoipBuster :mrgreen:

-BP

Great!!
Looking forward to receive a call from you one of these days, then :lol:.
My FWD account number is 718780 but the others I can't remember right now.
I have VoipCheap/SIPDiscount, FWD and Netcall.
Well, maybe I have registered other which right now I can't remember :lol:.
Cheers BP :)

Ok, I've been running around all these good providers that have free (after a one-time-fee) calls and I can't make up my mind.

Here's a lis of service providers that I find appealing:
-voipbuster.com
-sipdiscount.com
-voipcheap.co.uk

All 3 are companies owened by the same person 8O.
All 3 have free calls to a lot of countries (only landlines with a few exceptions!).
All 3 have very low rates on countries that fall outside of the free "package".
All 3 have online shops to buy call credits.

Main differencies:
-voipbuster and voipcheap have HTTP secure (HTTPS) shops.
-sipdiscount shop runs on average HTTP...
-voipbuster and sipdiscount both work with EUROS and their one-time-fee is 10€, plus 5 or 10€ call credits per recharge (if ever needed ;-)).
-voipcheap works with GBP and their one-time-fee is 10£ (more expensive!) and I couldn't find out about their call credit recharges (if ever needed).
-voipbuster and voipcheap have VISA/MasterCard/Paypal.com
-sipdiscount only has paypal.com and moneybookers.com
-all have free calls to the USA but voipbuster doesn't offer free calls to the UK
-none of them has callsetup/startup fee
-voipcheap can provide UK numbers for inbound calls
-all have free one-minute calls to a list of countries slightly different than the ones below ;-).

Here is an updated (16-12-2005) list of free countries for each service provider.
Please note that this list was taken from each service provider full "call rates" page!
This is not the same list that appears on their main page, so there are differences!

VOIPBUSTER (16 countries)
argentina, austria, denmark, finland, germany, greece, ireland, luxembourg, netherlands, norway, portugal, spain, sweden, switzerland, taiwan, united states

SIPDISCOUNT (20 countries)
austria, belgium, canada, denmark, finland, france, germany, greece, ireland, italy, liechtenstein, luxembourg, netherlands, norway, portugal, spain, sweden, switzerland, united kingdom, united states

VOIPCHEAP (22 countries)
australia, belgium, denmark, finland, france, germany, greece, iceland, ireland, italy, liechtenstein, luxembourg, monaco, netherlands, new zealand, norway, portugal, spain, sweden, taiwan, united kingdom, united states

All in all I should probably go with voipcheap but using the british currency was not on my plans...
Cheers

Hi Rui, thanks a lot for so detailed info.
I have a question. sipdiscount offers, as i understood, not only 1 minute calls, but any duration free calls, to some countries, i.e. spain. Isn't it?

All 3 above including sipdiscount offer free calls to Spain.
There are two ways of having free calls with them: the one minute way and the unlimited time way.
The one minute way you don't have to pay nothing.
The unlimited way you have to pay the one-time-fee of 10€ or 10£.
If you only call to countries in the above free list, the one-time-free will remain untouched and available for calls to countries not on the above list ;-).
Now I don't know for how long they keep your credits available for you to spend.
Usually it should be no more than 6 months like Skype does but it's not written anywhere on their pages.
Cheers

ALERT!!! http://www.digitalfaq.com/archives/i.../2003/06/1.gif
VoipCheap might not be SIP!
Actually some say it is IAX based.
And that means that we won't be able to use an ATA conversor with our regular analogue phone on that network.
But if you plan on just using *their* softphone then I guess you won't get in trouble.

On the other hand I have to stand corrected.
It seems that there is NO ONE-TIME-FEE.
In fact, you get to make free calls WHILE you have credit.
So, if you deposit 10€ on their account you get to make free calls to the destinations that I wrote above (according to the information on their sites).
But if you spend those 10€ on calls to destinations that are not free, then you won't be able to place any free calls until you deposit more money on their account.
Just thought I should make this clear.
Cheers

UPDATE:
I've been playing around with these SIP providers and I've finally deposited money in their account.
I'm currently using SIPDiscount.
I deposited 10€ that have to be spent in 4 months!
That makes it 2.5€ per month and it means that I (we?) have to recharge in order to keep using the free calls.
Guess I'll spend it on mobile phone calls but I'll have to make sure that I still have some credit until the 120 days are over so that I can keep enjoying the free calls ;-).
Now I can make 1 hour long free calls to Portugal, Spain, U.K., U.S., etc.
You can find it on their site if you need it, just make sure you select "call rates".
The reason why I took so long to make the deposit is because until a few weeks ago they didn't have secure payments over the internet (a.k.a. HTTPS).
Now they do!
They support VISA/MasterCard as well as Moneybrokers etc.
And surprise-surprise, now they also support G.729(8Kbit) and G.723(less than 6Kbit) as well as the early supported G.711A/u.
This means that now I spend a lot less bandwidth than I used to when I was using their 1-minute test calls.
G.729 is one of the best codecs around.
8Kbit/s = 1KByte/s and 1 hour at this rate is equal to 3600KBytes.
Since voice is bi-directional it means we have to double that in order to know how much traffic is spent on a one hour which is ~7MB.
Not bad, huh? :-D
Hope this helps anybody that still hasn't made up their mind.
Cheers

I also signed up with sip disscount.
But i called to Argentina, theoretically free calls, and I was billed with 0.01 €/min.
Not bad really, but it is advertised as free :(
Now, does anybody could advise me about a wireless handset for my wife, she hate to up the stairs and call from my PC.

Well of course :D
http://www.utstar.com/Solutions/Handsets/WiFi/
That's what I carry around :cool:

-kwag

Nice handset, but what do i need in order to connect it to my PC for doing calls.