I’ve been travelling for the last two weeks and have been trying (oh so hard) to get internet calling set up properly on my laptop. The router in the flat I’m staying in is a POS, and is giving me a very hard time, so I have yet to make a proper phone call other than just testing. However in the mean time, I’ve discovered Diamondcard as it is the recommended service for PC-to-Phone calling in Ekiga.
Diamondcard not only has a gateway for PC-to-Phone calling, but they also provide an international calling card service that you can dial to from most any country in the world. The rates for the US are incredible – 1.7 cents/minute. I talked with my family last night (bragging about le tour) for an hour — and it costed me all of $1.
I’m looking forward to getting PC-to-Phone set up properly, but regardless I have to recommend Diamondcard if you’re looking for a calling card + IP Phone service. Thanks to the cool crew at Diamondcard!
I actually was thinking that the 1.71¢/min rate was a bit expensive for my expectations. Nonetheless, I am using Diamondcard quite successfully with my Asterisk server for outbound calls. They give the ability to control things like outbound Caller ID and the like, which is absolutely awesome—it gives me the ability to base the outbound caller ID on who is actually making the call, since we all have different DID numbers.
They are rather quick to respond to requests for technical support, as well. That, plus the ability to control the outbound caller ID, does make it worth the 1.71¢/min. rate for me. I just expected to find US call termination services to be about half that price, for some reason. (Maybe it’s because I am spoiled on talk-as-much-as-you-want services.)
[…] would allow me to use Ekiga on my laptop to make phone calls while in the UK to the US. It works well, and it’s […]