Making Cheap International Calls With Skype And Other VoIP Alternatives

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has been around for many years now. Millions of people around the world benefit from these free services that help provide a quality way of not only speaking but also seeing those who live in another street to someone living on the other side of the world.

If you are not sure what VoIP is, I bet you have heard of Skype, or Vonage and even Viber. These companies are only a few of the hundred of companies out there providing VoIP services. Both available on computers and smartphones ensuring that almost every market has been reached. But are these the best or are there other alternatives that may suit my individual needs better?

Well lets take a brief look at the alternatives and the advantages and disadvantages these will have other the well known Skype and other popular VoIP services. But first let's cover Skype and it's very own positives.

Skype:
Skype themselves provide a very good and reliable service to a countless array of consumers. Along with the use of VoIP users can also pay for minutes and call international landline and mobile numbers when not connected to the internet. Showing why it's the market leader with many options for all kinds of users. But there are alternatives that can provide other solutions that may be more to each persons taste, let's have a look:

Google Voice & Google + Hangouts:
Google Voice provides PC-to-PC calls that also include video. Currently within the US only PC-to-phone calls are available. This service also allows for voicemail and SMS services along with conference calling features.

Continuing with the options available to all Gmail users, the recently established Google+. A new social networking website that allows Hangouts which feature video and voice chat has been adopted by many professionals to facilitate meetings and even Barrack Obama used this feature to allow participants to quiz the president of the United States.

For those who enjoy using Google products are sure to enjoy the accessibility of these alternatives.

Apple FaceTime:
Another impressive alternative made available for those with compatible Apple handsets, which are iPad 2, iPhone 4 and the new iPod touch.

FaceTime allows users to make calls from Mac-to-Mac, Mac-to-phone or simply phone-to-phone, regardless of location. The recent handsets provide users with a high quality video that is displayed on the callers screen, making full use of picture-in-picture throughout the call to reduce distractions.

One of the many advantages that FaceTime provides is the ability to make and receive calls using FaceTime to any Apple device with no worries of having to remain 'Online' or have the software running to connnect to other users.

Much similar to Google Voice & Google + Hangouts, Apple users have a great advantage of increasing their international calls to friends and family as long as there is an internet connection at hand. Preferably Wi-Fi to ensure the calls remain free.

Viber:
As mentioned previously, Viber is becoming a well-known VoIP provider. Much like Skype in the services they provide one of the main advantages and talking points is Viber's ability to seamlessly integrate the phone book to it's own services. This involves the ability to use your mobiles phones phone book to make calls that will include the option to call via Viber. There are no promotional ads that is one of it's major winning points because many apps have been criticised with apps causing high battery drains.

Therefore using a 3G connection or Wi-Fi, calls can be made throughout the world that can cost nothing. Providing many users that have an unlimited contract to fully embrace the technological advancements that can help provide instant and free means of international communication.

With all the available options to consumers around the world cheap calls to Spain, France, Germany and any other possible country in the world can be relatively inexpensive and in the above cases free. Depending on access to Wi-Fi and current contract allowances.

But always conduct further research regarding the above VoIP providers and alternatives to using Skype to improve your calls to friends and family who liver overseas. As suggested, different people have different needs. Therefore Skype although an amazing software provider with little problems or disadvantages – there are still better alternatives for those who perhaps prefer Google or Apple products.