freshtel vs skype

Introduction

This page has been written by Online Connections for the JustLocal service (www.JustLocal.com.au). As there are many things to be aware of when using Voice Over Internet, we have produced this information page to assist those users wishing to start using Voice Over Internet which is also known as VoIP.

Turning your computer into a telephone to make voice calls may sound like an overkill, but the savings can be substantial.

Free calls from one computer user to another using Freshtel's firefly.

Ten cent untimed calls to anywhere in Australia when on a Freshtel paid plan.

No expensive flagfall using Freshtel, so short call up to a minute to mobiles can be around the cost of an SMS message.

All it takes is to download and install the free software which is called a softphone.

Over the past couple of years we have reviewed many Voice Over Internet services. Only two that we have found have our recommendation because they are very simple to install, and they tend to work.

The two services are Freshtel and Skype. We explain why we prefer Freshtel's firefly to Skype.

The beauty of the information we present here is you can have both firefly and Skype running on your computer. That means you get to communicate with your friends on Skype, but you're not missing out on the savings offered by Freshtel's firefly like your friends are.

Both products install very easily and just work.

What do we mean by works?

Neither product is perfect, but they are good products in this sector of the market. They are very good around 95% plus of the time. However if we get a bad connection we hang up and try again. If that doesn't work we call back using the normal telephone. This fall back to the normal telephone is a slight inconvenience, but acceptable given the significant savings you can make.

By a bad connection we really mean noise during the call. Hissing, echoing and choppy calls, where parts of the conversation get skipped. These are outside of your control. However it should be noted that many people don't realise they may be creating the bad connection themselves. If you share a connection on a local network and another person is sending or receiving data, it can effect the quality of your call.

Many VoIP companies claim quality better than a normal telephone. This however is generally marketing. Because the software works on a wider range of sound frequency than a normal telephone, this is how they make their quality comparison. However we don't consider the frequency range to be the main issue regarding quality. We simply want a clear connection similar to a normal telephone. To us that is what we mean by quality.

What do they cost?

Freshtel and Skype are both free to download and install. If you make calls between computers running the same software, those calls are also free. (When we say free you should be aware that you are paying for your data usage with your Internet connection. To be free you need to have a plan with sufficient data allowance not to be charged.)

With both products you can make calls to normal telephones, but this does cost extra. Based on our previous testing for Australian usage, we would not recommend Skype for making calls to normal telephones. When we performed our testing the quality was unacceptable.

Freshtel's software and service is currently the service we would recommend for making calls to the normal telephone network in Australia.

Preferred software package

We prefer Freshtel in most instances over Skype.

The advantages for us with Freshtel's Firefly are:

Voice mail is included for free. (Skype charges for this service.)

The quality of calls to normal landlines and mobiles, is good 95% of the time with Freshtel's firefly. With Skype this was not acceptable, most of the time.

The minimum top up for your account for normal telephone calls with Freshtel's Firefly only costs $10. With Skype it is more. (We do however suggest a paid plan to take advantage of the 10 cent fixed price national calls.)

Calls to the normal telephone network with Skype can be very expensive as they are timed by the minute.

We consider Skype to be our second choice because of the better quality Freshtel's service provides when we make calls to the normal telephone network, the opportunity to have 10 cents calls to anywhere in Australia, and we appreciate the free voice mail.

How we suggest people get into using Voice over Internet.

There are many offerings in the market place. Many products however have high monthly charges and even an upfront cost for hardware. In our opinion that is generally not a good approach because any savings on calls are consumed by monthly fees and equipment costs for the average small business or home user.

We suggest using Freshtel's Firefly softphone software and service to get started.

Start with the free account and get others to get a free account.

Test the quality of voice calls to the normal telephone service by topping up your account with $10. If you are happy with the service as we are, then selecting the $5.95 a month plan provides calls to any landline telephone in Australia for 10 cents. (The $9.95 plan however is a better option if you want to also have a real Australian telephone number for others to call. Note that if others call this number they are charged at their normal telephone call rates as per their telephone company.)

We believe you will generally be happy with quality of the call. In the rare instance where we have a really important call to a client where call quality is very important to us, we still use the normal telephone.

One thing to keep in mind with the free account is calls are timed, even local calls. We use the free account for very short calls to local phones and mobiles and this is where we make considerable savings. If you are going to make normal length calls then using a paid plan is the way to go. At ten cents for a call to anywhere in Australia on a paid plan, it really is great value.

Getting started with Freshtel

There are three steps to start using Freshtel.

Register for an account

Download Freshtel's software

Install and start calling

Click here (or on the following image) to get access to Freshtel's software and to access their service.



Tips:

For tips on using and setting up Firefly join our mailing list.

The tips are great and there are some you would never think of.

Firefly themes

We decided to have a bit of fun with the Firefly phone and created a couple of new themes for JustLocal friends.

Instead of having just a black Firefly phone, you can now chose one of the following.

If you run a business check out our tips as we include a great idea about themes and your business.



The following themes are FREE to JustLocal friends on our mailing list.
Not on our mailing list?
Click here and access these themes for free.

Red

Blue Swirl

Inkspot

Rising Star


HBBA

Mostly Mutts

Virgo

Libra


Aquarius

Aries

Cancer


Data Usage Explanation

In our tips we have some incredibly valuable information.

Do you know it can actually cost you more to use your free Voice Over Internet Service than it costs to use the normal telephone.

Don't get caught.

The information we share is invaluable and it will help you make better decisions.

This is information others don't seem to want you to know.

Music on hold

The addition of music on hold to our VoIP page is pretty exciting for us.

Our aim of this section is to support Australian music talent referred to us by JustLocal advertisers.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The tracks are provided by the artist on request for free, but only on the agreement the tracks will only be used for your individual use as music on hold with firefly and for no other purposes, without written permission from the copyright owner.

Hopeless Romantic - Shane Hewitt
Available from Middle8 music http://www.middle8.com/
Click to listen to sample.

Call telephone numbers appearing on web pages

Wouldn't it be great to highlight a telephone number on a web page and call that number.

We do it all the time.

Now you can too.

More information is provided for those who join our mailing list. We even give you this software for free.



A JustLocal™ friend