Skype without PC

[Blackstar_solar]

Hi,

A mate at work has moved house and can not longer get NTL \o/ so its adsl for him.

However, he also has a business line which is going to cost him the earth to install. I recommended just having one phone line and using the pstn for business calls, then using skype out (or something similar) for his home phone calls (of which apparently there aren't many.)

He wants to have two seperate phones, rather than one which switches between the two.

So some questions:
1) Which voip service do people recommend?
2) Is it possible to dial out AND in to that service (i.e. make and recieve calls) from normal pstn line?)
3) can anyone recommend a phone/box which will enable phone to be connected to net without needed for the PC to be on/connected?

Thanks

edit - I'm guessing that a voip router would do the trick, but do you need to sign up for a SIP service and how does that work etc?

 

[marmalade]

I use an ADSL/router a Fritzbox Fon which will run more than one voip telephone number and ordinary telephone too. At present I'm using one of Finarea's companies www.internetcalls.com. All mainline countries free including normal uk numbers. This with a 11.60 Euros (inc vat) which lasts 120 days - which in my case has to be used for 0845 and mobile numbers in order to use it or lose it. Excellent router with good support and ongoing firmware upgrades. Thats using SIP which ios universally available with many competitors not the proprietary expensive SKYP . They also issue a local UK telephone number - in my case ostensibly in Leicester 0116. One just plugs normal telephones into the 2 router phone sockets
In the UK one needs an Annex A router - Germany for example they use annex B one can however convert them - which is what i did myself, buying the router on German Ebay for around £32
http://www.avm.de/en/index.php3

 

[uvarvu]

If you want to push the boat out then you can get this when it is released.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/21/netgear_sph101_wifi_skype_phone/

You can use that phone at work depending on wireless access point availability and then give the mobile phone companies the finger which is what they deserve.

Linksys have a DECT version (CIT200) but the base station still requires a connection to a pc via USB. They have announced a model that does not require a pc but I can't find the news articles.

http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,,87852,00.html
This phone looks good but I dunno if it will allow skype connectivity.