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Skype Gateways for Local Calls?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the long-distance-local-calls dept.

cgenman asks: "My girlfriend is currently living abroad, but needs to make calls here in the States. I'm investigating Skype to phone gateways, but none seem to allow the person who is trying to Skype in remotely to initiate calls on the local phone network. What experiences have people had with Skype gateways which give remote people full local access? Are there other setups better suited for this purpose?"

2 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Vonage outside the US by MarkusQ · · Score: 2, Funny

    Vonage has worked great for me in every country I've tried it, and I've never heard of a place where it didn't work, provided that you've got halfway decent bandwidth and are willing to tinker with your settings on their web page to suit your circumstances.

    The only caution I'd offer on that count, many local Telco's are government run monopolies, and may not be in love with VOIP. This may mean you need to run through an SSH tunnel or something (depending on how strongly they feel about it and how much you are worried about getting caught) and that can add latency to your connection, in addition to the statutory latencies that may be imposed if you are caught. As always, think carefully before deciding to break laws (unless of course you happen to be the Commander in Chief of the world's only remaining super power, in which case, no worries, just do whatever you want).

    --MarkusQ

  2. It depends on who you mean. by MarkusQ · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who lets these people in here?

    It depends on who you mean by "these people". If you mean the person that asked the original question, the most cogent answer would be Cliff, who posted the story. If you mean me, I signed up for an account years ago, just like you did. If you mean Bush, the answer would be the American electorate, with a little help from big oil, Diebold, the supreme court, etc. If you mean the people in various countries who try to outlaw VOIP, there would be a whole host of answers, depending on the country.

    Hope that helps.

    -- MarkusQ

    P.S. If you were serious, I suggest you take your sense of humor in for a tune up. If you catch these problems at the stage where you're just missing occasional jokes or letting parenthetical comments distract you from the topic at hand, it's generally much cheaper than if you wait until you are such a complete sour puss that you need a full overhaul.