Broadband Guide

Internet Telephony Over 3G

Making phone calls over the internet is a great way to keep your costs down, and now that you can take the internet with you wherever you go, is it time to ditch your home phone, take your broadband mobile and make all your calls through VoIP?

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Is it possible?

A mobile broadband connection works in the same way that normal, fixed line broadband does - except that it’s mobile. This means that, technically, there’s no reason why you can’t access your Vonage or Skype account on the train, in a café or at a motorway service station and make as many calls as you want - for free.

Are there any restrictions?

Standard packages have download limits, or fair usage policies with an allowance of 1GB, 3GB or 5GB, while the top packages go up to 10GB or 15GB per month.

And if you’re using the internet and making lots of calls via your VoIP provider you’ll soon eat away at your allowance and could end up with a big bill for additional usage.

Also, some packages, like T-Mobile Broadband's (www.T-Mobile.co.uk) cheapest plan, don’t allow access to VoIP services - only those customers on T-Mobile’s more expensive tariff can make internet telephone calls.

Are there any alternatives?

Three Broadband (www.Three.co.uk) has teamed up with Skype to launch a 3 Skypephone that combines inclusive Skype minutes with a normal mobile phone contract, allowing you to make those international, or longer calls over for free on Skype - or even use the free instant messenger service.

Otherwise, if you have a VoIP compatible mobile phone, like an iPhone or a PDA running Windows Mobile, with wireless access, you can install programs like Vonage and use wireless hotspots to make calls via your account rather than your mobile phone provider.

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