[Ekiga-list] Dialing 1-800 numbers in the US

[David Corking]

On 10/30/07, JCA  wrote:

> This does sound plausible - for better
> or worse, Skype seems to have more financial muscle than Ekiga at this
> point in time.

I would hazard a guess that it is a loss leader for Skype or their partner.

By Ekiga you actually mean ekiga.net - which is a spare time project
of a couple of people here.  ekiga.net gets no financial support from
the community that I am aware of (except maybe a small commission from
diamondcard - I don't know.)  I don't think they asked for any
support.  ekiga.net is optimised for voip-to-voip calls to build a
community around the Ekiga software.  voip-to-voip needs much less
resources.

I have not tried to use the 1800 service through freeworlddialup for a
year or two.  I do recall difficulties with it.

I don't understand why freeworlddialup doesn't have the muscle to keep
the 1800 service going consistently.  Unlike ekiga.net, it is based in
the US.  Perhaps they just have other fish to fry, or insufficient
phone lines.

Therefore my advice would be - if you are in the US, get Asterisk or
similar and a line card - and hook it up to your landline.  If you are
outside the US,

1. try ekiga.net first - if the 1800 number is not reachable by ekiga.net then
2. register with a kind friend in the US with Asterisk, or
3. register with a paid SIP or H323 provider - you can probably get
calls to the US, including 1800, for around one cent per minute, but
maybe you will find someone willing to throw in 1800 free-of-charge
(if you do please let us know.)