Hello, anyone knows phonestar.ch ?
I am looking for a SIP phone that I can install in 10 minutes on my mobile phone to do some calls in Switzerland. I’d like to be able to set it up if I must make a call in Switzerland while abroad, especially if I know the cost of the call from oversea will cost a lot.
The use case is simple: If I have to call my insurance or airline because of an emergency and they just have a swiss number, I’d prefer to make a local call rather than spending 10-50chf in a queue waiting for an operator. This happened to me last year and luckily I had the company phone with a SIP phone installed. I had to call a 0900 so it costs some money anyway, but less than calling from Asia (maybe a 0900 is even unusable from abroad).
Bonus point if it’s possible to have it installed and never have to pay a monthly bill (sipcall is free only the first year, so I won’t install it now if I don’t have an emergency.)
Already for years (or soon decades…) I use betamax providers, even for phone calls in Switzerland (Betamax provider Rates - Betamax voip call and SMS Rates Comparison). They have the cheapest rate (about 1 cts/minute to fixed line, mobile about 6 cts/minute) and a good call quality. Also there’s the mode that the receiver will see your own phone number. There are also different connection modes, e.g. call back etc. that you can chose. Because of this I even stopped phoning with my Swiss number in Switzerland, I only use betamax voip for outgoing calls now. For me, since I’m not phoning that often, it’s by far the cheapest option, and one that cost everywhere the same!
I’m been using localphone.com for over a decade now. Haven’t really compared with any providers and I’m lazy to do so because I have an incoming number with them, so changing implies changing this number.
I think there’s a referral program but in any case that it is now why I recommend it, but rather because call quality has been consistently good and they also provide an app but are fully compatible with SIP so you can use any app/PBX you want.
To call CH, I use wifi calling on my phone abroad. Since you’re “bringing” your call within your providers network with your own wifi abroad, it’s like calling from CH.
For calling to and from anywhere else, Groundwire + VoIP.ms
Can you elaborate a little bit more on Betamax? I checked the website from your link, but I’m confused. There’s a comparison of all the different providers and per minute prices for landline and mobile, but how does it work? Do I have to check for the cheapest provider for a certain country first and then change the settings for the SIP client on the phone manually each time? If so: can all those providers be used without registration?
Betamax is, I guess, the underlying provider of all these provider you find in my link. They offer, as far as I know, more or less the same services. You just have to decide which provider you want to use and then set up an account there (with prepaid). The main difference are obviously the fees (a few also charge a connection fee, avoid these). I’m using a few different providers at the same time. (At least for Android) you can download independent apps for these providers (you find the links on the website of each provider, but technically they’re all the same, just a copy). Registration is needed for the account, but as far as I remember, they don’t really ask much data. Just give it a try, I guess the mimimum amount you for prepaid is 10 USD/EUR.
Betamax exists already for years (or decades!), and I’ve never had any problem with them. It works very smoothly. And if ever something goes bad, what will you lose? Exactly, just the prepaid amount on your account… You don’t need to doubt, better give it a try
Betamax has been around for a looooong time. I’d say 10–15 years easily. Their termination isn’t always the best though and I remember dropping them because call quality to the destinations I was interested in was not good. They also didn’t reliably pass caller id and random numbers would show up when I’d call, confusing people.
But I checked again and they still have my 7.23 EUR in my account which I haven’t used to 8 or 9 years… Betamax is kinda one of the largest VoIP companies you’ve never heard of!
If they have good rates for countries you’re calling the most, give them a shot. At worst you’ve lost 10 EUR.
It doesn’t matter. They are all pretty much the same, except for the rates.
People usually have a separate account for each country they use to call, with the cheapest provider.
You don’t have a contract or anything there. Just quickly sign up, load up some credits, and call.
Then maybe next month the rates change, and you sign up with some other provider…
It’s not a nice clean system as you maybe imagine it. You just jump around to find the best option for the current moment.
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