free direct international voip calls

[my1past1is1ur1future]

Hey everyone,

I have been looking for an app that can make free voip calls, some are only free for US, some only for others who have same app and have to be on wifi like Viber. I founded an app that can do free international sms which is Heywire, it gives you a real number and u can text who ever you want but it doesn't make phone calls. so is there similar app to it but for calling, or any app that can do free international phone calls not just limited to an app or region?

[krosis]

Unfortunately I don't think you're going to find an app that gives you free international calling. Calls within the US are cheap to begin with (1-2 cents per minute) which allows things like Google Voice to give them away for "free" (even though google still pays for these calls). If you look at an international rate list, the price to call lines in other countries varies dramatically, especially to mobile lines. I can't imagine any business model that would allow any company to simply offer unconditional free international calls.

If you use a SIP client (I like acrobits softphone), you might be able to find a local SIP provider in the country you're interested in that has good rates. Skype also offers an unlimited international plan for $14/month with access to 40 countries, but again that's only to landlines.

[Mes]

Fring (AppStore) or Siphon (Cydia) are good VoIP clients. Tried a few service providers and think www.localphone.com is cheapest for both direct and VoIP worldwide calling. JMHO YMMV

[krosis]

Uggh.

I would not recommend Fring as a VoIP client. They route ALL traffic for all protocols through their private servers in Israel. Even when completely unnecessary, for example the SIP protocol which is designed to connect endpoint to endpoint directly.

This is a poor design from a security standpoint (from the users perspective at least), and introduces unnecessary latency when I only live a few hundred miles from my SIP endpoint on the other side of the world.

[Mes]

Uggh.

I would not recommend Fring as a VoIP client. They route ALL traffic for all protocols through their private servers in Israel...

Interesting. Glad I never tried theirs.

I use the Fring app and set up an external (non-Fring) SIP provider (www.localphone.com).

[krosis]

It has nothing to do with fring's paid fring-out service, which I've never used. All connections on all services are routed through them. That includes my SIP connection to sipgate, and your SIP connection to localphone.com. It includes MSN and yahoo. It includes Skype. Actually when they supported skype video, they sent your video un-encrypted back to their servers, to be relayed onto the skype network (after which point it is encrypted as is all skype video).

Here's their provided diagram explaining it: How Fring Works

When security concerns were raised on their forums about "Why is all my traffic going unencrypted through your servers? Doesn't that mean you can monitor it all?" they just referenced that page, basically saying "we told you that's how it works, if you don't like it don't use it".

Bottom line, if you're using Fring for any communication with anyone over any protocol, it is fully routed through their servers in a manner that allows them to monitor it. Additionally they have degraded the security (and quality) of other protocols, allowing other network providers to more easily monitor them.

[Mes]

^Hmmm, more interesting. Would never know as the quality & connections are good. Maybe thats because of my SIP provider.

As long as they do not sell my account ID/passwords it doesn't matter much to me. Nuttin to hide

[krosis]

The sound quality itself shouldn't change, but depending on where you live you will invariably have an increase in latency by having the extra to-Israel-and-back hops.

For most protocols, what they're doing isn't inherently "bad" in any way. Staying logged into an IM service while your local app is closed by nature requires the service to cache your login credentials to keep you logged in, and to notify you when you get a new message. If I'm not mistaken, Trillian's service works in a similar manner, and IM transports on Jabber networks also work the same way. There is always the potential for abuse, but the service provided requires it to be setup that way, so there's a legitimate excuse. Even the SIP client I use (Softphone) requires storing your login credentials on their server if you want to receive incoming calls through push notifications while the app is closed, as that's a requirement.

What starts to worry me, is when companies start routing info through their servers that isn't required. With SIP, fring routes it in a convoluted way that seems to defy the nature of the SIP protocol, with no obvious reason or benefit other than it allows them to monitor traffic.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I didn't stop using fring because they routed my IM traffic, as that was required for what they were providing. I stopped using them because they twisted the SIP protocol around in a way that seems to have no legitimate non-malicious explanation. If I can't trust them with that, how can I trust them with any other info?

[Mes]

^Thanks for the details. For me I'll stick with the free Fring and leave the $6.99 Softphone to those that need it

BTW: I never use Fring except for the occassional VoIP (no IM, no push, etc)