International Call Forwarding Cost

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by petkow

I do use such a system partially (not Skype though), for receiving calls made to my UK landline number on my Spanish mobile. I use SIP instead, and I have a transfer fallback when my signal is not good enough to support SIP transfer via UMTS or WiFI.

It's basically the same for me (apart from the UMTS bit, which isn't here yet). I have a UK 056 landline number at voipfone.co.uk (no monthly charge), and a mobile/VOIP phone (Nokia E51). When I'm at home or elsewhere with good wi-fi, I receive the call on the wi-fi - no costs. When I go out of range of wi-fi, it has failover to pstn - automatically diverts to whatever number I've specified, usually my local mobile in whatever country. (not every voip provider has failover to pstn, so for some you may have to use a divert if no answer or set it manually).

In addition, I have a US ipkall.com number pointing to the voipfone SIP address, so I receive calls to my US number the same way. (plus a NZ 2talk voip number). So, when in range of wi-fi there are no charges to receive calls on my US, UK and NZ numbers (unlike Skype, no monthly charges). With an unlimited data plan that could do VOIP I'd also get calls on the mobile for free (should be available here soon).

For the remaining calls, I pay the divert from the voip company to various mobiles, which is where picking one with good rates would help (callwithus.com is not too bad). But it's only a percentage of calls, so doesn't matter that much. Main thing: nothing (apart from keeping my local prepaid mobiles alive) has any monthly charges or ongoing costs. As I have very low usage (despite being really easy to reach!) that works for me.