19 September 2005
People who want to save on their home telephone bills should consider making calls through their computer, a report has said.
According to an Observer article published yesterday, new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, which uses super-fast broadband and a headset, makes a separate home telephone line obsolete.
The newspaper says downloading the relevant VoIP software is free, and that most VoIP providers sometimes charge for as little as about 1p a minute for national daytime calls, so it's also cheaper.
Blair Wadman, broadband product manager at uSwitch.com, the independent cost comparison website, said: "At the moment, there is not a lot to distinguish between providers except for a variation in the price of calls so I would recommend people go for the more well-known brands to start with at least.
"But with MSN, Google and now eBay moving in the direction of landline- and mobile-enabled VoIP, it illustrates the importance of the service and that big companies think it is going to take over the way we call in the future."
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