Where I live in Italy I have no land line or mobile cover. I do have internet access however and wired the house for WIFI. I have been using Skype for years but now it's on its way out and I need to find an alternative. I use Whatsapp but Italy is still a bit backwards, when it comes to computing and many still don't even have, or want, a smartphone, so I need to call landlines. I have an elderly Iphone but also have a half reasonable android phone. I'm not interested in video, just voice. I did try an Italian service at one stage called Messagenet, with a virtual number, but the phone never rang, all I ever got was missed calls.
Any suggestions for a Skype replacement?
Sadly, since Skype was bought out by Microsoft, it has been getting worse and worse- I still have it but never use it any more...
Due to my location (VERY rural Australia) I have no mobile coverage at all on my property and use Voip via satellite (in my case its using a local company called Australianphone lol) and it works far better than Skype ever did...
It appears as either a mobile or for a bit extra a 'home phone' line (costs an extra $2 a month, but means I get cheaper calls out and plus people calling me get it at the price of a 'landline' rather than the more expensive mobile rates...
Best of all their voip app replaces the normal 'phone dialler' app so the mobile works totally seamlessly with the voip instead of the normal dialler app...
I replaced the phones voice/data plan with a data only plan (cheaper than a voice/data plan to boot lol), so when I am in range of the cellphone network, it uses the phones data plan to make voip calls, at home it connects to the wifi network from the satellite router and uses that to make a phone call instead
Best of all, you can pick and choose from any voip company to do the 'dialling out' bit- they all work the same, and you can use any mobile (or multiple mobiles) for the calls, or the computer, or get a Voip 'box' which allows you to plug in your old house phone/s and connects to your internet connection as well... (I have used them quite successfully in the past with a fax machine lol- good for older people not comfortable with 'tech stuff')
Like these (these are from the mob I use- there is a HUGE range of similar ones on the market- they all work with any voip provider)...
Or you can buy dedicated voip phones... (again from my voip providers shop, any voip phone will work)
(its quite handy- I have the one 'phone number'- and that rings at home and at my mobile at the same time- so I can pick up at 'any phone' I am at...)
You can also add as many 'phone lines' as you want to the account ($2 Au a month for each 'line' in my case)- handy if you got kids that tie up the houseline for hours- just give them their own 'second line'- or if you run a business from home... (thats very handy btw for me I got a separate 'business' line, and it works either from the 'desk phone' in the shed or my mobile- one number rings all phones)
I got Whatsapp as well, but not impressed- during busy times the audio drops significantly in quality (get 'choppy'), and it doesn't always 'ring'- just comes up with a 'missed call'- sometimes minutes later...(although rare, I have seen it do that literally hours later- I was talking to a friend on voip and he had mentioned he had tried to call me on Whatsapp- it didn't show a 'missed call' until that afternoon... and we were talking before eight in the morning!!!)- my voip works well on any internet connection (it even works on 33kb dialup lol)
Just find a Voip provider that supplies you with 'local' phone numbers and use it- no screwing around with other apps...
