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When you spend most of your life at home in the basement and the GSM signal is not so good there, you start figuring out how to make/receive phone calls without having to install a landline (I only have an 8M Adsl at home).
Fortunately, my house is covered by Wi-Fi and the signal strength is pretty strong in any room. That said, the next step is quite obvious: I can use WiFi to make/receive phone calls. Easy, right?
I already gave some tips in this space a few days ago, but now I’d like to share some more options people can use to leverage their Wifi network for making phone calls, too. Those are all quite cheap and the results really great.
1) Belkin Skype Wifi Phone
If you are a Skype user (if not, what are you waiting for?), this phone is for you. The Belkin Wifi phone offers a friendly user interface to call your Skype friends for free or make calls to landline/mobile phones worldwide at the very cheap Skype rates.
Cost: $ 179,99
2) iPod Touch
If you are an iPod Touch owner, this solution is for you. If you are not, you can get a lot (a fully-fledged PDA Internet Device) with just $229 (for the 8GB version). Then you can transform it into a wifi phone by downloading one of the available VoIP solutions, such as Truphone , Fring or Nimbuzz.
Cost: $ 229,00
3) NetGear Dual Mode Skype Phone
This solution is a very good choice for families since you can connect up to 5 handsets to the provided base station. The other additional feature is that you can use this phone as a “normal” landline phone. The cost is fair and it looks like a very good solution.
Cost: $ 230,00
4) A Wifi-enabled Mobile Phone
Keep using your mobile phone while at home and if the GSM signal is low, this solution sounds even better. In this case you have many choices, from the high-end wifi-enabled Nokia phones to other cheaper options like the Pirelli DPL10. You just have to configure it with the service you prefer, both for incoming (you need a phone number, then, that can be easily provided by the VoIP service you chose or by third party providers like Voxbone) and outgoing calls.
Cost: variable
5) Your computer!
Easy, right? Just open your laptop or turn on your desktop PC and choose the service which you like better or which provides you with the cheapest rates. Plenty of services out there, it’s just up to you!
Cost: well, you already have a PC, haven’t you?
There are more viable solutions, of course, but I think these five options already give you a pretty good idea of the power of having a Wifi network at home. This immediately gives you access to the internet wherever you want and the ability to easily make phone calls through VoIP. Do you need a landline anymore?
