I have two sip accounts. The first one was actually a gizmo account, but since it is using the sipphone.com network, I just entered the credentials in the built-in sip client and it works just fine. Incoming numbers cost a fee and the talk quality is miserable (at least to European countries). So I never use it.

The second one I opened at sipgate.de They gave me (for free) a number in Munich (where I live). It is quite easy to use it either on the N810 or on my E51. OTOH, sipgate insists on using standard ports, which means I can't use it via an UMTS connection (I can't be called, my phone network blocks that port). Here the quality is decent within Germany, and sometimes unusable when I call French numbers.

So in the end, I am not really pleased with SIP. Sure it is cheap, especially when I travel (compared to roaming charges or calling from an hotel room), but I would prefer a phone system that works.

OTOH, quality is fine between two sip accounts. I tried that when travelling to New Zealand, I set up another sip account and a phone adapter at home for that purpose at the time. The problem is that you need to have your friends or family use the same sip provider. And if you want that, you might as well get them another Nokia and use google talk. That's what I did with my mother and my sister and we now converse almost exclusively using the Internet. Quality is almost always fine, and we have the bonus of having the picture...

You certainly don't need everyone to be using the same SIP provider , just make sure the providers you do use support peering.

SIPPhone / Gizmo5 do support peering whereas SIPgate.de/.co.uk don't.

You can easily find this out by looking at the SIPBroker White Pages.

For a dial-in number in many countries look no further than the SIPBroker PSTN page , now you can dial a local number at the prompt enter the VOIP providers 'code' and then your contacts SIP number. easy.

I'm also looking for a SIP solution in the Netherlands. Last time I researched this there was no way to get incoming calls from non-sip phones. I'm a bit suspicious of those 'free' services. Do they make money from direct marketing?

SIPBroker is free because it is part of the voxalot range of services.

The PSTN to VOIP service is usually a local number or a nationwide lo rate number , but I guess the sponsors make a small amount of money for each call to pay for the service.

I can't see how you could be marketed to as you don't enter any details to use the service. I certainly have never been spammed or similar.

Give it a try.

Thanks .. I've managed to get zero direct marketing calls on my land line. It would be nice to have that on a SIP line as well.

Indeed, that should be a solution. OTOH, peering does not always work when it should. From personal experience, sipbroker lists are overly optimistic, especially in Europe.

sipgate.co.uk is quite good for providing a free PSTN ->to-> SIP gateway, you have to buy credit for SIP->PSTN

you get a choice of geographic number (I have two accounts, one is for my rural/home area, one for nearest city) or the non-geo number (0845 etc).

one nice feature of sipgate is call forking; I can be logged in with n800 and also with sip phone (siemens cordless/DECT + voip thing) so both ring and the first to answer completes the call.

downside: their voicemail system sounds as if it were recorded by a prison guard!

I had found a free SIP provider which said they'd give me 300 free minutes per month but after the first month it stopped working. Also, the quality was not that good.

I had already been using a virtual office with speech recognition (http://ow.ly/42m0) to handle routing to my home and mobile phone and I remembered getting an email on how to make free video calls using the N810. Well guess what? I called them and let them know I had bought a Nokia N810 and was wondering how I could make mine do that. They created a SIP account and it works with the existing number they had given me. The SIP account looks like this: "9999999999@9.99.999.99".

This account comes with "call-screening" and unlimited incoming/outgoing calls.

I've been using the service for a month now and the voice & video quality is excellent. I use the standard "New Internet Call" which already came installed with the N800/N810.

Though the service is not free, it is well worth the price ($35/mo) if you switch your home, mobile & N800/N810 over to the service as I did. They give you one personal phone number which will route to any device you are using.

A1Mega


P.S. One thing I wish the "New Internet Call" allowed is typing numbers while on the call. This way I could press "3" to delete a msg, "1" to send, etc.

there is, it's in the menu to bring up the dialling pad.

About using gizmo5 account with rtcomm

how comes it can not call sip numbers like sip:0123456789(a)freephonie.net ?

(Maybe I need to ask this in g5 forum too ...)

Do you know some better free alternatives for that ?