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High call rates for long distance calls always led to cut short the calls. Large bills do not allow us to make international calls for longer duration. This problem is very well blown away by the emergence of various methods to make cheap international calls. Calling cards, access codes and Internet telephony are very cost-effective measure and provide freedom to the caller to make calls across the globe at much reduced rates.

These measures are highly cost-effective and easily available to common man by the mean of either mobile stores or at online mobile calling portals. These ways facilitate you with cost-effective calling and ensure low call rates. Number of websites are available that cater callers with their way best calling tariff plans.

Calling or communicating is one of the basic needs, that person has to fulfill if he/she is living in a society. But for middle-class family it is quite difficult to spare some extra money to make calls to their relatives. International calls from mobile is very expensive affair. So, understanding better the need of communication in this era, inventions are being made to cater that common man in a better and most effective way. Now, they can make calls by purchasing International calling cards. These cards are available at every store and now are also made available by providers at online shops. Calling cards with varied destination is easily approachable and anyone can purchase them at nominal costs. Procedure to make call using calling cards is simple three step process. Buy cards, dial 11 digit code followed by the destination number. Three simple steps and you are done to establish a bond of word between you and your friend.

Secondly, a way of making cheap international calls is by access codes. These are magic code by dialing which you reduce much on your phone bills. This procedure is simple to proceed with. Access codes are available at many online calling portals. You can choose the city or country where you need to call and the portal will provide you an access number. By dialing these access number followed by destination mobile or landline number, callers can make calls that too at unimaginably low rates. So, now don’t let go your feelings because there is nobody around to share. Just pick up the cheap Mobile phones> and use different measures to make cheap international calls.

China boasts a population in excess of 1.33billion. It is the most populous country in the world with almost 1 in 5 of all the people alive in the world today living in the country. Until recently, the country lagged behind the majority of developed countries when it came to technology and communications, but recently rapid economic development and the installation of a 21st century infrastructure has started to reverse that backward stance.

Despite some access restrictions imposed by central government, the Chinese population is rapidly embracing the internet. Reuters reported that at the beginning of 2009 there are almost 298 million internet users in China, a figure that had grown 42% on the previous year. While the penetration figure for internet usage of just over 22% of the population is still nowhere near the UK’s of 72% or the USA’s of 75%, China is the country with the most internet users in the world and user numbers are expanding exponentially with many surfers accessing the internet via 3G mobile broadband.

Indeed, the amount of internet users in China is only marginally less than the estimated entire current population of the USA. Not only do the Chinese use the internet to access websites they are also avid users of messenger systems and also VoIP (voice over internet protocol) technology, bringing a new-found freedom for keeping in touch with friends and families in China and the rest of the world.

Indeed, the easiest way to place cheap calls to China is via a VoIP phone operator. Some providers charge just a few cents per minute to call landlines in the major provinces and some mobile numbers, and with the purchase of a monthly subscription that may reduce further. In contrast, BT rates can be up to 100 times that sum depending upon the location called, the time of day the called is placed and the type of contract that the caller holds with BT.

Of course, many users within China that have discovered mobile broadband are using free messenger software to contact each other, usually via text, but additionally VoIP users abroad can call mobiles and landlines within China from their computers.

With so many western companies taking an interest in China, more western workers are heading for the country. It will be easy for families and friends back in their home country to keep in touch using either chat software or calling their mobiles from their PCs and vice versa. And, of course, such software will also enable Chinese emigrants to keep in touch with home without spending a fortune.

VoIP is an advance and better way of making calls which supports versatile list of devices including PC’s. So, when it’s about PC you definitely need to have a kind of application which acts as a terminal to connect your calls with your destination. You might be familiar that computer is a multitasking but to perform multiple activities you only requires additional software in spite of hardware and that’s what the best part I like about computers. With PC you can get better performance and due to it you can make an effective voice and video calls to anyone you want, distance will not be barrier.

This softphone belongs or let says provided by a service providers and they all carries different functionality and features depending upon qualities and types of services offer by the belonging service providers. If you want to make PC TO PC Calls then this service is free from almost all the VoIP service providers and many commonly used are Skype, Yahoo Messenger, Gtalk etc. But the cost barrier arises when you expect to create a communication between different devices like PC TO Phone calls, Phone to PC Calls, PC To Mobile Calls.

List and brief of 6 chosen Free VoIP Softphone:-

1. Ninja Light
Ninja Light supports almost all the features such as voice, video and conference calling. Furthermore you can also maintain your calls history, record your calls and check out for dial, missed and receive calls by maintaining and updating your address book.

2. FireFly Softphone
If you are looking for a softphone which consumes less and capable to perform more then sufficient in requirement then FireFly is what you need. Being small and faster on installation it will not let you download when it’s about features. With this softphone you can make voice calls and also maintain and update your contact with easy drag and drop feature.

3. eyeP Media.
EyeP Media is good solution for IMS and FMC and it also allow making calls directly from your local address book contact or Microsoft Outlook contacts.

4. PhonerLite Softphone
This softphone is free and supportive for windows users. With this application you can access internet telephony and also create a SIP profile which can be organized separately.

5. Twinkle Softfone
Twinkle Softphone is also a best application for making VoIP calls, in fact this application is well known for instant messaging and dealing with SIP protocols. Very ordinary looking interface helps you on easy operating.

Almost a quarter of Mexicans were able to access the internet at the end of 2008, making it 13th in the league table of countries with the highest number of internet users. That figure does much to break the image of Mexico as a backward country when it comes to modern communications.

Indeed, almost 25% of the Mexican population is now online and therefore easily capable of communicating with the rest of the world thanks to widely available application software. Mexico boasts the most internet users in Latin America where broadband, especially ADSL, is experiencing phenomenal growth within the country providing even more communication options via the internet.

Due to relatively low penetration of land-based phone lines within Mexico free instant messenger software is a universally popular. Depending upon the application and the availability of a mobile broadband connection, users can text chat instantly, make PC to PC voice calls, or even place video calls to someone using the same software own their PC.

Additionally, it is also possible to call a Mexican landline or mobile at low cost from anywhere in the world using a PC with the correct software. There are a number of applications available, usually downloadable for free, that allow computer users to convert their PCs into telephones and therefore call phones throughout the world either via land-based or mobile networks.

Indeed, placing cheap calls to Mexico is now as easy as opening up VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) software and dialling the number on your PC. Then you can instantly connect to landline numbers in Mexico for around two cents per minute, and mobiles for around four cents per minute.

That can be done by opening the software and clicking the number required on the keyboard. Alternatively, special DECT phone handsets are available to buy that allow the user to seamlessly connect to the VoIP software simply by dialling the number required, using the phone handset as you would any land-based system.

Whichever method is used the end result is the same; almost instantaneous connection to a landline or mobile in Mexico with call quality the same as you would experience on land-based phone to phone calls. Indeed, the biggest criticism of early VoIP software was that call quality was often poor suffering from a noticeable lag, but over the past couple of years the quality has improved significantly amongst the biggest players in the industry.

By Stephen Shankland,

Google Wave and Google Buzz may have had troubles attracting usage, but the new ability to place calls from Gmail appears to have caught on quickly.

“Over 1,000,000 calls placed from Gmail in just 24 hours!” Google tweeted Thursday, evidently pleased with the number.

For comparison, there are somewhat more than 300 million people in the United States. If the average person makes 10 calls per day-research in 2008 put the number at 208 calls per month-that means about one out of every 3,000 calls in the U.S. went through the service on its first day.

The service lets Gmail users make free calls to U.S. and Canada and inexpensive calls to phones in other countries. It uses Gmail as an interface and optionally can integrate with Google Voice to receive calls as well.

To be sure, a lot of calls are placed daily in the United States, where the new Gmail feature was activated initially. But the figure indicates that a sizable number of the millions of Gmail users at least gave it a whirl even if they didn’t decide it was time to stop paying for their other phones.

I had two successes with the service the day it launched, both unplanned. First, somebody called my mobile phone and my computer “rang” as well. I had the pleasure of conducting an interview via headphones and my computer’s microphone rather than trying to squeeze my mobile phone between my shoulder and ear for an hour.

I’ve done plenty of interviews over Skype, but this time the call came in from the phone system without my having to get somebody to sign up for Skype or for me to pay for a SkypeIn phone number.

Second, I came back to my desk to see a missed call announced on my Gmail screen. I clicked the phone number to call back and had a quick chat through my computer. Nothing fancy, but no mobile phone minutes were consumed in this process, and I didn’t have to tell anybody anything except my Google Voice phone number.

Given the vast number of phone calls made daily, I’m reluctant to draw any grand conclusions. But the fact is that I used the service twice yesterday without actively seeking to do so (granted, I already signed up for Google Voice and installed the required chat plug-in).

That indicates to me that it’s a matter those in the voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) realm or more traditional telephony will need to take seriously.

For More: http://www.techtechy.com

According to figures published at the end of 2008, Italy lies 12th in the list of total internet users by country, sandwiched between Spain at 11th and Mexico at 13th.

With an internet penetration percentage of 49% of the population it languishes well behind the UK which boasts 72% penetration, but it does mean that slightly more than 28million Italians have access to the internet. Indeed, almost one in 50 of all the world’s internet users are Italian, and they use it in exactly the same way as the rest of the world; social networking, online retailing, news and messaging are popular applications.

As in most western countries Italians who use the internet also use PC to PC based messenger systems to stay in touch with each other. That means that almost half of the population of Italy is accessible using text, voice or video calling. They can talk to their next door neighbour or family on the opposite side of the globe totally free and with almost equal ease, dependent upon the nature of their internet connection.

However, the remaining half of the Italian population that are yet to buy into the internet revolution can still be contacted via PC. VoIP (Voice over Internet protocol) allows PC users to dial landlines and mobiles in Italy directly from their computer. Using either the speakers and microphones built-in to their PCs, a special headset, or a dedicated DECT handset the PC user can then talk directly to a phone user in Italy.

Cheap calls to Italy can be placed via the internet following the simple installation of free VoIP software. Some VoIP providers now offer monthly subscriptions, as an alternative to one-off call charges. That means a subscriber can call landlines and, in some countries even mobiles, on an unlimited basis (according to a fair usage policy of course!), which makes keeping in touch with friends, family or colleagues in Italy far cheaper than calling from landlines or mobiles in the UK.

Some providers even allow users to purchase a phone number in a particular country, such as Italy, so that their Italian cousins can call them on that number from their mobiles and pay only the charges that apply within their country to keep in touch. When they dial such a number they are actually dialling the PC of the person they are trying to reach. Depending on the package that the user has bought, calls made to a PC may be diverted to a landline for a small fee or even for free. Keeping in touch with Italy has never been easier, nor cheaper thanks to the internet revolution.

They have crystal-clear voice quality also without delays and broken words. These are called International Call back services.

These International Call back services allow us to make cheap calls from our mobile, work, hotel and home telephones also. The main attraction is, even when we are on move, we will be able to contact the desired ones easily. Our International Callback can be triggered by SMS sent from our mobile phone, by e-mail when we have computers and also from our website. The Callback cheap calls can be established between regular and landline services also.

Internet telephony and PCs to phone-calls:

It is as simple as installing a special program and we can immediately start calling directly from our PC hooked to the internet. The PC to phone service works from PDA devices as well as smart- phones. We can also use VoIP hardware telephones. Moreover, we can make free international calls to other computers connected to the internet and make calls from regular landlines or mobile phones to any computer in the world.

Messengers like Yahoo, Gmail, MSN, Skype and Vanage also give this free call service. They also offer services for cheap International calls between PCs and mobiles. These messengers also permit us to have audio and video calls and even conferencing. Another very important advantage of this system is it is digital in nature offering numerous advantages to small businesses like marketing tools, marketing competitions and publicity campaigns.

One proprietary protocol Skype started as a social service meant for close friends has diversified its activities into business line. A company’s clients, contacts and employees have all to join in the Skype network. They can converse among themselves, even from one part of the world to another. Skype has simplified the procedure like this – pick up the name of the contact, click, and all the above calls cost nothing to the employer but to other mobiles cheaper call rates will apply.

It is well proclaimed fact that communication has become an important part of our daily routine. It is very difficult to survive without interaction with our nearby people. Telecommunication industry is touching heights with its developments and inventions. With each passing day people are getting more new ways of communication. Growth rate in this new era is very rapid. Talking at STD and ISD over mobile phones is very expensive for a common man. It attracts a huge amount from their pockets. So understanding better the need of communication
in this age, technology puts forward its best foot to establish several new ways to communicate at cost-effective manner. Internet telephony, international calling cards are some of the ways that are used to make cheap international calls. Internet is no behind in this field also. Many online portals are available over the web space offering some access number by dialing which, followed by destination calling number, one can make cheap international phone calls.

Overseas countries are always considered as the most visited place for tourists, corporate, students and job seeker. There are many countries like UK, USA that offer better career options and extra ordinary future opportunities to relish. People living abroad feel aloof when alone. So they are bind to make long distance calls back to their home town. People generally avoid or cut short their call in order to spend less. But with the latest innovations that are being made in the telecom industry one can make hassle free, uninterrupted long duration calls. This is now possible with the availability of various calling cards and Internet voice calling facility. These facilities facilitate their users to make cheap international calls from UK landlines and mobiles. They allow their callers to make calls at discounted rates or sometime completely free.

One can make calls using these services at any time of the day and at any corner of the world. International calling cards are available on various shopping centers. Other than this web portals are also offering an access number to their users to make cheap international calls from landlines and mobiles. These access numbers are provided by the websites, which are dialed from the telephone device followed by the destination number. These access number allows the caller to make calls at unimaginably low cost and sometime also offers special incentives like free extra calls, free SMS and many more.

Virus Attacks on cellphones

An increase in virus attacks has been seen globally in October 2009, and it is only the beginning.

I warned about virus on the smart phones to become a growing problem as early as in May 2009. The attacks so far have been less malicious than just to prove that the cellphones are vulnerable to attacks through various ways.
The fact that the cellphones are less protected than the PC’s makes us believe what we see now is only a beginning.
You should begin to check your phone bill more closely now, as a virus has been found that makes your phone make a call on its own.
This is the first virus where we see some economic gain can be found, and we will talk about large money here. Just taking some few cents from each phone would make billions of dollars globally.
The hackers industry is on the loose, and they really want your money - and they are not shy of any methods to get it from you.

As a background, you can read some of the articles i have written about this issue previously. There can be some learning lessons in these articles as well.
October 2009
http://www.articlesbase.com/cell-phones-articles/avoid-to-get-the-first-virus-on-your-iphone-1438490.html
June 2009
http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/iphone-and-ipod-touch-are-vulnerable-to-hackers-and-new-viruses-950916.html
May 2009
http://www.articlesbase.com/cell-phones-articles/hackers-will-attack-cellphones-with-sms-bluetooth-and-other-innovative-ways-be-aware-912220.html
http://www.articlesbase.com/cell-phones-articles/virus-on-your-cell-phone-possible-or-not-912285.html

This is how you secure your cell phone

It is totally irresponsible of any company to not install anti-virus software on their cell phones, however it goes for all of us individual users as well.
So far there has been seen as no need to install any anti-virus software on the cellphones as attacks have not been around for so long. However, there are several things you can do yourself to avoid viruses on your phone.
Turn off the bluetooth function when you are not using this function on the phone. Virus can be transferred through the bluetooth system and the probability will increase that someone will take over your phone.
Do not open files or MMS that you did not expect to get or know about in forehand.
If you surf on the internet with your cellphone, avoid pages you are not sure of or have no knowledge about at all. You have to remember that you probably are better protected visiting the same pages with your PC since it has a anti-virus software protecting you. The Cellphone is just like a PC without the anti-virus software installed.
You can buy a anti-virus software through the internet, however you can not find any proven good anti-virus software for free for your cellphone yet.

E-mail is vulnerable in particular.
You would hardly think of surfing the internet or running a email program without using a anti-virus software on your PC. However, the smart phones have become like mini-computers with an operating system and add-on software which all are vulnerable to virus attacks.
It is just here the cyber criminals have found an interest to tap into. The hackers are no longer the boys in the boys room sitting and making codes just to prove themselves. They are now part of an industry funded by major criminal organizations able to create malicious software with almost no limits any longer.
However, the problem is that most of the users do not even know how to install antivirus software on the cellphone.
This is a problem that face lots of cellphone users today, and it just indicate that if you want to have a sophisticated cellphone, then you need to become a more sophisticated and knowledgeable user. However, one can say that sellers of the hardware should take some responsibility to enhance security of the use of their product.
You do not sell a car without complying to some safety regulations and measures. And this lead back to the regulators, that they have no regulations on how safe a cellphone should be to attacks, and maybe this will wake up the legislators to demand some safety measures a hardware should comply with before it is sold into the consumer market.
No smart cellphone to be sold without any proven anti-virus technology enabling the user to feel some safety when using this product. Yes, it will increase the price of the product, but i believe the users will be willing to take this cost given the dangers he or she can be exposed to with a cellphone that is not protected at all.
So far there have not been any complaints in major scale based on the latest calling virus found on the cellphones.
So far you are responsible for any use of your cellphone number and have to pay to the provider any costs associated with your cellphone number.
This is were the conflict starts, who should be responsible to provide a secure service - the users or the provider?
There are several examples of people complaining of phone bill exceeding what they thought they could have been responsible for. However, it is almost impossible for the users to win through with these cases, as collecting evidence could only be done by the provider itself, which is part in the case. The consumer is bound to have lost. It is here the legislators should put some demands to the providers to be able to protect their users. The providers says they are not responsible for the virus attacks and can not be held responsible. On the other hand they provide a service that is prone to virus attacks, and should feel morally obliged to protect their consumer and clients.
We are having a mighty challenge at hand in the near future as these virus attacks will become more frequent and have more stealth power than today.
There are examples produced in the last few weeks of cellphones been taken over and started producing cellphone calls by itself, without any interference of the owner of the phone and the subscription. These examples shows that the phone has begun systematically calling phone The calls varies from few seconds to several minutes and will give the users an extra cost of few cents to Euros or USD pr call.
One examples shown to the public is that one cellphone made around 100 calls during a period of 2 days. It was only found since the user wanted to check why the phone bill showed a discrepancy from previous bills he had.
The evidence that this was a virus, comes from the fact that the calls did not show up on the cellphone call log at all. There is no doubt at all, the cellphone has been taken over by a virus.
This is only the beginning as the cyber criminals have found out tht it is very easier to take over your phone than your PC, as most have antivirus protection on the PC’s but not on the cellphones.
They have also found a very easy way to take money from the users as these services will be directed and used towards special phone services owned by the cyber criminals and therefore will get easy income from the users.
You might ask now, how is the phone infected in the first place?
There are several ways this can happen, but the most probable is that the owner has received a MMS with a virus infected file that takes over the phone. You might levee you open a photo, but in the background the cellphone loads a virus to be hidden on your cellphone.
Another way this method can occur is through surfing on the internet as some web pages have photos with this type of malicious code attached to it.
Another way is through the bluetooth system as files can be loaded onto your cellphone without your knowledge at all.

It is very difficult to detect these attacks and the only measure so far, is to double check your phone bill and make sure you can account for the calls made there. If not, then you should consider the fact that you have been attacked and there is a need to clean your cellphone to avoid further take over of the cell phone.

By taking over your phone, the cyber criminals will gain information on your cellphone which can be valuable, like email adresses and information inside these (sensitive information, passwords, number, accunts etc)
A virus can also make the phone to call expensive pay services abroad and the owners of these services can make a hugh amount of money on this.
Some viruses are just what it is - a virus to demonstrate a methodology or a way to contribute to the open source society amongst the cyber criminals to gain more knowledge about how to exploit your phone.

The best way to avoid attacks on your cellphone is of course to install a anti-virus program and not to open any files you have no idea were they come from.
The virus is not placed on the SIM card (as of yet not found that is), but is installed in the operating system on the phone itself.

Since 1993, when it was announced that the World Wide Web would be available for everyone to use, the world of communication has significantly changed. Indeed, having started off as a way to exchange information, the internet has rapidly grown to include online businesses, forums and social networking sites.

As a result, there is a huge amount of people across the globe who log onto it every single day – around 1.6 billion – in order to conduct research, shop, work and to connect with others: this number has rapidly grown over the last nine years, from 360 million users.

Arguably, one of the biggest transformations to occur is the way that people speak to one another. Thanks to advancements in technology and web 2.0 applications, there are a number of companies who have harnessed the power of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in order to provide consumers with an effective and low cost way to make phone calls through their broadband connection.

While these services can be of benefit to everyone with the internet, they are particularly good for travellers or those who know people travelling. This is simply because call rates to international destinations are generally a lot cheaper than if you were calling from a traditional landline or with a phone card.

Take the UK as a prime example. Millions of people decide to head there every year, either for work or leisure purposes. And, if one of your friends or family members decides that they want to grab a slice of British culture and end up going there, you’re going to want to keep in touch with them. However, speaking to them from a normal phone for any length of time is usually going to hit your pockets hard.

That’s where VoIP comes into its own. By providing low call rates, which can start from as little as $0.024 per minute to UK landlines, it is possible to catch up with them properly, safe in the knowledge that you won’t be bankrupt by the end of the conversation! Not only that, but due to the range of additional features offered, like free video calling and instant messaging, you can really enhance the way you interact with them.

To use VoIP, it is necessary to find and download a relevant software package – there are numerous available on the internet – and then set up an account. After installation, you then need to decide how you want to pay. Generally speaking, there are two main options: pay-as-you-go and taking out a monthly subscription.

The proliferation of internet services available has caused a huge change in the way people can interact with one another. VoIP services have hugely helped in this transformation and consequently, it is now easy to make cheap calls to the UK, as well as to a whole host of other local, national and international destinations.