Free PC-to-PC phone calls is all well and good, but sometimes you
just want to make calls to your granny who has no idea what the
Internet is, let alone what it takes to get online and fire up Skype.
Even if the other party has Skype, it may not be convenient for
him/her to be online all the time. Free PC to telephone calling
can be very cheap, but what's even better than cheap is FREE.

Skype - Free calls in the UK, US and Canada For Up To 6
Months

Skype is offering
free calls to UK landlines, USA and Canada (both land lines and
mobiles)

For the US: Free calls until the 31st of December 2006. There is
no need to buy Skypeout credit first.

For the UK: You get 6 months of free calls, provided that you
purchase £10 SkypeOut credit before the 31st of December
2006.

You can only make the free calls if you are in the 'free' country
itself (e.g It's free if you're in the UK and making UK calls, or
if you're in the US and making calls to US numbers). Skype determines
where you're calling from by looking at your IP (For IP geolocation
try ip2location.com
- which tells you where an IP number is located, and what ISP)

This offer does not apply to call forwarding, only direct PC-to-phone
calls.

Other VOIP Providers - Free calls many international destinations
including the UK and US

Same company, different resellers. Some of the major ones: voipcheap.com,
voipcheap.co.uk,
voipbuster.com

Registration is free, but you have to register via their VOIP software.
(I've tested it, and it seems to be spyware free so far). They don't
ask for credit card info during registration. Once you've registered,
you can make free 'trial calls' for less than 1 minute,
even if you haven't bought any credit.

(Tip: If you've got a US mobile and you
don't have any credit left, make an 'emergency' call to have someone
call you back - all within the 1 minute limit)

If you buy 10 euros of credit, you will get a certain number of
'free days' in which you can make calls to all the listed 'Free
Destinations'.

'Free to call' countries: Australia,
Canada, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hong
Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Puerto
Rico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand)

These countries are free for mobile numbers too: US,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Puerto Rico

The number of 'free days' depends on the provider.

voipcheap.com
- 90 'free days'

voipcheap.co.uk
- 120 'free days'

voipbuster.com
- 120 'free days'

voipstunt.com
- 120 'free days'

freecall.com
- 90 'free days'

You can even make calls direct from your web browser. Just put
your home number and the destination number. They will call your
number, and once you pick up the phone, they will connect you to
the destination number (your home number in this case is the 'call
back' number). It's 5 cents (in euro cents) per connection if you
call from the web or use the 'call back' feature. Other than that,
the call is free as long as both the 'call back' number and the
destination number falls in the list of 'Free to call' countries.

The last time I tried, you could do this even if you haven't bought
any credit yet - just as long as the call duration is less than
a minute.

After the 'free days' are over, the calls are charged at the minimal
rate. The fine print says that you're limited to 300 minutes a week
and the minutes can't be rolled over. Once your 'fsree days' have
run out, you have to top up to get more 'free days'

adcalls.com - Ad-supported Free Calls

Addcalls.com offers free
calls to the US and Canada but you must watch ads, by installing
the dialer. Since this is Ad-ware, read the Terms of Service carefully,
and if you're fine with it, go ahead.

Free Calls to US toll-free numbers on Skype

If you're not in the US, it's now possible for you to call the 1800
toll-free numbers. If you want to call a business or person in the
US, you can try out this Directory Assistance loophole:

(Source: Skype's blog)

If the person you're trying to reach is in a US telephone directory,
call the toll-free number 800-FREE411 (800-373-3411), ask the directory
to connect you to person or business you are trying to reach, and
you will get connected automatically for free. You have to listen
to ads while the call is being connected but it's effectively a
FREE CALL.

The call will last for a few minutes before they cut you off. They
might have closed that loophole by now (e.g by giving out the number
instead of automatically connecting you to it)

Conclusion

To reiterate, if it sounds too good to be true, read the fine print,
Terms and Conditions and Terms of Service carefully.

J. Corcoran writes for AnotherWayTo.com. He likes to find ways to spend the least amount of money as possible.