Rebtel doesn't - once you've been given a local number for your friend, you save that in your mobile. Whenever you want to make a cheap international call, you just call that number instead of their usual one. It's the same process though - 1) Call your friend 2) Talk. No changes necessary.

the best rates; and as simple as any of the above is from the prepaid calling cards that can be found on the selfs of convenience stores in any immigrant neighborhood.

p.s. i am not talking about the major telecom's cards found in drug store, walmart, etc. these are outrageously priced.

i also like rebtel; its just more expensive that the prices i can get with calling cards.

I remember when I was in the UK in 1999. They had lots of these little shops that sold calling cards. Insanely good rates, too, even by today's standards.

Dameon,

even today none of the SIP providers can come close to rates of the bargain calling cards. i can call UK or germany cell phones for 5.5 cents US per minute via a local access number. i pay twice that much with VOIP and the quality is no where near as good.

the discount VOIP providers simply do not have the economies of scale that the huge calling card 'white label' providers have. we are set to have a major shake up in discount calling when companies like STI and LDS decide to sell cut rate SIP termination. the current 2000 SIP providers along with all the voice 2.0 startups will have a very hard time competing. they will not be able to on price and the industry is still really young for there branding to retain customers. especially considering that the bulk of VOIP users today are using it for bargain calling not any of the features being promoted by the startups.

when the calling card companies get into SIP termination directly they will no longer be limited to customers who enter small shops in neighborhoods on the outskirts of town. they will have the entire internet community as there market.

so how will the big telecoms react? i give 2 years max. before most of the world is on unlimited calls to anyplace(or most of the world) plans. than even the calling cards companies are in trouble. charging for phone calls will be like trying to charge for email service on a per email basis.

spg

@spg: I can see paying per call, but not necessarily per minute or even unlimited. Time will tell.

I see per minute prices going down and quality of voice going up. One should check with Global1touch.com
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We use TrinitiComm (www.triniticomm.com) for our home and home office VOIP phone service and it is fantastic! They have true unlimited local, long distance and international calling, great features and is actually cheaper than Vonage and most other VOIP companies out there. I'm glad we made the switch. Oh, and they give you the first month for free to try it out.