It's been a while since I've written about Yak4ever/AllFreeCalls, Pat Phelan's scheme to "end the rip off" of expensive long distance calls to 48 countries. The service is available in the US, UK, and Ireland.

In the UK and Ireland, AllFreeCalls works fairly simply: dial the local access number, then dial your international call. Fairly simple. In the US, they had to change how the service worked to comply with the Byzantine telecom regulations in the US. You have to register your telephone number and up to 10 long distance numbers you wish to call. You then call the access number, enter your 'extension' and the call is connected.

Despite this funny system, Pat Phelan reports that yak4ever tracked over 1.13 million minutes over the past 8 days and that the numbers continue to trend upward. He also finds it interesting that people use the service to call from the USA to the USA. I can explain that, Pat: it's called hiding where you're REALLY calling. ;)

Give this service a try and let me know what you think!