Future Phone? Does this actually work?

[Rattlehead]

http://www.futurephone.com/
I'm afraid to use it only to discover it doesn't when I get a whopping phone bill.  Does this actually work?  Has anyone tried this?  Corp said he did on another thread.  Turboguy said he didn't but he brought it to our attention.  That thread was so old I started this one.  I would love to get more input on this before I try it.  It sounds too good to be true.  It's free (for those of us with unlimited domestic long distance) and you don't even need to use a computer to make the calls.  Can this really be for real?  There's gotta be several of you who've tried it.  I really want to know if this works!!  Is it limited as to what areas of Russia and the FSU you can call?  Thanks for any info anyone has.

--Rat

[groovlstk]

I've used it to phone land lines in Moscow and it worked just fine, but I wasn't able to dial mobile phone #s.

[bjoer751]

I haven't used FuturePhone, but would like to recommend an alternative.
Betamax, a german VOIP-company, has many different services (voipbuster, internetcalls, netappell...). I use http://www.freecall.com/ to call my girlfriend (soon fiancee) every other day for an hour or two. The pricing:
You pay at least €10(+VAT) to start an account.
After this, you have 90 days to call free to russian landlines ($0.052/min to mobile - other rates here: http://www.freecall.com/en/rates.html).
After the 90 days of free calling, I call her for the normal rate ($0.013/min to landline) until the €10 has been used - then, it's time to fill up with another €10(+VAT) - and another 90 days of free phone.
You use a Windows-application to call (the sound-quality with a normal headset is superb), and can register (free) a phone-number (mobile) to be shown as the callerID (I use my mobile).

You can use the webservice or the application to send SMS for $0.065 to Russia.

If you have a SIP-device, you can use that to phone via the Freecall-network.

If you absolutely want to use your home phone, there is a function called Directcall - where Frecall first dials you, and then dials your destination - and connects the two calls. You pay for both calls (so if you live in Sweden as I do - it's free, as is the USA)

I can strongly recommend this one. Although, a few cautions:

• If you get problems - don't count on getting any support from Freecall/Betamax - they are known for their bad support. During the 12 months I've been using Freecall I've had no problems at all (well, when I started using Windows Vista Beta the application didn't work - but as soon as Vista was out of the Beta and RC - a new client was announced, and it works like a charm.
• Sometimes you will get a very bad connection, this depends a lot on what day and at what time you're calling. At both Christmas and New Year's it was nearly impossible to get through at all. But, if you start to dial - and don't get a connection (no sound of ringing phone) in 10 seconds, just hang up (red button) and dial the same number again (green button) - in a few tries you will often get a very good line. Although - if you di this too much - the Freecall system will mark you as abusing the system, and for 24-72 hours you will have to pay the normal rate for your calls.

[Olya]

I use voipcheap.com and am very much satisfied with it. Phone calls to Russia - free. But... I make my phone calls from the computer; also I have learnt that if you talk more than one hour you get disconnected and then they tell you you need to buy a credit, but I also found out that you can just either logon as a new user or to interrupt your phone call at 59th minute and then call back (it takes about 2-3 seconds). I've been using it for at least one month and it has always worked fine for me. The connection is good most of the time, sometimes you just need to call several times to have a better connection. Since I have family and friends there and I can spend HOURS and HOURS on the phone with them, my husband is very happy with this thing too