VoipCheap review

VoipCheap sounds like an amazing proposition at first glance: free calls to many destinations worldwide, and a custom application with plenty of features.

Unfortunately, the small print is less enticing: free calls are limited to 300 minutes per week, and to a duration of one minute. To qualify for longer calls, you have to buy £12 of credit, which gives you free calls to a number of destinations for 90 days.

The software is easy to set up. Simply choose a username and password, and you’re ready to go. You can add contacts, and the software will save the numbers you dial. There’s even a tab that allows you to send text messages. In the options, you can set an outgoing caller ID and VoipCheap will call that number to verify that you own it. If you want, you can use your own VoIP hardware or software, but there are only basic guides for common models on VoipCheap’s site.

Although there’s a facility for call forwarding, and the website offers incoming numbers, this isn’t available in the UK yet, and there’s no indication of when it will be. This is a shame, because although VoipCheap is by far the cheapest service here, it’s missing the one feature that would make it a serious alternative to a landline.

VoipCheap looks too good to be true – and in some cases it is – but the service works, and if incoming numbers are added in future, it could be an excellent choice. It’s a good choice if you need to make outgoing calls and you are prepared to pay up front for credit, but for a more complete solution we recommend Sipgate.