A friend of mine in Australia asked me what VoIP provider I used and went on to say that he was looking at either Engin or Firefly. So I thought that I better check these other 2 out and compare them to the service I use which is Skype.
So, the following tables are what I found (prices are per minute unless otherwise stated).
| Service | Skype Euro | Skype AUD | Engin | Engin |
| Monthly Fee | Free | Free | $9.950 | $29.950 |
| PC to PC worldwide | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Local Calls Aust | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.100 | $0.100 |
| Capital Cities Aust. | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.100 | $0.100 |
| Mobiles Aust | $0.165 | $0.266 | $0.270 | $0.270 |
| 13/1300 Aust. | $0.017 | $0.027 | N/S | N/S |
| 1 800 Aust | N/A | N/A | N/S | N/S |
| US | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.035 | $0.035 |
| UK | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.035 | $0.035 |
| NZ | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.035 | $0.035 |
| NZ Mobile | $0.252 | $0.406 | $0.590 | $0.590 |
| Brazil | $0.044 | $0.071 | $0.140 | $0.140 |
| Brazil Mobile | $0.173 | $0.279 | $0.290 | $0.290 |
| Service | Skype Euro | Skype AUD | Firefly | Firefly Sub |
| Monthly Fee | Free | Free | Free | $5.950 |
| PC to PC worldwide | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Local Calls Aust | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.069 | $0.049 |
| Capital Cities Aust. | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.069 | $0.100 |
| Mobiles Aust | $0.165 | $0.266 | $0.300 | $0.290 |
| 13/1300 Aust. | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.069 | $0.100 |
| 1 800 Aust | N/A | N/A | Free | Free |
| US | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.069 | $0.039 |
| UK | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.069 | $0.039 |
| NZ | $0.017 | $0.027 | $0.069 | $0.049 |
| NZ Mobile | $0.252 | $0.406 | $0.500 | $0.500 |
| Brazil | $0.044 | $0.071 | $0.145 | $0.145 |
| Brazil Mobile | $0.173 | $0.279 | $0.305 | $0.305 |
Green text - service to service e.g. Engin to Engin
Blue text - $25 worth of calls included in monthly fee
Yellow text - untimed call
N/S - not sure
N/A - not available
Euro to AUD X-rate 1.6116 (as of 16 Feb 2006)
Further InfoIf you were to use $9.95 worth (i.e.
Engin) of
Skype you would have 363.176 minutes (6.053 hours) to fixed lines in Australia and most parts of the world or 37.418 minutes (0.624 hours) to mobiles in Australia.
If you were to use $29.95 worth (i.e.
Engin) of
Skype you would have 1,093.177 minutes (18.22 hours) to fixed lines in Australia and most parts of the world or 112.63 minutes (1.877 hours) to mobiles in Australia.
Skype has no monthly fees; you only pay for what you use.
With
Skype and
Firefly you must have your PC turned on. They are both
softphones.
Skype wins hands down on the international front.
Skype currently offer what is called "SkypeIn" in 12 different countries, unfortunately not yet in Australia but I believe that it will become available in the next 12 months. This is a service where you get a number in your country but for sure it will be one of the capital cities Engin will not be intersted in this because they use your existing land line and Firefly are still quite a small outfit.
I can't see how with any of these services that you can yet do away with your existing line so that you can still receive calls but the time will come some day soon.
For Australian customers
Skype has the disadvantage that the servers are located in Europe meaning that if your are in Sydney and call your neighbour then your voice will travel to Europe and back as will the voice of your neighbour. You may experience some latency (delay) but in saying that I llive mainly in Brazil and call my parents 1-2 times per week to their land line and I would say that generally it is better quality than land line to land line.
I have saved a minimum of AU$3,000 in the last 16 months. I call more frequently and for longer to family and friends around the world.
ConclusionI will definitely stick with
Skype.
