Normal telephoning costs almost no money these days. Whether Telekom, Vodafone or HanseNet with Alice, you can add a telephone flat rate to your telephone and DSL package for a small additional fee. While the telephone flat rate at Telekom currently costs an additional twelve euros, free calls at 1&1 are already included in the package for three euros more.
But with the first bill, disillusionment often sets in. Because the classic telephone flat rate only offers free calls to the German landline network. For all other phone calls, the providers sometimes charge excessive prices. For example, 1&1 bills calls to the mobile network at 29.90 cents per minute. Vodafone strikes even harder when it comes to international calls: If you have friends in South Africa, you have to pay an unbelievable 120 cents per minute with the “Telephone Flat” tariff. Anyone who now thinks they can reach Cape Town via a call-by-call area code for just a few cents per minute will be disappointed: Most providers, including Vodafone and 1&1, block the cheap area codes, leaving the customer trapped in the cost trap.
Happy is anyone who has a classic analogue or ISDN line from Telekom in addition to their DSL connection. The ex-monopolist is not allowed to block the cheap call-by-call numbers, the customer always has cheap alternatives here. Our article Cheaper phone calls: The Fritz!Box as a Least Cost Router shows how you can do the tiresome dialing automatically and thus minimize your phone costs without any effort.
But everyone else can be helped too. With an account with an independent VoIP provider and a corresponding configuration of the Fritz!Box, South Africa can be reached again for three cents per minute, while cell phone calls remain within tolerable limits at ten cents per minute. Fortunately, alternative VoIP providers do not charge a setup fee or a monthly fee. The particularly practical thing about it: Once the Fritz!Box has been set up accordingly, you don’t have to worry about anything anymore, calls to the fixed network are made via the flat rate, the rest via the much cheaper alternative VoIP offer.
- sipgate
Sipgate offers free VoIP access with a number in your own local network. - Cases
Caution, the 0.00 refers to the Sipgate flat rate, which costs EUR 8.90 per month. The offer below is free. - number selection
Sipgate offers numbers from almost every local area network in Germany. - account details
Automatic top-up of Sipgate credit is the most convenient way. - configuration
All the necessary configuration data can be found here, but it is easier to use the hard-to-read link “More information…” (red arrow). - Configuration very easy
Sipgate offers an individualized and ready-to-use configuration for many devices. - Individual configuration
Sipgate already enters all personal data appropriately in a screenshot. - Fritz!Box
First activate the expert view - number overview
The bottom entry is new and belongs to the Sipgate account. - Everything OK
If the initial configuration is OK, everything lights up green. - election rules
AVM has already pre-defined common number ranges such as mobile and foreign numbers. - assignment
The Sipgate number is assigned to the foreign area. - overview
The new election rules have been created. - Handy feature
If desired, Sipgate will show the caller’s previous phone number. - telecom
The mobile phone and international tariffs from Telekom are still relatively cheap with the flat rate. - 1and1
It is already clear here that calls to mobile networks are usually expensive at 29.9 cents per minute. - Vodafone
Vodafone’s international charges of more than one euro per minute are a rip off for the customer.
This article is the seventh part of our big special on AVM’s DSL router. Although it is completely independent of the other parts, we still recommend that you read at least the first five pages of the article The Fritz!Box as a Least Cost Router in advance.
