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Miguelito

Feb 9, 2004, 7:24 PM

Post #1 of 3 (823 views)

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pccall.com - cheap internet phone service

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I just got my cable modem installed this morning and started looking for an internet phone service as I don't have a physical land line installed in San Miguel de Allende and don't particularly want one either.

I tried a service called PcCall and just placed my first call to a sister in Iowa, this from San Miguel. We talked for 8 minutes and it cost 25 cents. If you check out their web site they have a rate sheet and you buy time in $25 chunks via credit card or whatever.

Looks like a really nice alternative to a land based phone system.

Los que cantan oran dos veces! (Those who sing pray twice!)

johanson / Moderator

Feb 9, 2004, 9:41 PM

Post #2 of 3 (810 views)

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Re: [mikelangford] pccall.com - cheap internet phone service

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Hey Mike. That sure beats what I would pay telmex. Could you let us know about any negatives, you know echo, delay time, line quality etc. Many folks in the Ajijic area are using vonage and packet8 which I think are slightly different in that they actually provide you with a US phone # for your friends to phone when they want to phone you.

I've got a broadband connection, but I'm still very lazy and have been using a call-back service where the average costs are closer to 20 cents per minute. The trouble is, the line quality of this call-back service is getting worse. Maybe it's time to take advantage of my fast internet connection

Miguelito

Feb 10, 2004, 5:35 AM

Post #3 of 3 (807 views)

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Re: [johanson] pccall.com - cheap internet phone service

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The overall quality of the call was just short of excellent. I think the big problem on my end was getting the headset mic adjusted. On the first call I put through I had the mic too far away and my sister couldn't hear me. That plus a short delay of less than one second made her think she had a breather on the other end of the line (hah!, made her day too, I'll bet). The second call went through just fine and now she knows to wait a few seconds until big brother gets his stuff together, i.e., move the mic closer to my mouth and talk a bit louder. Pccall says they're duplex though I didn't get that effect at all; it was pretty much simplex all the way. There was a slight echo on my end but my brain is starting the switch to Mexican thinking and all-in-all I'm very happy with it and will continue to use it, for now anyway.

The software is about a 1.5 meg download and I had to do a restart before it would work after I did the actual installation which was a snap, easy as pie. D/l the file, click on it and you're done, in the usual fashion.

Regards, Mike

Los que cantan oran dos veces! (Those who sing pray twice!)