The Timehead website gives a way of finding the cheapest online phone cards for dialing mainly from and within the USA, Canada and related territories. However,  they now cover international calling cards too for dialling to the States and from and to other countries. They sell many makes of phone cards online with a good search facility so that you can select the best card.

Search by entering the country you’re dialing from and the country you’re dialing to, and you get a selection of cards to choose from, each listing information such as the minutes included, a rating, connection fees, minute rounding, and if there is a maintenance fee. For example if you select USA then India, you get a list of the cheapest phone cards and calling rates from the USA to India and you can make your choice from what’s available.

3 have launched free Skype calls from your mobile for anyone within the UK who has a 3 SIM card and a compatible handset. This service is valid from 1st May 2009 and means you can call any Skype user for free from your mobile phone.

You have to have a compatible phone in order to download and run the Skype mobile software, but having done that you can call any other Skype user for free from your mobile / cell phone - and that’s millions of Skype users! It works both for people with 3 contracts and pay-as-you-go users.

MagicJack is a small USB device that plugs into the USB port on your computer. With any landline phone then plugged into the magicJack, you can make calls to the US and Canada absolutely free. The only cost is a $19.95 annual fee. The service comes with directory assistance, a phone number, call waiting, voicemail and caller ID all included in the price.

The initial cost is $40 which includes your first year’s calls and the magicJack gadget itself. After the first year you pay $19.95 per year. magicJack lets you access voip telephony with your standard landline phone (although you do need a computer and it has to be switched on). There is no software to install, the magicJack loads this automatically), you literally just plug it in and dial. The network has been carefully built by the owner and founder of the company and boasts excellent call quality.

1301 (used to be called ZeroP) is a service for dialling from the United Kingdom only which uses access numbers to give free phone calls! No need to change your telephone provider simply dial 1301 from a BT line or 0808 142 1301 from any other line (including a mobile) and you can access cheap rates and to certain countries free call time. A small connection fee is applied to every call made.

There is no sign-up fee, and you simply register the phones, landline or mobile, that you want to make calls from on the 1301 website.

Note that the 1301 system will not work if you are subscribed to BT Light.

Poketalk used to offer free phone calls to landlines because the calls were sponsored by advertising. However, recently their service has changed and they are not longer offering free calls. However, they offering very cheap international phone calls.

Poketalk offer cheap phone calls to landlines, and in some countries to mobile phones too, using your existing telephone. You start the call online by entering both the number you’re calling from and the destination number and PokeTALK connect you.

You must first register at the PokeTALK website, which is free. There are no connection fees and no downloads.

Tpad is a phone network offering free and cheap call rates for landline, mobile and VoIP calls. Use Tpad at home on your computer as Voip telephony, call international numbers from your mobile phone at local calling rates using access numbers, or make free calls from your mobile when in a wifi area. Tpad works on a computer, an IP phone, and ATA adapter and a wifi enabled mobile phone.

Tpad Voip for the Home

If you create a free account at Tpad you get a free inbound phone number and can make cheap internet calls to landlines and mobiles, and free calls to other Tpad users. To do this you need to download the Tpad software to your computer – there are choices of software and within the different versions there is compatibility with Windows, Mac and Linux systems.

Voip software with great rates and many countries absolutely free to call. Simply download the software, buy credits and make cheap international calls. The SmartVoip rates to India are very cheap, and comparing other rates including calls from the UK to Australia, the rates are among the cheapest I’ve found.

As with all Voip software, it’s free to call other members, but SmartVoip are very competitive on their calling rates. At the time of writing the free countries include Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal, parts of Russia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, and USA.