Update: Callpacket - 95 cents monthly VOIP telephone service - 100 Incoming & 100 minutes Outbound calling included

Update 11/12/2005: Service is no longer free but requires a credit card with a monthly charge of 95 cents.

Update 11/06/2005: Callpacket still offers a free service this month with one notable change, free incoming minutes has been reduced from unlimited to only 100. This is still not a bad deal for light users but not as nice as the former offer. New on the callpacket website is an International pay as you go calling plan. Callpacket's international rates are quite low with most of Western Europe, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Mexico, NZ, Singapore, etc falling in the 2 - 3 cents per minute range. On this plan domestic minutes are priced at 1 cent per minute for incoming and 3 cents per minute outgoing. For those that signed up for the free packet service I think I figured out a way to combine the best of both plans. Sign up for the new Intl pay as you go plan and continue using the free packet plan for incoming calls. For those that are using the soft client or only have one free line on their terminal adapter you can have all who call you dial your freepacket number, set up your freepacket number to forward all calls to your new Intl pay as you go number (since all forwarded calls are "on net" they should be free outbound and inbound to your new Intl Callpacket number). Configure your sip client with with your new International Callpacket credentials. Now all calls coming in on your original Freepacket number will still be free plus you may be able to get a new local number that is in your area but remember if you pass this number out you will pay 1 cent per minute for incoming calls. You should still be able to use your 100 of free outbound minutes by using the virtual calling card feature and setting up your new Intl Callpacket number as a pinless number. Calling your Freepacket number from your new Intl number should be free as it's an "on net" call. I have not personally set this up as I'm not sure I need it, but I'm sure that some FW members will find this useful

I stumbled across this service a few weeks ago and they seem pretty decent for a free service. With the many service outages of the major VOIP companies I would think that Callpacket would be a great backup service or even a good primary service for those that don't make many outbound calls. The service includes a free DID number from either CA, OR, WA, or NV if I remember correctly. They offer phone numbers in most other states too but they are not free. If you don't already own a terminal adapter they provide a free soft client that one can use with their service. Also, if you search the forum you can find a post for a FAR Linksys terminal adapter that can be unlocked to use on the Callpacket service. The service includes a nice bundle of features as listed below plus unlimited inbound calling and 100 minutes of outbound calling monthly for free. There is no need for a credit card to sign up for this service!

Free Packet - Send and Receive calls 100% FREE

Free Phone Number

Free Incoming Calls

Free 3-Way Calling

Free Call Transfer

Free On Net Calls

Free VoiceMail

Free Virtual Calling Card

Free 100 USA Minutes Monthly

Free CallPacket SoftPhone



Callpacket Homepage

F.A.Q.

Is the deal dead? I tried all area code they offer and it keep saying "Unfortunately we do not have the available # in states you have selected"!!!?????

Answer:
Ignore that error. Select an area code from those states using the drop-down, then check the list of prefixes. If the list of prefixes shows something, then there are availabilities. Pick the one you want, then click Next (or what ever the button just under it is). I just picked a 971 (Oregon) number, and it worked fine, with two prefixes still available, even though the annoying none-available "error" still showed up. When you pick your prefix and hit Next, you will be allowed to continue.

What if callpacket doesn't offer a local number in my area?

Answer:
I was just thinking about an inexpensive option for those that insist on having a local number but live in a state that Callpacket doesn't provide free local numbers. There is a service called Callwave mobile that offers local numbers in most states for $3.95 monthly and you can set up the callwave number to ring directly through to your callpacket number. The callwave service was designed for mobile phones but it works equally as well with VOIP. Another nice feature is if ever your VOIP line is down then you can instantly route the calls to your mobile phone or another land line. There are also a few backdoor shortcuts where one can use the callwave service for free unlimited long distance. Callwave offers a 30 day free trial and again no credit card is needed to sign up. Here is the link:

Callwave

To make unlimited calls for just the $3.95 monthly fee all you need to do is:

1. install the callwave software on your computer and then add a bunch of call transfer numbers to it (it lets you add 6) but these can be changed at anytime with a click of a button.

2. Call your local or toll-free number callwave gave you.

3. On the software click a button to select which number the call should be transfered to and then it will connect your call so you can talk for free.

There are some limitations to the callwave serice as follows:

1. The toll-free number is not your own but a shared number wheras the calling party has to dial an extension, but still for an unlimited use of a toll-free number it is a steal at only $3.95 monthly.

2. I have the "callwave Mobile" service and I can confirm that they do not mention that you get to use the toll-free number but it does work.

3. There is a 60 minute rule where no single call can last for more than this 60 minutes but you can hang up and call back again.

4. Here are the toll free access numbers:

1-800-380-4341

1-877-225-5928

1-877-786-6638

1-888-287-9888

""search the forum you can find a post for a FAR Linksys terminal adapter"

Can you provide link for this FAR LinkSys Terminal?

Thanks. Looks like another decent free alternative that actually allows some outgoing minutes.

They seem legite, expect this site to get hammered with new line requests.

I already initiated the signup process. While you don't have to give a credit card number or anything, it does appear that you need to give valid contact information. It implied that they will contact me prior to giving me my phone number.

I also have a question for anyone who tried them already, they insist (although not required) on allowing their TFTP server to provision my hardware. Does this lock or negatively affect my hardware in any way? I plan on manually configuring my devices, but just wondering if anyone tried their autoprovision feature yet.

gatzdon said: They insist (although not required) on allowing their TFTP server to provision my hardware. Does this lock or negatively affect my hardware in any way? I plan on manually configuring my devices, but just wondering if anyone tried their autoprovision feature yet.
They most likely want to provision the adapter because so many people are clueless. Look at the PAP2 thread in deal dicussions. I laid out an easy to follow, step by step explanation of how to unlock the adapter and how to configure it for Stanaphone & Voipbuster and even with those instructions hundreds of ding dongs still couldn't do it. I got dozens of PM's and each and every time the failure to get it working was directly correlated to failure to follow the directions.

I didn't sign up for Callpacket because they don't offer a local number for me, but I doubt they will lock your hardware.

This sounds like a good backup for voipbuster or any voip providers. Can we manually configure PAP2 instead of letting them provision? If so, what are the parameters?

Guyz go ahead with this call packet,I'm using it in virginia,but only thing is I'm using LA area code number,it can be as second line ,last week cc were offering free pap2 adapter,hope the offer comes again,so that we can link up that adapter to call packet.

tried to register, but no number is avaiable

Since you stumbled across this weeks ago, perhaps you can answer my question from yesterday in the PAP2 thread - how is the service? I thought about signing up, but the website seems very amateurish, and I am still perplexed as to why nobody has posted in the forum section as of yet.

Craig said: I never allowed Callpacket to configure my device. I would assume that with a factory unlocked device that they could lock it to only their service when they upload the credentials via TFTP; however even if they did this, a full factory reset would restore your adapter to it's unlocked state.
Caveat: If you're using one of the unlocked Vonage-branded PAP2 adapters, remember that doing a factory reset will NOT unlock your device! Quite the opposite, it will keep it locked (and, if it's not locked, it will be once you do the reset), now with Vonage's settings.

Just thought I'd put that out, before we get a bunch of people doing factory resets on their PAP2's from reading this, and wondering why they can't connect to anything but Vonage any more.

Craig said: I believe you have to pick a number from either AZ, CA, NV, OR, or WA for the free service.

nondescript said: tried to register, but no number is avaiable

Try a lot of different area code, no number available, is it dead?

RfDude said: Signed up a free account with a unlocked PAP2 from CC, works perfectly, and their customer support is excellent,even for the free account user, got the support call 2 hours after a case was opened.You guys should give a try, it's free, cost you nothing!

Care to share the configuration for PAP2?

likethemcheap said: RfDude said: Signed up a free account with a unlocked PAP2 from CC, works perfectly, and their customer support is excellent,even for the free account user, got the support call 2 hours after a case was opened.You guys should give a try, it's free, cost you nothing!

Care to share the configuration for PAP2?

Quite easy, in default configuration, just change:
Line1:
Proxy: voip.callpacket.com
Using Outbound Proxy: yes
Outbound Proxy: voip.callpacket.com
Display Name: xxx
User ID: cpxxxxx
Password: xxxxx

Regional:
Remove Call Back Deact Code: *86, this way you could use *86 to check your VM

And change the dial plan to: (*xx|#xx|[3469]11|0|00|[2-9]xxxxxx|1xxx[2-9]xxxxxxS0|xxxxxxxxxxxx.)

if you behind NAT, just enable the NAT setting. That's it.

RfDude said: likethemcheap said: RfDude said: Signed up a free account with a unlocked PAP2 from CC, works perfectly, and their customer support is excellent,even for the free account user, got the support call 2 hours after a case was opened.You guys should give a try, it's free, cost you nothing!

Care to share the configuration for PAP2?

Quit easy, in default configuration, just change:
Line1:
Proxy: voip.callpacket.com
Using Outbound Proxy: yes
Outbound Proxy: voip.callpacket.com
Display Name: xxx
User ID: cpxxxxx
Password: xxxxx

Regional:
Remove Call Back Deact Code: *86, this way you could use *86 to check your VM

if you behind NAT, just enable the NAT setting. That's it.

Thanks. Going to the website now...

It gave that not-available red message on the bottom for my area code 302 (Delaware). I went ahead and submitted the form anyway. I got a local number assigned. But I doubt if it works with my PAP2, since it gave me that message. What do you guys think?

I have to try it out after I go home today.

crazycool said: Craig said: I believe you have to pick a number from either AZ, CA, NV, OR, or WA for the free service.

nondescript said: tried to register, but no number is avaiable

Try a lot of different area code, no number available, is it dead?

RfDude said: likethemcheap said:

Quite easy, in default configuration, just change:
Line1:
Proxy: voip.callpacket.com
Using Outbound Proxy: yes
Outbound Proxy: voip.callpacket.com
Display Name: xxx
User ID: cpxxxxx
Password: xxxxx

Regional:
Remove Call Back Deact Code: *86, this way you could use *86 to check your VM

And change the dial plan to: (*xx|#xx|[3469]11|0|00|[2-9]xxxxxx|1xxx[2-9]xxxxxxS0|xxxxxxxxxxxx.)

if you behind NAT, just enable the NAT setting. That's it.

Is it the standard 5060 port, or do they use a different one?

gatzdon said: RfDude said: likethemcheap said:

Quite easy, in default configuration, just change:
Line1:
Proxy: voip.callpacket.com
Using Outbound Proxy: yes
Outbound Proxy: voip.callpacket.com
Display Name: xxx
User ID: cpxxxxx
Password: xxxxx

Regional:
Remove Call Back Deact Code: *86, this way you could use *86 to check your VM

And change the dial plan to: (*xx|#xx|[3469]11|0|00|[2-9]xxxxxx|1xxx[2-9]xxxxxxS0|xxxxxxxxxxxx.)

if you behind NAT, just enable the NAT setting. That's it.

Is it the standard 5060 port, or do they use a different one?

I have 3 SIP line in my home, I am using 5060, 5061 and 5062 for each account.

wow !! this was easy..I got my 818 area code phone no and i just configured my pap2 and made a call to my home no (also area code 818 )...I removed stana from my line 1...

halfwind said: mnsweeps said: wow !! this was easy..I got my 818 area code phone no and i just configured my pap2 and made a call to my home no (also area code 818 )...I removed stana from my line 1...

How long before you were assigned a phone number? It has been over 40 minutes and only the confirmation email, no "activation" email yet.

I called them up..They are in Temecula CA....Once you call them they will do it on the phone if you insist

my order shows "equipment type: (1) CallPacket Phone, $0.00/each". How is this phone? Is it exactly phone or software phone?

thanks,

Looks as if Callpacket is out of business...