Quick! Give me your computer, I need to make a call.
Written: Sep 27 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: FREE long distance, Easy to use
Cons: sound quality varies
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| robotnut's Full Review: Dialpad |
Forget those 10-10-XXX scams. Imagine if you could call any standard telephone in the USA without paying a single dime. Or, imagine further if you could talk to friends and relatives anywhere in the entire world without shelling out a single penny from your pocket. Well, imagine no more. Dialpad (www.dialpad.com) let’s you do just that.
Of course, in order to use Dialpad, you’ll need a computer and internet access. Like any other internet service, you must first register with them by choosing a username, password, and then answer a few questions. It’s totally free to register. Once you’ve registered, all you need to do is login. There is no additional software that you need to download and install. As soon as you login, your personal Dialpad phone book will be displayed and, in a separate window, you will see a keypad similar to the standard telephone keypad. If you encounter any difficulties during the process, Dialpad offers easy to follow step-by-step help in their Help Pages.
You can use Dialpad in two ways: you can make a call from PC to phone or from PC to PC.
To make a PC to phone call, you simply dial the number using the Dialpad keypad just as you would do with a regular telephone. If you have the number saved in your Dialpad phone book, you can also just click on the number from the phone book. You can call any phone number in the 50 states even if you live in another country. For example, if you have a friend living in France, she can use Dialpad to call your phone. However, if you live in the U.S. you cannot use Dialpad to dial international phone numbers.
PC to PC calls can be made between any two people who have a computer and are registered with Dialpad, anywhere in the world. To make a PC to PC call, you will need to know the Dialpad username of the person you want to call. Both of you must be logged into Dialpad. If you have that person’s username stored in your phone book, a little icon will light up next to the username to indicate that the person is logged in.
Regardless of which type of call you make, it’s always best to use a pair of headphones rather than your computer’s external speakers. This is more for the benefit of the other person. What happens is that, with external speakers, the audible sound will feed back into your microphone and cause an annoying echo for the person on the other end.
I have received calls made by someone using Dialpad and I have used Dialpad to make calls to people, both PC to phone and PC to PC. While it does work, you may quite often find yourself asking the other person to repeat what they say. And likewise, you may have to repeat yourself quite a bit to get your message across. This isn’t because the sound is not clear, but the problem is that you will get some pauses and dropouts in mid-sentence as the person is speaking. I tried once using Dialpad to make a PC to PC call to someone in Taiwan but our conversation was unintelligible (no, it wasn’t because of the language difference). I also use Dialpad to call my bank’s automated phone system to check my balances and make transfers. I’ve had good results using Dialpad for this purpose. And actually, this is probably what I use Dialpad most often for. Since my bank’s phone number is normally a local toll call for me, I save a little bit of money. One of the best things about Dialpad is that since I only have one phone line, I can make phone calls without having to get offline first.
The technology obviously still has room for improvement. The quality of your call can depend on many factors such as the type of internet connection you are using or how busy the internet traffic is at the time you make the call. While my own results from using Dialpad haven’t been spectacular, I would still recommend it to others. I wouldn’t recommend using Dialpad for setting up important meetings or anything like that, but it would be fine to use for just chatting with your buddies. It’s worth a try.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
robotnut
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Location: NJ
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 3 members
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