To make telephone calls, you simply dial ‘#’ and then your party’s number. Of course, all of the prerequisite numerical demarcations with respect to country code and area codes still apply. For example, you are still required to type the prerequisite ‘1’ before the full area code and number of your party when dialling to North America and Canada. Other respective countries have their required calling codes. All of these still apply.

Once you have dialled your number correctly, the characteristic pre-recorded feminine voice updates you on the remaining credit, prior to connecting the call. Unfortunately, there seems to be no other way to find out how much credit remains without making a call first. Undaunted by this minor quirk, I tested the device calling a party in New York and another in England. In both cases, the call connected perfectly, with virtually no difficulty.

Call Quality

The sound quality of the call is almost as perfect as a standard telephone call. It is certainly better than the call quality provided by other services such as Dial-Pad, Y@p Jack and other Internet based services. In fact, if you’ve ever used MSN Messenger or other instant messaging software to communicate with parties overseas via broadband connections, the call quality is just a tad better. The only minor flaw is that some of the times it appears that the conversation lags just a bit. In other words, things you say to your party do not always arrive immediately. Sometimes it takes a fraction of a second for the party to pickup everything you’ve said. Interestingly however, they will not notice that this is happening at all. Additionally, you can sometimes hear voice feedback from your own conversation. In other words, things you say are repeated just before your party hears what you say, but at a much lower volume. Finally, the volume of the conversation dips just a little from your standard telephone conversation volume. However, once the conversation is underway, it is barely noticeable.