New Gadget for Cheap(er) Mobile Calls

[AnOther]

http://www.talkip4u.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=109

Interesting piece of kit but it hinges on your French mobile operator offering the neccessary cheap or free calls to friends and family using the same network and I don't know if any do this.

It also requires your PC to be on all the time which for many could be a significant drawback although it would work through a laptop which is cheaper to run continuously.

[Pierre ZFP]

That's very interesting.  My PCs are always on anyway but set to Wake-Up-On-LAN so minimal power consumption.  I wonder if the PCs are needed for this anyway?  After configuration, surely this bit of kit will be looking at the router only?   5 watts or so for the router isn't going to break anyone's bank

[Pickles]

The Mobigater appears to need the PC to be available all the time, since both models connect via USB to the PC (and hence to the Internet) and do not appear to have either ethernet ports nor do they have wi-fi capability, so they cannot connect to the LAN directly.

Regards

Pickles

[Pierre ZFP]

Hmmm but since its a USB connection and most routers these days have a USB port built in then just maybe ........

[AnOther]

Be nice to think there was a way to connect directly into a router and maybe there is, questions need to asked of the manufacturer. From what I can see though it is simply a bridge between GSM and Skype and therefore Skype needs to be running on the PC.

Nobody has commented yet as whether the free friends and family bundle is available in France because without this it's really a bit of a non starter.