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Babble
Price: £1.50 inc VAT for 30 minutes a day

Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
Overall

Reviewed By: Andy Shaw

This review updated: 03/08/2006
Featured in magazine:
Issue 141
Manufacturer Contacts:
Supplier: Babble
Web Address: www.babble.net


Picture making calls over the internet and you probably think of Skype – the market-leading VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service. As regular Web User readers will know, however, Skype isn't the last word in telephony. It has a large number of registered users, but has both pros and cons. One alternative is Babble, a British VoIP service that has recently launched some new software and a new offer that provides 30 minutes of free landline calls a day for a one-off charge of £1.50.

Features
Like Skype, Babble is a software and service only product, so you need to supply your own hardware to speak into and listen to conversations, but a range of options, from headset and microphone combos to USB handsets, are readily available. You download the software free of charge and can use it to make free calls to other Babble users. The service uses an industry-wide standard called SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), so it can also call other SIP compliant services without charge; or you can connect to the international landline or mobile networks at a reduced rate when compared to regular phone charges. It doesn't, however, have some of the more sophisticated Skype features like video and conference calling.

Performance
We found call quality to be OK. It depends greatly on the hardware you use and the quality of the connection on either end, of course, so this doesn't come with the guaranteed call quality you might expect from your regular telephone. However, in our tests it proved perfectly usable and compared well to standards set by Skype.

Ease of use
Once you've downloaded the software the Babble screen is basically divided into two, with contacts on the left and a dialling pad on the right. It could barely be easier to use. The only complication is deciding how you're going to pay for any calls you make to non-Babble customers, though this is sensibly broken down and all call charges are available from the website.

Value for money
Babble has always provided good deals on international calls, but there's also an offer available at the time of writing called FreeB. For the price of a £1.50 text message (which basically confirms that you're a real person) you can get up to 30 minutes of free calls a day to 25 countries including the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, most of western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and a good chunk of the Far East. If you use more than that you can pay as you go, or get free minutes and texts by subscribing to a £5 per month package.

More Internet Telephony reviews:

• Skype Pro
• Skype 3.0
• Vonage Wi-Fi Phone
• Freetalk
• Babble