# Are there any pay-per-call VOIP to telephone services? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-pay-per-call-voip-to-telephone-services/438636 "2008-02-21T23:09:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-pay-per-call-voip-to-telephone-services/438636/1 "2008-02-21T23:09:18Z")
I don’t have a land line here and occasionally can’t use my cell phone. Infrequently I might want to place a VOIP to telephone call, but I don’t want to get a monthly service plan or anything like that for infrequent calls. Are there any services that are easy to sign up for, no commitment, and allow you to pay on a per-call basis? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-pay-per-call-voip-to-telephone-services/438636/2 "2008-02-21T23:19:17Z")
To be clear, I don’t mean having some broadband-enabled phone, I just mean using a computer microphone/speakers to connect to a telephone. I know they had services like this a while back, but I have no idea if they still do. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-pay-per-call-voip-to-telephone-services/438636/3 "2008-02-21T23:59:04Z")
This would work for a while, like so much free minutes time. But then you will have to pay in increments of 5 (or 10) but no monthly fees or anything. I only used them twice they have low prices and okay sound quality. Not the best but usually good enough. [http://www.jajah.com/](http://www.jajah.com/) \* - No affiliation with the website, not an endorsement of the service, buyer beware, on and on. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-pay-per-call-voip-to-telephone-services/438636/4 "2008-02-22T01:30:33Z")
Skype does exactly this [http://www.skype.com/intl/en/prices/](http://www.skype.com/intl/en/prices/) ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-pay-per-call-voip-to-telephone-services/438636/5 "2008-02-22T01:56:04Z")
I came in here to mention skype too. Computer to computer is free, and there is a nominal fee to make a computer to land line phone call. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-pay-per-call-voip-to-telephone-services/438636/6 "2008-02-22T02:03:34Z")
With Skype, you load your account with money and make calls to phones until the money runs out, instead of explicitly paying on a call-by-call basis. I’m not sure whether this is precisely what the OP is looking for, but it’s probably close. I use it to call long distnace in Canada all the time. You can also _get_ a phone number so that people on phones can call you on Skype. These phone numbers are available in different parts of the world, even; I could get a New Zealand phone number even though I live in Canada. Skype also has specials every now and then. Last three months of 2007 were free calling within Canada and the USA, for example.