PC to PC calls

Download software from IDD calls www.skype.com. Then, you and your friend (he must use Skype too) can chat for free over the Internet anywhere in the world.

You can use a Skype phone which plugs into the router, a device that lets multiple PCs at home share the same broadband line.

If you are using a Windows Mobile phone like the HTC Touch series, install Skype and connect via Wi-Fi for free calls to another cellphone or PC.

Local Net-telephony provider Mediaring has a new Mediaring Talk (www.mediaringtalk.com) solution. Install it on your PC for free and you can hook up with another Mediaring user for free over the Internet.

PC-to-Phone IDD calls

Use the Skype and Mediaring Talk software in your PC to call any phone number worldwide at much lower rates. StarHub's 018 IDD service charges 10 cents per minute for a call to the US and 18 cents per minute to an Australian fixed line. Skype charges four cents per minute for both destinations.

Mediaring Talk has a promotion where calls from your PC to any phone number in Australia, China, Singapore, Britain, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the US are free.

Slash your mobile-phone bills

Use callback services to bring down the cost of local mobile-phone calls to as low as 3.5 cents per minute. Instead of calling your friend directly (cost: about 15 cents per minute), you dial a callback number. The call ends after one ring (since it's not connected, you don't pay).

The callback service calls you, you key in the number you want and it connects you to your friend.

That call costs only 5.5 cents per minute if you are using SunPage (www.sunpage.com.sg) and 5.9 cents if you are using Absolute Telecom (www.absolutetelecom.com.sg). You have to sign up at the websites first.

If you buy credits in advance, Absolute Telecom charges 3.5 cents per minute, over four times cheaper than a regular mobile-phone call.

This story was first published in The Sunday Times on 9 November 2008.