The thing that I remember and loved about answering machines were that you could buy pre-recorded messages on cassette tapes so that your callers could hear this before leaving you a message.

Nowadays we all have voicemails so how can we do the same thing? Do you want Captain Picard telling your callers that you are not at home (don’t worry we won’t judge you – yes we will!!) then you need to head on over to one of these three ancient sites, play the recording back via your speakers and hold your cell phone up to the speakers as you are recording your message!

This will work for any sound emitted from your machine so you can use this trick with any audio files and not just the ones from these old school sites. Many of the ones that I remember from way back when are very down.

The first one up for funny voicemail messages is Audio Comedy’s site available here

Not only do they have real answering machine messages but they also have other audio files like song parodies and stand up comedians. They also have sound boards to have fun with sounds. You can play just the parts you want and use that as your voicemail.

The comedians they have available are: Carlos Mencia, Chris Rock, Daniel Tosh, George Carlin, George Lopez, Jeff Foxworthy, Kevin Meaney, Lewis Black, Margaret Cho, Pablo Fransisco, Robin Williams, Stephen Lynch and Jim Breuer. If this is up your alley you can also do this with video clips via YouTube.

You can see a glimpse of their sound boards below (I love the Eric Cartman one!- call me and see )

The next site up for funny voicemail messages is via AhaJokes and can be found here. This site has lots of funny audio links but the descriptions are non-existent. So unless you have lots of time to kill, this will probably make you mad. But I have found some gems on here that I have never heard before. So go exploring and enjoy!

The categories that they have are as follows: Machine Related, Authority related, Odd organizations, Musical theme, Fun with the family, Why can’t you answer it?, You are in big trouble now, Confuse or stun the caller, Science fiction and Other. Click on them play them and laugh! Let us know which are your favorites!

The last site is via Silly Humor and can be found here

This site does not have a lot of recordings but the quality of them make up for it! I listened to every one on this site! You can have Spock, Picard or even Humphrey Bogart answer your phone! People might snicker or call you a dork but who cares?

Don’t worry, one day some one will leave you a message!

Which sites do you like that offer funny voicemail messages? Let us know in the comments!

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So what to do when they ask you for your phone number? It’s easy. Bite your tongue, smile, don’t argue, just give them a number, and hope they will never bother you again because you gave them a wrong number.

Here are some prank phone numbers to get you out of the dilemma, without having to reject, embarrass and/or disappoint your bad date at the spot. For ease of use they are sorted by location.

North America

Rejection Hotline

The Rejection Hotline was created by Humor Hotlines.

The page provides a long list of prank phone numbers for over 100 cities in many different states in the US and one number for Victoria, Canada. Although this post found a few more numbers for Canada on Rejection Hotline, they must have meanwhile been removed.

Here is a small selection:

858-492-8002 San Diego, CA, USA

904-879-8012 Jacksonville, FL, USA

617-861-3962 Boston, MA, USA

347-689-1270 New York City, NY, USA

713-866-6249 Houston, TX, USA

250-984-0686 Victoria, BC, Canada

Please see the complete list for more numbers. In case your state isn’t listed, the Rejection Hotline recommends to use an excuse like “It’s where I went to school” or “I haven’t changed my cell phone number since I moved.” That should work perfectly fine.

Outsourcing

Humor Hotlines has a few more funny prank phone numbers that you might want to consider. How about outsourcing your friendship to India?

Here are the numbers:

267-436-5128 Philadelphia, PA, USA

267-436-5123 Philadelphia, PA, USA

401-285-0701 Rhode Island, USA

413-497-0071 Western MA, USA

The Rejection Line

Are you in New York? Then you may use this official New York Rejection Line.

212-479-7990 New York City, NY, USA

Australia

The Rejection Line

That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Well, this rejection line is for the folks down under.

In Australia there’s less hassle with area codes in the case of cell phone numbers. They simply don’t give away where you’re from, they only reveal which provider you’re signed up with. So that’s why one number fits all:

0419-317446 Australia (cell phone)

The people who set up this page had a very neat idea. All text messages sent to that number are displayed on the website. It’s hilarious! Even better, you can query the site for numbers that have texted this line.

Germany

Frank geht ran

Similar to Australia, German cell phone numbers are provider-specific and independent of location. Next time you feel forced to share your phone number, use this neutral number and Frank will answer the phone for you (Frank geht ran):

0163-1737743 Germany (cell phone)

Frank will politely tell the person calling that you do not wish to be contacted by them. It’s neutral and can also be used in all sorts of situations, for example in forms. You can preview Frank’s message here. It’s German of course.

Telefonpaul

An alternative to Frank geht ran is TelefonPaul. The concept is the same, a polite and neutral message for anyone who asked your number and didn’t deserve to get the real one. Paul provides both a landline number for Stuttgart, Germany and a German cell phone number.

0711-50885524 Stuttgart, Germany

01577-1599624 Germany (cell phone)

You can preview Paul’s message on his website.

United Kingdom

The Rejection Line

Here we have another clone of the original NY Rejection Line. This is the one for the UK and the number is:

09061-100596 UK (service number)

How to Give a Fake Phone Number

This page at eHow has advice on how to give out a fake phone number in a bar/club situation. A good read for all the girls and possibly some of the boys out there.

I tried my best to cover as many countries as possible. But due to the nature of language barriers, this list is far from comprehensive. Do you happen to know of similar services in your country? Please go ahead and add the respective resources in the comments. We will all love you for it!

Last but not least a disclaimer! Being in Germany myself, I could not test all of these prank phone numbers. Thus I do not give any guarantees as to their functionality. Furthermore, it’s your responsibility to find out about calling fees. They might be reasonable, they might not. Please query the respective websites. Finally, call or give out these numbers at your own risk!

Image Credit : lusi

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Everyone’s different and we have our very own limits — there are just so many hours of work we can do a day until we reach a point when productivity is shot to hell. That’s where these tips come in. They will buy you some personal time. Time to recollect, reorganize your thoughts and re-energize yourself before attempting to take on more work.

Disclaimer: Admittedly, these “tips” are basically lies. White lies, if that makes you feel any better. So, remember that they are for — to buy you some personal time, not to escape working altogether. Use them wisely and don’t get caught. I’ll deny everything.

Tip #1: Reply Emails From Your iPhone

The iPhone has a great (not to mention unmistakeable) default email signature, “Sent from my iPhone.”

Take away the “glamour” of bragging to everyone that you own an iPhone, the signature itself is actually a very convincing statement that you’re on the move and out of your office.

Example:

The boss emails:
Richard, I need you to draft a proposal of Project X by noon today.

You reply:
I’m afraid that’s impossible, I’m with a client until 4pm.

Sent from my iPhone.

If it works out, your boss will have no choice but to accept the fact that you’re currently engaged with a client. Hopefully, the work will be delegated to someone else. Not to mention, the boss will be pleased that you actually took the time to check and reply to the important emails promptly even while you’re with a client.

Other ideas include blaming power failures and computer issues to extend project deadlines.

Example:

Your email to the team/project leader:
Ainsley,

The power suddenly cut while we were working on Project X. We’re relying on generators but it won’t last very long. I’ll send you the final draft as soon as the power returns.

Sent from my iPhone.

Convincing? Let’s hope so. Use your imagination and come up with original excuses. Power cuts and computer issues aren’t going to last forever. And no, you don’t actually need to have an iPhone — sometimes, just adding the signature is enough to fool most people.

Tip #2: Fake A Call

Have you ever been stuck in a dreadfully boring meeting which you have absolutely no involvement in? You don’t need to be there, yet you should to keep up appearances or perhaps formality dictates that you should be present. Precious time is being wasted while work anxiously awaits at your desk. Fake calls are the perfect way to get you out.

Download Fake Caller from Hot Potato [iTunes link] and install it on your iPhone.

Launch the app and tap on Settings. Set the wallpaper to match your existing one, then choose a suitable caller image. Set the caller name to someone credible, choose from the Address Book or set it to “Unknown”. Choose a loud and obnoxious ringtone — I went with Old Phone and blasted that bugger. When you’re done, click on the Back button.

Here’s where a little planning comes in. Decide how long you want to wait until your phone goes off. I suggest setting the time delay to 1 minute so that your colleagues won’t remember that you were playing with your iPhone before it rang. When you’re ready to pull off the fake call, press the button. You’ll be presented with a fake home screen — don’t lock your iPhone or the screen won’t light up when the call comes.

Alright, place your phone somewhere and wait for it to go off. When it does, add some drama, search for it frantically and pretend to be apologetic. When you answer the call, there isn’t anyone on the other end but the call timer does appear. Look around the room as though to say, “Sorry, I have to take this.” Collect your things and leave.

No one will stop you. On the contrary, they’ll be glad that you left so that they may get on with the meeting. Your supervisors wouldn’t ask you why you left — they know you got a call that seemed important. Inform them that you didn’t return because you couldn’t bear interrupting the meeting a second time.

Mission accomplished. You left the meeting. Do it early so that you’ll have more free time for yourself.

Like I mentioned previously, these tips only buy you a some time to take a break. You can’t expect to keep interrupting meetings or postpone project deadlines forever. If you really can’t handle your work load, talk to your supervisor.

How do you get out of boring meetings or slip away when the job is getting on your nerves? I’m sure that there are a lot of great ideas out there, please do share with us!

Image credit: ghindo

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This is exactly what iNumbr does for phone numbers. The free, temporary phone number you give out simply forwards to a number specified by you and then it will expire or self-destruct when you want it to!

It is a proven fact that by providing a phone number you are much much more likely to make a sale. It adds to your credibility as well as it shows you care.

Let’s take a look at how iNumbr can help you in your eBay auctions, classified ads or even to give out to girls you meet at a club. Wow that’s a good idea – too bad it’s about 10 years too late for me. Kids today and this new fangled technology!

When you arrive at iNumbr you will see a site that looks like this:

Simply click the link that says Get your Free iNumbr. You will need an email address and a phone number to have iNumbr forward your calls. Once you click the link you will get hit with a little human verification to make sure you are not a spam bot or something similar:

After you hit submit on your verification you will be sent to a page to set up your actual free temporary phone number. That screen looks like this:

From this screen you can choose your preferred area code. Most major United States markets are included in the list. These are:

• Atlanta 678
• Boston 617
• Chicago 773
• Cincinnati 513
• Dallas 214
• Detroit 313
• Houston 713
• Las Vegas 213
• Miami 786
• New Jersey 973
• New York 347
• Phoneix 602
• Pittsburg 412
• Portland 503
• Salt Lake City 801
• San Diego 213
• San Fransisco 415
• San Jose 408
• Seattle 206
• St. Lois 314
• Washington DC 202

If your area code is not included it might be added in a future release or you could always email the developers begging pleading asking nicely for them to add it!

Next up you choose when should they disconnect the free, temporary phone number (you can change this in your control panel later):

Then after you are finished, submit the form and you will be sent to a page with your information on it:

So here you will see how long your number is active for, what number and extension the caller needs to dial, where the call will be forwarded to and how you can record a personal greeting, as well as your password.

Now when someone calls your iNumbr they will be asked for their name. Then your phone will ring with the name that they left.  You can then choose to answer it or send it to voicemail.

This is a really nifty service! Do you use this or something similar? We would love to hear about your experiences in the comments!

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While we’d hardly made 25 dollars (U.S.) worth of long distance calls that month, our bill after taxes, fees and surcharges came to just over 45 dollars. Not being a very big fan of chatting on the phone for hours on end to begin with, I started searching for alternatives to the landline monopoly in this area.

For the purpose of this article, I’m going to lay out 3 alternatives to local phone companies that you can use, depending on what technologies you like best or what your particular situation calls for. After reviewing these three alternatives, I’ll share with you what option we chose back then, as well as a more dramatic move we’re planning within the next few months.

The Power of VOIP – A Standard Alternative to Local Phone Companies

One of the most common alternatives folks choose when they get sick of getting stuck with an exorbitant phone bill every month is the VoIP solution offered by the local cable company. These services are being offered more and more in local communities throughout the country, and more people every day are taking advantage of it.

There are a few downsides that simply scare some people too much. If you lose power you’re out of luck. Some companies try to compensate for that by adding a battery backup to the VoIP enabled cable modem that keeps the phone service operational or an hour or so, even if your home loses power. This is a great solution, but our experience has been that this backup doesn’t always work, especially when outages are widespread. On the flip-side, if you have cellphones as a backup, this drawback to VoIP service may not really matter to you.

The benefits of VoIP far outweigh that one major drawback. Monthly service is very cheap and typically unlimited throughout your home country (and sometimes other parts of the world). There are no erroneous fees or charges thrown in, and the extra “features” such as call forwarding, caller ID, and voice-mail all come free with a standard package. Your local cable company may have a digital phone offering, and it might be cheap enough to tempt you. Make sure to ask about any “all-in-one” deals where you get a discounted rate for purchasing cable TV, Internet and phone service through the one company and you’ll save even more.

Of course, we wouldn’t be MakeUseOf if we didn’t offer you other ways to make use of the Internet – and there are lots of great non-cable company VoIP services out there that offer stellar phone service over the Internet. One of the highest rated VoIP company that has received rave reviews by customers is Phone Power.

Phone Power will send you free hardware and lets you have a free 2nd line. Calls are unlimited and the plan is cheaper than the competition, including Vonage. The service will work in any country in the world where there’s a broadband connection, the only drawback is that the company only ships the equipment to a U.S. address and only accepts payment from U.S. credit cards.

There are ways to get around those limitations, such as having someone in the U.S. send you the equipment and bounce payment through U.S. accounts, however it’s unfortunate that the company doesn’t better accommodate the worldwide market. If you’re not sure what VoIP service to go with, make sure to check out Cheapest-VoIP to check for rates in your part of the world.

Luckily, worldwide VoIP consumers have additional choices beyond the standard VoIP services that offer not only “discounted” rates – but absolutely free calls all across the world. Read on.

Make Free Internet Phone Calls Using Your PC

One of the most significant competitors to the large VoIP services are smaller companies that are offering telephony services almost exclusively through the Internet. Skype started this trend, and I recently compared Skype and Gizmo as two solutions. But since increasing their rates, Skype consumers are now looking for other free-call solutions. The most significant drawback to these web-based services is that they don’t typically send you hardware that allows you to make calls through the regular landline phones in your house (although there are ways to do that – we’ll get that that in a minute).

However, since most VoIP consumers care less about the power outage issue, and they are also usually avid computer users – many of these consumers are more willing to give up the few additional benefits of the major VoIP telephony services in exchange for the ability to make absolutely free (or at least dirt cheap) calls just by using a headset with your PC. MUO covered Flashphone before, a flash-based Internet app where you can place free calls over the net.

There are two services I’d like to touch on that I feel are the best solutions, because they compete best with hardware-based VoIP services. The first is iCall, a fully web-based application that you install on your desktop or laptop PC where you’d like to send and receive calls.

The iCall interface is very simple and clean, and the service comes with cool features including personalized voicemail and call forwarding. You receive calls by giving your friends and family one of the iCall access numbers. When people call that number, they can enter in your extension.

Like many software-based VoIP solutions, “free calling” isn’t completely free. Using iCall you can make free 5 minute phonecalls all day, every day. For a guy like me who usually has 2 minute phone calls, I’m cool with that. But for your teenage daughter who likes to talk for 3 or 4 hours with her boyfriend who lives across the country – forget about it.

Luckily, even the paid service through iCall is about half the cost of PhonePower, with unlimited calling in the U.S. and Canada and really cheap calls across the world. Unfortunately the software is only offered for Windows.

Want an even better solution? Leave it to the folks in the UK to develop a truly free software-based VoIP solution, which goes by the name of VoIPCheap.

Like every online VoIP service, there are limitations to the free calls with VoipCheap as well. You’re restricted to 300 free minutes each week (that’s 1,200 minutes a month), but if you find that the free service isn’t enough you can buy credits (sort of like how Skype works).

Even if you end up paying for calls, you’ll pay nowhere near what you’d have to pay if you used your regular landline. Would you rather use a regular phone to make calls instead of your computer headset? You can either invest in a phone-2-pc adapter or USB phone that connects to your computer, or you can use VoipCheap’s solution, which is a call initiated through the Internet to any phone you want.

In VoipCheap, you just click the Phone2Phone tab and type in your phone number (use your cellphone) and the number of the person you want to call.  VoipCheap dials your cellphone first. When you pick up, it dials the other line for you…pretty simple, and you’ve just removed the need for your local phone company.

Cancel Landline and Switch to Mobile Phone

I’ve always loved using VoIP services, especially since overall voice quality has dramatically improved in recent years. The solution my wife and I ultimately chose was to go with our local cable company through an all-in-one package that included a hardware-based, battery backup unlimited calling plan. This worked well over the past few years, but it still feels like our phone service should cost less – after all, we’re already paying for our mobile phone service.  But then again, maybe that’s the solution.

Recently, I noticed a few more cell towers going up in our area, and soon our the mobile signal strength at our home should be at full potential. This introduces a whole new alternative to local phone companies (and cable companies) for phone service – exclusively using the mobile phone for all calls. Too extreme? In an upcoming article I’m going to examine different ways to save even more by completely canceling your home phone service and using VoIP technologies to not only switch to your cellphone for all calls, but also to eliminate paying for mobile per-minute charges in the process.

Have you got off traditional landline service yet? What solution did you choose? Share your experiences with other readers in the comments section below.

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Who knew that your career would end to the song you moonwalked to at your junior high dance?

How about getting a ringtone that actually sounds like a real phone? Remember those Bakelite behemoth’s that used to hang on the kitchen wall or the rotary that sat in your dad’s den? Ahh, those were the good old days – when the Weather Channel was known as a window and a leaf blower was known as a rake.

With a good, “real phone” ringtone, you’ll probably find that you don’t get as many strange looks when that electronic ball and chain goes off in public. People are still used to the ordinary phone ring and find it less offensive than hearing about your humps, your humps, your lovely lady humps.

Here’s some of the best free, “real phone” ringtones I could find online. Most of them were found through forums where people said they made the recordings themselves. I presume since they put them on the forums, they are free and royalty free.

Universal Phone Ring -

This one should sound familiar to almost everyone as it is the phone ring used most often in old movies and TV shows. Thanks to Hollywood Lost and Found for this one.

Black Rotary Phone Ring -

Sounds just like the one that your dad might have had in his office, doesn’t it? Those were the days.

Candlestick Phone Ring -

Ever seen those old phones where the earpiece hung on the main phone that looked like a candlestick? This is the ring from one of those.

French Rotary Phone -

Looking for that certain je ne sais quoi? This one is the ticket. C’est bon!

Classic British Phone -

I like the distinctive double-ring of the UK phones. Reminds me of old episodes of Coronation Street.

Higher Tone UK Phone -

Here’s the same kind of UK ring, but with a little higher pitch.

Now for some famous classic phone rings…

Maxwell Smart’s Shoe Phone Tone -

This is the ring that Agent 86’s shoe phone made.  Yes, there was a TV show of Get Smart before the not-so-good movie.

Our Man Flint/Austin Powers Phone Ring -

This one is my favourite! It seems not many people under 40 know that the phone ring from Austin Powers was taken from the Our Man Flint movie, starring James Coburn. It was also a sort of spy-spoof movie.

Counter Terrorist Unit on 24 Phone Ring -

Apparently this is the ring tone from Jack Bauer’s CTU unit on 24. Honestly, I’ve never made it through a full episode of this show, but the ringtone is pretty cool.

If what we have here doesn’t fill your boots, there is one other really good source for classic real phone ringtones that I found over at BeepZoid’s Vintage Phone Ringtones. With over 60 different ringtones in MIDI, MP3 and iPhone formats, there’s a good chance you’ll find what your looking for.

What do you think of “real phone” ringtones versus all the clips and top 40 stuff out there? Got a favourite ringtone to share with us? Drop us a line in the comments below. I’ll have my people call your people.

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Is there a better way of making a cool statement than with a device that’s now a part of our anatomy? I guess not.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at ten websites which let us browse, select and download the choicest free mobile phone ringtones – without pinching a penny.

In mentioning these free websites, I have gone for the ten which lets us download free mobile ringtones to the PC rather than send it through the data carrier (in most countries for downloading data, carrier charges apply). So you can download the ringtone to your PC and then transfer it to your mobile phone – 100% free.

Some of these sites are inclusive of other nice things (themes, wallpapers, games, etc.) too, for your mobiles.

1. Zedge

14 million users sharing their stuff through a slick interface. The site is powered by the community of users who make and upload the ringtones. The ringtone collection, 300,000 strong can be downloaded to the PC or the phone without the free signup. Check out the site’s Phone Specifications and Zedge Content Compatibility Index (it’s a huge list) if you are not sure about the downloads not working with your mobile. The site also supports iPhone ringtones. An added plus are the online tools to make ringtones, themes, wallpapers and screensavers.

2. Mobile9

Another site with the community behind it. Get all the goodies – free downloads of themes, wallpapers, ringtones, screensavers, software, games, videos and logos. With 100,000 MP3 ringtones, it’s a wide collection. A free signup entails you to download without a 10 second wait. As in any web community, members can have their own profile pages, can comment and share. You can check the compatibility of your model in the Phone section of the site though a cross-section of makes are supported including the iPhone.

3. TonesAll

TonesAll.com is a MP3 ringtone user-sharing community where all content is licensed with the Creative Commons Public Domain license. The site mentions the following supported brands – Nokia, Motorola,  Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG,  BlackBerry and iPhone. The ringtones are pigeonholed into categories; some like Pets & Animals, Sayings or News & Politics you may not find anywhere else. The free signup makes you a community member and gives you instant download without the 20 seconds of wait. Members can also create groups which is an assortment of ringtones.

4. MadRingtones

This web service is slanted as an online ringtone creator. You can create a personalized ringtone from your favorite MP3 song or YouTube video in just 3 clicks. But to avoid even that labor, you can download a ringtone from the over 300,000 already available. The ringtones work with almost all the phones and gives you the option of four formats – mp3, amr, ogg and m4r (for the iPhone). Embed and share on your blog or on social networks like Facebook.

5. Mobango

A mobile sharing community with the same flavor as the earlier mentioned sites. It’s a click worthy destination for all types of mobile content especially applications and games. The other unique social aspect is that you can search for users by age, sex, country and make and model of phone. Connect to them through the site and share your media. Mobango also offers 2GB of free storage for your mobile content. You can also flag you uploaded files as public or private.

6. CellMind

A well designed mobile social site on the growth path. Though it has an infinitesimally small ringtone collection, it is well structured and worth a look see. You need to register (free) to download wallpaper, themes and ringtones. The site also features online wallpaper, ringtone and screensaver makers. The other plus is the online storage provided by the site for your uploader/created files.

7. MyTinyPhone

With over 125,000 ringtones in its database, the site is not tiny. All ringtones are free to download on your mobile or PC. A feature is the Flash based ringtone maker which lets you upload a MP3 file (max size of 8MB) to create your own tones. With a free signup, you can store the tunes and share it with your friends. The only irritant is the popup ad which keeps opening up in a window.

8. MobileToones

Not very different from the other mobile social network communities except in its interface. It comes with a mobile discussion forum, a mobile review section and a blog. To download the MP3, Polyphonic or AMR ringtones one has to go through a short free registration. The collection is limited (approx 400+).

9. Brinked

A free online ringtone sharing community which is very similar to MadRingtones, though with a sober interface. You can create ringtone from a song or a YouTube video. Though the collection is not as vast, it is a neat site on the growth curve. Browse for ringtones among the Reggaeton, Raggae, Techno, Rock, Rap, R&b, Pop, Original, Country and TV & Movies genres. Download in MP3 / WAV / OGG / M4R format or share it in the social networks.

10. Tonzr

If you still haven’t got the ringtone you want then why not do a simple search. Use Google, Yahoo or a specialized ringtone search engine like Tonzr. Presently it has indexed nearly 10,000,000 ringtones. Search with a keyword and on the results page you can select the mode of download. The nice little tidbit are the suggested like tones just below your selection.

The supported carriers are – Sprint, Nextel, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Alltel, US Cellular, Cellular South, and Cricket. The SMS and MMS features are also for these selected US only carriers. Tonzr is presently testing for compatibility with iPhones.

It is true that mobile downloads is a world within the world of the web. For every paid site, there are a clutch of free options. The 10 websites for free ringtones I have put down here just add to the previous ones we have brought for you at MakeUseOf.com. You can check out a few like MyxterTones, ToneShared and the really unique Ultrasonic-Ringtones.  Or if you feel like making your own ringtones, Mark shows you how to do it with Audacity.

Our ringtone section features a lot of online tools and apps if you want to make your own ringtones.

Which website or mobile social network is your most frequented? Do you like to make your own music or are you happy with a download? Let us know!

Image: Geek and Poke

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If you pay for Skype credit, you can call out from Skype on your computer to normal phones (wireless or landline) at a discounted rate. Also, for an additional cost, you may get a “Skype-In” phone number, which is essentially a Skype number disguised as a local land line, so that all calls to that number will be forwarded to your Skype account, allowing you to take the call anywhere and on any computer with Skype installed. This benefits the caller — if Skype is not available, he/she can always contact you simply by dialing a local number.

It’s a cool thing to have, but outside of this site’s staff I don’t have much use for the service (many of my friends are still using AIM for goodness’ sake). That changed today when I signed up for phone numbers to forward calls to my Skype account, and unlike the Skype-In service, they didn’t cost me a thing.

So, how to get a Skype phone number?

If you don’t have a Skype account, please be sure to set one up first. You’ll need to provide your Skype ID when you register at Ring2Skype.com, which is where you get your free “Skype-In” numbers. There are a lot of countries to choose from, and you may register multiple numbers. For example, I’ve registered numbers in Windsor, Canada and London, UK as well as a US (New York City) number. My friend in Manhattan can call me up as if I lived there. Co-workers in London and Canada can now call me without ringing up international charges.

Here in the US, we have but a few choices as to our number’s calling area. I could get a number (with a three-digit extension) in California, Florida, Maine or New York. Japan’s numbers are limited to Tokyo, and Israel to Tel Aviv. It’s going to be a bit odd giving friends in Louisville my Manhattan number, but these days when long-distance and local calling are often the same price, it shouldn’t be too big a stretch.

There really is no catch. Call quality for me was as good as a regular Skype, Gizmo or Mobile Phone call. I plan on giving these numbers out to business contacts, and once Google Voice (which I hope to review for you soon) allows forwarding my GV number to extensions, I plan on using this service with friends and family as well.

While you’re here, you might like 30 free tips and tricks to improve Skype which Kaly wrote some time ago.

Do you have s Skype-In number? Are you aware if any alternative way to get a Skype phone number? How do you plan on using your Ring2Skype numbers? Let us know in the comments.

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So here are a few services to get you going and have you making international calls in a matter of minutes.

EvaPhone

EvaPhone, allows you to make free PC-to-phone calls anywhere in the world. There is nothing to download and there’s no sign up required. To get started you simply follow the link and enter the country and number that you want to call. Evaphone is definitely one of the easiest free phone tools available on the Net.

PokeTalk

PokeTalk provides totally free domestic and international calls to over 55 countries via your own phone. So, you will need your own phone number in order to use the service. Since PokeTalk is an ad-sponsored service, there are no fees whatsoever plus there is no download required.

A great feature that PokeTalk includes is the ability to connect to Facebook. When you make a call, an update with the country you dialed will be added to your Facebook profile. They also provide a widget that you can add to your website and will allow your visitors to make free calls from your site.

FreeRinger

FreeRinger allows you to make free calls to more than 30 countries worldwide. Calls are made from an easy to use widget right in your browser, so there are no downloads required. Also, you can receive calls from regular and Internet (SIP) phones.

FreeRinger also has an unique feature that allows you to have “speed dial hyperlinks”. Meaning you can save phone numbers as links and then bookmark them for easy access later.

YouTring

With YouTring you can make free PC-to-phone and free PC-to-PC calls. It’s not totally free but they do offer very low international calling plans. Their calling plans range from $25 – $100 and they claim that you’ll never have to worry about bad reception or interrupted calls.

In order to use the service, you will need to download a fairly small file to your computer.

Globe7

Globe7 also has a lot of unique features and is a great tool for those that like online entertainment. This handy tool can be used for more than just making free calls. With Globe 7 you can watch videos, play games, watch live TV, listen to live radio, send SMS messages, upload and share files, and so much more. To get started, you will need to download the program to your computer.

What’s also great about Globe7 is that it’s not only for Windows users, Mac and Linux users can enjoy it as well. Plus, there’s also a mobile version that’s free to download.

Flaphone

Flaphone is one of the most interesting web-based telephones I’ve come across; you can make and receive calls using the service. You will need to sign up but it’s very quick and easy.

Calls can be made straight from the website so, there’s no downloads required. If you prefer though, they do have an AIR application that you can also use from your desktop.

Flaphone allows you to not only make calls to SIP and regular phones but you can also call any Skype user. As an added bonus, you can also make video calls with Flaphone as well as use it as an instant messenger.

You will need Adobe Flash Player version 9 or higher in order to use the service.

Which online service do you use to make free international calls? Which service mentioned above do you plan on trying? Please let us know in the comments.

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New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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It is a dark and stormy night. You are home all alone and the phone rings while you are watching the latest horror flick. You jump out of your seat; a little scared and walk to the phone.

But you missed it and they hung up on your voice mail. You look down at the caller ID and see a strange phone number with an unfamiliar area code.

What do you do?

Most people would call that number back. But you forget I am a geek and I like to do things a little differently. I would grab my tablet and bring up the website Who Called Us.

This website allows you to type in the number that called you and see what other people know about this phone number.

I don’t know how helpful this site is but it lets you know that you are not alone and the phone calls are not coming from “INSIDE THE HOUSE!”.

So you pop in that number that called you. In my case it was 425-391-5973. A quick search revealed that 36 other people had recently gotten similar calls from this number and a few people actually got someone on the line preaching about extended auto warranties.

Now I don’t have to worry that some random old friend is trying to send me secret messages by hanging up the phone in a specific sequential order…

I can simply curse out the voice spammers under my breath and add my comment to the WhoCalled.us list.

According to their website, here are their statistics from the last 3 years:

There have been 612237 calls reported in total.
The last 100 calls are shown below.

This database of calls has been graciously provided by the community.
Thank you for taking the time to add to the pool of knowledge.

That is pretty impressive and this website can be a great resource to everyone in the United States. Do you guys in other countries have a similar tool? How do you deal with Voice Spam?

(By) Karl L. Gechlik is a superhero of the IT industry who wears many hats and changes in telephone booths. Karl mostly uses his powers for good and the occasional hysterical prank. Get your geek on & follow his geeky antics at askTheAdmin.com today.

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Videos are everywhere these days. They flood your inbox, they find their way into social media sites. They even allow you to watch them at the most convenient time for you. But none of them on the mobile front, can mess with vTap.

vTap is different. While on YouTube or other video sites, you often get overloaded with content. Before you even know it, you’ve spent hours there. With vTap you can find perfect small videos designed to stream to your device. Since most of the web sharing services out there are basically desktop based, they simply weren’t designed for mobile usage. They might boast that they have those capabilities, but none really break the mold in that department.

vTap is able to quickly, and easily, search and find web videos that are exactly what you’re looking for. You can even keep the videos for later viewing from nearly any source on the Internet and nearly unlimited topics. If you decide to go ahead and sign up for a free account, you can build vTap Feeds that will allow you to customize their preferences and receive more relevant videos from the vTap interface.

This great product runs on a myriad of mobile devices:

A great feature they’ve implemented is the ability to have this active search feature in their mobile client, so basically as you type…the search results start appearing below.

So run out there and download this free gem at http://m.vtap.com from your mobile phone.

(By) Travis is a husband, engineer, entrepreneur, technology swami, visual communicator, WordPress lover and writer in his spare time. You can check out his personal blog at TQuizzle.com.

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Basically, what you’ll see below, is a list of web services where your phone (not a PC) plays a main role. Whether you need detailed driving directions, someone to wake you up in the morning, quick answer to whatever question you may have or to make free overseas call, it’s all here and freely accessible from your phone. Most of them we have mentioned before, but this time they’re all on one page along with some new ones. Enjoy!

FROM ANY PHONE [Mobile or POTS (Plain Old Telephony Service) ]

(1) Free411 (US only) – free alternative to costly 411 directory service, simply dial 1-800-FREE411 and get the listing you need.

(2) Jott (US and Canada) – simple and convenient service that lets you leave yourself notes, ToDo’s or remainders directly from your phone. Dial a given number (1-877-568-8486), as you speak system will record your message, convert it to text and send it to the provided email address.

(3) TelePixie (US only) – fun service that lets you schedule free memo phone calls i.e. wake-up calls, reminder, weather forecasts, jokes, news, stock alerts and more.

(4) Yak4ever (no longer online) – free, unlimited overseas calling directly from your phone.

• AllFreeCalls.co.uk – same from UK (supports O2 Peak/Off-Peak, Orange/T-Mobile both Peak and Off-Peak)
• AllFreeCalls.ie – same from Ireland
  

(5) Goog411 (US only) – quickly get info on any local business (i.e. hardware shops, pizza delivery, etc. ) or get directly connected with a business/company office you need. (Dial 1-800-GOOG-411)

(6) Bringo (US only) – handy service that lets you bypass annoying phone support waiting lines and get to the company representative you need in a matter of seconds. [HowTo: (1) Find the company you’d like to call by category (credit cards, mortgages, health care, etc), (2) Enter your phone nr. and (3) Wait for your phone to ring.]

(7) Gotvoice (US only) – converts voicemails from your home and cell phone into MP3s and sends them to you by email. Other features include:

• save, organize and access your voicemails online
• auto-share received voicemails with others (i.e. friends, coworkers, etc.)
• send voice messages to several people simultaneously
• reply to voicemail without ringing the recipient’s phone
• create personalized greetings for different callers

(8) GrandCentral (US and Canada) – get one phone nr. for all your phones, web-based centralized voicemail system, call recording, spam filters, setup custom caller greetings, switch calls between any of your phones, save/organize/voicemails online and more.

(9) Tellme (US) – yet another cool, free directory service for local businesses, maps, and directions. To use Tellme, you can either Dial (1-800-555-TELL), send text message (to 83556) or download TellMe software to your mobile.

(10) Call-in-Sick (US and Canada) – evil but rather handy service that lets you record ‘i am sick’ type message and schedule it to be delivered to your Boss early in the morning.

MOBILE ONLY

(11) Zypsy (no longer available) – call provided number and leave whatever question you have. Receive your answer via SMS, shortly after. (“Can you find iPod 20Gb cheaper than $198?”, “Where is the closest Fry’s to Mountain View CA?”, “Any deals or coupons in downtown Palo Alto?”)

(12) GoogleSMS (USA, Canada, Germany, Japan and Spain) – get instant info about local restaurants, weather, flight information, movies, translations, driving directions, currency conversions, etc. via SMS.

(13) Soonr (Mac, Win) – handy piece of software that lets you access your PC from mobile. Browse files, search docs, check your email-client (i.e. Outlook, Thunderbird), run Skype, etc. Read more

(14) Text2store (US) – “Tell us what you would like to buy. Receive deal alerts on your mobile phone with store info and location…”

(15) Roam4free (worldwide) – must-see service for all frequent travellers and mobile users with huge roaming charges. Roam4free offers special type of sim-cards (20 EUR / approx. 26USD) that can be used in 115+ countries. It lets you make cheap overseas calls, and receive calls for free in over 65 countries. Up to 90% discount on standard mobile rates.

In case, you’re aware of anything that will make this list even better, please drop it in comments. I will gladly add it to the list.

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