With a smartphone you can make calls via the wifi network, even if the mobile phone doesn't take or even without a SIM card. The call in wifi can be of three types:
- With the support of the telephone operator, which allows calls via wifi even if the telephone does not have a cellular signal (this possibility is not active in Italy with any operator).
- Via a SIP account, which is the VOIP telephony protocol.
- Via an app that manages phone calls.
While on an iPhone it is always necessary to install an external app, on an Android smartphone it is possible to activate a SIP account natively giving the possibility to use it to make calls as if it were a normal SIM card.
What is still little known to many is the fact that the SIP account gives the opportunity to have a new and personal telephone number, free of charge.
Even better then, through Wifi calls the rates are almost always lower than those of the cellular telephone operator, whatever it is.
In practice, if we are at home or in the office and above all if the mobile phone takes badly or not at all, to save money in the phone calls you can activate a SIP account to make phone calls via wifi to anyone, landlines or cell phones .
If desired, you can also use an old smartphone without a SIM card as if it were a landline for home, using the wifi and the SIP account.
In my test I used an Android smartphone configured with the Messagenet account which offers a free landline number .
After obtaining the number and after registering on the Messagenet site, from the account management page, go to settings> VOIP> Telephone line .
The internal number and the password are visible in the center (highlight it with the mouse to read it) which must be used in configuring the SIP account.
On the Android phone, (in my case I used a Nexus 5) touch the handset key, then touch the menu icon at the top right with three dots, open the settings and then the call settings .
You can then click on SIP Account to add the account created with Messagenet, using your personal name and password and as Server the address sip.messagenet.it .
At this point, in the call account settings, touch All accounts and activate the newly configured SIP account.
You can then click on " Make calls with " and choose the SIP account as default.
The calls made with the SIP account are VOIP calls, ie via the internet, which exploiting a wifi network works with excellent quality.
On other smartphones, the procedure may be different and, depending on the version of Android, it may not be present.
On these smartphones and iPhones, as already reported in another article, you can install the MTalk app of Messagenet.
As you can see from the rates page, unless you have special promotions, calling in Wifi with this service is always convenient, both national fixed numbers and mobile phones and, above all, foreign numbers and calls from abroad.
Alternatively, as already reported at the beginning, wifi calls can also be made using some VOIP apps for Android and iPhone that I have already talked about in the past and that perhaps we have already installed on the phone: Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Skype for mention the names of the most famous ones.
In this case, however, you do not get a phone number to which you can also be called from a landline (as is the case for Messagenet).
