We often get asked how and where we can find ‘free’ VoIP calling? While there are services that offer FREE calling; there’s always a catch. More often than not there’s a catch; either offer is tied-up to ads, or the provider is re-selling or sharing your personal information with ‘partners’ meaning you may start to get more spam emails and even calls.
What are some of the services in Canada that offer some form of Free VOIP Calling?
| Service Name | Characteristics | Notes |
| Fongo | Free Calling to most of Canada when using their softphone or app. | There’s a monthly fee if you want to use it as a regular phone to receive calls. Privacy policy states they may share your information with affiliated companies or their agents or authorized dealers in order to offer products subscribers may find attractive (aka. A form to ensure you’ll get Advertising) Reported reliability on the service. |
| VOIPBusters | Free Calling to over 30 countries when using their softphone or app. | For some/most countries rates apply. The software dialer has been widely known to install adware and to spam contacts. Their Privacy Policy makes note they will never share your personal data without subscriber consent, beyond the partners they may use to provide services. Who those partners are is unclear. |
| iCall | Free US & Canada calling when using their softphone or app. | There’s a fee if you ‘d like to receive calls and rate based calling to everywhere else. Reportedly there’s a five minute limit on free calls. We were not able to check the privacy policy. |
These are some of the options available; also is Google Voice or GTalk, but that is not available for Canadians so we do not list it. In all, as you can see in spite of the fanfare of providing free calling there’s always a catch. There are dozens of variations; VOIP Busters has twin sites essentially providing the same service. Always you have to consider reading the privacy policy when using these, maybe just limit to occasional use. Either be it the provider will be sharing your contact information with their partners to offer new products or calls that are time-limited. Ultimately you can use Long Distance providers like Localphone, Rebtel or Skype that offer outstanding cheap rates, may not be free but with the offers you can get using our exclusive coupons these will be as good as free; well I may say even better as you will get to make the call without having to worry about time limits or what sort of spam may be heading your way. VoIP does offer incredible savings for long-distance calling, consider some providers’ offer great low-monthly plans for international calling; Phone Power’s International plan is one example.