Frequently Asked Questions
What are the minimum requirements?
- Broadband internet connection
- Windows 2000, XP or Vista
- Windows Installer 3.0 or greater
- 1 USB port, either directly on the computer or on a powered USB hub
- 20MB hard disk space
- 1GHz Pentium III or greater
- 256 MB RAM
- SVGA (800x600) Display
What is a softphone?
The term softphone is short for software telephone. The Freshtel Internet on-screen Phone is a VoIP Softphone; that's just a fancy way of saying Internet telephone. A softphone is essentially an Internet telephone that allows you to make free phone calls to other people who are also running Freshtel Internet Phone on their computers.
Traditional telephones use phone lines that run back to your local telephone exchange to make phone calls. When you call someone, your local phone exchange sends the call to the phone exchange nearest the person you are calling and the phone company charges you for the call. When you make a call using Freshtel Internet Phone, your voice is first turned into digital packets which can be used by your computer. These packets are then sent over the Internet from your computer to the computer of the person you are calling where the packets are turned back into voice. The wonderful thing about this is that it does not cost you anything beyond your normal ISP costs – and the call cost if calling a landline or mobile.
You will of course need to be connected to the Internet to use Freshtel Internet Phone, but the actual softphone call costs nothing. And it does not matter if the person you are calling is across the road or on the other side of the world, since the call is sent over the Internet. Of course, if you are calling to landlines and mobiles then there are changes involved, but these are much lower then those from a standard telco.
My ISP charges for traffic, so is Freshtel Internet Phone still free?
Like all Internet based applications, Freshtel Internet Phone is going to use some of your Internet traffic - mostly when you are making or receiving calls. Although Freshtel itself does not charge you for calls that are made between Freshtel Internet Phone users, your ISP may charge you for downloading and uploading data. This is the same as when you view a webpage or check your email.
Whilst it is usually free to browse websites and so forth, your computer is downloading data which your ISP may charge for. It is therefore important that if you are on a usage based ISP plan which has excess data charges, that you monitor your data usage on a regular basis. This is especially true if you frequently make calls with Freshtel Internet Phone to either other users or to normal telephones. If you aren't sure whether you are charged for Internet traffic, check with your ISP.
Is there any adware, spyware, spam or any other nasties?
Absolutely not! The last thing we want to do is add anything like that to our software. We firmly believe that Freshtel Internet Phone is the world's best softphone and we will not do anything to tarnish that image. In case you don't know, adware and spyware are programs which are often contained in free software to help cover the developer's costs of giving away their product for free. These little add-ons allow the spyware / adware distributor to spy on what you are doing and use that information to send you targeted advertising, often using your browser to pop up windows. It's a really bad thing and most people don't even know it's happening.
Check out Lavasoft, they offer a little program called AdAware, which checks your computer and can remove adware and spyware just like a virus scanner checks for viruses.
What if I have NAT modem/router?
No problem. Freshtel Internet Phone will work with almost all NAT servers. In fact, we have never had a problem with any of them. If you experience any NAT issues then please let us know.
Can I call people on normal or mobile phones with Freshtel Internet Phone?
Yes - and we offer a comprehensive list of calling rates to most countries around the world. There are no charges for unanswered or busy calls and calls are charged by the second. So, how come these rates are so good? Take this for example; you are in London calling someone in Australia with Freshtel Internet Phone. Your call travels over the Internet all the way to Australia, and when it gets there it goes to one of our servers where it is crossed over to the traditional telephone network to reach its final destination.
The great benefit of this is that you will pay far less than a long distance call, because the call has travelled most of the way via the Internet and only needs to go over the traditional telephone network for the very last way to its destination. And remember that calls to other Freshtel Internet Phone users are always free, so if you call someone very often, suggest to them that they run Freshtel Internet Phone too.
What protocols does Freshtel Internet Phone support?
Freshtel internet phone uses an enhanced version of IAX.
What codecs does Freshtel Internet Phone support?
For carrying voice, the base codec is iLBC.
I am behind a firewall, what ports need to be opened?
If your Internet connection is blocked by a non-NAT firewall (such as some business environments) then you will need to open up port 4569 UDP in order to allow Freshtel Internet Phone to work.
How much bandwidth does Freshtel Internet Phone use?
A Freshtel internet phone call uses about 3KB/sec (three kilobytes per second) inbound and outbound. This translates to a little over 10MB per hour. This is based on a single call using the standard codec (iLBC).
Can I make 999 calls using this service?
Freshtel Internet Phone is not a replacement for your ordinary telephone and can’t be used for emergency calling.
What happens when I run out of pre-paid credit?
If you do not have enough credit to make a call, the service will play a recorded message to inform you. If you run out of credit during a call the call will end.
Can I use this service from other PCs?
Yes – you can install and use your Freshtel internet phone from any internet enabled PC. Remember that you can only connect to the service from a single location at any one time.
Can I use my Freshtel internet phone overseas?
Yes! The Freshtel service will work from any location as long as you have a suitable PC and Internet connection. There are no extra charges of any kind when using this service from another location.
How can I recover a lost password?
Simply click on the Lost password… link on the login pane of your Freshtel internet phone, or visit http://www.freshtelinternetphone.co.uk
I’m having problems with my USB hardware.
Please see the hardware users guide contained in your Freshtel / sLife starter pack or visit http://www.slifeonline.com
Acceptable use policy
Abuse of the Emergency Services telephone numbers (999 and 112) is a criminal offence and is taken seriously by Freshtel internet phone. Detailed computer records are held of all attempted calls to the emergency services and these will be passed to the relevant authority upon request.
