Thanks to a company called Voxbone, you can now get a truly international number totally free! Numbers are in the format: +883 5100 xxxx xxxx, similar to many numbers on satellites networks. These international iNums are completely free to obtain and own, with no rental or incoming call charges. The caller can avoid call costs by using a SIP provider or Google Voice to call you. In many countries, third party access providers will give free calls to iNums via the standard phone network. In order to receive calls on your iNum you will need an internet connection. Your PC will do but a smartphone with WiFi or unlimited data connection is best. You cannot get your iNum direct from Voxbone but you can get one from one of these providers: http://www.inum.net/?page_id=50 www.callcentric.com will not only provide you with a free iNum but can also supply a totally free USA phone number. You can open and operate your Callcentric IP Freedom account totally for free; no credit card is required. To make or receive iNum calls on your device see here: http://www.callcentric.com/support/device/callcentric If you need to make a call to an iNum over the standard phone network (from 45 countries, but NOT The Philippines) find the access number here: http://www.inum.net/?page_id=42
The title 'Satellite' phone was just a headline grabber. This is just an international number (iNum) on the same +88 code as many satellite numbers. But you can 'point' this number at many internet enabled devices, PC/Smartphone/iPad etc, and receive calls on that number. It has really nothing to do with satellites!! Just be aware that calling iNums from a standard phone can be very expensive (BT charge around £4/min. from a payphone) but there is no reason why it should cost this much, as all iNums are reachable over SIP using a SIP address of the format: iNumNumber@inum.net, where iNumNumber is the iNum you wish to call. This is how calls to iNums can be made for free from a land-line/mobile using an access number. If you have a Google Voice account you can also call iNums for free. Sadly, Google Voice does not provide an iNum for incoming calls but that is because it does not support the SIP protocol. More and more SIP providers are providing free calls to iNums, even if they don't provide calls to SIP addresses on other SIP networks, but the big downfall is that iNums seem tied to your existing SIP provider, meaning that if you move SIP providers you cannot take your iNum with you. So, they are not really universal (yet)
