Ultralab have a group of students in the lab each Wednesday from King Edward VI Grammar School. These students, from the sixth form centre spend their time at Ultralab looking at new and emerging technologies and software. Yesterday we explored Plone, the free open source content management software framework.

I got talking to Dan about Skype, the free IP telephone service which allows computer (hooked up to the Internet) to call for free other internet connected computers for free voice calls.

Skype has the capabilities to allow a user of its service to telephone a standard telephone or mobile phone on the world telephone network by buying talktime credit from Skype. If I was to call a house in India Skype would route as much of the call as it can through the Internet, and then route the rest of the call through the Indian telephone network, so basically I end up paying local call rates for making an international call. Skype to Skype calls remain free.

So, Skype is great, but what about if Auntie Jenny who’s 87 living in a bungalow in Skegness wants to call her internet ready Grandson Melvin logged in and ready on Skype in Stoke? Basically, she cant. Melvin can phone Granny, but Granny cant phone Melvin (unless she dials telephone to telephone).

Getting back to what Dan showed me yesterday, there is now a new free service which when you sign up you are allocated a telephone number of your area code choice.

This now means that Granny can telephone Melvin, and Melvin’s computer can answer the call.

Melvin can also phone Granny, buying 1000 minutes of talktime for about £5.

But, the best bit about it is that Melvin can request a telephone number in the same region his Gran lives. This means that when Granny phones Melvin, or Melvin phones Granny, it only costs local rate.

I’ve signed up, and my new telephone number to telephone my computer is …. 01376 388014 - go on, pick up the phone, dial it, you’ll get through to my Apple Powerbook, wherever I am in the world! - Don’t forget that you’ll be paying the call, not me!

Effectively this now means that wherever I am in the world, this telephone number will come with me, and will only cost a local call rate for my family to call me!

Oh, and did I mention that it is free to be allocated a number, and no line rental!

….and that you can get a number for many countries around the world….so if you live in England and your family are in Australia, you could get yourself an Australian number, and the family would only pay local call rates to call you.

Is this the start of the end of telephone call costs on the standard phone network? Will Skype offer a similar service soon? I hope so! My diagram (above, left) demonstrates how my telephone number can follow me with my computer, and integrate with the rest of the worlds telephone network.

To sign up, go to: Sipgate and once logged in you need to download X-Lite within the Sipgate site.

And when you’ve done, give me a call, leave a message on my answerphone, which I’m still trying to work out how it works….

01376 388014

===UPDATE

Pete Bradshaw just phoned my computer from a mobile phone, and it was very crackly, but I could clearly hear what he was saying, I’d be interested in anyones opinions on Sipgate and especially the quality of the sound you are experiencing.

X-lite software has big HCI issues - and needs to integrate with Apple Address Book, but it does not. I get frustrated at having no clear way of storing the number of someone who has just phoned me.

02 Mobile Phones do not seem to be able to call the number of my computer.

Malcolm Moss phoned from Skype using his Skype credit, it was clearer than talking to Pete earlier, who was on a mobile telephone.