Internet telephony without Internet

To begin with, how is it possible to talk on the Internet without having the Internet? However, you can. Some VoIP operators provide services consisting in the fact that from any telephone (fixed or mobile) located in any part of the world, you can call an access number, and then through it you can further call through the Internet to any directions and to any networks, incurring at the same time much lower costs than if you call in a traditional way. This service is called “Dial-In”.
More precisely, it is done in such a way that knowing the proper access number (hotline 800 or 801, or geographical number, that is from the range of fixed telephony numbers in a given numbering zone), we make a telephone call to such a number, e.g. from a mobile phone. After calling, we hear a request in the handset to enter the PIN code entitling us to further calling (assigned to us by the operator of the service) and the number we want to call. We enter the PIN code and the target phone number from our keyboard and the system calls the specified number at the rates of the selected Internet telephony operator. It is important that, in the case of the mobile phone mentioned herein, you use the option of free calling to the selected telephone number (for example, offers without limit) with your mobile service provider beforehand. Thanks to this, the call from the mobile phone to the access number will be free of charge and we will only pay the Internet telephony operator for the call from his platform to the given number in the country or abroad.
Figure: Method of Dial-In service provision
In order to avoid abuse, the access number is often protected by a PIN code, which must be entered before dialing the destination number. This solution gives the service provider the possibility to authorise the caller and correctly settle with him/her for using the service. The platform can also recognize our number and, without entering the PIN code, allow further calling – a condition: the number presentation is activated so that the system can identify us.
Another variant of this solution is the “Call back” service, i.e. calling back. It works on a similar principle as Dial-In. We call the access number, authorize our call through the PIN code, the system disconnects us and calls back to the number from which we called (it is necessary to enable the option of presenting the number from which we are calling), thus enabling us to enter the telephone number we want to call. Here we will bear the costs of both calls because:
First of all, we call the system,
and secondly, the system is calling us back,
thirdly, we’re calling another caller through the system,
so we incur the cost of making a phone call that initiates the entire call process (unless the service provider provides a free 800 xxx xxx xxx number) and the total cost of calling us back through the system and calling us back to the target phone number.
These are good solutions for immediate use of VoIP telephony, but in the long run, they are more expensive than other solutions based on Internet telephony and are not as simple, convenient and intuitive to use as it seems.
Figure: How to implement the Call Back service
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