O2 is offering free calls -- Skype-style. The UK's largest phone network is running a trial of O2 Connect, a VoIP service that will let you call and text friends and family over the Web.
Fire up O2 Connect and you'll be able to make phone calls and send texts from your existing mobile number to any UK mobile or landline, via Wi-Fi and the magic of the Internet.
O2 Connect will be built-in to some phone contracts from O2, or you could add it to your deal as a bolt-on, or extra package. Prices aren't yet clear, but we'd be deeply unimpressed if it wasn't significantly cheaper than normal calls. And by significantly cheaper, we mean free.
The O2 Connect trial kicks off this month. 1,000 O2 customers have been invited to take part, and hopefully the service will be thrown open to all next year.
O2 also plans to offer the app to customers of rival networks, to entice you into using O2. The cheeky beggars.
Skype is the biggest and best known VoIP service. It's just been bought by Microsoft, and may find itself built into future versions of Windows and Windows Phone. In the meantime, there are various apps for Android and iPhone that let you make cheap calls using VoIP.
In another telephonic trial running at the moment, rival network Everything Everywhere -- the parent company of Orange and T-Mobile -- is testing 4G in Cornwall. Super-fast Web surfing is available thanks to a trial of LTE technology in the Newquay area.
Would you sign up with O2 if it netted you cheap calls? Are you already using a VoIP service to avoid oversized phone bills? Share your tips in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
Comments 3
Add your comment
anonymous 14 October, 2011 16:43
Viber at all?
anonymous 14 October, 2011 17:35
All calls, mms and sms should be moved onto the internet, reducing the costs of tariffs. Why pay for three services when one will do them all?
We currently have to choose between how many Minutes we want, how many Texts we want, and how much Data for internet we want each month. Most of the time we have to sacrifice one (either minutes or data) to get an affordable deal. (honestly, from O2, a 24month contract, 50 mins, 250 text, 500mb, plus Free Blackberry Curve 9300 for £16 a month?? Why would I need a new phone if I have no minutes to call with and for TWO years?? You can fool kids, but you can't fool me.)
I am glad to hear O2 taking this step, but all we should have to pay for is a Data tariff. This VoIP service should be free. If Skype can do it, so should O2.
haych
aok617 14 October, 2011 18:53
Agree with the above - texting is the most expensive form of communication ever invented and should disappear:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2008/05/12/r-u-serious-text-messaging-is-more-expensive-than-downloading-data-from-space/
iMessage and BBM have made start at this but I like that this O2 service would let you use your existing mobile numbers or calls, something few providers currently do.