There are many VoIP providers offering their services to make cheap worldwide phone calls from a PC. Typically one has to download a program in order to use the service. Unfortunately, we cannot download all possible programs of these providers. However there exists a program in Linux that can be configured for most of these VoIP services. You will find it in the Start menu in the category Internet under the title IP Telephony, VoIP and Video Conferencing.

Note: You must already have an account with some VoIP provider in order to use this program. Check their instructions for setting up a SIP device. You also need your own head-set to connect to the PC.

General first-time configuration

On the second screen, insert your first and last name:

On the third and fourth screen, check the box that you don't want to set sign up for Ekiga:


The connection type should be LAN.

Choose the Default audio devices:

Configuring Ekiga for your VoIP account

Choose Edit/Accounts from the menu and in the menu of the Accounts window, Accounts/Add a SIP Account.

In the Name field, you can write any identifier you like, Registrar must be the name or IP number of the host to connect to, typically you get that by replacing the www in your VoIP provider's URL by sip. User and Password are those you should already have set up with the provider.

Making a phone call

Type the phone number you want to call, followed by something like @sip.myvoipprovider.com