Hopefully this will answer some queries raised here, but in no set order.
Answers given come from personal experience.
1 - It's 0.05 euro connection fee, about 3p, for callback ONLY. Ie you talk via your landline, but activated from your pc.
2 - Connection via pc softphone is free to all destinations.
3 - All calls charged at appropriate rate per minute, by the minute. ie 3 secs over = 1 min extra.
4 - 300 mins max free calls in a revolving 7 day period. Read it properly to avoid getting caught out. 7 day consecutive period, NOT a calender week.
5 - Calls will last a max of 60 mins. You will be cut off by the system. Redial, as many times as required, is permitted, at the appropriate connection fees. Points 1 & 2
6 - It's not Fineara any more. This set of services is now run by Betamax.
7 - Before joining any branch of this tree, look at
http://backsla.sh/betamax. This is a very comprehensive table giving the price to call each country. List the countries you are likely to dial, then compare with the site for the most appropriate service to fit your personal needs. NOTE - THE PRICES ON BACKSLASH ARE IN EURO.
8 - If you can register from a foreign ip address, your stand a good chance of getting a free voip in number, appropriate to that country. Due to some telecom laws in some countries about actual location not being advertised on the call, you can't always get a free number. UK is now one.
eg - I joined voipstunt, got a free number based in Coventry. If I log in from Hungary and dial via softphone, it would appear on your phone that I was in UK, with little chance of locating me if the calls were abusive etc.
FROM EXPERIENCE you can register voipcheap in Hungary and still get a free number. This might still work for Eastern European countries that have yet to catch up.
One scenario
You have friends in Hungary.
It's still bldy expensive from there to here via normal lines. (Scratch cards do exist & are cheaper)
You register with voipcheap and get a free Hungarian landline number.
Give the friends the number.
Activate call divert from within your voipcheap settings to divert to your UK LAND number.
Diverted calls appear to be charged at softphone rates. So..... they can speak to my bird, 1500 miles away. from their land or mobile, for standard land rates as applicable to their personal tariff. The minutes come from your allowance.
9 - I think the bit about unique ip address is relevant to each branch of the tree. So you can't have 2 voipCHEAP accounts, but you could have a voipCHEAP and a voipSTUNT operating at the same time. Experience says that seems to work.
Think I've covered it, but reread point 4.
Scenario
Monday 01 of the month you make 200 mins of free calls.
Tuesday 02 of the month you make 100 mins of free calls.
You do not want to make a call until Sunday the 7th. All 300 mins used. You now pay at the going rate.
If you didn't do that call on Sunday 7th, but waited until Monday 8th you would now have 200 mins available.
Etc.
You really don't want to have to write down all the times you've spent. So allow yourself 42 mins per day if in constant 7 day use, and roll over any unused minutes towards the rest of the week, divided by 7.
For every day you don't ring you could carry 6 mins over on top of your average.