Rebtel

Rebtel* is a new company with a clever piece of kit allowing you to make calls to 37 countries, again mainly Europe, Israel, North America, Australasia and the Far East, simply by dialing a local rate phone number. Therefore if you've free minutes on your mobile this call will be included, if not you'll only pay a local call rate.

It's a little fiddly to use, and the call quality is good but not great, so its best left for friends and family you call regularly. However as, for example, a 15 min call to the US is free rather than £15 on O2's standard rate, it's worth a fiddle!

How does it work?

To get your free minutes first of all go to the Rebtel site, and click the 'How it works tab', then the Make a smart call' tab on the next page. The first time you call someone using it, enter the person you're calling's number on its site, and it'll text you a local phone number to call. This then works every time you call that person, so save it in your mobile's address book for the future, and you won't need to return to the website. To make free calls:

• Dial the local number. You're then connected to the person you're calling and should ask them to immediately call the number they see displayed on their mobile. If they're on a landline, it will send them an e-mail for the first call, the same number's then useable each subsequent time. The number will be a local one in their country. You have only 15 seconds to do this.

• Stay on the line. Don't disconnect when they do, just hold on, and once they dial the access number they'll automatically be connected through to you.

There's no limit to the number of free calls you can make via this system. Do make sure you use this call back system to grab your free calls though, if you don't you'll be charged Rebtel's usual rates