Tesco Internet Phone

Having just moved to France for a year studying abroad I was worried about how I would communicate with my boyfriend, my family and my friends whilst in France without running up huge bills... then a friend saw the ad for the tesco internet phone and we thought it looked ideal - which it was.

Calls to other Tesco phone users are free and to call other landlines both UK and France are only 2p a minute - ideal for me as I will be calling the UK to deal with uni admin and other little necessities.

The handset is basic but good and very easy to use. You can create an address book of people you contact regularly and this is visible both on screen on a little telephone pop up or on the telephone itself.

It was super easy to set up - just put in the disc, press next to all the necessary bits and bobs and choose yourself a number and youre off...even easy for a technophobe such as me!

Calls to voicemail are free so if your computer is off and someone calls they simply leave a message which you can listen to later so you know to call them back.

Also free are calls to freephone numbers - a big plus point if you usually use your mobile for freephone as mobile providers usually charge.

I'm using it on a wireless network and have had no problems at all so it would even work for those who connect to the internet remotely in cafes or at college - good alternative to a mobile perhaps in those expensive situations...

The final major advantage is the fact that it is pay as you go. I got £5 credit with mine which has been sufficient so far as the calls are so cheap but to add extra credit is easy too - you just need to go to the tesco internet phone site, login and then add cedit using your credit/debit card details - no chance of spending more than you expected and you earn clubcard points too!

The main disadvantages I've found are far outweighed by the benefits - a slight echo when youre talking, no numbers with area codes in my locality (had to choose one for a town 30 miles away) and you need to select that you want to use the phone as a microphone and speakers rather than your PC speakers which is a little confusing but easy when you get going.

All in all, I would highly recommend this brilliant product - so far it must have saved me so much money in calls to my family and my boyfriend and its so much more convenient than going to a payphone which as a student abroad would be my only other option.

An excellent innovation!