how to make free calls - Jordan to Philippines

Dear All,
I'm currently working in Amman, Jordan. Being away from my family,(they're in the Philippines) I would like to talk to them as much as I could. We talk trhu Skype most of the time which is fine. But I am just wondering if it is possible to have some kind of gadget/hardware that i can hook to my router ?(pardon my ignorance) in order to call my family anytime even if both our PCs are turned off?
Thanks,

Greetings hototay and welcome to VoIPUser forum.

hototay :

We talk trhu Skype most of the time which is fine. But I am just wondering if it is possible to have some kind of gadget/hardware that i can hook to my router ?

Yes and there are some (expensive) Skype (WiFi) ATA/IPPhones you can buy to use with ONLY one Skype line to call each other for free. You sure can buy some very inexpensive (affordable) SIP compliant ATA devices to use with mostly any SIP compliant VoSPs, i.e. Free World DialUp (FWD), GizmoProject (GP, a.k.a SIPPhone), or even here (VoIPUser). Linksys PAP2T-NA is one of pretty well known and affordable ATA devices sold on VoIP market that will work with any SIP compliant VoSPs. It comes with two FXS ports to support two different VoIP lines with two different VoSPs. All you need is to configure the device with some VoSPs, connect it to one of the LAN ports on your non-symmetrical NAT/Firewall router, add a (cordless) telephone to it, and be ready to talk.

Thanks Mozilo. But what are VosPs? Is it very complicated to configure these devices? What are the issues with regard to firewalls?

hototay :

But what are VosPs?

VoSP = Voice Service Provider, a.k.a a VoIP company.

Quote:

What are the issues with regard to firewalls?

Many issues, from a one-way audio stream to unable to establish any incoming/outgoing and/or both calls. Basically, most of these issues caused by a NAT/Firewall along with improperly configured ATA devices and/or softphones.