Review: Tesco IPA 1000 Internet Phone Adapter internet telephony

With recent research from Ofcom showing that a fifth of people in the UK are now using VoIP, it comes as no surprise to see products supporting the trend appearing on the supermarket shelves. 

The Tesco IPA 1000 Internet Phone Adapter is compatible with both Mac and PC and lets users make and receive internet phone calls using a standard home telephone.

Providing you have a broadband router or cable modem, it's very easy to set up. Just connect the adapter to a free network socket and plug your telephone to the adapter.

Once everything is connected together a light on the IPA the light will flash red. This means that the IPA is in the process of starting up.

On its first connection, the IPA took four minutes to update itself before presenting a simple registration process, which appears on your computer.

Here you can choose a password and phone number. Unfortunately the IPA does not permit users to use their existing BT number, but does offer a range of geographically based numbers to select from.

Once complete, internet phone calls can be made immediately using the £5 airtime voucher included in the package.

Like most VoIP services, your computer has to be left on to make and receive calls. However, when switched off, the IPA provides a free voicemail service that can be accessed next time you log on.

Call costs are 2p a minute to landlines in the UK and nearly every other global country. Calling someone else who has a Tesco internet phone will cost nothing. Call quality is clear and, in our testing, only cut off on one occasion while were downloading a large file simultaneously.

For a cheap and clear way of making calls over the internet the Tesco IPA 1000 is ideal and comes with a range of good features. However, call stability seems to depend on how hard your broadband is being worked.

Vista compatible: Yes