Bud Phone - FAQs

FreePhoneLine.ca's frequently asked questions

What’s the catch with it being free?
Who is freephoneline?
How do I signup and how long does it take to activate Bud Phone?
Do I have to respond to the ads that are played on the Bud Phone desktop application?
What do I need to make calls?
Can I make local calls and receive calls with my Bud Phone?
Can I take Bud phone with me?
Can I purchase additional phone numbers in other areas of Canada?
Can I keep my existing number?
911 Availability
Do I have to be in Canada to place calls to the free calling city list?
Why do you have certain cities that you can choose a phone number from?

Which cities can I call for free?
What about long distance calling to the rest of Canada?
How do I activate and use the long distance plans?

What do I need to do to get the softphone functioning properly after installing it?
When I call somebody, only one party can hear (one way audio)
I’ve got "No connection to the server", what is the problem?
Can I change the primary port of the softphone?

How do I access my voicemail?
How do I set my remote voicemail access password?
Can I get my voicemail copied or forwarded to my email?

What is follow-me?
How do I configure follow-me?
Can I forward to a US or 1-800 number?
Do you offer Bud Phone for businesses?

What’s the catch with it being free?
There are none! We are offering you a free phone line with no additional fees or any other catches when it comes to making your free calls or using Bud Phone's free features! We want you to enjoy Canada's new way to communicate so we have made it simple to use. This service is brought to you by Labatt breweries of Canada and is powered by freephoneline.ca. To view our complete terms and conditions, privacy policy and acceptance of use click here.

Who is FreePhoneLine?
Freephoneline is a Canadian company with its head office in Cambridge Ontario, Canada. Freephoneline is owned by its parent company Fibernetics Corp, a CRTC approved Competitive Local Exchange Carrier. (CLEC) Fibernetics owns its own national infrastructure and employs over 130 people with offices in Europe and the Caribbean. To find out more go to www.fibernetics.ca

How do I signup and how long does it take to activate Bud Phone?
Register then download and follow the instructions! Signup takes only minutes and your free phone line desktop application will be ready to use immediately. If you wish to activate your home phone, highspeed Internet, or international long distance click here to find out how to reach us!

Do I have to respond to the ads that are played on the Bud Phone desktop application?
No, this service is paid for by the ads that you see but you are not obligated to respond.

What do I need to make calls?
If you’re using Bud Phone desktop application, you need a working computer with high speed Internet access, a mic and speakers or a headset. If you wish to use your existing home phone, you will need to buy our ATA device and configuration settings from freephoneline.

Can I make local calls and receive calls with my Bud Phone?
Yes, you are given a real Canadian phone number. Anyone may call you at this number and you can receive unlimited inbound calls for free. You can also place as many outbound calls as you wish. We offer a vast free calling area across Canada, please confirm all cities you can call for free on our features page. If you wish to call around the world freephoneline offers super rates that can be purchased.

Can I take Bud phone with me?
Yes, if you use a laptop computer you can take Bud Phone anywhere with you. As long as you have highspeed Internet access Bud Phone will work. For example, if you register in Waterloo Ontario you would receive a Waterloo phone number. If you are traveling to Vancouver your Bud Phone will still be active and when people call your Waterloo number it will ring in Vancouver free of long distance charges.

Can I purchase additional phone numbers in other areas of Canada?
Yes, we offer phone numbers across our network that covers the majority of Canada. Refer to our contact section and give freephoneline a call.

Can I keep my existing number?
Certainly! Number porting is only a $25.00 one time charge and the process takes 2-4 weeks to complete. We will require a signed LOA form and a copy of your last month's phone bill from your phone provider. This allows us the permission we need to transfer your phone number over. Please call us for more information regarding our porting service.

911 Availability
As a FreePhoneLine user you get access to VoIP 911 services once you have registered and signed-off that you have read and fully understand and accept the limitations of VoIP 911 in comparison to traditional 911 service. For more information on the limitations of VoIP 911 please visit http://www.budphone.ca/about911.

Do I have to be in Canada to place calls to the free calling city list?
No, actually you can be traveling or visiting anywhere in the world and you may call back to any of the cities listed in the free calling city list for free!

Why do you have certain cities that you can choose a phone number from?
Our service works for anyone in Canada however you are given a phone number from a list of cities where we have our network deployed. If you live outside of these cities and take a phone number you can still place calls and receive calls. We are also constantly expanding and adding other cities.

Which cities can I call for free?
Please check features page on this website for a complete list.

What about long distance calling to the rest of Canada?
If you need to call to a city that is not included in your free calling we provide credits that you can purchase that enable you to call anywhere in the world. Purchase great rates like 2 cents per minute for all of Canada and the USA or 3 cents per minute to over 50 countries around the world. For a complete list of rates please see our features page.

How do I activate and use the long distance plans?
You may purchase credits either online or via our call center. Once activated, you may call anywhere in the world and your credit will count down depending on the length of your call and the per minute charge to that destination. To ensure you never run out of minutes, ask for our auto renew feature. This feature will renew your full minute credit based on the original dollar figure you originally purchased.

What do I need to do to get the softphone functioning properly after installing it?
Our softphone operates on UDP ports 13000, 13001, 5060, 5061, 6060 and 6061. Please make sure these ports are opened in any firewall, internet security suites and hardware routers you may have in your home.

When I call somebody, only one party can hear (one way audio)
Please make sure UDP ports 13000, 13001, 5060, 5061, 6060 and 6061 are opened in your firewall and internet security suite. If you have a router, you will also need to forward these ports to the computer with the softphone on.

I’ve got "No connection to the server", what is the problem?
We need to know if this problem occurs every time when you start Freephoneline software. Please restart your computer and softphone several times to see if the problem persists. If so press "test connection" button and try the recommended proceedure. After taking these steps please send us the information with the results.

Can I change the primary port of the softphone?
New in version 2.1.0 you can now change the softphone's primary port in the settings menu.

How do I access my voicemail?
Dial *98 from your Bud Phone to access your voicemail, or just click on the Voicemail button within Bud Phone desktop application

How do I set my remote voicemail access password?
From your Bud Phone phone: dial *98 > Press 3 for Personal Options > 2 for Administrative Options > 1 for Password > type password and press #

Can I get my voicemail copied or forwarded to my email?
When you log into your Bud Phone account, choose "change details" and scroll down to the email forwarding section!

What is follow-me?
Follow-me is our way for you to stay connected even when you are not using your Bud Phone application. You may enter up to 3 separate numbers so when someone calls you can be reached. Whether it's a cell phone, friends phone, home phone the system will call all 3 numbers at once. You can manage this service under your account settings.

How do I configure follow-me?
Log into your account on Budphone.ca and choose the follow-me tab for full forwarding options.

Can I forward to a US or 1-800 number?
At this time our service does not support forwarding to US or 1-800 numbers.

Do you offer Bud Phone for businesses?
Please check out the website of the parent company that powers Bud Phone at www.fibernetics.ca for information regarding free business phone lines, IP-PBX products and business web hosting and collocation!

How does the Bud Phone Smartphone put an end to cell phone long distance?
When you use the cellular application, you will not be billed by your wireless provider for long distance charges. Our application dials an access number, local to the city you are in (chosen by you) which then connects the long distance call through our network.

How does it work?
The smartphone app on your phone automatically calls a local access number to our network. Once connected, it enters the destination number you are calling to. Since your call is now going over our network, your wireless carrier does not charge you for long distance calls. By using the smartphone application, you are able to call numerous cities in Canada for FREE. If you have a 'favorite' 5/10 plan with your cell carrier, adding our access number to that list will allow you to enjoy unlimited calling through the smartphone application from that location.

Can I dial 911 from the Bud Phone Smartphone App?
The Bud Phone Smartphone App is not a replacement for your ordinary telephone service and you cannot make emergency calls with this service. However this does not prevent you using your mobile phone for making emergency calls via your cellular provider as normal.

Can I dial 411, 311, 211, 800 or 900 numbers from the Bud Phone Smartphone App?
Since the Bud Phone Smartphone App is not a replacement for your ordinary telephone service, you cannot make 4-1-1 / 3-1-1 / 2-1-1 or 800 number calls with this service. However this does not prevent you using your mobile phone for making these calls via your cellular provider as normal.

Can I put contacts into the Bud Phone Smartphone App?
Yes, we have done all the hard work for you! The mobile application automatically syncs with all your contacts so that you don't need to transfer them or spend time adding them one-by-one. Whenever you update or change a contact in your phone's address book, our application will automatically update that address too.

How do I make a call using the Bud Phone Smartphone App?
To make a call, simply open the application on your mobile phone, and choose the city that you are currently local to. Your smartphone application will call the local access number in that city, then automatically dial the number you have entered or the contact you have selected. If you want to dial a number not in your contact list, simply enter the number in the application, and select the call button.

Do I have to choose the city I am local to every time I make a call?
You don't have to choose the city each time you make a call, but we do ask you to confirm that you are still in the city you last selected. This is a safeguard to ensure you are always selecting a local number prior to making your long distance call.

What do I do if there isn't a city listed in the mobile application that is a local call?
You will have to use your cellular provider to make calls when you are outside of the smartphone application service areas.

Where can I call to and from for free?
You can call to and from many cities in Canada for free. To view the entire list, click here.

How can I call areas that aren't covered in the free calling area or make international long distance calls?
By purchasing a long distance credit, you will be able to call destinations anywhere in the world at heavily discounted rates compared to your current cell phone company. We have the lowest long distance rates like the rest of Canada and the USA for as low as 2 cents per minute and over 50 countries around the world for as low as 3 cents per minute. Simply log into your Bud Phone account to purchase credits or call us at 1-866-515-5550 to purchase credits over the phone.

What kind of phone can download the Bud Phone Smartphone App?
Phones using the Blackberry, iPhone or Android platform can currently utilize this application. You must have the ability to receive text (SMS) messages and a data plan/WiFi connectivity to download the application to your device. Some older versions of the Blackberry platform are not included. Please contact us for more details at 1-866-515-5550.

What number will the person I call see on their phone? Can I block my caller ID?
Our network passes through your phone number to the destination, so whenever you call someone they will always know it's you! Since our service authenticates your call based on your caller ID, you must make sure it's always unblocked when using our application.

Does the Bud Phone Smartphone App use VoIP to Connect to our Network?
The smartphone app does not use VoIP to connect to our network. It uses your cellular provider to dial a local access number to connect to our network. This call to our local access number is placed using your regular airtime.

I registered for the service but, it's not working. Why?
The most common cause for this is that you have your caller ID blocked and our service is unable to authenticate you. Please make sure to always have your caller ID unblocked when using the smartphone application. If you trouble is unrelated to that, then it's best to contact our support team at freephoneline.ca or call 1-866-515-5550.

Will the Bud Phone Smartphone App use data?
The only time our application uses your data connection is to download and install the application and occasionally to poll our servers for updates on the application banners and location list. As we add new locations you can call from, your application will always stay up to date! These tasks use very small amounts of data and will not impact your regular usage. iPhone users require a constant data connection for initial call setup requests.

Where does the downloaded application install to on my phone?
When you download the software to your phone you will need to locate the software to launch the application. See the list below to help you locate the application:

Blackberry: Downloads folder on newer devices, home screen on older models
Android: The application will show up on the launchpad of your Android phone after installation
iPhone: The application will show up on the launchpad of your iPhone after the installation.

How can I delete the application?
Application deletion will vary by device, below are the common removal methods for each device type:

Blackberry: Blackberry applications can be uninstalled from Blackberry desktop manager, or right from the phone itself on some models.
Android: Android applications are usually uninstalled from the application manager in the phone's settings.
iPhone: To uninstall the app from the iPhone visit the App Store on your devise or use iTunes.

What are the risks of installing the application on my smartphone?
As with any application, it is always advised to back-up your data prior to installing new software. There are no known problems with installing this application, however, certain smartphones can encounter unrelated issues with various types of software installations.

Can I register more than one smartphone?
You can only register one smartphone per email address.

Can I turn off the banner ad in the application?
Unfortunately the small banner ad in the application cannot be disabled.