from as little as 1? to call phones in the U.S. and as little as $10 prepaid credit (for calls to the U.S., that'll hold you over for up to 1000 minutes!). Let friends call you on your PC - using their land line or mobile phones. You could get a phone number for your PC. You can pick your area code, so friends still enjoy local rates when calling you wherever you are. When you are not online all your calls will be directed to your free voicemail. You can access your voicemail anytime you want

Both Skype and Vonage provide

Save a lot of money in phone calls simply with a microphone, some kind of speakers and a provider of your choice.

Vonage differs significantly from other services in that it doesn't require a PC to send and receive calls. The startup equipment, a Motorola VoIP router with room for two phone lines and one broadband, comes free, along with your first month of service. Thereafter, service is $29.95 a month, featuring voicemail, multiple local numbers (so that those who call you won't pay for long distance, either), and perhaps best of all, your old phone system and number won't change.

On the whole, the choice seems to depend on how much you use your PC and how much you spend on the telephone doing other things. One point that is well beyond the scope of this article is the wealth of extra equipment offered by Vonage, from cell phones that operate inside wireless networks to a USB drive with an attached headset to carry your entire phone system (and your number) everywhere.

Skype is probably the best-known name in VoIP, known across the Web for its free PC to PC voice chat, a feature now fairly commonplace in Instant Messenger (IM) programs. To start using Skype, all you need to do is download the client program and make a new account. The whole process takes about two minutes and you're ready to place calls for free to any Skype user anywhere. For $29.95 a year or $8.85 a month, Skype unlimited allows you to make and receive calls to any phone in the U.S. or Canada. Voice quality is good on even the slowest of broadband connections, growing choppy only when there's a big download running in the background. Skype Unlimited comes with free voicemail and a list of optional services like SMS (text) messaging, which start at less than half a cent per message.

Yahoo allows you to use your PC, web connection, and Yahoo! Messenger to make free PC-PC calls. You can make PC-to-phone calls to and from countries around the world at great rates. Initial rates start from as little as 1? to call phones in the U.S. and as little as $10 prepaid credit (for calls to the U.S., that'll hold you over for up to 1000 minutes!). Let friends call you on your PC - using their land line or mobile phones. You could get a phone number for your PC. You can pick your area code, so friends still enjoy local rates when calling you wherever you are. When you are not online all your calls will be directed to your free voicemail. You can access your voicemail anytime you want

Both Skype and Vonage provide

nd perhaps best of all, your old phone system and number won't change.

On the whole, the choice seems to depend on how much you use your PC and how much you spend on the telephone doing other things. One point that is well beyond the scope of this article is the wealth of extra equipment offered by Vonage, from cell phones that operate inside wireless networks to a USB drive with an attached headset to carry your entire phone system (and your number) everywhere.

Skype is probably the best-known name in VoIP, known across the Web for its free PC to PC voice chat, a feature now fairly commonplace in Instant Messenger (IM) programs. To start using Skype, all you need to do is download the client program and make a new account. The whole process takes about two minutes and you're ready to place calls for free to any Skype user anywhere. For $29.95 a year or $8.85 a month, Skype unlimited allows you to make and receive calls to any phone in the U.S. or Canada. Voice quality is good on even the slowest of broadband connections, growing choppy only when there's a big download running in the background. Skype Unlimited comes with free voicemail and a list of optional services like SMS (text) messaging, which start at less than half a cent per message.

Yahoo allows you to use your PC, web connection, and Yahoo! Messenger to make free PC-PC calls. You can make PC-to-phone calls to and from countries around the world at great rates. Initial rates start from as little as 1? to call phones in the U.S. and as little as $10 prepaid credit (for calls to the U.S., that'll hold you over for up to 1000 minutes!). Let friends call you on your PC - using their land line or mobile phones. You could get a phone number for your PC. You can pick your area code, so friends still enjoy local rates when calling you wherever you are. When you are not online all your calls will be directed to your free voicemail. You can access your voicemail anytime you want

Both Skype and Vonage provide

known across the Web for its free PC to PC voice chat, a feature now fairly commonplace in Instant Messenger (IM) programs. To start using Skype, all you need to do is download the client program and make a new account. The whole process takes about two minutes and you're ready to place calls for free to any Skype user anywhere. For $29.95 a year or $8.85 a month, Skype unlimited allows you to make and receive calls to any phone in the U.S. or Canada. Voice quality is good on even the slowest of broadband connections, growing choppy only when there's a big download running in the background. Skype Unlimited comes with free voicemail and a list of optional services like SMS (text) messaging, which start at less than half a cent per message.

Yahoo allows you to use your PC, web connection, and Yahoo! Messenger to make free PC-PC calls. You can make PC-to-phone calls to and from countries around the world at great rates. Initial rates start from as little as 1? to call phones in the U.S. and as little as $10 prepaid credit (for calls to the U.S., that'll hold you over for up to 1000 minutes!). Let friends call you on your PC - using their land line or mobile phones. You could get a phone number for your PC. You can pick your area code, so friends still enjoy local rates when calling you wherever you are. When you are not online all your calls will be directed to your free voicemail. You can access your voicemail anytime you want

Both Skype and Vonage provide

when there's a big download running in the background. Skype Unlimited comes with free voicemail and a list of optional services like SMS (text) messaging, which start at less than half a cent per message.

Yahoo allows you to use your PC, web connection, and Yahoo! Messenger to make free PC-PC calls. You can make PC-to-phone calls to and from countries around the world at great rates. Initial rates start from as little as 1? to call phones in the U.S. and as little as $10 prepaid credit (for calls to the U.S., that'll hold you over for up to 1000 minutes!). Let friends call you on your PC - using their land line or mobile phones. You could get a phone number for your PC. You can pick your area code, so friends still enjoy local rates when calling you wherever you are. When you are not online all your calls will be directed to your free voicemail. You can access your voicemail anytime you want

Both Skype and Vonage provide

from as little as 1? to call phones in the U.S. and as little as $10 prepaid credit (for calls to the U.S., that'll hold you over for up to 1000 minutes!). Let friends call you on your PC - using their land line or mobile phones. You could get a phone number for your PC. You can pick your area code, so friends still enjoy local rates when calling you wherever you are. When you are not online all your calls will be directed to your free voicemail. You can access your voicemail anytime you want

Both Skype and Vonage provide access to local 911 services. For more detailed information and to download or sign up for Skype or Vonage, visit their Web sites at and . The latter even has an online calculator to display all your startup and monthly costs.