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September 12, 2005
Skype / VOIP / Internet telephone
Back in the day when I tried some of the original internet telephone services with my 56k (if you were lucky) dialup, internet telephones (software phones) were pretty much unusable. I never tried again until recently.
I admit it - I'm a total techno geek. But when it comes to internet telephones, I've been a relative latecomer. I signed up for Vonage about six months ago and have loved it ever since. I don't use my home telephone all that much, so the 500 minute, $14.99 plan is more than sufficient for me. But lordy - for $14.99 I'm getting much better service than I was getting with QWest or Sprint local service for $50 a month - and that didn't include long distance, voicemail or any of that other jazz!
Just recently I signed up with Google Talk - it's basically another instant messaging service, with a nice and clean Google interface, but also includes VOIP (voice over internet protocol) service so you can actually use your computer as a telephone. Plug a microphone and speakers in (or if you've got a laptop, you likely already have both of these things built in), and wam-bam-thank-you-mam, you've got a speakerphone! I love it. Now I just need to get more of my friends signed up so that I can use it more regularly.
I've also just signed up for a Skype account. Skype has been on top of the internet telephone game for a couple of years ago and it's just been announced that eBay is purchasing them. It was just a couple of years ago that eBay bought PayPal - a competitor to its own proprietary money-echange service. That purchase made sense, but the telephone buyout is a little bit of a mystery to me. Sure, it'll likely be a moneymaker, but eBay is into selling merchandise???
I hope this stuff continues to be free. I don't mind seeing advertising here and there if it's not intrusive, just don't start charging!
Do any of you use these services? What have your experiences been? Any recommendations?
Posted by SparklesMpls at September 12, 2005 01:51 PM
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Comments
Comments
I'm sure you do use your webcam, Dave!
I like that service also
I've been using Yahoo! Messenger with webcam for about a year or more. I speak (voice) to my EX in Trinidad for free. We both use our webcams and the mics are included.