Internet Telephony Use the Internet to Make Phone Calls
Internet Telephony or VoIP - What is it? If you are connected to broadband you can use your computer to talk to anyone else on their computer, anywhere in the world. This is the FREE bit.   The person you are talking to has to be a broadband user and using the same internet telephony service as you.  There are several VoIP (voice over internet protocol, internet telephony) providers but the most common one is Skype, which is available as a free download and can be used by anyone, regardless of who their broadband provider is. What Does Internet Telephony Do? You can use your computer to talk to anyone else on their computer for FREE. You can use your computer to call a landline phone anywhere in the world - this is a paid for service You can have an internet telephone number.  Landline users can call you.  More about this below. What You Will Need to use Internet Telephony Microphone and Speakers or a headset.  These only cost a small amount and the speakers may already be built into your computer system Using a microphone and speakers means anyone in the room with you can hear and take part in the conversation. No need to keep handing the phone over, or keep repeating what the caller has said.  If you prefer a private conversation then use a headset.  This way you won't annoy the rest of the family and can talk for hours without disturbing others. Webcam. If you want the person you are talking to to see you, buy a webcam.  These are also inexpensive.  These are wonderful if you have friends or family overseas.  I recently saw the daughter of a college friend who lives in Australia.  The last time I saw her she was a baby.  Now she's ten.
The Paid for Bit I'm a Skype user.  If you decide to use another internet telephony service take a look at their charging structure and what services they offer. You can use your computer to call a landline anywhere in the world.  With Skype, this is a prepaid service.  Either on a pay as you go or monthly prepayment basis.  If you use another service check out their costs. A brilliant service if you travel a lot. You have a "telephone" number which belongs to your Skype account. Skype allocates geographic numbers (currently from a choice of 20 countries).  This means that people calling you pay as if they were calling a geographic (or land based) number. For example. Imagine you live in the UK but travel a lot to the USA or have a lot of friends or colleagues in the USA. You can buy two SkypeIn numbers. a) Buy a USA based number.  Then your friends and colleagues in the USA will pay for a USA local call, regardless of where you (and your computer) are in the world b) Buy a UK based number.  Similarly your UK friends and colleagues will pay for a UK call, regardless of where you and your computer actually are.  How cool is that? This can be a huge money saver for people phoning you from mobile phones too. Other Internet Telephony Services.  Some other internet telephony (voip) services offer geographic telephone numbers which are specific to your broadband connection.  So you can't use them if you are travelling.  Some VoIP services offer you non-geographic numbers.  These can be expensive for other people to call you.  Check out what is offered by your chosen VoIP provider and make sure you know how much it will cost. Voicemail With Skype you can also set up a voicemail service for a small fee, so people can you leave you a message when you are offline.
This is a (much changed) version of an article I wrote for Helium.