Motion,

If you call computer to computer (and who does not have a computer these days) skype is free for everyone.

I just got off of three calls with three friends. One was in Moscow, another in Dubai and another in Singapore. Yes there was some lead and lag but not enough to worry with and it did not cost a penny.

I still have a phone at home but going to cut the line soon as I really do not use it anymore.

Joe A

Joe,

Excuse my ignorance on this, but how exactly do you talk to each other computer-to-computer? The speaker part I get, but what do you use for a mic? TIA.

Denis,

I have done both. Using a laptop with a built in mic and speakers some work fine, while others need a headset. The Dell 600m I use on the road works fine as is, but better with a headset.

My home computer has a mic plugged into the soundcard and speakers. The gent taking care of my house and I talk from time to time when I am overseas and its as clear as a telephone call, and for free.

Have to laugh recently as when I am talking on the computer the cat has started coming to the office as it hears my voice and expects to find me at home, when I am really 7000 miles away. Its that clear and good a connection.

We have been using Vonage and Skype for quite a while.

Vonage at home is over a 10Mb Cox Cable connection and we never had any issues with the router or other equipment, the Vonage Router is connected to my phone distribution panel, so all the phones use that line, also we have the international plan (free calls to several countries in Europe and dirt cheap to the rest) with Vonage and I even have a local number in Spain that rings home in Las Vegas, ideal for my family and friends back in Spain. If we have to travel on vacation within the US we take the Vonage router with us.

Skype is mostly for busines travel but now limited to PC to PC talks (no Skype out now that we have to pay again), I use my cell phone mostly while travelling.

Our niece and her b/f just moved here and decided to go with Vonage. When they call and we talk, I can tell they're on VoIP due to the delay. I find it a little annoying. We also recently had a few storms through here where many areas lost power. You're out of luck when the power goes out as compared to regular land line. We've considered it, and it would certainly be the cheaper way to go, but maybe I'm a little old fashioned and like the quality and reliability of a land line. BTW, 911 service is what we do for a hobby:D

I use skype on my Mac book pro with the built-in camera and wireless connection. That makes a free portable videophone to talk to my familly in France. It totally rocks. The quality is amazing. I can show them stuff all over the house and even in the backyard. We spent 6 hours together for Christmas, it felt like I was with them.

Aurel

I use Vonage for my work number and fax. I have been very happy with the service. The conection quality is directly linked to the bandwidth capacity. If I have a ton of windows open, some internet music playing and surfing Pelican of course, the phone will bog down a bit. Otherwise, a very reliable product.

So can anyone comment on the pricing? Just trying to figure out if I am missing something here... Skype seems MUCH cheaper than the others. Too good to be true?

I use packet-8 here in my home office for work. Sound quality to Asia is better then land-lines. My only complaints are that the internet phone doesn't seem to like being attached to a conference phone on the other end, I'm guessing because of the lower signal-to-noise ratio. The line quality also is kind of iffy for incoming faxes, even from geographically locations.

All in all though, I like it.

BTW, it does have 911 capability, but not if the power goes out (at which point the network goes down). That's the nice thing about land lines, they'll often work even if the power goes out. But on the other hand, the last couple of times that we've needed to call 911, one of the times we ended up having to use a cell phone because the phone lines were down.