08 September 2006
IP Telephony to keep family and friends together
Almost everyone knows of someone who doesn't live close, either in another state for the US or another country. With school started again, it may be your parents or your children. The question is, how to keep in contact without breaking the bank?
Of course those with Internet access can use the different Internet Telephony options, Skype of course being one of the most popular and easiest to use.
Skype allows you to connect without having to configure your firewall or anything. Calls are free to other Skype users on their computers, but of course calls to telephones does have a cost, although smaller than you would normally pay.
For a more secure option, there is Zfone which encrypts phone calls to make a secure connection. It currently works with other VOIP solutions and only provides the encryption functionality, but in the future there are plans of creating a stand-alone client. Unfortunately, thought it does not currently work with Skype.
For those who would rather not install any extra software there are some web based VOIP solutions.
Dialpad.com which is now part of Yahoo, allows users to freely call other computers as well as telephones at a cost exactly as Skype but doesn't require a download of any software.
Mediaring.com is another option, but this option only allows for calls to telephones. It does contain an address book and a diagnostic section to troubleshoot any problems. Net2Phone also provides the option of users making calls to telephones and not computers.
PC2Call.com also has similar features to Skype but doesn't allow for users to have numbers on the service for others to contact.
The differences between these are not very big. The software that has to be downloaded usually has more features such as an address book or some other features, while the web based is usually simpler but they all get the job done. Some may have better quality than others though.
Of course those with Internet access can use the different Internet Telephony options, Skype of course being one of the most popular and easiest to use.
Skype allows you to connect without having to configure your firewall or anything. Calls are free to other Skype users on their computers, but of course calls to telephones does have a cost, although smaller than you would normally pay.
For a more secure option, there is Zfone which encrypts phone calls to make a secure connection. It currently works with other VOIP solutions and only provides the encryption functionality, but in the future there are plans of creating a stand-alone client. Unfortunately, thought it does not currently work with Skype.
For those who would rather not install any extra software there are some web based VOIP solutions.
Dialpad.com which is now part of Yahoo, allows users to freely call other computers as well as telephones at a cost exactly as Skype but doesn't require a download of any software.
Mediaring.com is another option, but this option only allows for calls to telephones. It does contain an address book and a diagnostic section to troubleshoot any problems. Net2Phone also provides the option of users making calls to telephones and not computers.
PC2Call.com also has similar features to Skype but doesn't allow for users to have numbers on the service for others to contact.
The differences between these are not very big. The software that has to be downloaded usually has more features such as an address book or some other features, while the web based is usually simpler but they all get the job done. Some may have better quality than others though.
