Voice Over IP Articles

Free VoIP Service- Free VoIP service is available in certain areas. There are limitations to free VoIP service but at the same time, free VoIP service does have some good features for you to take advantage of. Here is a free VoIP service review.

First, let’s be clear about what free VoIP means: it means that while you have paid for a computer and are paying a monthly fee for an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to provide you with high-speed Internet service, such as broadband or DSL (and for a microphone and speakers, if they’re not built-in to your computer, and maybe a pair of headsets), you can initiate and receive certain voice transmissions, aka "phone calls," without paying anything more than that, as long as your computer is on and your network is functioning. On those terms, there are a number of free VoIP clients available.

Free VoIP Features

Free VoIP has serious limitations, but it also has serious features, like videochat and file transfer and instant messaging. If you’re having a VoIP audiochat with someone via AIM, Skype, iChat or Yahoo! Messenger and something goes wrong with the audio transmission, you can send off a note in real time letting your conversation partner know. That kind of thing is really difficult to do when you’re on a real phone call with an "old-fashioned phone."

Approaches to Free VoIP

Choosing free VoIP isn’t like choosing a car. It isn’t just about which service has the most desirable features and the greatest style. Here are some of the important considerations:

• You need to take into consideration which services work with your particular computer operating system (Windows XP, Windows7, Vista, Linux, or Mac OSX 10.4, 10.5, or 10.6).

• You need to find out which services the people you need to be in touch with use/can use.You need to find out (by testing) which services work well in your particular location and in conjunction with those people with whom you need to be in touch.  One system may work well for one connection and not another; one system may work better for VoIP audio, while another works better for file transfer or for video.

Given all this, my advice is to become well acquainted with multiple free VoIP clients that you can call on, as required for your various communication needs.

Some Free VoIP Clients to Check Out

• AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) in its Windows and Vista version provides Voice chat, which is a form of VoIP, but it does not provide this service in 2.0, it’s latest Mac version as of this writing. Nevertheless, it may be possible for Mac users to connect to Windows and Vista users of AIM from iChat (see below). AIM also offers text messaging, video chat, email, and group chat.

• Gizmo5 will be worth taking a look at when Google, which acquired it in November, 2009, relaunches it, keep an eye out.

• iChat is a component of the Mac OSX operating system that plays well with AIM and allows audio interactions, but also text messaging, video chatting, conference calls, and file sharing.

• Skype only works with other Skype for free, but it is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux and allows you to talk, text, or make video calls (provided you have a webcam) for free. Note that Skype has an explicit "no emergency calls" policy. The policy clearly states that free Skype service is not intended as a replacement for a landline or mobile phone, the reason for this being that free Skype cannot meet the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) requirements that 911 calls transmit your location and a callback phone number.

• Windows Live Messenger, called Microsoft Messenger in its Mac counterpart, and sometimes just called MSN, provides free audio and video connections. It integrates with Yahoo! Messenger when both users are using the latest updates of their respective services.

• Yahoo! Messenger enables free computer-to-computer calling for Windows and Mac, to other Yahoo! Messenger users, Windows Live Messenger users, Reuters Messaging users, and Lotus Sametime users. Video chats, conferencing, and instant messaging are also available.

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