I was somewhat surprised to not see Net2phone listed in epinions until now but oh well..

Net2Phone, as the name indicates, allows you to place (or initiate) a phone call using the Internet. Unlike some other Internet telephony products out there, you don't need to have the receiver logged in to the Internet to receive calls.

- You can place domestic or international calls from your PC to any phone
in the world.
- Calls are initiated from the PC, transferred over the Internet to
telephone switches and the switches relay the call to the final
destination.
- Almost realtime, full duplex transmission
- Rates are not dependent upon the country of origin since the calls are
carried over the Internet till the time they reach the telephone
switches. Nice thing about this is that folks can call the US from
other parts of the world for just about 10c a minute. I have family and
friends outside the US who have computers and we always talk with them
initiating the call from Net2phone and my regular phone rings.
- Calls are not restricted to PC to PC mode, i.e., both parties do not
need to be online at the time of the call. Only the caller needs to be
connected online.
- No need to log off the Internet to place calls.
- When using Net2Phone to call toll-free numbers, there's no charge to
you, from anywhere in the world.
- The quality of the call will depend on the quality of your Internet
connection.

Net2Phone still has ways to go before its sound quality matches that of a regular land line. Still, it's quite economical to use and you have to remember that you are getting a good deal here. It's not uncommon to expect some feedback, echo and lag in conversation at times.

The software is free - you just pay for the minutes of talk time. Check out their web site at http://www.net2phone.com - they have specials running to encourage you to try out the service. If this works for you, you'll save quite some money on your phone bills.






Recommended: Yes