AOL to launch free AIM phone service

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Yes and no

AIM and MSN and Yahoo are more like chat programs. They carry voice and video, but they are tied to a computer.

Skype is very much like the above services, but with a few major differences. For starters, I never got decent quality out of the three above. But with Skype, I've gotten excellent quality in the US, as well as very good quality as far away as Estonia and Vietnam.

The other difference is that with Skype and AIM, it's possible to get phone numbers. AIM is free for incoming, and Skype is free for outgoing to the US, at least for now. But since anybody can sign up for Skype with a US number, a person in a remote part of the world can receive calls cheaply (from the point of view of a US relative or business associate) and make calls for free.

The other thing is that with Skype, you CAN get a VOIP box. Well, sort of. There are VOIP headsets, as well as a VOIP box that's pretty much like a Packet8 or Vonage box -- with one small difference. It gets hooked up with USB and requires a PC running Skype. So you need to have a computer left on, but aside from that, you can hook your home telephone network into the box and make and receive VOIP calls just as with any VOIP box.

One other difference is that the box works with VOIP and landlines, so you can use it to answer your regular phone, and make calls on VOIP or landline depending on whether you press ## or not.

I'd prefer an entirely stand alone VOIP box to Skype, but a Skypein number is only 30 Euros a year, and if skypeout calls are free, that beats Vonage and Packet8. Plus, I get video. For what I save in monthly fees, I can afford the electricity to leave a PC on.

Posted by: wresnick   Posted on: 05/26/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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