Skype and VoIP free software, free service, free phone calls . . . .

Software4free handpicks and tests the best free software programs available - stable, up-to-date, well supported, user-friendly and well documented.
Our top pick, Skype, fills all these criteria - and some! Simply download Skype and enjoy............ We always give you a choice of the best free software, so we mention some other options. But, quite frankly, there is no real competition. contributed by W.H. for Software4free.org

Skype

Learn more .......

With Skype you can talk to anyone, anywhere - for free, forever.
Skype is a little software program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. Skype is free to download and and easy to use, and works with most computers. You can also make and receive calls to ordinary phones with your computer.

Skype software is free and Skype's marketing budget is zero. Yet Skype users number in the 100 millions, growing every day, without advertising, persuaded simply by word of mouth.
The The New York Times has called Skype the most disruptive digital communication technology to become available in the last 12 months.
Skype, which was bought by eBay in september 2005, calls itself "free Internet telephony that just works". Skype makes its money from its premium packages, which are excellent and generally cheaper than the competition.
All pros and no cons? Skype is not a telephony replacement service and cannot be used for emergency dialing.
Users report very few problems with echos or dropouts, and the technology and bandwidth are improving all the time. As that happens, Skype will continue to sign up thousands of new users per hour.
Software4free's Top Pick

Download Skype

Google Talk

learn more about Google talk...

What is Google Talk?
Google Talk is still "in beta" - meaning Google is still adding and refining features - but it is promising to be a major player for free Internet calling. Google Talk combines instant messages and voice in one software package (Windows only).
Google Talk is easy and intuitive to use. To make free calls you need an Internet connection, a microphone, and a speaker. The first thing you need to do is sign up for Gmail, Google's excellent free email service. After you download Google Talk, sign in with your Gmail username and password. Then invite your friends to download Google Talk, and once they do, you'll be able to talk or Instant Messenge with them. If they are using a different Instant messenger service, you may still be able to use Google Talk, because Google keeps the communication standards open as far as possible; the following protocols are supported on all major platforms (Mac OSX, Linux, and Windows):
Trillian, GAIM, iChat, Adium, and Psi.

Download Google Talk


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Other VoIP services

There are many other VoIP phone providers and software packages to choose from, and in some instances they have features not available in Skype or Google Talk. However, none of them are free. Here are some of the better known VoIP providers:

Verizon
Sunrocket
Vonage
Broadvox
Dialpad (owned by Yahoo)

What is VoIP?

VoIP stands for "Voice over Internet Protocol" and essentially means that your phone conversation is turned into a string of ones and zeros which gets sent to your conversation partner over the Internet.

Wikipedia, the excellent free online encyclopedia, has a good article about VoIP.

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