I've been playing around a bit with Skype, an Internet telephone (VOIP) application. (See
www.skype.com)
Skype requires that you have a microphone on your computer (a headset combining microphone and earphones is the best bet), and a high-speed Internet connection. You can talk to other Skype users, computer-to-computer, for free. You can call ordinary telephone numbers for a small per-minute charge.
Skype is also adding a feature that will allow you to pay a subscription fee in order to have a real telephone number, so that people can call you at your computer. Right now it's being tested.
So, what's the verdict?I have a VERY high-speed connection, but I found the quality to be poor. Kind of like a weak cell-phone connection. I also found the interface to be a little clumsy.
From a purely technical standpoint, voice and data are being integrated, and a lot of phone traffic is alreayd routed over IP lines. But for personal use, Skype isn't quite there. If you are paying high fees for long distance calls, you *might* want to investigate Skype... after all, free is good! But for now at least, you're probably better off shopping around for a better rate plan for your regular phone.