I see Skype now do FREE calls to all landlines and mobile phones within the US and Canada!

http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2006/05/free_calls_to_all_landlines_an.html

May be of some use to you guys out there..

I've been using Skype for a year or so, and am pretty happy with the service. When calling PC-to-PC, it's great. When calling PC-to-phone, the international rates are excellent. The quality is not quite as high as regular land lines, and it sounds a little like half-duplex in that only one person can talk at a time. But at the rates Skype charges (or "charge", as our UK friends would say), one can't complain. And I'll confirm Steve's observation that PC-to-phone calls are now free within the US and Canada. Good service, good price.

I just started using it based on Steve's post. It's great. We have poor cellphone connectivity at home and it's been hard to get by (we've been without land lines for about three years now, first in Colorado, then in Florida). When we use it we get clear connections and people hear us just fine.

However, voice mail systems have a problem with understanding responses or numbers. I don't know if entering numbers in the dialer area or using the GUI dialer even sends anything after a connection is made. Still, it helps save on the cell phone's minutes.

If anyone's interested in calling my user name is roachmichaelp.

I'll chime in and say I have been impressed with Skype, too.

One of my clients insisted I use an older VOIP called Teamspeak, and that was awful. It always sounded like someone was strangling cats in the background. And the echo cancellation wasn't very good.

Later, he switched to using Skype. When you use a headset on your PC, the voice quality is markedly better than a regular telephone.

If you use an adapter box on your computer, like an Actiontec Internet Phone Wizard, the quality is like a regular phone, because it uses your regular phone. I prefer phones to headsets.

You do need high speed internet to make it work.

My skype name is bobsbitbucket.