voip 101

There are two major reasons to use VOIP

• Lower Cost
• Increased functionality

Lower Cost

In general phone service via VOIP costs less than equivalent service from traditional sources. This is largely a function of traditional phone services either being monopolies or government entities. There are also some cost savings due to using a single network to carry voice and data. This is especially true when users have existing under-utilized network capacity that they can use for VOIP without any additional costs.

In the most extreme case, users see VOIP phone calls (even international) as FREE. While there is a cost for their Internet service, using VOIP over this service may not involve any extra charges, so the users view the calls as free. There are a number of services that have sprung up to facilitate this type of "free" VOIP call. Examples are: Free World Dialup and Skype for a more complete list see: VOIP Service Providers

Increased Functionality

VOIP makes easy some things that are difficult to impossible with traditional phone networks.

• Incoming phone calls are automatically routed to your VOIP phone where ever you plug it into the network. Take your VOIP phone with you on a trip, and anywhere you connect it to the Internet, you can receive your incoming calls.
• Call center agents using VOIP phones can easily work from anywhere with a good Internet connection. 

source: http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/What+is+VOIP

VoIP Fans - FREE Phone Calls

Option 1: PC- to-PC – It is free

1. Sign up with a free VoIP provider such as Skype, Free World Dialup (FWD) or SIPphone
2. From your PC, using SoftPhone (download from provider) to call subscribers with same VoIP network – FREE (note that calling out to the traditional telephone network is not free; (FWD) or SIPphone offer calling to toll-free 800 number service in USA and Canada. So, you can buy a calling card with 800 number connection service for your outbound calls and put prefix numbers in your IP Phone's speed dial feature for quick dialing. Alternatively, you can buy pre-paid SkypeOut or Gizmo Project CallOut services to make all outbound calls.) 

source: http://www.voipwifiphones.com/Free-Internet-Phone-Call-DIY.html