How To Select Your VoIP Service

Internet calling has become popular especially for those travelers, families, and others, with relatives in foreign countries. This service is currently improving with the existence of competitions. Because of this, the formerly free providers are now charging per-minute rates for some of their services. But if price is the most important factor for you, you can still save a lot of money.
Before you begin:
For you to talk over your PC, you need a microphone and speakers. You can also use your computer’s built-in components, but you probably won’t get very good performance; ambient noises will get picked up, your conversations will not be private, and your microphone will recycle speaker output, causing echoes.
In order to circumvent these problems, it is recommended that you buy a headset. There are number of high-quality PC headsets that connect directly to your computer. Some connect through your headphone or microphone jacks, and some go through your USB port. All of them are super-easy to set up.
Making calls:
There are 2 different types of VoIP service. One allows you to make calls from your computer to another landline or mobile phone; the other lets you make calls from your computer to another computer.
PC-to-phone calling:
Dial pad, Go2Call, Net2Phone, and iConnectHere have been tested for PC-to-phone services. This is because these companies use the same transmission technology, the quality of internet calls is, for the most part, identical. The main differences are user-friendliness and price.
User-friendliness:
Overall, Dial pad is the easiest VoIP service to use. You don't have to download software because all activity is performed through the well-designed applet. Dial pad also stores your user information on their servers, so you can access your contact list (and dial out) from any computer in the world.
Price:
Interested in talking to folks overseas? Take a look at each service’s published rates below. This chart also gives you a glimpse of your potential savings.
Per-minute calling charge from anywhere in world to landline phone (in U.S. dollars)
MCI Net2Phone Net2Phone Go2Call Dialpad iConnectHere
(U.S.) (non-U.S.)

U.S
varies 0.039 0.10 0.035 0.029 0.019
London 0.10 0.049 0.05 0.04 0.05 0.07
Mexico City 0.25 0.07 0.19 0.065 0.16 0.10
Berlin 0.25 0.049 0.08 0.045 0.05 0.06
Seoul 0.14 0.06 0.15 0.07 0.08 0.08
Lima 0.35 0.21 0.38 0.14 0.21 0.14
Nairobi 0.69 0.35 0.78 0.29 0.49 0.59

One other factor to consider when choosing a service is the special deals offered by some providers. Currently the best deal is from Dial pad. For just $9.99 per month, you can have 400 anytime minutes for calls from and to the U.S.
Now pay attention, here is a "little secret". Dial pad offers "trial calls" for up to 5 minutes in length, but there is no limit to the number of trial calls you can make. So if you just want to say hello to a friend or colleague, or relay some quick information, calls from anywhere in the world to the U.S. are still free.

PC-to-PC calling:
The main advantage of PC-to-PC calls is the price - they are hundred per cent free. All you have to do is download some software and be annoyed by the occasional ad. For this category three services, have been reviewed: NetMeeting, Net2Phone, and PhoneFree. (Dialpad, iConnectHere, and Go2Call do not offer PC-to-PC calls.)
PhoneFree is the best option. With their service, you can search for other online users by name, you can store contacts in an address book, and you can send voice mail to other users. PhoneFree also has a great feature called, ExpertZone. This is a searchable database that can immediately connect you to users with extensive knowledge in subjects such as Health, Finance, Computing, Automobiles, and Parenting.
Overall, for PC-to-Phone use, Dial pad is the most recommended. It provides the most versatility, it’s easiest to use, it doesn’t ask you to download software, it offers free 5-minute calls, and it has a good sign-up plan. If you want a free PC-to-PC, PhoneFree has the best features. But if you want both PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone services all in one package, the next best option would be Net2Phone. Because it's currently bundled with Netscape, you might already have it on your hard drive.