Don't Hang Up On Your Pc - computer telephony services offered by Internet access providers - Brief Article

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine,  July, 2001  by Ronaleen R. Roha

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INTERNET | FREE LONG DISTANCE is disappearing, but bargains remain.

How quickly things change in the Internet world. Last year anyone with a decent PC setup, an Internet service provider and a tolerance for sometimes spotty call quality could dial free from his or her PC to any phone in the U.S. ("Long Distance Free," Nov. 2000) and save on long distance.

Companies that still offer free, unlimited Internet long-distance service are becoming an endangered species. (We found only one, Dialpad.) Most now limit your free gab sessions, charge per-minute rates or require a monthly subscription.

The biggest reason for the change? Investors in Net phone companies are demanding profitability, or at least that they make enough money to cover expenses, says Stephen Gray, a spokesman for WowRing.com, a Net long-distance provider.

So make free calls while you can, and take a look at some of the pay plans. Many services offer cheap domestic rates as well as low international rates, often to more than 200 countries, starting at 3 cents to 4 cents a minute. They also provide such services as e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, fax and prepaid phone cards.

To make PC-to-phone calls, in addition to a good Internet service provider, you'll generally need at least a 28.8K modem (faster is better), a Pentium-class PC, a full-duplex sound card (so both parties can talk at once) and a good headset with a built-in microphone to cut down on echoes from speaker feedback.

Free unlimited calls. One service still lets you make free calls and talk as long as you like.

Dialpad (www.dialpad.com/products). Basic service offers free unlimited calls in the U.S., but the company charges for calls overseas.

Free limited calls. You can still make free calls through these services long enough to say hello.

MSN Messenger (messenger.msn.com). You can talk for two minutes free within the U.S. Then you're automatically cut off, but you can call back.

Net2Phone (www.net2phone.com). Talk free on Net2Phone for up to five minutes per call in the U.S. Net2Phone charges for all foreign calls.

Pay services. Following the trend, these companies charge for PC-to-phone calls.

AOL Instant Messenger (www.aol.com/ aim, click on "PC-to-Phone"). AOL Instant Messenger charges a penny per minute for calls in the U.S., 4 cents or more for calls abroad.

HotTeleLink.com (www.hottelelink.com). You pay a minimum fee of $14.95, which is applied to calls you can make to more than 200 countries. You also get two hours of free calls per month in the U.S. and to 25 foreign countries.

iConnectHere.com (www.iconnecthere.com, click on "PC-to-Phone"). IConnectHere offers subscription service--starting at $1.99 per month for the North American plan, which includes up to 400 minutes of calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. You get one hour of free U.S. calls when you sign up.

PhoneFree.com (www.phonefree.com/ store/global/main.html). You pay 2 cents per minute for calls in the U.S., and 4 cents or more for foreign calls.

WowRing.com (www.wowring.com). Subscriptions start at $10 per month for the basic plan, which covers calls in the U.S. and to 15 foreign countries. That translates to 5.2 hours of U.S. calls at 3.2 cents a minute.

Yahoo! Messenger (help.yahoo.com/ help/us/mesg/phone/index.html, click on "What is PC to Phone?"). Domestic calls cost 2 cents per minute. --Reporter: ERIN BURT

COPYRIGHT 2001 The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group