Phone calls via the internet, also known as Voip (Voice Over Internet Protocol), at this time, offer three different ways for people to make internet calls, Analog Telephone Adapters (ATA's), IP Phones, and Computer to Computer.

The original method of phone calls via the internet was, and still is of course, to download software from an internet communications company such as Skype, allowing you to speak free to a person sitting at another computer with the same software. Your conversations are through a headset or totally handsfree. However, with the growth of wireless handset internet phones you can use an actual telephone handset to talk your internet caller at the other end. As an example, a leading provider of telecom solutions, Thomson, has teamed up with Skype to develop the G.E. DECT 6.0 (Digital Enhanced Cordless Technology) enabling people to easily switch between internet calling and landlines. You can expand up to 6 handsets which now gives you internet telephone access throughout your house. The Skype Store USA has a wide selection of other internet phone accessories to use with their service.

The direction of internet phone calling is wireless mobility. Symbian CEO, Nigel Clifford, in delivering a speech at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London, told delegates that mobile devices such as the Smartphone, represents a shift "as profound as the Internet and PC were in the 1990s. He believes the PC and even the laptop will be eclipsed by the Smartphone. Of course this prediction comes from a company whose business is strictly mobile operating systems, and at this point the general belief is that this technology will mostly compliment existing PC's and laptops. Time will tell, and it will be interesting to follow how technology and user trends develop. More information and companies providing voip, at Computer Phone Calling.

By Barbara Cipak, My-Telework-Tools.com