How to make free or cheap long distance calls from your computer

Are you getting large phone bills for your long distance calls? Or do you avoid long-distance calls altogether? There may be an inexpensive way for you to keep in touch with friends and family at a distance.

If you have a relatively recent model PC or Mac and a broadband internet connection (DSL or cable), you can make free or cheap long-distance calls from your computer. It may be simpler than you think.

There are three main companies that allow you to download free software to your computer that can be used to make free computer-to-computer phone calls: Skype, Yahoo!, and Google. These companies also provide services to allow you to make inexpensive calls to landline or cell phones. Of these three companies, Skype is the established leader, offering the most user-friendly service for PCs and Macs. (Yahoo! and Google do not support Macs for all of their features.)

So first we will look at what Skype has to offer, and then we will take a quick look at Yahoo! and Google.

Making calls with Skype

To get started using Skype, you’ll need to download their free software from www.skype.com and set up a Skype account. (Follow their instructions for downloading and setting up an account. More on this in a future article.) Once you have set up your account, you can:

• Make free calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world.
• Make cheap calls to traditional phones (landline or cell phones).
• Set up an online phone number so that can receive phone calls from traditional phones on your computer.

Free computer-to-computer calls with Skype

If your friends or associates also have Skype accounts, you can call them (or receive calls) for free. To make calls to other Skype users, first you will need to exchange your Skype account names with the person you will be calling, and add each other to your call lists. But once someone is on your call list, you can call them simply by selecting their username from your call list and clicking a button. If both you and your calling party have webcams on your computers (and most recent computers have webcams) then you can easily use the video calling option and see each other while you are talking.

Making cheap calls to traditional phone calls with Skype

To make calls to traditional phones from Skype, you can either “pay as you go” or sign up for an inexpensive monthly plan. To pay as you go, you can buy Skype credits (with your credit card) and then start calling. Or you can subscribe to one of the following calling plans:

• $2.95/month for unlimited calls within the U.S. and Canada (if calling from the U.S.);
• $5.95/month for unlimited calls to any one country from the U.S.;
• $12.95/month for unlimited calls to anywhere in the world.

Receiving calls from traditional phones with Skype

Skype also enables you to set up an online phone number so that you can receive phone calls from traditional phones on your computer. For $5/month, you can set up a Skype phone number that you can answer from your computer. This service includes voicemail and call forwarding.

Making calls with Yahoo! Voice

Yahoo! Voice offers separate services for computer-to-computer calls, outgoing calls, and incoming calls.

• The Yahoo! Messenger service allows you to make free computer-to-computer calls. This service is available for both Macs and PCs.
• The Yahoo! “Phone Out” service offers prepaid calling minutes for all outgoing calls and charges a per-minute rate based on the country or region that you’re calling; for example, Yahoo! charges 1.9¢ per minute for PC-to-phone calls within the U.S; you can get started by purchasing a $10 pre-paid credit voucher. (This service is for PCs only; Macs are not supported.)
• The Yahoo! “Phone In” service enables you to set up a phone number to receive calls for $2.49/month. This service includes voicemail and call forwarding. (This service is for PCs only; Macs are not supported.)

Making calls with Google

Google offers the following calling options:

• Google Talk: allows you to make free PC-to-PC calls. (Not supported on Macs)
• Google Video and Voice plugin: allows you to have video chats within Gmail (the Google email service), igoogle, or orkut.
• Google Voice: allows you to set up a Google phone number to receive incoming calls.

Conclusion

Yahoo! and Google offer similar services to Skype, but for a variety of reasons they tend to be more complicated to figure out and set up. Skype is the simplest service to use for making free or cheap long-distance calls. This is probably because Skype has been at this longer than anyone else, and it’s all they do.

Update:

I should point out that there are other alternatives to Skype besides Yahoo and Google, as explained in this informative article by a fellow hubber: http://hubpages.com/hub/Do-you-want-free-calls-Is-there-an-alternative-for-Skype-Voipbuster-is-the-answer

I still recommend Skype, but it's good to know all the options.