Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a relatively old Internet technology that recently has become as easy as the everyday telephone. And Americans living overseas, as well as non-Americans with family in the United States, are discovering that they can call friends and family thousands of miles away for as little as $20 a month.



International communications carriers are feeling the heat as telephone calls they used to charge hundreds of dollars for can now be made for nothing. But they’re not alone: VoIP is also giving the Baby Bells fits as they get their first real taste of competition at home.

VoIP has been around for about seven years, but the technology was cumbersome and complex. Users were limited to talking while tethered to their computers with wired headsets.



And, for the most part, early users were limited to talking only to others with the exact same software setups. There were no phone numbers and the parties had to make arrangements to be online at the same time.



That’s all changed. Largely as a result of readily available broadband Internet connections and low-cost telephone appliances that attach to any home computer network, it is now possible to use VoIP to make phone calls to any phone number in the world using the trusty traditional handset, even a cordless one. What’s more, VoIP service comes with features the traditional telephone companies are not even able to offer and at costs that are a fraction of the typical residential phone bill.



Those features include advanced voice-mail management, individual call-handling methods configured over the Internet, and sophisticated call-blocking schemes.



And, if you move, whether to another area code or another country, VoIP allows you to take your phone number with you.

More here.