Internet Phones?

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Does anyone use Net2phone, or anything like it? I am looking for a program that is installed on the pc and can be used as a phone, a friend of mine has one called webphone which seems good. She can call people via their computer or their telephone from her PC. Any recommendations? Thank you

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Hi Jude, these are the names of a couple of internet phones that connect from pc to pc or pc to a telephone without charges, “Gphone v1.61 “, IBM Internet Phone v2.0, PC-Telephone v4.5, they are all listed as “freeware” without any spyware. So maybe give one of those a try, let us know how it goes.

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Hi

Here are links to Cyberdance’s suggestions:
Gphone v1.61 Free
IBM Internet Phone v2.0 Free Several similar programs here
PC-Telephone v4.5 Not Free $56.00USD

Note that many of these “Free” phone programs, require a “user fee“.

Have a Great day!!!
Ken

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Hi there Ken, thank you for inserting the links, I meant to, but had to run off to work, was going to post them now, only to see you beat me to it. What a lovely person you are. I believe MS Messenger also has phone capabilities and icq, does anyone out there use these features, both programs are also free….

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Ken and Cyberdancer, thank you so much for the links to various free pc phones, I could not find anything while searching. I never thought about MS Messenger, it came with MSIE so I have it, but not set it up. Do you think it is worth trying? Anybody using MS Messenger and ICQ for phone or pc to pc calls successfully? thnks again for all the help.

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Cyberdance and Ken, terrific info on pc phones, I really never gave Messenger a thought, I am not a member but have the program because it downloaded with Explorer, if anyone has experience using it as a pc to pc or a pc to phone please write and advise if it is any good. What a good idea, would never have thought about a program I already have. In the meantime I will have a look at the links Ken inserted for me (thank you Ken).

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Hi Jude

Glad to help!

Just a couple more thoughts……..you will probably want (need) a high speed internet connection to effectively use real-time voice communications on the internet.
Also, look for full duplex capabilities. This means that both ends of the conversation can speak/listen simultaneously…like your telephone. Otherwise you will have to key on and off to speak and listen…like a walkie-talkie or CB radio.

Have a Great day!!!
Ken

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Okay Ken, will look for those options, this is sure taking a while to work out, I must be really dumb It sounds like you use something like this, if so can you tell me what program and if you are happy with it? Would really appreciate the advice. thank you again.

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Hi Jude

Nope….I don’t use any internet telephone application. I have considered it a couple of times but I live a considerable distance from the nearest high speed internet service and, since I can phone anywhere in North America free from my office (we have a flat rate per month service for the company), I don’t need to be paying a user fee for an internet phone service. I also don’t completely trust the security of these services.

You’ll find programs referred to as “chat” or “messenger” applications. These, typically, are not voice transmissions but are usually real-time type in text…..again, they are usually similar to the CB radio effect as you are either in “send” mode or “receive”, but not both simutaneously. I this is what you want, I suggest that you check out Trillian. Get the free version per the side bar on the right side of the web page. Trillian allows you to “Connect to ICQ

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> I really never gave Messenger a thought

> if anyone has experience using it as a pc to pc or a pc to phone please write and advise if it is any good

If you can get it working then it’s OK, but it has real problems getting through firewalls. You can’t just open up a single port to let it through.

StuartR

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Hi Stuart, I imagine most would be on large networks, protected behind powerful firewalls, but I will give Messenger a try at home, I have the program but am never around to use it.. I had a look at Messenger version 5 which shows the icon for making a phone call, plus under the Actions tab, there is a prompt to “Start a voice conversation”, when I looked up the info page it states pc to pc is available without cost. Guess I will have to track down one of my colleagues who has MSM 5 and see how it goes. There are also plugins for pc to pc in ICQ, once again I have not used it, but worth knowing it exists.

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Hi, Cyber ~

I have both MSN & Windows Messenger, but both required a service agreement to utilize phone service. Could you point me to the PC-to-PC inpho you mentioned? I am interested in phree phone service iph available.

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Hi Bruce, in MSN Messenger 5, its hidden under the menu at the top. Under the ACTIONS drop down menu it says, “start a voice conversation”. Since I only have 1contact on my MSN Messenger (no others at all), it comes back with “user not online”,. indicating we have to be online at the same time to activate pc to pc, my contact is in the same line of work as me, located in Washington DC. He insists it works because he has it working with his other contacts on his list. (Hope this makes sense).

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Just a quick note because I haven’t looked into this for awhile. I used to use a free phone service called DialPad that could call long distance, but they eventually started charging & I stopped using it. Net2Phone, I seem to recall, contains spyware. I would check at some site like http://www.infoforce.qc.ca/spyware/known2.html [/url] before I tried it.
Cheers,

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