We tried Skype. We tried paying to call regular phone numbers, and we had nothing but problems. Anytime we called a cell phone, the connection was really bad. It wasn’t too bad calling landlines, but so many people are on cell phones that it was more frustrating than it was worth.

We tried another program that was excellent called Jajah. I highly, highly recommend it. It’s about 2.9 cents a minute, and what it does is connects you to the person you’re trying to call through your landline. You go to the website, enter in the number you want to call, and then your phone rings. You answer your phone and then it connects you to the number. You then talk for as long as you want with the clear connection afforded to you from a landline. If nothing else, you can buy a short amount of minutes and see what you think – it’s not a contract and you don’t have to buy any equipment, so it’s not really an investment.

If your local cable company has phone service, that is usually great and economical. VOIP is good too.

I am now hosting my own VOIP phones, and it is working out well. We just moved, and so don’t have anything to lose if it doesn’t work well. In addition, we are keeping our old phone number, which I couldn’t have done with a landline, so that was an additional bonus.

I wouldn’t want to use Skype as my only phone line, but is useful for some things. And my extended family also appreciates the video aspect. It is amusing to listen to some of the conversations though, which seem to always involve talk about getting the camera oriented correctly, echo, delay, etc. You just can’t beat the landline for quality.

That said, I have used two long distance companies that use VOIP on their end, but it is regular POTS on my end. USADatanet does regional calling plans, where I paid $2 max for any length call in the US, and $1 max for any length call to the Northeast (where my family lives). That was pretty handy through college. If you want that, I have a referral code somewhere, and you’ll get a $5 or $10 credit to start with.

I also used zoneld.com which is a regular long distance company (USA datanet is a dial-around service, ie. don’t switch anything on your phone service) which has 4 cent/minute plans, with a small monthly charge – I think $1 or so.

If you were willing to buy a $100 phone adapter, you could get VOIP through me, and there aren’t any monthly fees, just per call, and the rates vary between 1 cent and 8 cents a minute, if you are calling rural places. If you want an incoming number through me, it costs $1/month and 1 cent a minute, or $6/month for free incoming calls. But, if you only want outgoing, there aren’t any monthly fees, which for us, means that the vonage plans are too expensive, since 2 cents a minute goes a long way before you hit the $15 or $20/month plans.