The one we all use is, of course.
It’s essentially free, good quality, easy to grasp. You can put money on account then call into the local grid. And they continue to innovate. (Of course, they were purchased not long ago by Microsoft, so who knows where they’ll go in the future.) You can pay a premium fee ($15 per month?) for conference-calling over the Internet (up to 10 or 15 people). But there are other solutions. We have recommended, in the past
http://www.oovoo.com (essentially a knock-off of Skype)
Haven’t heard much from them lately. There are other such companies. What’s your favorite? MagicJack? Vonage? What was that one that we highlighted in Brigada a while back that MAF recommended? PC-see or something like that? Please use the comment boxes below to tell your own favorite and why.
We use a service called SIPSorcery… It allows us to link several SIP based VoIP services we use into one place. It is a form a VoIP telephone exchange.
The advantage is that it allows all the SIP based numbers we have to ring on one line and that line appears on my desk phones in my two offices, on my Android cell phone as well as my laptop when I’m traveling.
SIPSorcery doesn’t work with Skype. Skype has its own proprietary system.
Certain nations (China, for example), have modified the Skype application so as to circumvent the secure features, so your messages can be stored and retrieved by the government. (See http://blogs.skype.com/en/2008/10/skype_president_addresses_chin.html and http://blogs.skype.com/en/2008/10/answers_to_some_commonly_asked.html)
Some countries block VOIP and Skype. (See http://provpnaccounts.com/List_of_countries_which_block_website_content_VOIP_Skype_including_countries_China_UAE_Oman_Syria_Turkey_Malaysia_and_the_continents_of_Asia_Caribbean_Africa_North_America_Europe_and_the_Middle_East-124-articles)
Several media sources reported that at a meeting about the “Lawful interception of IP based services” held on 25 June 2008, high-ranking unnamed officials at the Austrian interior ministry said that they could listen in on Skype conversations without problems. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype#Security_and_privacy).
Google+ Hangouts work pretty good for us.
I’ve liked VSee. It’s optimized for security and low-bandwidth situations.
I second Jay’s recommendation for VSee. It gives you multiple-person video conferencing without paying Skype’s premium fees.
I don’t like oovoo because of the advertising. Some of it I found offensive. VSee is incredible. Multi-user video conferencing and screen sharing for free!
The best VOIP telephony solution for users in the United States and Canada is probably using Google Voice with the Obi100 telephony device. The device costs less than $40 on Amazon.com, and gives you free unlimited local and long distance calling withing the United States and Canada, and inexpensive international rates. I am using it with my home phone, and with 4 of our lines at church. The only drawback is that it does not include 911 service.
I also like vSee as it serves all of our needs, is very user friendly and the conferencing is top quality.