You’ve probably heard of the new way to make cheap long distance calls with VoIP, or voice-over-IP. AT&T and Verizon have copied smaller companies such as Vonage and introduced the service that uses a high-speed Internet connection to route calls for about $30 a month. That’s $30 too much, says our Savvy Traveler, Rudy Maxa, who’s found a service that’s ideal for road warriors on a budget.

Maybe you’re familiar with Kazaa, the file-sharing web site that’s popular worldwide? Well, the folks who brought you Kazaa have invented a way that you can call most anywhere in the world for about two cents a minute or, better yet, free. With no connection or set up charges. All you need is a computer, high-speed Internet access, and a $19 headset from Radio Shack.

This is ideal for globe-trotting business types. If you’re in a hotel or office that offers high-speed access, you can switch on your computer and start dialing around the world. Or if you make a lot of international calls from home, this new program called Skype—S-K-Y-P-E—is for you, too. Click on skype-dot-com and download the free software—it takes about two minutes, and even a computer incompetent like I am managed it easily.

Sound quality? Better than a land line in my tests.

You can conduct conference calls, send files and even instant messages. But Skype is a work in progress. Some users have encountered a few technical glitches such as delays in voice transmission. Redialing the number apparently solves that.

You might want to be judicious in detailing personal information on Skype’s phone directory too. I got a call the day after I signed up from a nice guy who said he was in Lithuania. “How is weather?” he asked me. I’m all for the hands-across-the-sea stuff, but when I’m working on deadline, I’m not in the mood to help someone practice his English.

But technology writer Phil Baker spent $3 making calls recently on a trip through Asia; he estimates those calls would normally have cost $300. And FCC head Michael Powell is a Skype user who recently said, “I knew it was over when I used Skype . . . The world will change now inevitably.”

In St. Paul, I’m Rudy Maxa for Marketplace.

October 20, 2004