VoIP: Everyone's Using It

When I asked for some real-life examples of VoIP usage a week ago, I wasn't disappointed -- a few readers quickly replied with their success stories, which I'll share here. Their tales are a good kickoff to the daily blogging I'll be posting from the VON show in Santa Clara, Calif., over the next few days, so check this space regularly for updates.

To protect identities, the messages below are anonymous. One reader talked about Skype, and why it's appealing:

"I'm using it [Skype] in my SOHO to communicate with overseas contacts. (Netherlands, Estonia, Mainland China, Philippines, etc.) It's only available in Beta form currently, but I can recommend it quite highly. It has text-message capability in addition to voice, and multiple-person conferencing is possible, and it also works extremely well. Some very minor bugs due to being in Beta have so far not deterred us from using it."

Here's praise from a Vonage user:

"I'm now on Vonage and love it. I was connected to Sprint residential and my monthly bill was $60. Vonage is $24.95 and it includes 500 minutes of long distance. We have a son and daughter-in-law in the Marines in Japan and the long distance charge is only 3 cents a minute. Thanks to Vonage we are saving a ton of dollars per month."I hooked up my little box that they sent me following the detailed instructions and everything worked. I'm also with Comcast that brings me high-speed Internet service needed for [VoIP]. Needless to say my wife and I are happy as clams with Vonage. We also kept our old number."

Any more experiences, good or bad, let's hear about them -- send them directly to me, at this address. Also let me know if you're here at the VON show... since I won't be able to attend every panel, maybe we can pool reactions to get a better picture of the overall event.