kjp

Last night I was talking to my big sis all the way over in Canada. The hotel she was staying at had expensive internet (so no talking and video via yahoo messenger). So, I've started using Firefly a voice over internet (VoIP) program. It's pretty cool - it cost 6.9 c per minute to call the landline in Canada. ie: 25 minutes or so = $1.74. Same as the cost for landlines back in Oz. Sweet.

Upsides - cheap calls. Free calls for purely internet connections (ie: replacement for yahoo messenger chat). It seems to be better audio than the audio chat on yahoo messenger. For video / voice - I think that the best is yahoo = video, firefly = audio. But having two programs is harder to use for non computer people at the other end.

Downsides - requires an existing fastish internet connection and headset. The signal dropped a couple of times (but the connection was not lost). The quality isn't quite as good as your old school phone line.

Iffyside - my microphone settings aren't set up correctly for it. The receptionist at the hotel had a bit of trouble hearing me (initially). This is just a thing for me to do at my end.

Oh, if you are making international calls, a good place to check out for time zone related things is: timeanddate.com - useful.