Once too hard to listen to, now offers improved quality, and it makes a great alternative to landlines or supplement to cell phones. And you're not limited to talking with other VoIP users.

Not that it's a complete win-win option. While the audio is improved, it still sounds worse than that of a landline. And it requires that you either keep a computer on to make and receive phone calls or use special hardware.

Nevertheless, VoIP seemed like a good alternative to my landline office phone. I looked at two very different services.

You probably think of as a free service for talking and instant messaging with other Skype users, possibly with video. That's all the free service does, but for a price Skype will connect you to telephones all over the world, and it'll give you a phone number so that other people can call you.

If you don't phone internationally a lot, Skype's most attractive phone system offer gives you unlimited calls within the United States and Canada for $3 a month, or $30 a year. Well, sort of--it isn't really unlimited. You get 10,000 minutes per month, which could be a problem if you're on the phone more than 6 hours a day. And it isn't really $30 a year--at least, if you really want to replace a landline. A real phone number costs an additional $30 a year, and voicemail costs $20. Even so, that works out to a monthly average of less than $7--still a tempting rate.