10 Great Free Phone Services on the Web

Making phone calls via the web can save a lot of money, and in many cases, it's completely free. Considering shedding your landline or just want to give the technology a try? Check out these services. Skype is the best-known service--free if both you and the person you're calling are on Skype, or call mobile phones and landlines at low rates. To use it, download free software to your computer. iCall lets you make free calls using downloaded software, your iPhone or iPod Touch, or a web browser. EvaPhone lets you make free international calls from your PC. With Jajah, make low-cost calls using your own phone, but you need to initiate the process on your computer; Jajah is partnered with Yahoo! Voice, offering similar services and free internet calling. A few other fun phone resources online: Make conference calls at FreeConference.com or Rondee.com (which also lets you schedule the calls via the web), video chat with ooVoo, get free wake-up or reminder calls with Snoozester, and send text messages from the web with txtDrop. And finally, Google Voice (okay, that's 11 but this one is only available by invite for now) gives you voicemail like email, the ability to read your voicemails via email or SMS, and one number you can forward to all your phones.