Telephony
What is it? Why do I want it? How do I do it?

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Telephony is that thing you keep hearing about that allows you to talk to other people, online, without any long distance telephone bills.  You notice I said "keep hearing about" because it seems that a lot of people TALK ABOUT telephony, but hardly anyone actually does it.  Well, I do it. 
Pros
  • It's FREE
  • You can talk to anyone in the world with a computer (with sound & a mic) and they really don't have to have your location or phone number or even your name.
  • You don't have to feel guilty about the minutes ticking by
  • You can talk as long as you like, in state, out of state, out of country, and it's still free
  • You don't need a computer technician to set it up or add anything to your computer
  • When you are talking you can also type things, transfer documents, paint & draw together, draw maps, video conference (with an optional little computer camera thing you can actually see one another while you talk), and more
Cons
  • If you are calling someone specific, the person you are calling has to be notified of that fact in some other way like email or a short telephone signal or by prearrangement by time
  • The sound quality can vary according to quality of connection and whether or not your computers have full or half duplex sound capability. (FULL duplex is what you want to be like a phone - half duplex is more like a CB radio where you can't both talk at the same time)
  • Sometimes the netmeeting server is down or too busy BUT this happens MUCH less than other comparable telephony programs
  • It isn't the easiest thing in the world to set up (but once you do, you never have to change it)
Links
  • To download a trial version of Netmeeting click here netmeeting.gif (16928 bytes)
  • To order a book about how to use Netmeeting at home, at school, or at the office and to check out some reviews of it, click here: nmbook.gif (9659 bytes)
  • To check out some actual demos and tutorials about netmeeting, just click here.
  • VOICE ON THE NET teaches the who/what/where/why of speaking over the Internet for free and includes pointers to other software. Lots of info, great links.