Packet8 is an affordable and easy-to-use broadband telephone and videophone service. Designed with both residential and business customers in mind, Packet8 allows anyone with broadband (high-speed) Internet access to use their regular phone to make UNLIMITED calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for as little as $19.95 per month. Packet8 subscribers with videophones can make video calls for as little as $19.95 per month. All Packet8 subscribers get world wide UNLIMITED calling to other Packet8 subscribers at no extra charge. Calls to non-Packet8 international numbers (outside the U.S. and Canada) are charged at a very low per minute rate.

Vonage’s wealth of features, extensive coverage, and strong support combine to make it a good Internet phone selection. Its monthly rate plans, $14.99 or $24.99 for residential customers and $39.99 or $49.99 for businesses, are a bit higher than those of competitors, such as Packet8, but Vonage's phone features are more numerous, and the company offers useful services, such as transferring your existing phone number to your Vonage account. With its easy setup, nontechies ditching their traditional phone can quickly get up and running, and Vonage's easily activated and inexpensive fax capabilities will appeal to businesses.

OPEX Internet Voice provides access to the most exciting and robust communications platform since the telephone was invented. Combine your current high-speed DSL or Cable broadband Internet access with OPEX's unlimited local and long distance service for unprecedented cost savings! There is a slightly higher start-up cost for this VoIP, but there are no agreements or early termination fees. Service is strictly month-to-month.

New to this increasingly crowded space is Lingo, which comes close to knocking off the competition. Lingo offers the lowest monthly unlimited-minutes plan of all the VoIP packages we've seen at $19.95, which includes not only the United States and Canada, but also numerous countries in Western Europe. Likewise, its plans come equipped with a lengthy list of features: all plans include 911 emergency calling, and business plans include fax capabilities. Unfortunately, Lingo's call quality was inconsistent, with more interference than we've experienced with other VoIP services.

If you've been harboring any doubt about the viability of VoIP services, you can put them to rest. AT&T, once the center of the telephone universe in the United States, rolled out its own VoIP service, CallVantage, last year, and it has since added to and improved the service. The company launched CallVantage with a lone calling plan but now offers three plans that range in price from $19.99 to $49.99 per month. At $29.99 per month, its unlimited-minutes plan is pricier than those of competitors such as Lingo and Packet8. You also have a host of features at your disposal, including virtual numbers, conference calling, call filtering, and call forwarding. In addition to a standard telephone adapter that requires a connection to a broadband router, you can choose to combine those two devices with a VoIP-enabled Linksys wireless router.