There are many situations in which a person may need to make long distance calls. The most common is when one wants to communicate with loved ones who have moved out of the state or even out of the country. The other situation is when a person wants to make long distance calls for their business or line of employment. However, regardless of what leads people to need long distance, if they make these calls through a traditional telephone service, they risk getting a very high bill at the end of the month. And if the calls are done internationally, it is not impossible to have a bill that is in the thousands. Cell phones are not much better either. In fact, their costs can be worse, since most plans do not allow for as many minutes during the day. The only exception is if calls are made between cell phones, which can be free if both phones are using the same company. But if a person is calling in an area that has bad reception, even this cannot be relied on. So what does a person do if they want to make affordable long distance calls? The answer involves getting a VoIP service.

VoIP, (which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol), is a revolutionary technology that allows for voice communication through the Internet. It can be expressed in the following ways: computer-to-computer, computer-to-phone, or VoIP phone to a computer, another VoIP phone or a regular phone. VoIP is usually free if it's computer-to-computer, but the other combinations typically involve payment. In terms of how VoIP works, basically a person logs in the VoIP service and enters the number they want to call either from their computer or through their VoIP phone. Voice communication then proceeds. If the computer is being used, voice is recorded by a microphone. If a VoIP phone is used, communication is expressed through that, working in a manner no different than a land line.

In terms of long distance calls, it is possible to get them 100 percent free if the person uses the right VoIP service and/or combination. For example, it has already been noted computer-to-computer VoIP communication is free. This is both national and international communication with both types being done through Instant Messengers such as Yahoo, AOL or MSN. But it is also possible to get free calls through a free VoIP service such as http://InternetCalls.com. Yet, there is a downside to using a service like this, and it's in the area of quality. Free VoIP services tend to not have as clear a sound as paid ones, since they tend to have a very static-filled background. So, if this is an issue it's best to get a paid service like http://Skype.com, which allows for unlimited long distance calls for a nominal annual fee.

In conclusion, with VoIP a person no longer has to be shocked at the price of their land line telephone bill or even their cell phone bill. Granted, VoIP is not good enough to completely replace one's telephone service, but it is an excellent alternative when one needs to be able to unlimited long distance calls.