A new generation of "voice-over-IP" tools can let you make free/cheap phone calls over the Internet -- to and from ordinary phones! The good ol' telephone is a still an indispensable tool for Northwest environmental activists. (Let's not even talk about those poor folks who are tethered to their cell phones!) But unfortunately, even plain-old "landlines" are still a major expense for a lot of groups, especially organizations with field offices, and folks who make a lot of in-state long distance calls. A number of new tools and services now offer folks the opportunity to make very cheap phone calls (in some cases, free!) over the Internet.

We're not going to try to cover all the tools out there; we're simply going to present a few typical scenarios that illustrate how we think small environmental groups can use these tools.

Vonage: a seamless replacement for one or more phone lines in your existing phone system

Vonage (http://www.vonage.com) is a new company that offers flat-rate phone service using the Internet. Vonage gives you a special router that has two jacks: one end plugs into your broadband (that's cable or DSL) Internet connection, the other plugs into an ordinary phone. Vonage assigns you a phone number (in the area code of your choice, Canada now included!). You pick up the phone, you get a dialtone, you make calls. People call the number, your phone rings. It's just that simple.

Vonage charges $50/month per line for unlimited calls to the U.S. and Canada. (It's just $35/month for residential/home office lines.) Most people report that voice quality is very good..

There are two circumstances where Vonage could make a lot of sense:

1) A home office or one-person satellite/field office

If your organization has folks who work mainly from home, or other one-person field offices, then Vonage is probably a great solution that will save quite a bit on long distance costs.

2) Using Vonage to replace phone lines in a small office phone system

The real magic happens when you plug your Vonage router into your existing PBX, and configure "rollover" on your exisitng phone lines. Imagine that you have two "regular" phone lines and a third Vonage line. When you hook up the Vonage line to your existing phone system, and configure your regular lines correctly, you will be able to pick up your desk phone, hit line 3, and make free long distance calls. Need more lines? Each Vonage router can support two lines. And you can add additional routers if necessary (assuming that you have a fast enough Internet connection). We can easily imagine a lot of groups having 1-4 Vonage lines, and a single "regular" phone line.

Packet8 (http://www.packet8.com) offers services quite similar to Vonage, and perhaps a little more oriented towards small businesses.

Skype: Windows and Linux-only software for voice calls between field offices or close working partners

Some groups have staff scattered about many field offices, and find that themselves spending lots of money on calls between their offices. Skype (http://www.skype.com) is a popular new no-cost software program from the folks who invented Kazaa that makes it incredibly easy to use your computer to make free high-quality voice calls. We were up and running in about five minutes, with no configuration.

The catch? You can only call other Skype users -- you can't call out to ordinary phones. (This is coming as an extra-cost service soon.) Skype is only available for Windows and Linux (sorry Mac users!). And it's not based on SIP, the commonly used standard that many other Internet voice services use to enable interoperability between their services.

Unlike Vonage, Skype is more of a complement to your phone than a substitute for it. But if you're making a lot of calls to a few folks, such as colleagues in another office, then Skype can save you serious money. We use it extensively for intra-organizational communication at ONE/Northwest, and it saves us a bundle on phone calls between our three offices.

Free World Dialup: combines elements of Skype and Vonage -- but some assembly is required

Free World Dialup (http://www.freeworlddialup.com/) occupies a middle ground between the easy but limited world of Skype and the more powerful but more expensive world of Vonage and Packet8. Like Skype, Free World Dialup is a free service that lets you make calls between computers. However, Free World Dialup uses the SIP standard, which means that it can connect with other Internet phone networks, and also with regular phones (which requires an account with a third party bridging service). And because FWD is standards-based, you can also use a wide variety of phone hardware and software, instead of being locked into a single Windows-only product as with Skype.

The downside to Free World Dialup is that it's a little more complicated to configure than Skype, but their website does offer pretty good instructions.

Why (cheap!) headsets help

If you're thinking about using Skype, Free World Dialup or any other Internet phone service that runs through your computer, you'll want to invest $10-20 in a simple headset microphone. This will dramatically improve the sound quality of your calls. We've had great luck with cheap Labtec headsets from our local office supply/computer store.

Summary/comparison of features

Final thought: caveat emptor, or the dangers of living on the bleeding edge

The standard phone system is extremely reliable. The Internet is not. Voice-over-IP services are brand new, and it will be a whlie before they can offer the reliability and customer support you get from a traditional phone company. (Yes, it is possible for customer service to be worse than the phone company!) We're not 100% sure we'd rely on them for our primary phone service. But as a supplementary service, or for a small organization willing to take a bit of risk in order to save considerable money, these services are worth exploring.