Internet telephony, or Voice Over Internet Protocol (Voip) in the jargon, is rapidly gaining ground. Pret A Manger, the sandwich group, says it is saving £10,000 a month after switching.

There are several ways to make internet phone calls. One involves dialler software, sometimes called a “softphone”. Callers speak and listen using microphones and headsets. Or you can use special phones, sometimes called Sipphones, that can plug into your broadband connection. Another solution is to plug your conventional phone into an adapter. Most systems allow users to make and receive calls from fixed-lined networks as well.

Switching to Voip has other benefits besides cost. For example, your staff can work from home yet still remain connected to the office telephone network providing they have a broadband connection. This applies to staff in foreign offices, too.

What’s more, Voip can be used with handheld computers equipped with wireless internet access using services such as Skype’s (www.skype.com) Pocket PC service. This enables users to make international calls at local-call rates. If the call recipient also uses Skype software the calls are free. If the call is made to a landline it costs 1.2p a minute.

Skype plans to extend this service to mobile phones. Wireless-internet handsets are beginning to come to market as more metropolitan areas begin to experiment with wide-area wireless networks. Soon cheap or free mobile internet calls could become the norm.

For small businesses and homeworkers, Vonage’s (www.vonage.co.uk) service should appeal for its simplicity. All you do is plug in the Vonage adapter to your broadband router or modem, then connect your existing phone to the adapter.

But before you jump on the Voip bandwagon decide whether you think the internet is reliable and secure enough to handle all your voice calls. What if the network crashes? Can you afford to do without voice calls even temporarily?

For more information look at www.voip.org.uk

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