I know that a lot of people will dislike me for this blog entry. Being originally from Estonia I should be a big fan of Skype (Skype was primarily developed in Estonia). Unfortunately, I’m not. I don’t like Skype’s evasive interface, some annoying features, it’s charge plan, and the fact that you have to have your computer on to use the service. Yes, I’ve seen the new Skype phones that don’t require a computer… Trust me, I wouldn’t set that aesthetical disaster in my living-room even if someone paid me to do it. Here are some of the new alternatives (some address all, some address some of the issues listed above):

Gizmo Project - allows free calls to a lot of countries

Jajah - works from the US phones, using your phone only, free calls to almost all countries

Rebtel - very similar to Jajah, you can do a lot of things for $4 per month (see pricing):

Of course then you have many services such as the following that provide you with great service by making the VOIP experience transparent, with a lot of add-on services.

The best service, of course, is from AT&T. Why the best? Because I’m using it.