I am sure you have heard the adage, 'There's no such thing as a free lunch'. Well, obviously the person famous for that saying hadn't yet heard of VoIP. VoIP is Voice over Internet Protocol- or in simple terms, the ability to transmit voice over the Internet. VoIP has been gaining in strength and popularity as a telecommunications of choice. Many small businesses are opting to go VoIP. It is a viable source for businesses to make long distance calls virtually free, or at a significantly lower cost when compared to other telephone service providers.

With a High Speed Internet connection, you too can experience the power of VoIP. In fact, you may have already tried this technology without even realizing it. There are many services and programs that have been available for free, on the Internet, for the past ten years that have embraced VoIP.

Dialpad was known for allowing people to connect a microphone and speakers to their computers and then make long distance calls virtually world wide for free. Well, Dialpad isn't free any more, but if you do purchase their monthly service, they do provide an option for unlimited long distance calling. This service is still comparable to other telephone providers.

Currently most of the free VoIP have begun to charge a monthly fee for their services. There is still one program left that is absolutely free. That is Ad Calls. This program displays various advertisements on their display while you can use the service to make free calls. There are limitations to this program however. You can only use the service for ten minutes at a time, and you are unable to call toll free numbers.

The major VoIP programs that embrace free calling left on the Internet are bundled with your Instant Messaging programs. Programs such as Yahoo Messenger have recently been redesigned with the ability to make free voice phone calls using VoIP. You won't be able to call a landline telephone however. You will need to use the program to call another member who is using the same program. For example, if you have the newly VoIP enabled Yahoo Messenger downloaded to your computer, yet your buddy (who lives across the world) is using the old Yahoo Messenger, you can send them a link to download and upgrade their current version. Once they have installed the new Yahoo Messenger, you will see a 'call' button with a phone icon at the top of your Yahoo Messenger chat box. By clicking call, you will be using VoIP technology to send a phone call to your buddy's computer. The receiving computer will actually ring, like a standard telephone, and your buddy will have the option of accepting or declining the phone call. All that is needed is a high speed Internet connection, this provides the best audio quality and speed), a microphone, and speakers. You and your buddy are free to talk as long as you like. The other advantage to Instant Messengers that allow free VoIP calls is the ability to call more than one person. You can call people on your buddy list, and invite them for a conference call. This has unlimited potential and can be used by small businesses for free training calls, and by people everywhere who just want to stay in touch with friends and family.

Other Internet Messaging services that have embraced VoIP calling include MSN messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, and Google has begun their new service, Google Talk.

VoIP is a preferred method of telecommunications due to the fact that you can integrate audio, video, and web based applications with one program. The Instant Messaging programs are perfect examples of how audio and web based communications are working together to increase communication. Also included with many Instant Messaging programs is the ability to hook up a digital camera or web cam and incorporate video with your audio and web based application.

VoIP Telephones are also beginning to incorporate video with their VoIP services. This will be a very popular trend in the future. As there are over 900 million Instant Messaging subscribers, people are already experiencing the power and freedom of converged communications.

Cellular phones are realizing that people want to combine video with their audio, and many videophones are being released. Some phones have gone the next level and have combined audio, video, and graphics by allowing you to store pictures in your telephone, and use it as a camera.

As the technology of VoIP continues to advance, we can rest assured that more 'Beta' programs will be released and as that occurs, keep your eye out for more free VoIP programs.