 For those of you who are looking for a way to save a buck, I would like to help you save a buck or two and perhaps more. In this posting, I will teach you how to save hundreds of dollars a year. Calling internationally from Canada to the US and abroad can be quite pricey, especially if you plan on having long conversations. There are many alternatives that you can use to save money using your computer.  For those of you that are looking for a solution that involves minimal computer work, you can use Onesuite(http://www.onesuite.com). They are a large telecommunications company based in California. Their goal is to offer “the absolute best communications services at the lowest possible cost.”
For example, you can have a local access number to call whether you are in the US, Canada or the rest of the world. This way, you can place long distance calls using your prepaid minutes at a very competitive rate. Just to give you an idea of the costs: calls from USA to Canada are 2.5(USD) cents a minute. If you plan on using their service quite often, you can enable the option to use their rapid dial list that allows you to program up to 50 numbers. Please note that you must enter in a pin number each time you plan on using the service, unless you program it otherwise. Onesuite also offers fax to email,voice-mail to email and numeric-page to email as an added service for only 1$ a month. So if you want to ditch your fax machine or voice mail, this is a feature that you should consider. There are a few downsides (given the price is so low) - there’s a delay throughout the delivery process of this service to notify you via email, depending how busy their servers are. In addition, Onesuite offers voice over IP services that have reduced long distance rates. I personally tried to use the application but the software had too many problems so I never took off with it. Alternative to Onesuite are several different companies, which require slightly more computer interaction to get your call started.  Jajah (http://www.jajah.com) is an amazing tool for those of you that enjoy a web interface / text messaging option. If you have friends or family that have registered for this service, you can speak to them free of charge on the numbers that they’ve preregistered with the system (this option is available to: “USA (with a few exceptions), Canada, China, Cingapore, Hong Kong and Thailand”. The long distance rates are 0.001 of a cent more expensive then Onesuite, but you don’t have to worry about busy signals using the system. In addition, you can schedule conference calls or create an appointment with their system.
 The next company I wanted to talk about is the new, “Talkster” (http://www.talkster.com). This company offers the ability to call other individuals in the major cities for free using their landline or cellular phone. Free you may ask? Well, the way they do it is by creating a local number in your area and a local number in your associate’s area. The minute you or they call you, you must wait in a conference room type of atmosphere up until they show up. At the moment, there aren’t any 3rd party advertisements(other then their own), but you never know what will happen. The biggest disappointment to the system is if you live outside the great cities, chances are the service won't work for you
 One of the most common VOIP programs is Skype(http://www.skype.com). It has a lot of benefits and surely a lot of flaws. For example, last year they launched a campaign which allowed everyone to call Canada and the US for free. The problem with the system, it would check your location based on your IP Address and block any international calls into Canada. Using remote assistance software(see my other tutorial on Remote Assistance) you can connect to a PC in North America to conference call an alternative Skype to call Canada and the US for free. At this present time, their long distance rates are competitive but not too aggressive. The sound quality could be better, but for 3$ a month for unlimited calls to Canada and the US, it's pretty reasonable(up until Magic Jack came along).
 Magic Jack(http://www.magicjack.com) is relatively new to the market. I've been using it for several months and it is by far the most practical device of them all. Their service is sold on a USB device that has a phone jack at the end of it. Magic Jack works for both MAC and PC. I’ve tested Magic Jack out in both operating systems. The PC version has a few more features, but a new version has been released for Mac. At the present time, you can get your own USA telephone number to call USA and Canada unlimited by using a regular telephone that fits in the end of the USB jack. Personally, I use a 5.8 GHz telephone to use it in my house. One of the issues is the caller ID doesn’t work when you receive a call, but the functionality of it is great. Plus for all of those of you that travel a lot, you can be anywhere in the world(with an Internet connection) and call Canada and the US for free and also receive a call from wherever you are. Just be sure to bring a regular corded phone. On another note, Magic jack has entered Canada and they have announced that in a few months they will be releasing numbers in Canada. So for any Americans or Canadians that would like to have an inexpensive phone number, now is your chance.
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