Thinking about trying it myself.

I use it for the Wall Street Examiner because of its portability, and the inexpensive 800 service. It's pretty good, except on some international calls there's a lag of about a second. That causes awkward gaps and people talking over each other.

For communication with friends and family, we use MSN Messenger. The voice and video communication feature is superb. You can get a cheap, serviceable generic webcam for $20, or a very good one for around twice that. You can talk to and see your loved ones any time for free as long as they have the service too. The audio and video quality are awesome. REquires broadband connection, as does VOIP.

We've been using vonage on our TW cable (3Mbps) for 3 or more years. It's about 98% reliable, but it's got a great server-side roll-over to your cell phone (or whatever you chose) if your own ISP service goes out . With VOIP you're reliability depends on your own ISP and the service of your VOIP.

Occasionally the connection is spotty, but a re-dial usually fixes it.

You can also take your vonage box with you when you travel, (ie, take your home number). We've used it in Malaysia even (with our USA number). Not quite perfect, but still free.

Went with the messenger thing with camera for family+friends.

Signed up with a VOIP service. 10 Australian Cents, flat rate for domestic calls 3 to 5 Cents per minute for most international calls.

Liked the service so much, even donged the stock with some beer money (on a quick pullback to the 50 day.)