By Sarmad Ali
All over the world, consumers are turning to the Internet for phone service. Companies like Skype Technologies and Vonage Holdings have been marketing inexpensive, even free, calls. Now, Internet giants like Google and Yahoo, and software manufacturer Microsoft are upgrading their services and features to win the same customers.
Instant-messaging services with voice calling have been around since the late '90s, but the sound quality was poor, and most customers could only text message or call people with the same service.
That is changing. Google recently launched Google Talk, a call service integrated into its messaging service. And Yahoo and Microsoft have announced plans for next year to have users trade messages and eventually conduct voice conversations. The two companies also recently released versions of their services that aimed to improve voice quality and offer new features like free voicemail.
I have been testing the latest versions available at Yahoo Messenger and Microsoft's MSN Messenger on my Windows PC, focusing on IM voice services. Both voice services worked well, but they still need to improve voice quality, especially for international long-distance calling.