Voice communications via the Internet using data packets has been around a very long time. Back in 1996 I found a online game that used voice communications inside the game. Team Speak, Roger Wilco and a few others have been around for over ten years now. All you need to know is the other persons IP address and you can get them on the Team speak software and talk to them for FREE. This software will allow as many as 10 people to talk to each other at the same time. It works best with just two or four peole unless you dedicate a good server to the base unit.

I've talked to people all over the world using this software. From Canada to Australia all the way over to Moscow Russia.

The main problem with Internet phones is the latency or data packet loss that in inherent to this type of phone system.

MS had a free version of this software that you could use to actually dial someone's phone using your computer and the software. I tried it a few weeks before they started charging for the service. I as able to call my relatives in Louisville, KY; Nashville, TN, and down in Ft Meyers, Florida. The software still have times when a few words were missing and then there was latency where it took a few seconds for the voice to be transmitted and received on the other end.

This was about 5 or 6 years ago when I last used the Free MS version of this voip type software.

So I too am curious as to if the technology is any better these days than it was in the past?

You only have so much bandwidth to play with even on a broadband connection.

Maybe it works better with DSL connections? But using this stuff with a dial up connection would be hard for me to see.
Regards,

Moose1am