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In recent years, instant text messaging and e-mail have replaced the phone for those who want to quickly and quietly use a computer to chat with friends, family, and colleagues. But the top IM apps are now pumping up their volume by integrating free, Web-based calling services. Yahoo Messenger now allows a Phone In/Phone Out service with penny-per-minute domestic calls and the option to pay $30 per year for a unique phone number. Will jumping on the VoIP bandwagon spur legions of IM users to pick up PC-to-PC phoning--making landline and cellular companies sweat? To help you decide, we've test-driven six free apps that offer VoIP alongside text chatting.
Making a free phone call by punching a button within your IM program is easy enough, whether you're a die-hard IM fan or a technophobe. The catch? Most IMs let you call only people who use the same tool as you do. So if you're an MSN Messenger maven but your pal prefers Yahoo, someone will have to convert so that you can both talk via the same program. As of our review date, the beta versions of Google Talk and Triton lacked features already offered by their predecessors, AIM 5.5 and 5.9. MSN Messenger 7.0 and Skype, on the other hand, are polished release versions.
MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger with Voice, Google Talk, and Triton are all IM programs first and VoIP services second. The beauty of using the apps from MSN, Yahoo, and AOL for making voice calls is that you can instantly share photos and other files or add a Webcam for videoconferencing. Skype is the only messenger to offer encrypted data transfers, making it the most secure instant messenger of the bunch.
| |
MSN Messenger 7.0 |
AIM Triton (beta) |
Yahoo Instant Messenger with Voice |
ICQ 5.04 |
Skype 2 |
Google Talk (beta) |
OS/
browser |
Windows 98 and up |
Windows XP-only beta |
Windows 98 and up |
Windows 98 and up |
Windows 2000 and up, Mac, Linux, Pocket PCs |
Windows 2000 and up |
| Call other users around the world for free |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
Instal-
lation settings |
Changes your browser settings if you don't specify otherwise. |
Doesn't change browser settings. |
Changes your browser settings if you don't specify otherwise. |
Doesn't change browser settings. |
Doesn't change browser settings. |
Doesn't change browser settings. |
| Encrypted data transfer |
|
|
|
|
X |
|
| Video chat |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
| Voicemail |
|
|
Free |
|
Skype Voice-
mail, $20/year |
|
Confer-
ence voice calling |
|
|
X |
|
Up to five people |
|
| Call landline phones |
|
|
1 cent/
minute domestic, 2 cents/
minute and up inter-
national |
2 cents/
minute domestic, 39 cents/
minute and up inter-
national via Net2-
Phone |
2.3 cents/
minute inter-
national |
|
| Avatars |
$3 each through Blue Mountain |
|
Free |
Free for limited time, $15 personal cari-
catures |
|
|
| Recently improved spam protection |
|
X |
X |
X |
|
|
| Online gaming |
X |
X |
X |
Full screen |
|
|
| Photo sharing |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
|
| Web search |
Share several MSN search results with buddy; click to open browser window |
|
Share several Yahoo search results with buddy; click to open browser window |
Opens browser window for Google search |
|
|
| Links to blogs |
MSN Spaces blogs |
|
Yahoo 360 blogs |
|
|
|
| Service and support |
Know-
ledge base, e-mail, FAQs |
FAQs |
Know-
ledge base |
FAQs, e-mail, tours, tutorials |
Know-
ledge base, forum, e-mail, user guides |
Know-
ledge base |
| Interface without company promos |
|
|
|
|
X |
X |
| Phone numbers |
|
|
$30/year for a phone number |
|
$35/year for a phone number |
|
| Links to e-mail |
Shows new Hotmail messages |
|
Shows new Yahoo messages |
Checks ICQmail |
|
Links to Gmail account |
Custom-
ize back-
grounds |
X |
|
X |
X |
|
|
| Calendar |
X |
|
X |
|
|
|
Custom-
ized ring tones |
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
Tabs for news, enter-
tainment |
X |
|
X |
X |
|
|
Supports multiple lan-
guages |
inter-
national editions |
|
18 inter-
national editions |
Editions for five lan-
guages |
Supports 20+ lan-
guages |
|
Read the CNET editor's take
|
|
6.7 out of 10
7.3 out of 10
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