> Changing the question. How about a simple long distance provider as I used
> to have many years ago? One where you dial the service number and then the
> number you're calling.
Buggy whips.
They still exist, but barely. Many of us have free long-distance as
part of our cell-phone plans. Check with Verizon, ATT and Sprint for
those packages. The free long-distance is for your land-line phone,
but is tied in with your monthly cell-phone contract. I think you can
still find pre-paid long-distance calling cards at Wal-Mart.
The thing about VoIP is that there are two "types" of VoIP. There is
the carrier-provided VoIP and then there is the "skype" type of VoIP
which uses your Internet connection to attempt to do real-time
communications over a network designed for non-real-time data. Carrier
VoIP is a different animal because it uses VoIP technology/protocol,
but uses dedicated "pipes" for the purpose. When you are checking your
email, it doesn't matter much if the latency on your broadband
connection is 5ms or 5000ms. But if you are trying to talk over that
same connection, it really does matter. Keep in mind that the majority
of VoIP (via the Internet) sessions terminate to one particular phone
switch in Las Vegas. A call from the Carolinas to somebody in New York
will have about a one second delay--on a good day.
Businesses with SIP phones that want to stay in business don't use
Internet connections for their telephone service.
AG Schnozz
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