Five
years ago, if you would’ve asked me for recommendations on a VoIP
(Voice over Internet Protocol) program, there was only one program
available: Skype. For the past few years, Skype sat at #1 in VoIP
software. And if the Internet has taught me anything, it’s that nothing
ever stays at the top for very long.
In 2011, Microsoft made a somewhat surprising move when it bought Skype for $8.5 billion. Soon after, bloggers all over the Internet began to question Microsoft’s ability to maintain the project’s quality. Was Skype now doomed to fail or would Microsoft improve it? What about the issue of privacy? Or advertisements during calls?
If
for whatever reason you no longer want to use Skype, then rest assured
in knowing that there are plenty of alternative programs out there. They
may not be as polished or prevalent as Skype, but they certainly get
the job done. And best of all, every program on this list is absolutely
free!
It’s
almost expected that Google would have some sort of competition in the
area of VoIP and Internet chatting. But behold–Google actually has three different programs that you can use as alternatives to Skype. It all depends on what you were using Skype for.
If you need a quick and easy way to set up group video conferences, look no further than Google Hangouts.
Not only are video chat sessions free, you can add up to 8 other
participants for a total of 10. The calls are high quality and
intuitively designed. Find out why Google Hangouts are cool than Skype for video chats.
If you just need a service that lets you call other people over the Internet, then Google Voice
is your solution. Assign yourself a Voice-provided phone number that
you can use for everything no matter what your phone or service provider
is. Through Google Voice, you can make free calls to anywhere in the
U.S. or Canada; everywhere else has extremely low rates.
If it’s instant messaging that you need, use Google Talk.
As a bonus, you can use Google Talk to initiate private video chat
sessions; all you need to do is install a plugin. Google Talk interfaces
with Gchat (on Gmail), iGoogle, and Orkut.
Jitsi
Jitsi
is a powerful piece of software that specializes in VoIP. Not only can
it perform audio calls and video chats, but it can also stream and share
desktops over the Internet, record calls, encrypt calls, and instant
message. It even has a few neat features like echo cancellation and
noise suppression (for those with poor quality mics or noisy rooms).
Jitsi
supports a wide number of Internet chatting protocols, including: SIP,
XMPP (Jabber, Google Talk, Facebook), MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, ICQ, and
Bonjour. Jitsi is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
VoxOx
With VoxOx,
you can easily make audio or video calls to your friends.
VoxOx-to-VoxOx calls are entirely free, so if your friends all use
VoxOx, then you’ll all benefit. However, VoxOx can still be used to call
real telephone numbers and send text messages at cheap rates.
On their overview page,
it’s immediately apparent that VoxOx really likes their free features.
Here’s what you get for free: personal phone number, voicemail, inbound
calls/texts/faxes, conference calls, chat and social features, file
sharing, and more. VoxOx is available on Windows and Mac.
goober
With goober,
you can call your fellow goober buddies through audio or video calling.
The VoIP feature is free if you’re calling another goober user, else it
will cost low rates depending on the location of the receiver. Video
calls are free but can only occur goober-to-goober. Conference calls are
all free; audio conferences can hold an unlimited number of
participants but video conferences are limited to 6.
From the
looks of it, it seems like goober wants to be more of a social
networking tool. The built-in instant messenger can communicate with
AIM, MSN, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk, Yahoo! and more. You can link and
interact with Facebook and Twitter straight through goober, too. goober
is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Ekiga
Ekiga
is an open-source program that specializes in VoIP, video calling, and
instant messaging. Right out of the box, it supports high quality audio
and high-definition video at DVD quality. The user interface is easy to
learn and simple to use. Audio and video calls are free over the
Internet; calls to phones will cost low rates.
Ekiga is available for Windows and Linux.
ooVoo
If you really only use Skype for its video chatting features, then ooVoo
may be the replacement for you. Video calls are extremely simple to set
up and conferences can hold up to 12 participants. For the times you
don’t need video, you can instant message. ooVoo supports calling to
phones but you’ll need to purchase ooVoo credits first.
ooVoo has a
Premium upgrade available that enables desktop sharing between users in
a call and removes advertisements. Yes, ooVoo’s free version is
supported by ads. ooVoo is available for Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone,
and Facebook.
Conclusion
Skype was once the top dog in the
world of free video conferencing and VoIP, but that throne has a lot of
contesting kings now. It doesn’t matter where you live or what
operating system you use, there is always a Skype alternative available.
It’s not like Skype is completely off the table right now, but if it
doesn’t please you anymore, these will get the job done.
Are there
any that I’ve missed? Free video conferencing / VoIP tools are hard to
come by, so if you know of any others, please share them in the
comments. Or just let us know your experiences with the ones already on
this list!
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