Communicate via cross-platform

When it comes to voice over Internet Protocol phone calling, or VoIP, many people will have heard of one of the main independent players - Vonage - thanks to their incessant TV ads. Many will also have heard of the PC-based alternative Skype, if only because eBay bought the company for $2.6-billion (U.S.) dollars last year from the founders of the Kazaa file-swapping network.Both services have their benefits, and are useful in different ways. Vonage makes sense for anyone who wants a VoIP phone that works much like a regular phone - you plug a regular phone into the Vonage box, and the box sends your phone calls over the Internet. Many cable companies offer the same type of services. Skype, meanwhile, is a lot cheaper, (Skype-to-Skype calls are free), but it is a software-based phone that only works when you are at your computer.

Although Skype is a great service, there are a number of other players out there with additional features and lower prices as well. If you are willing to experiment, you might want to look at one called Gizmo Project. It comes from SIPphone, a company founded by CEO Michael Robertson. Mr. Robertson is also the founder of a company called Linspire, which offers a Linux-based Windows alternative, and an MP3-sharing service called MP3tunes.com.

Gizmo Project, like Skype, is free if you are calling other users of the same software, but costs money if you call someone who is using a regular phone, or if someone using a regular phone calls you. However, if you're making or receiving regular calls, Gizmo Project's prices are somewhat lower than Skype's: calling a regular phone is just 1.9 cents a minute with Gizmo and 2.4 cents with Skype. However, to receive calls from a regular phone on your VoIP number, Gizmo charges $33 a year, while Skype charges twice as much about the same as Skype.

Gizmo also recently launched a new feature: you can call anyone using Windows Live Messenger or Yahoo's instant-messaging client, as well as anyone using Google's Gtalk IM client - for free. You simply type in the user name of the person you want to call, and Gizmo Project calls them. Using a slightly more cumbersome process (involving a Gizmo VoIP user name) they can call you as well, since all three instant messaging clients also have VoIP features built into them. You can even call using only a browser with a Flash application called Gizmocall.

The ability to call users on three different IM clients makes Gizmo one of the few cross-platform VoIP/instant messenger applications (Talkster does something similar for mobile handsets). The service the company uses to do this is called Gtalk2VoIP , which is a VoIP "gateway." In order to call an Windows Live, Yahoo or Google user, you just add a Gtalk2VoIP email address to your "friends" list, then when you want to make a call, you call the Gtalk2VoIP email. At that point a text window pops up, and you type "call [the number]." Another Gtalk2VoIP free service allows you to receive calls on Gtalk, Windows Live or Yahoo Messenger from any regular phone number.

Without getting too technical, the Gizmo Project uses an open VoIP standard called SIP - for "session initiation protocol" - to make calls. The software also acts as a Windows Live or Yahoo-style instant messaging system, using an open standard called Jabber. By contrast, Skype uses its own proprietary VoIP technology to make phone calls and send messages, just as Microsoft and Yahoo use their own standards for instant messaging (Google's Gtalk supports the Jabber standard).

Why is this important? For one thing, using an open standard such as SIP or Jabber means that Gizmo Project software can be used on just about any computer or with any operating system. It also means that people using different applications can talk or chat with each other, and third-party developers can add features and functionality more easily. With Skype, you can only call or instant message other people who are using Skype. In addition, many corporations are leery of Skype for security reasons, because it uses its own proprietary protocol, whereas an open standard such as SIP is easier for an IT person to manage.


Learning about standards such as SIP and Jabber isn't really necessary in order to take advantage of services such as Gizmo Project or Talkster or Nimbuzz (another mobile to instant messaging service). All you need is a desire to call your IM friends for free.