Telecommunications: Free gets even better

In the past few weeks, we've been talking about dramatic changes in the telecoms industry.  These changes have been propelled by the move to what amounts to entirely free calling.  Despite the popularity of "collaborative" technologies such as IM and e-mail, the telephone call is still a primary communication and collaboration tool.

The move to a free or practically free calling environment comes from allowing calls to be delivered over the Internet at a cost far less than over the PSTN (public switched telephony network).  Skype has been at the forefront of the free calling movement but this week, SIPphone, a peer-to-peer voice telephony operator, announced the "All Calls Free" program.  The new offering gives Gizmo Project users unlimited free calling to mobile and landline phones in 60 countries.  The Gizmo Project softphone is available for Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and the Nokia 770 Internet Table.  Countries covered by the program include Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom. 

What's next?  Only one thing remains: the caller gets paid to place a call.