GRM NEWS

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and "Soft Phones" are set to take the cost out of long-distance phone calls, and may make the humble telephone obselete.

VoIP uses the internet to bypass traditional phone networks, and the steep charges of telecommunications carriers.

By converting voice conversations into streams of ones and zeros, internet protocol telephony allows calls to be carried around the world over the internet like other data traffic, usually for the cost of a local call.