The Cost Of Phone Calls Is Headed Toward Zero

Skype, which offers free voice calls from PC-to-PC and cheap calls from phones has about 400 million subscribers. More than 25 million of them use the service at any one time. The Skype product will be challenged by a new feature on Google’s GOOG Gmail that will allow users of the e-mail service to make calls within the US and Canada for nothing. Overseas calls will not cost much more than nothing. Other large e-mail providers like AOL and MSN will have to match the Google move if they want to stay competitive. That will add another hundred million or more people to the “free phone call” population. It is stating the obvious that the price of making phone calls has come down and will drop further. No one can figure out how to make much money, or any money, in the phone call business anymore. Cable companies offer VoIP service for $29.99 a month with an unlimited call feature. The only drawback is that if a user loses electrical power the service does not work. That is a small price to pay for such a great bargain. The grandfather of VoiP, Vonage VG, is still around and has more than two million subscribers, even if it is struggling. To read the rest, head over to 247WallSt.com