Having tried out Google Talk today and being suitably impressed with the service. I did a bit of looking around other blogs to see what people thought of it. My friends all seem very happy with it so far however there are a few die hard Skype fans out there that don't think much of it
I must admit Skype is still far superior in the level of services it offers and there's no denying that SkypeIN is also a good idea where for a monthly charge you can get a real phone number in one of several countries so people can phone you on your PC. The thing is you can get a free phone number from SIPGate (Choose from a selection of UK area codes) or Gossiptel (0870 number) which you can use with a soft phone(such as X-ten or a SIP adaptor (enables you to plug in a real phone). I suppose the beauty of the services being offered now is the ability to make free phone calls from PC to PC and then if you want to call your friends on the good old PSTN, pay a little extra for some call credit like you would on your pay as you go mobile.
What is interesting is how these new telco services are being packaged some are hidden inside IM clients while others like Vonage are being sold as a second phone line complete with adaptors to plug them into your broadband connection. Even good old BT is getting involved with BT Communicator and BT Boradband Voice.
If Intels WiMax initiative takes off all our cities will be covered by wirless Broadband IP connectivity and choosing the telco you use may be as simple as finding the cheapest provider for the day from your wireless enabled device (a man can dream)...