You can call anyone in the United States or Canada, using real phones, and talk as long as you want. You can do this all month long. And at the end of the month, no bill comes, your credit card isn't charged and you pay nothing. Next month, you get to do it all over again.

Chicagoan Brian Carr knows all about this kind of yapper's paradise.

For years, Carr's only connection to the rest of the world was his cellphone. Then the network consultant decided he wanted a land line at home, and, being hip to the high-tech scene, he decided to try out one of the Internet-based phone services.

Using a company called SunRocket (www.sunrocket.com), Carr gets unlimited calling in the United States and Canada, call waiting, voicemail and incredibly cheap long-distance. Total cost: an annual fee of about $200, which bought him all of the above and two phone lines, with two phone numbers.

"You can use any kind of regular phone," Carr said. "They even send you two really nice cordless phones with bases. But if you have your own phones, you can plug those in there. It uses a regular phone jack."

In techno-jargon, these kinds of services that let you use real telephones over a high-speed Internet connection are called voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, and have been around for a few years, with Vonage (www.vonage.com) among the best known.

After Carr signed up with SunRocket on its Web site, he received an adapter, which the company calls its "gizmo." This gizmo translates voice conversations into data that can be transmitted over your broadband Internet connection. One end connects to your modem or network router, and the other end plugs into your phone. That's it.

Using SunRocket gets him all kinds of neat features and services that either cost extra or are just impossible through a traditional phone company.

For example, he can check his voicemail online, from any computer with an Internet connection. He can receive e-mail or instant messages alerting him of new voicemail.

While Carr uses his second line for a fax machine, SunRocket co-founder Joyce Dorris said she has seen some creative uses of the extra line:

"My mom lives in Florida, so she can call me locally because my second phone number has an area code that's local for her," Dorris explained. "Some people use it for their kids, so they have their own line. I've seen people use the second line just for dating. So family gets one number, and the other number is made available publicly."

Long-distance is remarkably affordable too. Australia, France, China and the United Kingdom will cost you 3 cents per minute. Yemen runs 18 cents and Zambia will cost you a dime each minute.

What's the best way to find out more about your Internet calling options?

Visit DSLReports.com, which Carr used to research the various VoIP companies. It's a forum where users share their experiences with service providers.

Before you switch, though, consider the ramifications of going to a broadband phone service: If your Internet goes down, so does your phone service. If you use TiVo, or a satellite TV service, it won't be able to make its required phone calls. Workarounds are possible, but fairly technical.

And you'll be giving up just a touch of quality.

I talked to Carr while he was using his Internet phone. The connection sounded better than a cellphone, but not quite as good as a land line.

"Most of my friends don't even know I'm on a VoIP phone," Carr said.

With deals like this, Carr's friends will soon be on them too. And he gets a $25 referral fee from SunRocket for any friends who sign up.

Samsung SyncMaster 204B LCD monitor

Samsung

www.samsung.com

$630

Samsung plays it big with its newest LCD monitor, the SyncMaster 204B.

The 20.1-inch monitor provides an 800:1 contrast ratio, a top resolution of 1,600 by 1,200 pixels and a five-millisecond response time that's fast enough to handle games and movies. Using the monitor's simple settings, you can quickly adjust the screen's brightness for different uses, such as editing text or watching a DVD.

Available in black or silver, the monitor comes with an adjustable stand and costs about $630.

— Deborah Porterfield

Gannett News Service

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