For the average individual or business, free calls online are a godsend given the skyrocketing costs of telephone services. Think of how the normal, traditional phone system works. You dial a number, the signal goes through telephone lines and reaches another telephone at the other end. For this service, the telephone company charges you a fee, either on a flat monthly basis or on a per call basis. This becomes more expensive when you are calling someone outside of your locality, and still more expensive when that someone is in another country. As energy costs, manpower rates and other business expenses increase, these charges rise, placing the cost of phone calls beyond the reach of many individuals and businesses.

The alternative that has emerged in recent years is a communication line that bypasses the traditional telephone system. The first element in this alternative line is internet communication via a personal computer. The computer becomes the phone handset and the internet the telephone line. The technology underlying this is known as Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP. It is what enables voice communications between one computer, with a microphone and speaker, and another computer. Since this facility is available at no charge, free calls online have become available to people with computers.

But what if the other party being called does not have a computer? For instance, if a person with a computer equipped with a VoIP facility would like to call someone out-of-town or in another country, what recourse does he or she have? This becomes important not just for families living in different countries who want to stay in touch, but also for businesses who want to maintain lines of communication with their customers in different parts of the world without making them pay for exorbitant telephone charges.

The third element in this alternative line of communications is the virtual phone number. A virtual phone number is one that is located in a certain locality and automatically connects to a phone outside of that locality. Thus, a person who wishes to speak to a company in another city does not have to pay for long-distance phone charges by simply dialing a virtual phone number in his own city. The virtual phone number dialed routes the call to the phone in the other city. The virtual phone may route the call online via the internet, making the whole process free, except for broadband charges which one has to pay for anyway in order to have an internet connection.

And so, with a combination of the computer, the internet and the virtual phone number, a complete alternative has been established with which to make free calls online.