voip

Communication is increasingly moving off the grid and into the cloud. For cellphone users -- especially ones with smartphones -- there are a host of online tools and apps that can help reduce usage on carrier plans and save money. Here are a half dozen easy options.

Microsoft has a lot of plans for squeezing profits out of its $8.5 billion acquisition of Internet phone service Skype, but raising the rates on its premium VoIP service is unlikely to be among them, according to industry analysts.

The new products, which Cisco acquired when it bought Tandberg earlier this year, are aimed at midsize companies as Cisco expands its reach beyond Fortune 500 customers. The new products are part of Cisco's TelePresence lineup.

Tony Bates, the incoming CEO of Skype, is a serious player aiming to crack the corporate market. But solving the many problems of wild child Skype won't be easy for the ex-Cisco exec.

Early Monday, telecom giant Verizon Communications (VZ) named Lowell McAdam president and COO, which would put him in line to eventually succeed longtime CEO Ivan Seidenberg. McAdam currently serves as the CEO of Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between the U.S. company and Vodafone.

Earth to Skype: Forget those lofty IPO plans. If Cisco Systems or a telecom company comes knocking on your door with a multibillion dollar buyout offer, take the money and run, say institutional investors and Wall Street soothsayers.

Skype, the rapidly growing internet calling service, has filed for an initial public offering. The company, which was once fully owned by eBay, plans to raise at least $100 million when it goes public this fall.

Vonage has just made staying in touch with your Facebook friends easier and cheaper thanks to the new Vonage Mobile application for Facebook, which allows Facebook friends to call each other free on the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android devices. The new Vonage Mobile app for Facebook is...

With Skype releasing an iPhone app -- running on Verizon archrival AT&T's network -- it raises questions about Verizon Wireless's venture with Skype. Plus, Skype now plans to hike its Internet phone-calling and video rates.

Is there room in the U.S. telecom market for another Voice-over-IP phone company? Recent European transplant Sipgate thinks so and its low-cost phone service plan offers something many Web competitors don't: a free inbound phone number that anyone can call.