Stories by: Ari Weisz-Koves

FWD.Communicator (short for Free World Dialer) is a combination SIP and proprietary client which allows FWD users to call other FWD users and users of any SIP phone. The novelty of FWD.Communicator lies in its integration with other client software for a richer experience.

Zoep, formerly known as Voipster, is capable of direct peer-to-peer calls with other Zoep users and SIP calls to users of any SIP capable hard or soft phone worldwide. Like Skype and Gizmo project they also offer Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) connectivity for a fee.

Sony IVE (Instant Video Everywhere) is a new entrant to the VoIP marketplace and is a collaboration between Sony and Glowpoint. As the name implies, Sony IVE is a combination video and VoIP client that allows full video call functionality to other Sony IVE users. With a fee paying account it provides connectivity to traditonal ISDN video-conferencing systems or Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS), but only in the US or Canada.

SJPhone is a deceptively simple VoIP client that supports the two main industry standards for call control - Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and H.323. What this means is unlike the peer-to-peer based systems, SJPhone isn't limited to calls between two computers running the same client software or restricted to using one company's gateway systems for accessing Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS).

Gizmo Project is a peer-to-peer system with support for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). SIP is a real time communication protocol for Voice over IP (VoIP). This is a great feature because it means that unlike Skype, Gizmo Project users are also able to call people using SIP softphones or SIP hardware telephones which are fast becoming popular with home users thanks to ISP services such as iinet's iiphone VoIP service.

Skype is the big name in peer-to-peer Internet telephony after hitting the headlines with its $2.6b sale to eBay - which seems unbelievable considering their main product is freely downloadable and so are most of their competitors. But what sets Skype apart from most other VoIP clients is a mature, full featured client that offers unsurpassed voice quality.