Yahoo is to make free PC-to-PC calls available to its users in 180 countries, in a system that is linked to existing Yahoo e-mail and instant messaging features. The new version of Yahoo's Messenger text will include "Phone Out", with low per-minute charges for calls from computers to phones. It will also include "Phone In", a low-cost subscription service for phone callers to call computer users.
A customer, using a microphone and earphones, will be able to place a low-cost call from a computer to a telephone or mobile phone. Yahoo! also reportedly plans to offer a service allowing computer users to communicate with regular telephones over the Web.
Customers will also be able to sign up for plans allowing them to receive calls from far-away places at little or no cost to the caller.