[geeks] Voip options

[Dan Duncan]

I used Vonage for some time and went to a similar service from my cellphone
provider but I will soon be changing providers and will lose the option so
I'm looking for advice.  I don't know that I want to go into the VOIP
business, hardware-wise, but I am looking for options.  Has anyone used
Magic Jack and is it possible to seriously lock it down by running on a thin
client or a VM?  (The thought of a windoze pc on my network makes me
shudder.)

My typical usage is hundreds of minutes a month on conference calls (mostly
toll free numbers) and occasional spikes of long distance numbers (mostly on
call pages and calls to field engineers, but also family) and I already have
analog phones throughout the house so I'd like something that accomodates
that.  If not, I guess I can go back to vonage.  Is skype practical for that
sort of usage?