Imagine you are in Rincon or anywhere else in the world and you are connected to the internet. Mexico, Toledo, or Timbucktwo....You are sipping a Margarita after a long day at the golf course or beach and are anxiously awaiting the evening sunset. Your computer inside the room makes a distinct ringing sound and you hurry in to see who is disturbing your happy hour. You pick up the phone and it's your son. "Just called to tell you I missed you" he says. "How zit goen down there."

The technology is here. You need to be connected to a phone and are concerned about missing an important call. Maybe your son is expecting his first child, your mom is sick or your favorite client needs to stay in touch just-in-case. Maybe a big part of your life is to talk to a special relative at least once a week for as long as you like. Cell phones can be expensive and you are not sure which part of Mexico they will work in and where the blackout areas are. Until now, most snowbirds and RV travelers have resigned themselves to writing notes and checking email messages regularly. If you have to make a call, you bite the bullet and pay the big bucks because you need to. Things have changed for the better.

VOIP (Voice Over Internet) is a great way to stay in touch with friends and relatives at home or even when you travel. As long as you are connected to high speed internet, you can use your computer as a telephone to call, receive and even collect messages on a voicemail system. The prices are so reasonable that even the most addicted phoneaholics can freely talk without breaking the bank.

It's NOT the same a dedicated telephone line. Sometimes the sound will fade or scramble and at times be inaudible. We have found that this depends on the service provider, the weather, your equipment and the bandwidth that is available at that particular moment. While some providers use dedicated equipment, most people use a simple headset and mic that you can plug into your computer. You can use the built in speaker and mic inside your laptop but that often does not provide the best results and tends to produce an echo for either the sender or receiver. We have a "USB phone" that looks like a cell phone and connects to our computer and it works great.

If you use a VOIP with a 2 way satellite dish such as Direcway, you must be prepared for the slow upload speed and hence be prepared for a sound lag. It is like talking on a satellite phone where you must speak one at a time and pause significantly or say over to indicate that it is the other party's turn to talk. You will not have that lag on a high speed connected land line.

There are numerous service providers. Type in VOIP into your search engine and you will get a pretty big list of companies that are competing for the very lucrative phone market. We have been experimenting with a number of companies and have found so far for our own needs and quality requirements, that SKYPE is our VOIP of choice. *

Some companies, Vonage and Crystal Voice for example, charge a monthly or annual service fee. Packages differ so take a look at what you get in the "package offer" as these things change frequently. Many companies offer a free service and then inevitably have add-on services that you purchase as you require them. Companies that charge by the minute for computer to phone calls include I Connect, Crystal Voice and SKYPE. The fees are very reasonable and hover between 1.5 to 5¢ a minute to just about anywhere in the world.

Most VOIP companies do not charge you if you call another party on the same service computer to computer. You would get a free call to that favorite niece if that favorite niece subscribed to the same company. What a deal. As long as you both have the same service and have your computers on, you can talk all night long. FREE.

We have tried various companies and the one we like most is SKYPE. SKYPE has 3 levels of service that use daily. You can phone computer to computer free, No Problema. The second level of service called SKYPE OUT allows you to phone computer to phone. That rates to each country varies but are approximately 2 to 3 cents a minute to the US, Canada, Australia and China. Mexico Rates vary but are generally under 10 cents a minute unless you call a mobile phone. You purchase a SKYPE OUT credit, say $10 - 25 and each call is deducted from that credit. Currently they have a promotion where calls from US & Canadian accounts can call free to US & Canada until 2007.

We also subscribe to SKYPEIN which gives us a virtual phone number and comes with Voicemail. This allows people to call from a phone to our computer. The cost of this service is approximately $15 for 3 months or $50 for 12 months. We selected the 360 area code in Washington State as this is the place we have most relative and friends. If my son in North Vancouver Canada calls, he only incurs a long distance call to Seattle. If my cousin in Bellingham calls, it is free for both of us. I receive voicemail every time I plug in my computer. It makes no difference if I am in Tucson, Vancouver or La Penita. The long distance charges I incur are as if I was stationed in Seattle.

Calling from Mexico to the US or Canada on a regular land line can be down right expensive and this system allows us to talk to whoever we like, when we like. Yes indeed we can phone not only computers but actual phone numbers; both land lines and cell numbers throughout the world. Jeeze when we first subscribed we were so thrilled with the service that we phoned people we didn't even like that much....."Hey we're in Mexico and are having a great time..."

We are very happy with the sound quality of the SKYPE. After we tweaked the sound of my microphone using the help function, the sound was superior to anything we have tried thus far. If you are visiting Mexico and are concerned about calls from your home town you could subscribe to a VOIP service with voicemail and pick up any messages if your hotel or RV Park has internet. If they don't you can go to an internet cafe or find a hot spot.