Phone Calls from PC - VOIP

[learning]

I want to know if someone had experience using the voip phones using their PC. Is the voice/sound quality above average?

I want to buy this cheapie usb phone ( from DSE:

http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.sto...ct/View/XH7170

Will this cheap kind of phone do the job? My guess is the quality really depends on line/internet connection quality. Any other good phones recommended. i dont want to use microphone/headset etc.

I will be using it to call overseas, mostly US and Pacific Islands. I will be calling from my PC to landlines elsewhere in world so i guess thats not free as only Skyp to Skype is free i gather

And i plan to use Skype since thats the main one i have been hearing about. Any pros or cons about Skype and any other good providers avilable? Price is second to quality unless its ridiculous to the point where it costs same as using landline

[jcr1]

Here is a quote, taken straight from a thread I replied to, not so long ago; "I found that plugging my headset straight into the sound card, not worrying about the speakers and working my way through this; http://www.portforward.com/networking/static-xp.htm
made a world of difference."
To sum up; I just use a headset, the sort you can buy from the Warehouse, and talking to my son in the UK, he says he can't tell the difference in quality between me using Skype or a landline. And thats calls to his landline.
Before I did the above, the quality was awful.

[bob_doe_nz]

I use skype occasionally to call a few PF1'ers and when others call me.
I use headphone and mic combo. They can hear me loud and clear.

Use the Skype testing portion of the program to hear yourself speak.
Testing 1 2 3 LOUDDDDD small LALALALALALALLALALALALALLA BEEp

[trinsic]

I use Skype to call my brother in Thailand and family in Australia and its better then the landline as there is much less of a delay and sound quality is as good as you want it to be. I myself use a pair of Sennheiser headphones but even a pair from the Warehouse did the job.

Also is there any reason for not wanting headphones? Remember you are just as limited in using the DSE USB Phone as you are with headphones (cable wise). And I don't think you will find much loss in quality if you do go with the phone instead.