Skype + Skypeout + hardware - good?!? Any others?!?

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.voice-over-ip (More info?)

Hi, all,

Requirement: softphones, to be used with existing laptops.

I was wondering if anyone has implemented Skype with Skypeout service,
and - if so - if such people were kind enough to share some first-hand
experience about it. I have played - myself - with it, but only between
two Skype accounts.

Related to the above - is there any other solution, similar to the above
(softphones + POTS connection service + free communnication between
softphones - not necessarily from same "vendor" ), with good quality, as
personally observed by you? I have read a lot from voip-info.org, but
nothing to make me comfortable that one solution stands out from others.

I would also appreciate if someone could share some info on what to use
for microphone hardware - the underlying system would be laptops, equipped
with USB ports.

TIA,
Papi