As early as the mid-1990s, PC owners could use software from companies such as Newark, NJ-based Net2Phone to make low-cost calls over the Internet using their home or office computers. But until recently, Internet calling has been more of a curiosity than a serious rival to the traditional telephone network, frequently suffering from poor sound quality and spotty connections. With today's faster Internet service and new hardware that can send Internet calls through regular phone handsets, however, Internet phone connections can be better than conventional ones. And that's leading to the first real surge of interest in Internet telephony.

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