Years ago (wow … almost 10 years ago!) I was experimenting with voice and video over IP using products like WebPhone, CU-SeeMe, and NetMeeting. 
It was a blast … and all using 14.4kbps dial-up modems!  This is
what really drove me to upgrade modems through the 28.8kbps, and then
to the 56kbps modems.  All of these products seemed to fizzle
during the Tech Boom, and also went away during the Tech Crash.

Sometime during the last year I installed an early copy of Skype
and was impressed … it was pretty raw, IMHO, but it was on the right
track.  Well … as of a couple of months ago I upgraded and have
been continuing to track the progress.  Skype is now looking
really good … I am thoroughly impressed.

What really got me over the edge was using Skype with work.  At
Agilix Labs we are dealing with Universities that are all over the planet,
and I found that many of the schools from Asia are requesting all
“conference calls” to be done using Skype.  I had a call last week
that was over one hour and forty-five minutes long … with two people
in Singapore, one in California, and two of us in Utah.  It was
clear, and free.  I have now added Skype as a permanent service on
my desktop!