Modern telecommunication means far more than just doing a phone call. It is also about exchanging text messages and sometimes even video conferencing. Roaming enables you to be reachable under one phone number all across the world. Ekiga brings these features to your Linux desktop allowing you to communicate over broadband Internet.
Before you start, make sure the following requirements are met:
Your sound card is properly configured.
A headset or a microphone and speakers are attached to your computer.
For dialing in to regular phone networks you have created a SIP account. SIP (Signaling protocol for Internet Telephony) is the protocol used to establish sessions for audio and video conferencing or call forwarding. For a list of providers refer to http://www.voipproviderslist.com/. Free trials are provided by http://www.voipbuster.com.
For video conferencing you have attached a Web cam to your computer.