netTALK.COM, Inc. announced today that it now supports local number portability (LNP), enabling customers in the U.S. to keep their existing landline phone number. Anastasios ‘Takis’ Kyriakides, President and CEO of netTALK, says: “Keeping your own number is a pivotal …

What’s it like being a person that uses Skype? Are you apart of the crowd or on the loner side of the fence? Is there a much larger Skype community at play than many would suspect? If their “direct from …

Surely, this news will please E.T., right? Oh, wait. That’s “phone home,” not “home phone.” What we have here is a device that allows would-be Skype users to access the service from their home phone. That’s right. No longer are …

Internet calling and communication is getting increasingly popular, according to a new report from research firm Point Topic. The report found that voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) now has more than 120 million subscribers globally.

Google was already starting to compete with Skype a little, by releasing things like video chat within Gmail, but Gmail is only a small segment of people in the broader landscape of web users. Now Google is thinking bigger, and …

I think we can all agree that the world is in the midst of a social media revolution. Social media not only plays an integral role in our personal lives, but it is also a critical component in our professional environments.

While the future of TMobile may still be undecided, at least in relation to the AT&T merger, that hasn’t prevented the company from moving forward on various projects. The latest involves bringing free Voice over IP services to Facebook, which …

Skype has broken a new record, hitting 29 million people online. On Skype’s "Big Blog", Peter Parkes writes:

We’ve passed another milestone – at approximately 1800 GMT yesterday, there were more than 29 million people online on Skype. Another record broken, and an opportunity for us to remind you that you can get Skype in all sorts of places – on your computer, on your mobile and even on your TV.

The first person ever charged with hacking into Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks and reselling  VoIP services was sentenced today to 120 months in prison, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Edwin Andres Pena, 27 transmitted over 10 million minutes of unauthorized phone calls over the victim’s networks.

Skype has launched Skype Connect 1.0, formerly known as Skype for SIP. This is a product that enables IP-enabled private branch exchange (PBX) or Unified Communications (UC) systems to connect to Skype.

Earlier, it was reported that Google was testing a feature that would let you make and receive phone calls from within Gmail. It turns out, this wasn’t just a test.

Google has now officially announced that this is indeed a feature of Gmail. It is being rolled out in the U.S. starting today.

There is a rumor going around the blogosphere that Google may be working on a VoIP service utilizing Google Voice integration with Gmail. A spokesperson for Google tells WebPronews, "We’re always testing new features and looking for ways to improve our products. We have nothing to announce at this time."

A company that specializes in VoIP and videoconferencing technology should soon become a part of Google.  The search giant announced this morning that it is making an offer to buy Global IP Solutions for $68.2 million in cash.

Global IP Solutions is a rather big deal in its niche.  Headquartered in San Francisco, it has offices in Boston, Hong Kong, and Stockholm, and its customers include internationally recognized corporations like AOL, Baidu, Brasil Telecom, Mail.ru, Samsung, and Yahoo.

Goober announced the availability of a new VoIP app and an IM app for the iPhone and iPod Touch this week. The company shared a few details with WebProNews about what makes its apps stand out from the competition.

"Goober, besides Skype, is the only company offering versatile and flexible flatrates," a Goober representative tells WebProNews. "The flatrate prices are about the same as Skype’s while the per minute rates are drastically lower."

Skype announced that its share of international calling minutes has jumped by 50% year-over-year. This data comes from a new report released by research firm TeleGeography.

According to this report, Skype’s share of international calling minutes jumped to 12% from last year’s figure of 8%. Telegeography says that the volume of traffic routed via Skype is growing at an "astonishing" pace. The following graph shows the net increase in international phone and Skype traffic from 2005 to 2009.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced indicating that Google had bought Gizmo5, a VoIP firm. The news came just on the heels of Google’s AdMob acquisition. Google has now officially announced that it has indeed acquired Gizmo5.

Update: The announcement has been made. Some details from the press release: