SKYPE AND MAGICJACK

Skype and MagicJack offer Internet-based alternatives to "Plain Old Telephone Service" "landline" telephone lines. Audio quality and reliability for these "Voice over IP" services is lower than "landline" telephones. The compelling advantage of Skype and MagicJack is the dramatically lower price for their service relative to "landline" telephone lines.

********

The pricing for Skype and MagicJack can be found at
http://tech.spotcoolstuff.com/internet-telephone/magicjack-skype-vonage

********
MagicJack is unacceptable to many end-users for two reasons:
A PC with their software installed has to be on 24/7 in order to receive phone calls and store voice messages.
They do not store voice messages in their servers.

********
Skype stores voice messages on their server. See
https://support.skype.com/faq/FA329/How-long-are-voicemails-stored-before-I-have-to-listen-to-them?frompage=category
The real phone numbers that Skype offers are called "online numbers".
They cost roughly 60 dollars per year in addition to the regular Skype subscription charges of $ 1.95 per month.
See
http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/onlinenumber/
See also
http://www.prlog.org/10220009-online-number-skypein-skype-personal-internet-number.html

********