# Is there a way I can make my computer double as a phone?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-i-can-make-my-computer-double-as-a-phone/65337>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 13, 2001, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-i-can-make-my-computer-double-as-a-phone/65337 "2001-05-13T20:48:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ressl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Ressl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ressl)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-i-can-make-my-computer-double-as-a-phone/65337/1 "2001-05-13T20:48:07Z")

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Is it possible to hook a microphone/reciever device up to my computer and use software to make local/long distance calls through it?

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**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-i-can-make-my-computer-double-as-a-phone/65337/2 "2001-05-13T20:53:32Z")

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[http://www.dialpad.com](http://www.dialpad.com) among others… just run a google search…

all you need is your computer a mic and speakers. Hopefully headphones or you will get a horrible echo. Sound quality is not always great and sometimes there is a lag… but it works.

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**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-i-can-make-my-computer-double-as-a-phone/65337/3 "2001-05-13T21:29:56Z")

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I once had a computer that came with a program called (if I recall correctly) Phoenix Voice Suite that turned the computer into a speaker phone, without any extra hardware. It worked okay and had all kinds of convenient features on it, like voice mail, but I ended up using a normal phone most of the time. I think you’d get better results, as **Whammo** suggested, with headphones instead of the speaker phone thing.

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**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-i-can-make-my-computer-double-as-a-phone/65337/4 "2001-05-13T21:53:27Z")

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If anyone cares, make that Phoenix **Telephony** Suite.

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-i-can-make-my-computer-double-as-a-phone/65337/5 "2001-05-13T23:19:28Z")

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For a little bit I could make free TTY calls on the net through [ip-relay.com](http://ip-relay.com) but it doesn’t seem up anymore.