Buy yourself a telephone for your PC

Connections by Stan Sulkes

I wish that I could give every reader of this column a Christmas present. Since tha t's impossible, let me do the next best thing: Allow me to tell you what to give yourself. Believe me, you'll love this. And since it's your treat, I promise that it won't be expensive.

Best of all, there will be no need to wait three weeks or unwrap it. Ready? Well, here it is: an Internet telephone.

The model I have, from Riparius Ventures Inc., is a handset device that you clap to your ear exactly like any telephone except that it attaches to your computer rather than to a phone jack. With a zippy computer and a high-speed connection like RoadRunner or ZoomTown the handset produces a clarity rivaling that of the phone carriers. Really.

A wonderfu And it won't cost you a penny. Moreover, your party doesn't need a computer. With services like Dialpad ( http://www.dialpad.com/) or Net2phone ( http://www.net2phone.com/), you can ring them on their home pho nes. Free dialup service is limited to the U.S., but you can make international calls for about 8 cents per minute.

If even that seems too pricey, be aware that you can speak to someone overseas without cost using ReallyEasy.com software (free download at http://www.reallyeasy.com/), but these calls are PC to PC, not PC to phone.

Through ReallyEasy, I conversed with a teacher in Canada and a nurse in Australia. Voice quality was diminished because both had 56k modems. But, hey, it beats shouting across the ocean.

Admittedly, you could use a headset instead of the Riparius device, but you'll find the latter transmits less feedback and echo, and better simulates an ordinary phone experience.

While Internet telephony is amazing, it does have limitations. Conventional modems and slow computers will produce variable results. In fact, certain sound cards won't work at all. Check the Riparius site for usage requirements.

According to Chris Hopkinson, director of marketing for Riparius, PC-to-phone usage is only the beginning.

''When you're online, Internet call waiting will insure that callers will not get a busy signal.

Instead, their call can be transferred to your Internet phone. Look too for ''push to talk'' applications, where you can ask questions of merchants while you're at their online sites.

Finally, did I mention that the Riparius model is inexpensive?

Only $24.95 Or you can get a pair for $39.99. Buy them online (http://www.riparius.com) or call 1-877-523-5833.

It's Christmas. Enjoy.

Stan Sulkes is a professor at University of Cincinnati's Raymond Walters College. He can b e reached at stan.sulkes@uc.edu.