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Remember the days when long-distance calling was such a hassle? It seems bizarre considering how easy it is today to get in contact with those overseas. No matter if you’re studying abroad, calling for business conferences or just trying to get in contact with friends and family, there are hundreds of VoIP providers that offer numerous calling plans and features.

So how do you choose? Here are the Top 3 VoIP international call providers.

Three of the most popular VoIP apps are provided by Skype, Vonage and Google Voice. All three have apps available in the Android Marketplace or Apple (News - Alert) App Store.

Skype is one of the most recognized names out there. With more than 700 million members using the service, Skype offers clear call quality, reliability and easy-to-use software. Features of Skype (News - Alert) include the ability to start conference calls and invite more than one person, file sharing, video chat and instant messaging.

It has multiple calling plans available, ranging in price from free to $13.99 per month. Free international calling plans can be easily set up in less than five minutes and offers video calls, voice calls, video chat and instant message completely free.

There is also an unlimited Europe plan, with unlimited calling throughout 24 European countries; unlimited world, with unlimited calls to any international landline in more than 41 countries (only seven on a mobile phone); and a pay as you go plan, which allows users to purchase Skype credits as use them as they please. One credit equals one minute, and credits vary depending on the country you’re calling.

Vonage (News - Alert) also offers various calling plans. One of the bigger differences between Vonage and Skype is that Vonage will reward those who sign up for a long-term one to two year contract. Calling plans are the Vonage World, which varies in price as the months go on, but allows unlimited calling to more than 50 country landline phones, and ten to mobile phones. The Vonage Plus 1000 offers the same calls as the Vonage World, but also has 1000 premium minutes to make calls to other countries outside of their list.

Features include the ability to extend your Vonage landline phone to your cell phone and making phone calls on the go, voicemails that come to your account can be transcribed and sent via a text or email, call waiting, three-way calling, caller ID, and calls are free to any other Vonage customer.

Last but not least is Google Voice. Google Voice allows you to make calls either from a landline phone, a mobile phone via an app or directly through your computer. It offers a per minute calling plan that works just like the Skype credit system. All calls from the U.S. and Canada are completely free, and the cost varies if you’re making calls to an international mobile device.

Features of Google Voice include getting your own phone number free of charge, free SMS, blocking numbers and transcribing voicemails that get sent directly to your email.

Other cheap international call options include Phone Power, which offers unlimited calling to both the U.S. and Canada and plans ranging from $14 to $29 depending on how much you pay in advance; ITP, which offers more than six plans, ranging from $9 to $48 with unlimited calling to the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico; and VoipO, which offers two payment plans, and 60 free international minutes a month, 40 features and unlimited calls to the U.S. and Canada.

A recent report published by Infonetics Research (News - Alert) revealed the recent climb in the use of VoIP solutions like hosted PBX (News - Alert), which provide flexibility, easier management and outright cost savings. The report tracked managed IP-PBX services across a variety of providers, including major names like AT&T, Cableivison, Embratel NetFone, France Telecom, Time Warner Cable and others, showing impressive gains across the industry. Hosted PBX and VoIP systems offer solutions that let a business – small, medium or large – respond to issues faster and settle problems more rapidly and yield lower costs.