By Adrian McCoy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Cell phones have morphed into mini-computers, with e-mail and Web access, and still and video cameras. And broadband Internet connections have evolved into alternative telephones. The result: It’s easier -- and less expensive -- for people to talk face to face, wherever they might be.

Gaoying Bolinger of Wexford talks to friends she hasn’t seen in years almost daily now. Some are college friends or people she grew up with in China who are now scattered across three continents. Using Yahoo’s and MSN’s instant messaging services, the group can chat online, with or without video images, which can be grainy and jumpy. But making eye contact across the globe is, like the MasterCard commercial says, priceless.

The instant message service is free. The only investment needed is a Web cam and a high-speed Internet connection.

Last weekend, Bolinger was online with friends as far away as China and Germany -- and as close as Monroeville.

«It’s like a coffee club,» says Xuping Cao, who lives in Hangzhou, China. «It saves a lot of money, and we can see people. It’s like talking in the same room,»

«The Internet makes the world so small and so nice,» Bolinger says. «It makes me less homesick in a way. And more homesick in a way, too.»

The group cites the convenience of being able to reach people quickly -- without playing high-priced long-distance phone tag -- and knowing when friends are online.

Hesheng Bao and Katherine Chen of Monroeville are part of the same online group. They also use instant messaging in their business -- Harvard eSolutions, a company that sells items for people at online auction services such as eBay, as well as travel packages and imported Chinese arts and crafts. The company can buy and sell quickly, with photos or videos of items zapped into their computer.

Instant messaging «can’t replace the old-fashioned way of doing business,» Bao says. «The technology isn’t perfect.» But it is a useful tool that has enabled the home-based business to function more efficiently.

Phone, um, modem home

In the digital era, talk is cheap -- and getting cheaper every day. Some people have opted to cut Ma Bell’s umbilical cord altogether and make their cell phones their only phones. Others are circumventing traditional land-line phone companies with several Internet phone services that have sprung up in recent years.

As more and more people convert to cable or DSL Internet access -- the FCC estimates around 25 percent of all U.S. households now have high-speed connections -- these alternatives are becoming more mainstream.

For several years, computer users have been able to make local and long-distance calls for a fraction of the cost. Heavy long-distance users, especially those who make a lot of overseas calls, see their phone bills drop from triple to double digits.

Businesses also are finding Internet phone service a way to save money on long-distance toll calls. Phone systems can be quickly changed, without hiring an outside contractor to add lines or rearrange wiring.

Internet phone service works by encoding the voice into data, which is sent over the Internet like an e-mail and converted back to sound.

There are disadvantages. The sound quality of Internet phone service is not always good, and there can be a lag between speaking and hearing. If there’s a power failure, or the Internet connections are down, you don’t have phone service.

And Internet phones are not part of the 911 system yet, and although calls can be made to 911 centers, the system doesn’t recognize the street location the call is placed from.

Once used mostly by the computer savvy, Internet phones are entering the mainstream. Major phone providers are adding the option for customers. The service works using the home’s existing telephones, along with an adapter and cable or DSL modems.

Last month, Verizon debuted its VoiceWing broadband phone service plan at an introductory rate of $29.95 a month. It comes with popular features such as caller ID and call forwarding, as well as voice mail. The international rates are low -- 3 cents a minute to Canada and 4 cents to the United Kingdom.

AT&T launched CallVantage earlier this year. The customer gets unlimited local and long-distance calling for $34.99 a month (with an introductory rate of $19.99 for the first three months), plus discounts for international calls.

Local cable service provider Comcast doesn’t offer Internet calling yet. The company is conducting Voice Over IP (VoIP) trials in several markets and plans to introduce the service in about half of its territory by the end of the year, with 95 percent coverage by 2005, says Comcast spokesman Brian Jeter.

«We’re taking a strategic approach. We’ll offer a unique package of voice, data and video services,» he says.

Comcast currently offers two digital calling plans, which don’t require a high-speed connection: Comcast Connections Any Distance, with unlimited local and long-distance calling in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands, at $39.99 a month for the first six months, and the Complete Value Package, unlimited local calls with 5 cents a minute for long distance ($24.99 a month, with a 12-month contract).

The large companies have plenty of competition from smaller Internet phone service providers such as Vonage, a popular broadband phone service. Subscribers pay $29.99 for unlimited local and long-distance phone service in the United States and Canada. For an extra $9.99 a month, they can turn their PC or laptop into a phone, with 500 local and long-distance minutes included, by downloading Vonage’s SoftPhone program.

Lingo offers unlimited calling to the United States, Canada and western Europe for $19.95 a month, and a 500-minute-a-month plan for $14.95. Both include caller ID, call waiting, voice mail and other extras. Dialpad is a PC-to-phone service that offers international rates starting at 1.7 cents per minute.

There are free services, such as Free World Dialup, whose subscribers can call anywhere in the world at no charge, although they can call only other Internet phone users.

Picture this

Cell phone technology is also bringing people closer together with visual images. The picture phone continues to evolve with several newer models capable of recording and sending short videos, which can be viewed on another video phone or a computer.

While it seems as if younger generations would be more likely to embrace these new technologies, in the case of the video phone, there is a multi-generational appeal.

«It’s a gadget. The gadget crowd comes in all ages,» says Mike Kijowki, senior manager at Radio Shack’s Baum Boulevard outlet, where he says video phones are selling well.

Already customers are finding ways to use these mini-video recorders, he says. Grandma and grandpa live 2,000 miles away, but they’re able to watch a grandchild’s first steps or words almost as they happen. A real estate agent can zap images of a house to a prospective buyer. A motorist involved in a fender bender can make an instant video of the damage for the insurance claim.

As with every technological step forward, there’s a step back. Some people find the idea of being videotaped and transmitted to an unseen audience invasive. And there are already criminal applications, such as recording credit card numbers or videotaping someone’s PIN while he or she is at an ATM.

There are drawbacks to the new technology, too. The videos are limited to a few seconds in length. The picture is often jumpy and the resolution isn’t high. Shooting videos can sap the phone’s battery quickly.

Still, there are several models to choose from, with more on the way.

The Nokia 6600 (list price $429) shoots 10-second clips. Other bells and whistles include still photo camera, speakerphone, RealOne Media Player, Web browser and e-mail. Users like its large screen and good resolution. An almost universal complaint posted in online customer reviews was how quickly battery power is drained and that sending video is a slow process.

The Samsung VM-A680 PCS Video Mail phone ($309.99 list price) can record 15 seconds of video and has a built-in digital camera for still photos. Videos can also be used as a screensaver.

The next generation is waiting in the wings. Motorola is introducing the RAZR V3 -- a sleek high-tech mobile phone made with aircraft-grade aluminum that has video playback and Web capabilities, high-resolution screen and digital camera.

There are also home use video phones on the market, ranging from $149 to $249 at Best Buy. The D-Link Express Fast Ethernet Broadband i2eye VideoPhone ($149) turns a TV set into a broadband video telephone, without a computer. The user can send and receive video at 30 frames per second.

Never have we had so many options when making a phone call.