>> I guess using SKYPE is one way to do this, but not to call someone else who has a real telephone...
Skype will do this (it’s called SkypeOut), but it costs extra; I forget how much.
You can also get a “SkypeIn” number; that’s $60/year.
It works pretty well if you have good bandwidth.
That’s apart from the question of whether all of your calls are then stored on some gubmint server. :-)
Is there a free “open source” way to do this yet?
I just remembered how much SkypeOut costs: like 2 cents a minute anywhere in the US. Overseas calls are a little more but still cheap. You can set up a CC account and they reload your account when it gets down to a couple dollars.
I don’t think there is any one-time fee but it’s been so long since I signed up that it might have changed.