Skype the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A Skype user can have local numbers in any of these countries, with calls to the number charged at the same rate as calls to fixed lines in the country. The countries on this growing list are referred to collectively as the SkypeIn Countries. Skype supports conference calls, video chats, and screen sharing between 25 people at a time for free. Skype does not provide
Comparison of VoIP software for making and receiving voice and video calls over the IP network with the standard functions of most "original" telephones and usually allow integration with VoIP phones and USB phones instead of using a computer's microphone and speakers (or headset). Most softphone clients run on the open Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) supporting various codecs. Skype runs on a closed proprietary networking protocol but additional business telephone system (PBX) software can allow a SIP based telephone system to connect to the Skype network. "Online chat" programs now also incorporate voice and video communications. Other VoIP software applications include conferencing servers, intercom