A Messenger feature that got discontinued a little while back returns. VOIP! Telefonica, one of the largest telecommunication companies, brings their Web Calling Service Voype to Messenger in the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, the United States, and Venezuela. The integration of the service will be done in two phases. In the first phase, you’ll be able to make calls from your PC to any landline or mobile phone in the world. In phase two, you’ll actually be able to both send and receive calls on your PC.

All you have to do is sign-up for an account here. Note: a microphone and speakers (or a  headset) and broadband connection required! Credits are available in amounts of $5, $10 or $20. The calls to and from Windows Live Messenger users will be free and calls to landlines and cell phones will be available for a fee. The rates are: about a penny to China, 2¢ to the UK, 5¢ to Canada, or 10¢ to Mexico per minute when calling landlines.

So how do you make a Call?

If you are using Windows Live Messenger 8.0, 8.1 or 8.5, just click on the phone icon either in the main window or choose a contact and click on the phone icon. From the drop down menu, select ‘Call a phone’. Add a phone number, click on enter and start talking! You’re all set. It’s that easy.

If you are already using the new Windows Live Messenger Beta , there are a few of ways you can make a call. You can hover over a contact and if you have a phone associated with that contact, just click on ‘call work’, ‘call mobile’, etc. You can also open up a conversation window with that contact and click on the phone icon and enter their telephone number. For ad hoc calls, you can launch Windows Live Call from the start menu under All Programs > Windows Live Call beta, enter their telephone number and click Call. Choose whichever way is most convenient for you!

Source: Inside Windows Live Messenger and On 10

P.S: Speaking about Windows Live Messenger, if you run into error message 810003c1 when you try to log in, make sure your Country/Region is set to your own Country at https://account.live.com/EditProf.aspx. This error can be caused if the region setting for your account is not set according to Sameer over at Inside Windows Live Messsenger.