Christa is excited about her new Samsung Instinct, which is basically an iPhone lookalike. It has high-speed web browsing, e-mail, GPS, TV, radio…oh, and it makes phone calls too!

Of course, these are all things that phones have done for awhile now. But the Samsung also has a sleek interface and a slim body. As Christa says, we'll have to get her final verdict on the phone in a few months. She's still in the "initial dating phase" with her Instinct.

The wireless industry would love for consumers to get in the "mobile device" mindset -- a term denoting that it's not just a phone, it does so much more.

Soon wireless networks will support unlimited international calls for free. Skype has been trying to get the government to force the cell carriers to let you use Skype on your handset. But there's been pushback because the carriers make too much money ripping you off on international calls. Expect this to change with the arrival of the next wave of cellular technology -- called 4G (fourth generation) in industry lingo.

Skype, meanwhile, has released its 4.0 beta version, and it's heavy on video calling.

When he attended the 1964 World's Fair, Clark recalls that AT&T demonstrated a picture phone. Back then, it seemed like that technology was just around the corner. But video calling never hit the mainstream. Maybe people don't want to be seen on a video phone call. But Clark thinks Skype may be the one to take it to the next level.

Clark's long term goal is to have the capability for show callers to be seen, not just heard, on ClarkHoward.com.

Being a cheap guy, Clark is often willing to take a chance on a wide variety of thrifty things -- including dubious tech services that soon fail and go into his company graveyard!

The latest service that Clark's been excited about for some time is MagicJack.com. A scant $40 buys you 1 year of unlimited local/long distance VoIP phone service. An Internet connection is required for the hardware -- a jack that you plug into your computer's USB port to start making calls. Subsequent years of service cost around $20 annually.

Clark is going to Scandinavia in late summer and will use MagicJack with the free Internet connection in his hotel rooms to call back to the United States -- all for nada.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that MagicJack is the fastest growing phone company in the United States. It's supposedly racking up 9,000 new customers everyday. That blows away the traditional cell phone carriers who are probably losing that many customers on a daily basis!

MagicJack's business model is a complete mystery to Clark. He long ago expected them to be in the graveyard, but he hopes they stay around.

One caveat: We do receive customer service complaints about MagicJack on the show. But Clark is enamored with this service that works out to be about $3/month! It's unbelievable.

The concept of paying for long distance is disappearing slowly, and someday there will no longer be any toll-free numbers. That's because cell phones, which usually include long distance, have become so prevalent.

Almost 1 in 3 of us exclusively uses a cell phone. That's presented a problem to government organizations like the CDC that rely on an ever-shrinking sampling pool of telephone users for surveys.

Of the 30% of us that exclusively use a cell phone, about half of us have a home landline but never touch it. For too long, landlines have been shoved down our throats if we have DSL or antiquated burglar alarm systems. But your monopoly local phone company's day in the sun will be over when the Clearwire initiative happens. Meanwhile, your alarm company can usually install wireless monitoring -- that burglars won't be able to cut -- for cheaper than the landline option.

In related news, cell users may have noticed that spam texts are an increasing nuisance. Americans will get 1.5 billion spam messages on their cells this year, according to Ferris Research.

The cell carriers make a cut of the profit each time a spam comes to your handset, unless you're on an unlimited plan. Clark gets about 2 of these a week, but he's already gone unlimited.

Cell carriers would be wise to switch everyone to unlimited plans. There are virtually no infrastructure costs, and the price of not doing so may be people completely shutting off their text messaging out of frustration.

Clark also believes a financial deterrent might rein in the carriers. If they were charged double -- 40 cents every time you dispute an errant spam text that costs you 20 cents, for example -- that might straighten things out.

With oil prices reaching an all-time high, it sometimes gets lost in the ether when something actually gets cheaper. Skype has announced unlimited calling to about 34 countries for $10/month. This includes most of Europe and some of Asia and the South Pacific. Right now there's a special where you can get a third off the price if you buy a subscription before June 1.

Skype started as a VoIP service that appealed to techies. eBay bought Skype because they thought it would facilitate international auctions. But it turned out sellers didn't want to take calls from buyers! So eBay turned things around by positioning Skype as a competitor to traditional long distance.

Finally, Skype also has a new service launching in about 8 countries that will allow people to make ultra-cheap calls back to the United States. The price? Try about 2-4 cents per minute. In the future, we'll likely have free global calling. That's a little bit of good news amid all the bad.

Criminals after trying to reach your wallet through your phone bill again. 3rd party aggregators have been posting bogus collect call charges to phone bills issued by the monopolies AT&T, Verizon and Qwest. First, a little background: Let's say Clark's Collect Calling Phone Company decides to charge $5/min for a collect call made from a pay phone. His goal is to bill that charge to the recipient of the call. But first he has to find a billing company that -- for a cut of the action -- will take that charge and then go to a monopoly phone company and get it on the customer's phone bill. The monopoly, of course, also gets a cut for its role in the transaction. As bad as that sounds, at least it's a legitimate business model.

But the rotten thing is that some 3rd party aggregators have been issuing charges for calls that never took place. The FCC rightfully should have put a stop to this, but they've been sitting on their hands doing nothing about these fraudulent activities. So the FTC had to step in and fine the 3rd party aggregators. One company managed to steal $35 million from people with phony charges!

The real message here is that you've got to vet your phone bill page by page every month looking for bogus charges. Businesses are a major target because their phone bills can be pages and pages long. Shame on AT&T, Verizon and Qwest for aiding and abetting the criminals. The cop on the beat is asleep, so it's up to you. Call up your phone company and get a credit if you're stuck with a phony charge.

A listener recently gave Clark a tip about Pingo.com, a website that offers a virtual calling card for ultra-cheap international calling. Please note that Clark has not personally tried this service yet. He's just passing along the information for you to make your own decision. Pingo is not a free service; you have to pay $12 to sign up and are immediately credited with $5 in calling time. So the net initial cost is $7. Some of the cheap rates advertised on the Pingo website include 3 cents/minute (Mexico) and 2 cents/minute (Russia). Clark plans to try this service when he travels to Italy and Switzerland next month. He'll keep you posted!

Years ago, Clark used a service called Freeway where he would call a toll-free number and earn free long distance calling time for listening to :10 ad spots. Hearing 1 ad got you 1 minute of talk time. Freeway, unfortunately, entered the Internet graveyard in early 2001. Today with cell phones and VoIP, nobody really expects to pay for long distance. But international calling is still very costly. So techies are buzzing about Talkster.com, a free ad-supported phone service. There's no registration necessary, and you can call internationally for nothing from any phone or computer. Talkster is also great for setting up free conference calls. The extended Howard clan has a family conference call about 6 or 8 times a year and everyone takes a turn paying for it. Next time it's Clark's turn, his relatives will be really sore at him because they'll have to listen to ads before getting on the line. But at least it won't cost Clark anything! On a related note, Oovoo.com offers free video conferencing, video messaging and all kinds of unusual techie things. Entrepreneurs are trying to adapt to expectations that everything should be free on the Internet. A lot of people are wondering how Talkster and Oovoo plan to make any real money. How long before they make it to the Internet graveyard? No one knows for sure, so ride the wave while it lasts!

The Super Bowl is the biggest moment of the year for the ad industry. The cell phone industry, meanwhile, has the holiday season as its annual pinnacle. This is the time of year when people who are just getting out of their 2-year contracts look to switch carriers. So you'll see the Big Four advertising everywhere in an effort to woo new business. T-Mobile is one company that tends to give an early Christmas gift to the people every year. T-Mobile is like the weak sister of the Big Four, which is a shame because the Jan. '08 issue of Consumer Reports ranked it just behind Verizon in overall satisfaction. The irony here is that Verizon is the most expensive and T-Mobile is the cheapest of the bunch. In fact, T-Mobile is like the great compromise: You get the best rates and it's the one carrier people hate the least.

T-Mobile's current sale is a real winner. They're offering 1,500 peak minutes for $39/month. Notice that $40 is a real price point in this business; all the companies offer comparably priced plans before junk fees and add-ons. But 1,500 minutes is what makes this offer a keeper. For $10 more a month, you get the 1,500 peak minutes and unlimited free calling after 9 p.m. and on weekends. Just grab these T-Mobile deals fast because they probably won't be around for long. On a related note, Consumer Reports says that Sprint came in dead last in 20 major markets across the country. AT&T didn't do too much better; they came in just a hair above Sprint. But AT&T has a new leader that Clark thinks will turn things around, while Sprint remains leaderless.

There are a number of new developments in the cell phone world that have Clark excited. There's a low voltage price war between a few smaller carriers that most people don't know about, plus Verizon has an exciting new development. Let's begin with the Verizon news. Starting next year, you'll be able to bring any phone to their network and use it without having to buy a Verizon phone. You can thank Google for this. It turns out that Verizon is scared of Google launching an open wireless market. So they're trying to make themselves more competitive.

The other big news involves buying cell phone minutes, which is part of an outdated business model that may be on its way out. The move started initially with Cricket and Metro PCS, who both offer unlimited calling for a flat rate starting around $35/month. But traveling with these companies has always been a problem. Now Sprint's sub-brand, Boost Unlimited, is offering unlimited calling plans for $45/month in a dozen or so new states. Boost has an edge over Cricket and Metro because they only charge 15 cents/minute if you travel and leave your home calling area. If you're a business traveler, you may also want to check out Helio.com, which offers unlimited Internet, texting, calling and more for $119/month.

Some of our recent callers have alerted us to cell-phone horror stories when traveling overseas. They've been burned for charges ranging from $5/minute on a cruise to an $8,500 bill for a variety of international calls. A slightly cheaper option is to enroll in your carrier's own international calling plan. If you choose to go this route, make sure you get an e-mail confirmation of your enrollment before you travel. A better and cheaper option still is to buy a prepaid SIM chip online. You might want to use Telestial.com, which is good for when you're doing a single-country trip. Check out RangeRoamer.com if you're going to be traveling to multiple nations. What if you're taking an action adventure trip in uncharted terrority? Try buying or renting a satellite phone, which will still cost less per minute than the usual charges from your carrier. Another tip for travelers: Get an unlocked world phone. T-Mobile will unlock your existing handset after 90 days, while AT&T requires you to complete your contract before they unlock you. You can also try going on eBay and buying an already unlocked world phone on the cheap.

If you were expecting Google to announce the rumored Gphone today, you might have been disappointed. But Google did announce a new platform called Android that promises to shake up the traditional cell phone monopolies. Soon you'll be able to take any wireless device you want and access phone calling, e-mailing, web surfing, music and TV on your digital device. This is not a Star Wars thing that's 10 years away; this should start happening late next year! Google found support for Android among a lot of big-money players. They all see the financial advantages of busting up monopoly cell phone companies who want to control everything on their platform. What the future holds from here on out is almost limitless. But free cell phone calling will probably be one benefit!

Do you remember when it was free to call directory assistance? Some free services are making a comeback thanks to a new ad-based business model. Clark's teenager recently called old-fashioned directory assistance and was charged a $1.80 before he told her about 1-800-FREE-411. Google has also launched a free service (for business listings only) available at 1-800-GOOG-411. Meanwhile, AT&T has its own service through 1-800-YellowPages.

People sometimes gripe that the numbers they get from these free services aren't always correct. But there was a recent study that found the numbers you get from paid services are just as likely to be wrong. So why pay extra for the chance of a wrong number? Clark often turns to the Internet when he's looking for a number. He practically never looks in a phone book anymore. Remember the 1979 move The Jerk starring Steve Martin? There was a scene where the new phonebook arrives and Martin goes running for it, looks up his name and shouts, "I am somebody! I'm in the phonebook!" Pretty soon people won't know what the whole phonebook phenomenon is about. In the future there may not be any phonebooks, because the costs to print and distribute them are so high. The bottom line is that you shouldn't be paying for directory assistance when there are so many free options out there. On a related note, Clark was talking to someone who lost their cell phone just a few days ago. The person discovered that thousands of dollars in international calls had been made by the thief. Under the current law, that person is responsible for those costs. To avoid a scenario like this, call your cell phone provider and get an international calling block.

What's the price of web surfing nowadays when you travel abroad? Whatever it is, Clark doesn't like to pay it! That's why he was excited in 2003 when he first heard about some vaporware from FON. This Spanish company now offers a router that allows consumers to share their Internet connection with travelers passing through their area. In return for sharing upfront, they too get free Internet around the world from other members when they travel. This is a big deal in Europe where British Telecom is installing 2.7 million FON routers across England. If you become a phone member here in the United States, you will routinely have access to free Internet when you travel overseas. So what's the cost? FON sells their router for a one-time fee of $40 -- that's it! Some cable and phone companies in the United States are hostile to this sharing model, but Time Warner is among those who have embraced it. Clark plans to order a FON router for his condo building in Florida and make his Internet connection available to his fellow residents for free. FON's routers even come with security so others can't eyeball your financial info. On a related note, The Los Angeles Times recently reported that both AT&T and Verizon reserve the right to fire customers if they say anything bad about them. Why should they monitor free speech? Clark thinks it's shameful what these monopolies are doing.

During Clark's recent trip to Montana, he was talking with a waiter who is engaged to a Peruvian woman and went down to Peru to meet her family. The waiter found that his cell phone worked in Peru so he used it as he normally would. When he got back to the U.S., he had a cell-phone bill of $800/day! Clark just discovered a service called MAXroam.com that could have helped the waiter. MAXroam sells a SIM chip that's compatible with unlocked T-Mobile and AT&T world phones -- it doesn’t work with Verizon or Sprint phones. You just put the chip in the back of your phone, and then you can travel anywhere in the world and enjoy rates that are about one-fifteenth of what U.S. companies charge you overseas. Please note that you have to be 90 days into your contract with T-Mobile to get them to unlock your phone, while AT&T requires you to have completed your initial contract. If you're in the market for a world phone, check eBay and try to get one for about $50.

Clark also provided an update about his FCC inquiry regarding AT&T's compliance with the $10 DSL deal. AT&T is contractually bound to provide $10/month DSL for customers in a 22-state region as part of its takeover of Bell South. But the problem is that AT&T keeps unethically hiding the deal on its website. Clark asked the FCC to look into this, but they didn't give him a straight answer. Later this year, AT&T will be required to offer naked DSL. Let's see if they're more forthcoming with that deal.

Clark has two free deals to share that each comes with its own catch. The Internet has been through so much in its brief history. In the "dot.bomb era," as Clark calls it, practically anything you wanted could be found for free online. Back in the mid-'90s, Clark mentioned during an interview that free long distance would be coming soon. The interviewer scoffed and thought he was crazy. Today we have various compromises where you can get free long distance if you pay a monthly or annual fee. The latest development now comes in the form of ThePudding.com, a new website that offers free long distance with one slightly strange catch. There's no software to download and it's all completely free, but ThePudding.com has artificial intelligence that listens in to your call and uses keywords to feed ads to your computer while you're using the service. Joel of Clark's team has volunteered to be the guinea pig and taste some Pudding. We'll let you know how it goes!

The second deal comes from the world of online music. Clark previously predicted that SpiralFrog, a company promising free music downloads, would hit his Internet graveyard before it even had a chance to launch. But now SpiralFrog is up and running and it offers what it promised -- in return for watching ads while the music downloads. There's so much pent-up demand for a service like this. Clark couldn't even get on the SpiralFrog site for the first few days after launch. This is a great way to legally get music for free. On a related note, Amazon has begun selling music downloads for 89-99 cents/song and they have no digital-rights management (DRM) restrictions. That means the music will work on an iPod or any other music player of your choice.

Do you need yet another reason to dump the three monopoly phone companies -- Verizon, AT&T and Qwest -- and their outdated landlines? Well, here it is: Verizon is playing dirty pool by getting into the AT&T game of charging customers a fee for long distance even if you don't use long distance. The Verizon fee is a couple of bucks a month, but AT&T had been charging people between three and five dollars to not use long distance! So unless you absolutely need a landline, why not liberate yourself? Here's the problem the phone companies are facing: They fought very hard to be able to sell long distance, but then people started using their cell phones, pre-paid cards, the Internet and/or cable phone companies to make their long distance calls. In fact, the cable companies usually offer unlimited long distance. So now the monopoly phone companies are fighting a losing battle.

Clark advises anyone who has older parents to go through their phone bill and see if you can save them money by enrolling them in Lifeline, which is a much more affordable tariff-rated service that seniors can get. Also be aware that if your parents have been in same residence since the early '80s, they may be paying a lease for telephones they had back then. Those fees could cumulatively amount to thousands of dollars, so be on the lookout on your folks' behalf. Finally, one last tip for saving money when it comes to your landline: If you pay for an unlisted number, why not just change it to a listed number and make up the name in the listing? Clark doesn't care if you call yourself Abraham Lincoln, the point is just to stop paying extra and unnecessary fees!

Sunrocket, the internet phone service provider, is dead. People really let Clark have it on the Clark Stinks board for recommending them. Clark believed in them, but he lost money too when they suddenly folded. After a few days Sunrocket put up some referrals to new companies that will take on their former customers , but even with these referrals, it's risky. You just can't predict how long a company will stay in business. A lot of people are choosing to run for safe cover: the cable company. The problem is, internet phone service from cable is almost twice as expensive as the smaller start-ups. There's a new company called Ooma who are selling internet phone service for life for $399. But who knows how they're going to do down the road. Currently, Clark uses a service owned by Ebay called Skype, which costs $29 for an entire year of unlimited local and long distance. It's not as easy to use as Sunrocket, but they're backed by a big company.

There's another company called Grand Central that's getting some big backing from Google. This is for people who have several phones--a land line, a business line, a cell phone, etc. This service gives you one number, which rings all your lines at once, so you are always reachable. You can also hear the voice mail in real time, as it's being recorded so you can decide if you want to "pick up" or not. And the voice mail goes to one inbox. This will make life much simpler for those who like to stay reachable!

Sprint manages to be at the front of the cell phone industry pack for the world’s worst customer service. Sprint has fired 1,000 customers because they asked for too much customer service! What kind of company fires customers because they want to talk to customer service too often for billing problems and technical problems? The real problem is that Sprint runs a lousy business—they are the only major cell phone company losing customers. If you call customer service too often for their taste, Sprint lets you out of your contract! So if you’re unhappy with Sprint and don’t want to pay the cancellation charge just call a lot for help and you’ll get dropped! This is your way to get rid of Sprint: by making them want to get rid of you.

One more trick of the trade: If the four major cell phone companies -- Verizon, AT&T (formerly Cingular), Sprint and T-Mobile – send you some legal mumbo-jumbo and try to change your contract, and you are unhappy with them, you can deny the new terms of service and get out of it without having to pay a penalty. On a related note, Clark says the new iPhone is absolutely neat. That’s mostly because Apple demanded to be in charge of the cell phone’s abilities. Apple went to the various carriers and demanded control over the phone. AT&T was the only one that took them up on the offer. However, Clark doesn’t like the iPhone contract AT&T insists that you sign.

Long distance has come a long way in the past 10 years. Now people get it for free on most cell phones. Some recent court and administrative decisions has made prepaid phone cards more confusing. One of the changes that have taken place is that placing a call in state can cost 20 times what it costs to call overseas. States are now able to charge massive per minute charges and those get passed on to you. This is a huge problem in Florida currently with all the in state long distance charges. People that use the internet to make phone calls are not affected by this but watch out if you are still a traditional phone card user.

JaJah and Rebtel are two communications companies that are changing the international communications game. They are both offering cheap to free international calling. You can go to their websites at Jajah.com and Rebtel.com to see exactly how they work. They are easy to use and can save you tons so check them out.

There are many people who are not into computers or the Internet, but they make a lot of long distance calls. Clark’s mother is one of these types. So, how can you get unlimited long distance calling without using Internet telephony? There is a gadget called the “Chatterbug” that hooks into your phone jack and it is always $9.95 a month. You don’t need a computer or any other lines or wires. All you need is the jack. If you have questions, you can call customer service at 866-690-3919. Lots of retirees have two homes. Well, you’re allowed to register two addresses and you never pay more than $9.95 a month as long as you take the device with you to each place.

AT&T, which has taken over Cingular wireless, is also the largest phone company for homes and businesses. Basically, the company wants you to think of AT&T as a single-source provider for every type of telecommunication service you need. The company is now offering a plan known as “Unity,” which combines everything. Clark would call it confusing. In order to get the plan, you have to buy local phone service, buy an option for long distance and buy a wireless plan of $60 or more. It ends up being about $120 a month for all of it. So, what would make that plan worth it? Well, you’ll be able to call any AT&T cell phone or home phone FOR FREE. It wouldn’t count against minutes ever. The only time it would count against your minutes is if you called someone who is not on AT&T for home or business service. So, you have to figure out if it makes sense for you. If you live in an area served by MetroPCS or Cricket, it probably wouldn’t. Those companies offer unlimited local and long distance calls in your home market for $40 a month. But if you travel a lot and use your phone on the road, or if you’re not in a MetroPCS or Cricket, it might be worth your while. Do some homework and decide what’s best for you.

Would you believe that you can make international calls for free? It’s true. A company in Iowa offers this service now. All you have to do is call into the switch or gateway access code in Iowa, enter the country code and then you’re in! There is no catch as far as Clark can see. The company is futurephone.com, and you can get the access numbers off the site. There are about 50 countries available for calling. Now, in most of the countries, you can’t call cell phones – only land lines. The numbers are 712-945-1111 or 712-858-8883. Clark is concerned that the volume will rise to a point where the company won’t be able to offer it anymore. The demand could outstrip the supply. But give it a shot. There is nothing else like it.

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What about free music? Remember the days of Napster when people pilfered without any cares. Then the crackdown came and free music downloads became a big no-no. Well, once again, you can get music for free. You just have to listen to some ads. One caveat is that you can only listen to the music on your computer, and you can only listen three times. But it’s free! Why is Napster doing this? They’re trying to reintroduce their brand and convince you to pay for subscription services. But you don’t have to buy. So give it a try.

The FCC has approved the takeover of AT&T by SBC, one of the major long distance companies in the country. AT&T, once the proudest name in corporate America, is no more. Now, AT&T wireless has disappeared, the cable provider dissolved and now the entire company itself is no more. But funny enough, people don’t know who SBC is. So, ironically, SBC is adopting AT&T’s name. The company knew AT&T had great name recognition, even if it’s negative. The good news is that because of this merge, people can now get high-speed Internet access without having to sign up for local phone service. Also, if you have an alternative phone service such as Vonage or Packet8, it will be illegal for these companies to block that access. Several other companies are doing that and playing dirty pool. But with SBC and Verizon, it will be illegal and, in turn, the rate will be much cheaper.

A few weeks ago, Clark talked about a device called the “Internet Phone Wizard.” He said on air that he was going to try it out and see how it worked. It’s a tiny box that hooks up to your computer and telephone line. Then, if you’re subscribed to an Internet phone service such as Skype, you can talk to people on an actual phone for free. A lot of people don’t want to deal with Internet phone calling because you have to sit in front of a computer and wait for the call. But with the Phone Wizard it rings on your home phone, just like normal. What’s so stunning to Clark is that usually technology doesn’t work as it’s advertised. But the Phone Wizard works just like it says it will and it even improves call quality. If you make mostly domestic calls, it’s not worth it. But, if you have family or friends abroad, consider using it. It costs $50, but it will save you a ton in overseas calls.

AT&T was once the most powerful private company in the United States. Today, the company is a whimpering, wounded animal. AT&T has announced that it is withdrawing from the consumer long distance market. However, the company will continue to serve people who have residential service with them right now. Clark’s advice: BAIL NOW! The company has 35 million residential customers, yet it can’t stay afloat. People who remain customers with AT&T will get eaten up with monthly fees and minimums, even if you don’t make many long distance calls each month. There are so many other options out there, and most of them require no fee or monthly minimum. If you have high speed Internet, you can get rid of home service all together and start using Internet calling services. For the Internet telephony services, click here. For alternative long distance plans, click here. You may still feel the need to have a traditional phone line right now, but technology will solve that problem soon enough. If you have satellite service, it may be tough to switch to Internet telephone because many companies receive signal and programming information over the phone line. Burglar alarm systems also can create a problem. So, there are some inconveniences and obstacles, but many people still can take advantage of these alternatives.