You may well not know about it, but if you’ve got money in stock market funds, the people looking after your cash are gobbling it up. “I just plug the Vonage box into [my] normal telephone and use it in the normal way.”It’s also cheap to call overseas and you can check on the website how much it costs to call certain countries.”. The bill for his business and personal calls has dropped from between £60 and £100 a month to £9.99 – the monthly service charge.”There’s no need for a headset,” he says. After buying a £79.99 adaptor box, users get free calls to UK landlines for a year, followed by a monthly £6.99 subscription.Customers do not need to switch their PC on and simply plug their handset into the box.Another downside of VoIP is that most packages don’t allow 999 calls to emergency services. “To start with, I would recommend people go for the better-known brands.”To help consumers, uSwitch is developing a service that compares VoIP providers.

For now, it is looking at subscription rates, sign-up costs and daytime calls to UK landlines. “If you are only interested in making occasional computer-to-computer calls, packages such as BT’s Communicator may be all you need,” says Mr Wadman.”But for computer-to-landline calls, signing up with Vonage, Gossiptel and Sipgate would be better.”There are other factors to watch out for, though.Depending on how much you use the internet for pastimes such as music and film downloads, some broadband packages might restrict the amount of time you can spend talking.For example, although more and more broadband deals offer unlimited downloads every month, some limit you to a set amount of material – two gigabytes’ worth, say.As a guide, a “medium” user who, on a daily basis, surfs the net for two hours, sends three emails, and downloads a one-minute video clip and two music files would have enough of his 2GB download limit left for a 30-minute chat every day.You can also miss an incoming call if your computer is switched off, since several VoIP deals need you to keep your PC on in order to receive a call.However, more now offer a “router” box into which you plug a telephone and take calls in the normal way, even when the computer is switched off.Wanadoo, BT and Vonage all make this option available, the latter charging £9.99 a month for a service that includes free calls to other Vonage users and all UK landlines.Last week, DSG International – the parent of Currys as well as Dixons – launched Freetalk. Most PC packages come with these but, if not, they are easily available on the high street.Using the software, type the recipient’s number in on your keyboard and you’ll hear a ringing tone several seconds later. You can then natter on the net as if making a regular call.If both parties have signed up to the same VoIP deal, the call – no matter how long – is, in most cases, free.Alternatively, if either of you is on a landline anywhere in the world, the calls cost as little as 0.5 pence per minute (see the table below). Use Skype for an hour-long chat with a friend in Canada, for example, and it will set you back just 72pThe rates are more expensive if you dial a mobile: a minute during the daytime to a phone on the Vodafone network costs 16p with Skype.To pay for these calls, you’ll usually need to subscribe with a credit card account – and there may also be a small rental charge.”At the moment, there isn’t a lot to distinguish between providers except for variations in call cost,” says Blair Wadman of the price-comparison service uSwitch.

How to Get ThereShakespeare’s Globe, 21 New Globe Walk, London SE1 9DT (020-7902-1500; www.shakespeares-globe ).By Underground: Cannon Street/Mansion House/Blackfriars/ (and walk over the Millennium Bridge), London Bridge, Southwark.By train: Cannon Street, Blackfriars, London Bridge, Waterloo By bus: 344 to Southwark Bridge.. The Gunpowder Plot exhibition runs until 25 March 2006.Wheelchair accessible. Some Braille and recorded commentary in the permanent exhibition Full access guide available. SouvenirsA vast range of books and gifts, including Shakespeare’s insults magnets (£8.50) and a plague rat hand-puppet (£10.50). Admission and accessOpen daily, May-September, 9am-5pm, October-April, 10am-5pm.

Admission £9 for adults, £6.50 for children aged five to 15, family ticket (two adults, three children) £25 Tours start every 15-30 minutes (except during matinees). Be sure to see the original documents – including the crucial letter tipping off Lord Monteagle not to attend Parliament – and read some of the informative panels assessing their relevance RefreshmentsA caf?nd restaurant by the Thames. Light meals from £5.95; “modern European” set menu from £17.95. Suitably theatrical actors lead on the tours, keeping young minds focused on their surroundings.