"Fred What appears to you as a firewall issue is really more fundamental. The SIP based services use UDP and RTP (real time protocols) for video and audio. These protocols require holes in the firewall, but even then are very spotty when it comes to quality, particularly multi-party video. the reason is that there is no signalling layer allowing varied bit rates on different bandwidth and enabling real-time response to bandwidth change. Skype uses TCP on port 80 and sends redundant packets. It also ignores the "ack" that TCP builds in for quality. this gives it firewall traversal with no issues as well as quality of service. Add to that a signaling layer monitoring bandwidth changes and a great codec and you have great service. So far, the attachment to "standards" (UDP and RTP) prevents most others from having as good a service offering. I recommend staying with Skype and biting what would be a small cost. If you want something a bit different (multi-party with moderation and..." - Keith Teare