Just bought one of these for using Skype to my daughter in Spain, and friend in America. Cost just £12-99 from Argos. A simple straightforward phone with good sound quality.

Like I often say about Skype though, it's not a proper service, and although you say 'just' £12.99, all you've purchased is a USB speaker and microphone, with a few buttons on it. It's not a telephone at all, you could do the same job with a pair of headphones and microphone.

It's a pity more people don't see Skype for the rubbish it is, and use a proper SIP based service with proper VOIP phones not requiring your PC to be left on when you want a call.

I don't disagree. It's just that my daughter and a number of other friends have Skype already.

Which Voip services allow you to call without your PC being on?

Sipgate,VOIPcheap/buster, VOIP.co.uk and all the other SIP standard providers, oh and even Tesco/freshtell, although they are expensive

As stated, there's loads. I'm personally with Sipgate because I get a free geographical incoming landline with no monthly rental and free calls between several other VOIP providers. The calls I make on the public phone network are dirt cheap, and although I have a dedicated VOIP router that cost around £60, a standard router can have an ATA added to serve as a VOIP router. Alternatively, if you go to Sipgate.co.uk you can buy a proper VOIP phone with an ethernet connection that goes straight into your router and is pre-configured for the service (but again, unlike the Skype hype, you can change the SIP settings to work on any SIP provider, it's not locked to Sipgate).

An ATA??

Analogue terminal adaptor, as long as you have a spare port on your router this device can be connected to allow any standard telephone to be used for VOIP calls, completely bypassing your computer.

Analogue Telephone Adapter.

You connect a regular corded or cordless phone or both or several and make calls without the need of the PC being on, there either connect to a router or loop through an ethernet based modem.