Yate

Yate is a software tool that can be used in order to keep in touch with friends and family members, using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network).

The installation process is a piece of cake, and it is over in a few seconds, while the UI you are greeted by presents a minimal and plain interface. It only contains a menu bar, and a tabbed panel where you can view your chat and telephony contacts.

It becomes clear it is accessible to all types of users, including those with little to no experience with the IT world. Moreover, there is a add account wizard you can take advantage of, which will guide you every step of the way.

This software utility enables you to add several accounts, be they telephony, Google Talk, Facebook chat or IM accounts. Like most instant messengers, this Yate lets you change your status, add an unlimited amount of friends and organize them in groups.

Aside from that, it is possible to create chat rooms, send or receive any kind of file, view info about a person, and show logs. You should also know that video and voice is supported, so that you can video call your loved ones with ease.

Offline friends can be hidden or shown, a debug window can be accessed and from the settings panel, you can use multiple lines at the same time when calling people, auto answer, enable a ringer, hide or show empty groups in the contact list and the list goes on.

To sum up, Yate is an efficient piece of software, which comes bundled with VoIP, PSTN, audio and video support. It has a good response time, it does not put a strain on your computer’s performance and both power and novice users can work with it.