I came across this article on TalkPlus today, and while it's not useful for me personally, I think it's a pretty cool offering, especially if you have relatives or business customers outside of the United States.

If I understand correctly, it works like this. For a monthly fee between $7 and $12, TalkPlus will assign local numbers in up to 30 countries linked to your phone. You give your family, friends, biz contacts in those countries the number assigned to thatcountry, and they can call you for the same rate as any local call.

(When I go to the TalkPlus site, I see a different pricing model for "TalkPlus Country Connect" that charges 2.7 cents per minute on the calls that come in to you. I'm not sure if the article I refer to above is talking about a new TalkPlus service set to roll out, or if they have their facts wrong.)

So, if you have family in India for example, you give them the local number that TalkPlus has assigned for their area. They dial that local number, and then TalkPlus routes that call to you. Your family/biz contacts pay only for a local call, making it more convenient for them to contact you.

It's basically the equivalent of having your own toll-free number, but it works easily internationally, whch is pretty cool.

I believe there may be competitors that do this, too, so if you know of any, feel free to link to them in the comments.