I know that ultimately someone's going to take a swing at me for this but - try a Mac..........
I Chat is built in - not just text but now full broadband video conferencing. Remember to ask the tricky questions they'd rather you didn't out there in the windoze zoo.
Is what they're recommending full duplex/multiplex for sane conferencing just like your own home phone?? The Apple system is.
Additionally us Mac types have internet telephony if the data rate/contention drops too low for decent video.
Did I mention it is free???