In addition to email the internet has enabled voice and video chat to provide excellent communication capabilities, so long as you and the 
people that you want to connect with are using the same software application / service and happen to be online at the same time. There are quite a few services to choose from. Some services are integrated into social media platforms like Facebook Chat or Google Hangouts. Your family members may be on Facebook, but you might prefer not to have to open a Facebook account for yourself, in which case Skype might be a better solution for you. A less-well known service is Ooyoo, but the quality of sound is slightly better than with Skype and that might be important for those people who are hard of hearing.
One big difference between web based voice systems and a traditional telephone is that, on the web, only one person can be talking at one time. Each system handles this problem slightly differently, but essentially they all do the same thing – the louder voice wins! It’s worth enlisting the help of a family member or close friend to test out some services with you and see which one works best for your needs. It’s also worth spending some time getting used to the difference. Elderly people who have been used to using the standard telephone all their lives may find a web based system a little disconcerting at first. Remember also, if someone is nervous about appearing on camera, all these services will let you hold voice-only calls. If you do want to use video, your computer will need to have a camera built-in. If it does not, then you can buy a webcam relatively cheaply and this will plug into one of your computer’s USB ports. Some even have microphones built in, too. Most tablets and all smartphones have cameras. So do most laptops these days.
The main problems that people run into when trying to connect to friends and family online are to do with the audio settings on the devices being used. Most applications and services have a setup routine that helps you get the camera and microphone working correctly, but if you inadvertently change something later and have problems on your calls, you’ll need to run that setup again.
It’s worth getting familiar with the controls for volume up/down and mute on your computer, if you haven’t done so already. Sometimes it’s the simplest of reasons why you are have problems hearing – the volume is too low or you have inadvertently pressed the mute key! Again, it’s worth having some practice calls to make sure everything is working correctly.