PC To Phone Using (VoIP) With Dial-Up

Have you heard that you can make phone calls over the internet cheaply? Have you had a chance to try it? Most people that have had a chance to try it have experienced hit or miss quality, dropped calls as well as some speech delays. But there are some steps that you can take to really improve the quality and consistency of you VoIP calls over your internet Connection.

There is a lot of buzz these days around Internet based communication, VoIP, replacing regular/traditional telephone service. Much of the buzz has been created by/around a company called Vonage, who?s motto is ?Leading the Internet Phone Revolution?.

Even if you do not have a broadband connection, you can still save a fortune by using VOIP service for long distance calls. A broadband connection will give you more consistent, reliable call quality, but similar results can be obtained using a dial up account if some guidelines are followed.

All VoIP service providers are different, they do not all support dial-up users. Companies such as Vonage happens to be one that backs away from dial up connections. The providers that do support dial up usually only support dial-up above certain speeds. The two most popular companies that do support dial up VoIP are Callserve and Go2Call.

If you close programs that are running in the background, you will get higher call quality. If you are using windows, just right click & close all open non-essential applications that are shown in your taskbar at the bottom right of your screen. If you are using windows XP & there are other users logged on, be sure they log off before trying to make a call.

You also need to be conscience of what you are doing while you are on the call. If you overload the limited data capability your call quality will suffer. Other activities that will compete for bandwith are: Instant Messaging, checking your email, web cameras, surfing the internet or downloading anything.

Scan your system frequently for Viruses and Adware, these programs can tie up your browser and internet connection, slow down your system and affect your call quality.

Make it a habit to scan your system every month so your virus software remains uo to date. McAfee or Nortons are good programs, Spybot ? Search & Detroy is good for removing spyware.

Use a headset with a boom microphone and this should eliminate annoying voice echoes often associated with VoIP phone calls. If you use a headset, voice signals are limited in volume and thus the chances of your microphone 're-transmitting' those voice signals is greatly reduced.

So if you have dial up you can still enjoy the cost savings of making PC to VoIP call.

Christine is the owner of http://onlinevoipinfo.com/ which deals specifically with PC to Phone and PC to PC VoIP. The site includes a comprehensive information on VoIP.

Select the best VOIP provider in UK

Consider the following points before selecting the best VOIP provider: Comparison of call charges of various VOIP providers:
The most important benefit of VOIP usage is cost savings, which motivates you to use VOIP. So, you should analyse the VOIP call rate list to ensure maximum cost advantage. Some VOIP companies offer plans with minute-rate charges while some offer plans for unlimited usage.

Another factor that you need to consider is the amount of time for which you may use the service in a month. If you do a lot of calling, you need a package from a provider with cheaper rates for heavy usage but if you are a light user, then the provider who offers a smaller package at lower cost will suit you better.

List the value added calling features offered by different providers Look at the value added features offered by various VoIP providers. Some additional features offered are caller ID, call waiting, call transfer, repeat dial, return call, 3-way calling, etc. There are some advanced call-filtering options that allow you to make a choice about how calls from a particular number are handled. You can forward a call to a particular number, send the call directly to voicemail, give the caller a busy signal, play a message, etc using this feature. But not all VOIP providers have this offer. So, select the one that offers the features that you need the most. Check the availability of Local Area Codes in Your Region Consider the states where the VoIP provider is providing local area codes, while choosing the service. The provider may claim to provide you with a number that you can use from anywhere but if the number isn't local, then most of your calls will be long distance. In that case, people in your local area will have to make long distance calls to talk to you. So you need to check the availability of area code in your region. Also, some providers offer access only to a limited number of country codes.

Confirm call coverage to other providers
Some VOIP providers offer services where calls can be made only to other VoIP users while others offer the facility for both VoIP users and those with regular phones. Many offer free calls to those who use the same service provider. So check these offers with respect to the associated costs.

Check the Availability of Access to Emergency Services
Confirm whether VOIP providers offer access to emergency services like 911. These emergency services should be able to trace your call to your physical location so that they can be of use. Confirm which providers are offering this facility before making a choice.

Determine the Quality of Service
Before selecting a VoIP provider, confirm which service provider has good quality of sound and interface. Take a look at published reviews for various VoIP services or talk to other users of the same service. Find out the ease and cost of installation

Lastly, find out what are the needs for setting up and installing the service. See if there are any additional costs or hidden costs. After you have worked on these points, go ahead and start using the service and enjoy the benefits of VOIP.

alen
xpert4u.co.uk
UK mobile phone directory

VoIP

What is VoIP?

VoIP, or Voice-Over-Internet Protocol, is literally a phone call placed via an internet connection. VoIP has been a long time coming and early internet phone calls were not that reliable and a bit garbled. But they were free. Over the last decade, VoIP has increasingly made its way into business and is now making its way into more and more homes, as people find better, more affordable ways to communicate with convenience.

An internet protocol is a way in which data is handled over networks. It is typically a standard method for passing data from one point to another point via network cable. Voice-Over-Internet protocol is the method by which one's voice is translated from an analog signal to digital 1s and 0s then transported over broadband network connections, often still for a fraction of the cost of long distance phone calls.

Advantages

According to many experts VoIP is expected to be the phone protocol of choice for the future, alongside the ubiquitous wireless calls. VoIP is flexible, and affordable. As long as one has an internet connection, some free or inexpensive VoIP software on their PC, and a microphone, VoIP is viable. It is a simple communication method to setup. The major phone companies already use the technology that makes VoIP possible. They must move large bundles of long distance digital data known as packet switching quickly and conveniently.

One of the most attractive advantages to VoIP is the ability to receive internet phone calls anywhere you are, as long as you are accessible to the internet. Like wireless technology, this frees you from the constraints posed by a phone line connected to a wall jack.

What You Need

There are a number of ways to currently use VoIP. The easiest and least expensive by far is the PC-to-PC connection. Requirements are a PC that is connected to the internet, preferably with a cable or DSL connection; a microphone, speakers, and VoIP software that can still be had inexpensively, even free in many cases.

An increasingly popular method for VoIP is the use of the proprietary VoIP phones that are becoming a standard for many businesses. Companies such as IBM and Cisco Systems are well known for their VoIP phone systems that are designed to become a seamless addition to any large or small business network. Many bundle video along with them making long-distance conferencing effective and affordable for business.

Disadvantages

Currently, the disadvantages to VoIP are the reliability of packet switching technology to seamlessly transport important voice data streaming, real time conversations over the long haul of network cable. Businesses that rely on such technology must be willing to accept the risks involved with poor internet connections, lost signals, and dropped data packets. The internet as a real time communication tool is still in relative infancy in comparison to the technology behind the analog telephone system that has been in existence for well over a century.

Sara Chambers is a marketing consultant and an internet content manager for http://www.voipweblog.com

Will VoIP be a Mass Market Product?

 by: Patrizia

A common thinking among "Marketing people " is that for every product that enters the market there must be a path, a target, a need ( real or created) that decides how the product must enter the consumer's life, which part of the population is more likely to go for it, which niche it is going to fill and, most important "...certain things being stated, something other than what is stated follows of necessity from their being so." and that is the final issue: the price.

Depending on those anavoidable patterns a product is more or less ready for a certain market.

High technologically devices, the ones that offer perfect quality and cost a fortune will target the elitarian market, where the price has not big importance (on the contrary, if the price would be lower than what certain people can afford, the product wouldn't reach them) since it means luxury.

When a product ceases to be luxury and begins to be a need, then the mass market is ready. The product can enter 60% of consumers' lives, reach easily a good upgrade in the percentage and become " The New Product of the year 200....".

Let's consider the VoIP market.

Prior to recent theoretical work on social needs, the usual purpose of a product invoked individual (social) behaviors. We now know that these assumptions are not completely wrong.

Wrong would be NON considering them.

In systems where many people are free to choose between many options, a small subset of the whole offer will get a disproportionate amount of traffic (or attention, or income), even if no one of the system actively work towards such an outcome. This has nothing to do with moral weakness, selling out, or any other psychological explanation. The very act of choosing, spread widely enough and freely enough, creates a power law distribution.

Now, thanks to a series of breakthroughs in network theory by researchers we know that power law distributions tend to arise in social systems where many people express their preferences among many options. We also know that as the number of options rise, the curve becomes more extreme. This is a counter-intuitive finding - most of us would expect a rising number of choices to flatten the curve, but in fact, increasing the size of the system increases the gap between the #1 spot and the median spot.

In other words: give to the people the choice among desktop phones and mobile phones and the majority will choose what they think more convenient, in spite of the cost of the service.

In a way the cost of the service is the only left advantage in favour of the fixed telephony.

If the price was the same the desktop phones would disappear from the life of the average consumer (mass market consumer).

To see how freedom of choice could create such unequal distributions, consider a hypothetical population of a thousand people, each picking their favorite way of telecommunication. One way to model such a system is simply to assume that each person has an equal chance of liking each kind of telephony. This distribution would be basically flat - most kind of telephony will have the same number of people listing it as a favorite. A few will be more popular than average and a few less, of course, but that will be statistical noise. The bulk of the telephony will be of average popularity, and the highs and lows will not be too far different from this average. In this model, neither the quality of the voice, the availability, the design of the device nor other people's choices have any effect; there are no shared tastes, no preferred genres, no effects from marketing or recommendations from friends.

This is the mass market of VoIP as dreamed and forecasted by most hardware producers.

People would choose VoIP in spite of the fact that the systems are not intercommunicating, the available phones are just desktop phones, most of the population doesn't have a "Flat rate DSL" and some do not even have a decent connection, (just one " UP to...) and just because VoIP means cutting cost.

They have a few wrong assumptions:

1. Most of the people want to save calling internationally

2. Most of the people will use a cheap Flat rate connection

3. Most of the people know how to handle a computer or a network, and so solve all the eventual problems that could arise.

But they do not consider that:

1. Most people call locally and just a few once in a while internationally.

2. Most of the people do not have a cheap flat rate Internet

3. Most of the people are not IT experts.

Besides people's choices do affect one another. If we assume that any kind of telephony chosen by one user is more likely, by even a fractional amount, to be chosen by another user, the system changes dramatically.

If Robert (our average mass market consumer) likes to have a phone in his pocket, available mostly anywhere, it is very likely that Mary would like the same.

Is VoIp ready for the "Mass Market"?

The answer could be No and Yes.

What would VoIP offer more than the existing several choices?

1. Price. Telephone calls would be completely free of charge among two IP phones ( and that believe me is a GREEEEAT THING when you try it)

2. The never enough considered satisfaction to be able to ref..ck who f..cked us for many years...

What would VoIP telephony need to be #1 spot in the curve?

1. A reliable PORTABLE Phone that doesn't need millions of Hot Spot's to work.

2. A reliable, cheap flat rate internet connection anywhere for everybody.

If ONE could put these patterns together, THEN VoIP would really have the chance to be #1.

See my website: http://www.worldonip.com or contact me patrizia@worldonip.com

Patrizia is an ebooks publisher. See also http://www.easymediabroadcast.com

VoIP Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Relief

 IP CommunicationsPromotional Offer One-Week Extension

We are happy to announce the extension of our December Promotional Offer for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Communications Customers. BE 100% SURE TO GET YOUR TSUNAMI RELIEF, FRIENDS AND FAMILY ON THE VoIP PRODUCT WHILE WE HAVE THIS EXTENSION.

Due to the computer mix-up on Dec. 30th and 31st, our partners at Packet8 have agreed to extend the promotion starting Monday Night 1/10/05 at 8pmest. thru Friday Night 1/14/05 at 8pmest.

The Promotion is the following FOR THIS WEEK ONLY!!!
FREE UNIT = ($60 Value) FREE ACTIVATION = ($29 Value) (2) FREE MONTHS SERVICE = ($40 Value) Total Savings of $129
Don't miss out on this very special extension being offered to us!!!! Keep up the great work and if we can show them the value of our sales force, they will always do whatever they can to help YOU promote your business.

Happy Selling Nate Perkins: 678-565-8633 V.P. Of Marketing http://www.nateperkinsent@bellsouth.net

repsupport@escapeinternational.com
phone: (866) 565-8633
http://www.voippacket8.net

Discount Code: #255828
Nate Perkins
CEO

We are happy to announce the extension of our December Promotional Offer for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Communications Customers. BE 100% SURE TO GET YOUR TSUNAMI RELIEF, FRIENDS AND FAMILY ON THE VoIP PRODUCT WHILE WE HAVE THIS EXTENSION.

Due to the computer mix-up on Dec. 30th and 31st, our partners at Packet8 have agreed to extend the promotion starting Monday Night 1/10/05 at 8pmest. thru Friday Night 1/14/05 at 8pmest.

The Promotion is the following FOR THIS WEEK ONLY!!!
FREE UNIT = ($60 Value) FREE ACTIVATION = ($29 Value) (2) FREE MONTHS SERVICE = ($40 Value) Total Savings of $129
Don't miss out on this very special extension being offered to us!!!! Keep up the great work and if we can show them the value of our sales force, they will always do whatever they can to help YOU promote your business.

Happy Selling Nate Perkins: 678-565-8633 V.P. Of Marketing http://www.nateperkinsent@bellsouth.net

repsupport@escapeinternational.com
phone: (866) 565-8633
http://www.voippacket8.net

Discount Code: #255828
Nate Perkins
CEO

Honorable Retired Disabled Veteran Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel "Nate"W.Perkins served in the U.S. Army for 25 years, in the field of Telecommunications and Information Technology Warfare at the highest level.