Eliminating the Phone Bill with VoIP

I expect I'm part of the majority when saying my communication costs seem to have grown exponentially. Expenses for phone, fax, cell phone, high-speed internet, cable, satellite, etc., have all combined to seriously raise the bar on what I can get done, but at a correspondingly higher cost. Seems like I ought to be able to get rid of something! I could get rid of my phone bill (landline) by relying on my cell phone. A lot of folks do just that and it works great for them. However, some of us still need something like a landline - usually for business.

Another alternative I've been watching evolve, is Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP for short. This basically means using the Internet to talk on the phone. This has been around for a while now, but until recently, required one or both parties to be logged onto a computer. It was kind of novel, and having free long distance was a definite plus, but for day to day use, was obviously a pain.

However, VoIP is finally coming into the mainstream, offering serious competition to traditional carriers by providing VoIP using your regular hand-held phone. Keep in mind you need a broadband connection to utilize these services - either DSL or cable, but since I've already got cable, it's a no-brainer. Savings over my last phone bill is $64 a month, which goes way past what I need to satisfy my Starbucks habit! Even better, is since I bundled high-speed internet service with my existing cable, I cut that cost by about $30 a month. Yes, life is good!

Several providers offer their broadband service starting at about $15 a month for their basic plan. That usually includes about 500 minutes of local and long distance calling throughout the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, along with all the expected features like caller id, call waiting, call forwarding, yada, yada, yada. For unlimited calling, premium plans cost about $25 a month. Plus, most offer decent international rates, and no contract commitment.

There are several players to consider, including Vonage, Verizon VoiceWing and AT&T CallVantage. They all have similar plans in the same price range, some with additional features. Existing customers of specific providers can sometimes save more costs by combining other services. As you'll observe when researching, most of the major players, are now starting to compete in this space, and they bring serious credentials, which will translate into stability and reliability going forward.

One of the biggest motivators for me, after price and reliability of course, is that all these providers disclose all the taxes and fees up front on their websites - try getting that out of "ma bell" - like pulling teeth. And, those taxes and fees are minimal - like a couple bucks compared to over $10 with the "other guys". Do yourself a favor and take a look - you might save some bucks.

John Allen writes on a wide variety of topics. Visit his blog at http://www.downsizedlife.blogspot.com to read more or obtain feeds. He can also be reached through his website http://www.j2trading.com which focuses on finding unique gifts.

VOIP for home use: Is that right for you?

VOIP has created so much hype that by now, everyone is aware about the fact that VOIP is a computer phone that allows you to make phone calls from your computer to anyone in the world. Over the next couple of years phone over Internet will be the norm for most homes and businesses. A VOIP provider can save you upto 75% on your telephone/long distance expenses. Even now, not everyone is sure how to go about this technology for home use and does it have any benefit for your family. So lets clear our doubts regarding this technology.

First of all, you must have a high-speed Internet connection, which can be, satellite, or DSL Internet. The high-speed connection is required for VOIP to function properly and dial up connection doesn't have the capacity to transfer voice without compromising on quality. Secondly, you need a gateway that is connected between your computer and Ethernet modem. The VOIP gateway is where your phone line will be plugged into. With gateways, you can be sure of getting improved voice quality.

VOIP is easy to use, and depending on the service and method you choose, installation can be as easy as downloading software or attaching an adaptor to your computer. With the elimination of long-distances charges, unregulated charges, and all the freebies that come standard with VOIP service, it can actually amount to a significant saving for you. For example, you may be paying extra for features like: Call waiting, three way calling, Call forwarding, Caller I.D, Repeat dial. If you don't want to leave out of the exciting face-to-face conversations with friends and relatives, get your videophone. One important thing to remember is that your gateway is reliant on electricity to function, which means power outages, will put your phone line out of service.

So, if you want to save money on your telephone service using the Internet, you will need to sign up with a VOIP service provider. Most providers allow you to call any phone number in the world for a moderately low fee. They also provide voicemail, call forwarding and conference calls, at no extra charge. Decision to choose VoIP depends on your needs. If you make a large number of long distance calls, it may be well worth looking into. VoIP services are often much less expensive than traditional providers.

Alen
xpert4u.co.uk
UK mobile phone directory

VoIP Features - A Lot of Extras for Free

I've been using VoIP internet phone service as my "one and only home phone service" for nearly a year now and absolutely LOVE it. Not only does VoIP save me a ton of money, but I get all sorts of free features that I never thought I'd use. I never knew how great extra features would be until I tried them, and now there are some that I just can't live without. The really neat thing about VoIP service is that providers keep adding new features for no extra charge! I'm quickly becoming a fan of new features - especially when they don't cost me any extra! I'm normally not one for a lot of bells and whistles that I know I'll never use, but some of the new goodies that Packet8 added recently are just fabulous.

For example, VOICEMAIL TO EMAIL NOTIFICATION is really sweet. As with all features, you manage this one via the online account management center ("command central" as I refer to it). You simply check a button to enable this and enter your email address. Now when I'm at work and get a voicemail on my home phone, I get an email from Packet8 that includes an audio file with the voicemail! I never have to miss a phone call again, and have the added benefit of being able to file away saved messages and forward messages to whoever I choose. This is a very cool feature!

Another useful feature is called NETWORK UNAVAILABLE FORWARDING. When enabled, if all phone calls that come in while your internet connection is down are automatically forwarded to another number. I use my cell phone for the forwarding number and never miss a call. Interestingly enough, my internet connection has only gone down once in the last year, and wouldn't you know it - it went down again 3 days after I enabled network unavailable forwarding. Because the internet connection was down, my VoIP phone was down too; but I never missed a call! Again, you turn this feature on in the account management center and enter a phone number that you want your calls forwarded to. This is a really handy feature and I think it will be especially great during those severe weather months when the power tends to go out a lot.

FOLLOW ME FIND ME is an interesting new feature that has the potential to be useful at times. When activated at the "command central", you can enter in up to five different phone numbers in the order you want them to ring. The idea is that if you don't answer your VoIP phone, the next number you designate (can be cell phone, another VoIP phone or a PSTN "land line" phone) will ring. If that phone isn't answered the next number in your list will ring, etc... I will probably only use this feature if I'm expecting a really important call, or maybe if someone close to me is ill and I need to take care not to miss a call.

Another feature that I think has some possibility for limited use is called SIMULTANEOUS RINGING ON MULTIPLE PHONE NUMBERS. When you activate this one, you enter in one or more phone numbers that you want to ring at the same time as your VoIP phone. I think this might be useful if you were frequently traveling between two or more places and wanted to be certain not to miss any calls. This might be a good safety feature to use if you're on vacation and want to make sure someone always answers the phone. The caller will never know that no one's home.

All VoIP providers offer a good feature package, but some companies give you more than others do. To quickly compare the price and features of several top VoIP internet phone service providers, see http://www.saveonphoneservice.com/Internet-phone-service-providers.htm. If you're looking into purchasing VoIP service, check out the latest coupons and special offers at: http://www.saveonphoneservice.com/VoIP-deal.htm.

Debbie Jacobsen is an IT professional and creator of http://www.saveonphoneservice.com - an informative website about internet phone service as well as a comparison of VoIP providers

Stay Connected With Your Downline Using Free VoIP

Over the last few years I have noticed a large amount of my downline, sponsors and clients often have terrible phone calling plans depending on where they live. One of the top skills we as sponsors in our programs continually teach our teams to pick up the phone and call their downlines in an effort to help those people achieve success.

If you live in a good part of the country or a country that offers great phone calling plans you don't have much to worry about. However if you are unfortunate to live where the plan is very expensive, you may not be in a position to call your team properly. Keep in mind that a phone call can make the difference between getting an active member or losing that member for good.

So how do you solve this problem if you are an online marketer or business owner but you're one of the unfortunate people who cannot afford to call as much as you should? I may have a simple solution for you that will not break the bank. VOIP is Voice Over Internet Protocol. In other words you use your PC and your internet connection to make telephone calls for free or low monthly plans. You can even pay as you go in some cases.

Google Talk:
If you don't mind registeting for a free Gmail account at Google they offer free VOIP service that enables you to call or send instant messages your team, family and friends. Offering a quick download it should only take you about 3 minutes on a modem ( files size: 900K). One notable item is that it requires Windows XP/2000 with a minimum of a 56k (broadband recommended) connection. Dial up will work however broadband will be easy to talk and IM your friends.

iConnectHere | Broadband Phone:
What's nice about iConnectHere is it's low normal plans starting under twenty dollars. They will help you "Hang up on High Prices" as their slogan says. iConnectHere Broadband Phone offers low calling rates maybe the lowest in the world for your local, long distance and international telephone needs. Imagine being able to call that lead from Austailia! Their plans could save you up to 80% when compared with traditional phone service according to thier sites information. Plus their plans include bundled features at no extra cost.

As you can see just from the two services above you do now have a way to connect with your new referrals, sponsors, customers or even your family and friends can use free VOIP to cut costs. Using these types of services will help improve your support to your downline and won't cost you like it does when you use a land line phone system with their high cost calling plans.

If that's not enough for you here are two more services that will make it easy for you to contact the important people in your online business. This service is called Skype where the whole world can talk for free according to the Skype website.

Using the service Skype provides, you can call ordinary phone numbers all over the world. if your downline member has a bad calling plan as well Skype is a little program that allows anyone to make free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has the Skype software which is free, easy to download and to use. It also knows how to play nice with most computers available today.

Skype also offers Voicemail which lets you direct your incoming calls when you?re busy or offline to your voicemail. Your downline will be happy they can get in contact with you when they have questions.

NetZero also offers you a service where you can call people anywhere in the world from your computer for free. NetZero Voice makes calling as easy as instant messaging, except instead of typing (chatting) you are talking over your Internet connection for free.

Simple to use as with other similar services you just download the software, sign-in with your NetZero member ID and dial any NetZero member ID to begin talking for free and it works with dial-up or broadband.

Either way you look at it, now you can and really you should select one of these types of services so you can enable voice communications with your new referrals and customers. It just makes sense as people buy from people not websites or buildings. They buy from you, if you call them! Get VOIP and get in touch with them today! Joe Sansoucie is the owner of the Pay Per Click search engine http://Frogsearch.com where every Thursday evening he hosts a keyword workshop for new online business owners in an effort to help them identify and successfully target their market. Visit Joe here. http://www.frogsearch.com

VOIP For Your Business

Many businesses are considering VOIP for their telephone businees needs. Many don't know exactly when they should consider it an option for them. Many do not understand how it differs from regular telephone service and how the two differ.

Many companies are now beginning to look into alternatives to high priced telephone systems currently in use. They are realizing that there are huge benefits financially to those switching over to VOIP. They are realizing there is greater functionality with VOIP as well as cost savings and room for growth.

The simple basics of VOIP is that it uses high speed internet lines to carry voice traffic instead of telephone lines.

There are two basic technologies.

IP telephony runs over a local area network also known as a LAN. this is a very cost effective way for communicating within an organization. It allows voice transmissions between people within a company who are part of an internal network.

VoIP is carried over a wide area network also know as a WAN. VoIP can be used to transmit voice through a WAN (such as the internet) or carry voice over a public WAN (such as the Internet) or a private WAN, which provides enhanced security for communications.

Why would a business consider making this change?

Large companies currenly use PBX systems. This is a private phone system within an organization. Users work with a certain number of lines for all external calls.

Some companies use a cental office exchange service know as Centrex, which is basically a PBX in which all routing occurs not on a company's premises, but at the local telephone company.

Some use "Key systems", which are very small PBXs, designed primarily for small offices.

These systems all share the same problem. When it comes to long distance the costs are enormous. As more and more this becomes a global world, long distance becomes a major necessity and this means one thing...large long-distance bills, Coupled with this these systems are difficult to change or expand with company growth and are unsuited to support more technically advanced communications. Because these systems are based upon proprietary technologies, companies are limited to only what the phone companies provide.

VOIP services make this a thing of the past. As VOIP gains popularity among companies seeking more cost effective services these antiquated phone systems are slowing disappearing. Expansion of services will be a breeze because of the technology involved with VOIP.

Companies will benefit from reduced overall costs as IP-based voice technology can virtually eliminate toll calls. It also slashes the cost of making add-ons, moves and changes to the system.

Enhanced functionality. VOIP offers all the options that callers are used to using such as call waiting, caller ID, unified messaging, directory services and vertical-specific applications. In addition, VOIP is a standard, open protocol, allowing companies to build their own audio applications or purchase other applications that will come from software developers.

Easy Expanion. As your company expands and grows this cost effective system will allow for expansion with very little cost.

Easy To Use. With VOIP, employees wil have many options--they can use a VOIP phone that is identical to a regular desk phone or use a "softphone" which loads into desktops, laptops or PDAs as software. Added benefit is that they will be able to use their telephone number in any location.

In time VOIP networks will become even more usefull as it will be able to support the convergence of data, video and voice services. This will enable companies to be ready for a plethora of multimedia applications that are emerging from developers. VOIP technology will give guaranteed levels of reliability, quality of service and security.

VOIP is now a fully developed technology, providing companies with a valuable voice system today, and allowing for the latest technological advances that will develop in the future.

Companies need to get in on the ground floor to take advantage of all the new technology that is coming and the savings it will afford.
Jean Sutherland is a technical writer for the popular website http://www.voip-place.com/where everything VOIP is discussed. She is also the owner of the successful website The Company Newsletter at http://www.thecompanynewsletter.comwhere you will find loads of free software, articles on marketing and common computer questions.