VoIP Phone Reviews

VoIP is the fastest growing internet communication service. With features and services not normally found in traditional landlines, it is fast becoming the number one choice of people.

At first, people have been skeptical to use VoIP but soon found out the effectiveness and convenience of VoIP.

VoIP phones are now changing people's perspective on the use of telephone. If you want a phone, it can be a good choice.

VoIP offers standard features that regular landline phones often charges extra. For instance, free or low cost long distance calls are often not available in regular landlines. This is because VoIP uses the internet to make a call. Since the internet offers free information, and fast communication, VoIP phones take advantage of this feature to transmit the calls free.

With a VoIP phone, you can take your personal number wherever you are. You can make and receive phone calls from your number even if you are traveling as long as there is an active internet connection to where you are going.

There are many VoIP broadband phone provider in the market today, choosing the right one would be very beneficial for your business or personal for your use.

Here are some of the things you should look for when choosing VoIP service providers:

Audio Quality Recent advancement in technology allows better sound quality with reduced noise. This means that a VoIP service provider should have excellent audio quality when making calls. If you experience lags or delays in your phone calls, you should think twice before subscribing to the company another time.

Little or no delay transmission is needed for your voice to reach the person you are calling. A one-second delay can mean the difference of making a simple answer of "yes" or "no". Remember that voice delays can mean misunderstanding, and precise answers are extremely important in businesses.

Reliability Imagine making an important business deal or talking to your family and friends and your call is suddenly cut off. This is a bad sign that your service provider is not making sure that you get your money's worth.

Get a VoIP service provider that offers maximum reliability and free try out periods to ensure you that they give the best service to their subscribers. Although cheap rates are attractive, try their services first before committing.

Customer Service VoIP service providers should offer customer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This can help you if you ever have problems using VoIP.

The customer assistance service should be quick and take care of their subscribers immediately after making the call. Know if the VoIP service providers you are planning on subscribing have customer assistance. Customer service can be found in the VoIP service providers or by calling them.

Features VoIP service providers should offer standard features like; free long distance calls, emails, fax, web conferencing, and videophone and others for no extra fee at all. Still quite a few VoIP service providers out there charge for these extra features. Get a VoIP service provider that offers maximum standard features free.

Price VoIP is supposed to be free or cheap. Get a VoIP service provider that offer free long distance and low monthly payments. Make sure that not only it should be cheap but also offers quality service. Most providers offer trial periods, use this to determine if it is worth spending you hard earned cash.

However convenient it might be to own a VoIP phone, there are still drawbacks for it. For example, you should have a high-speed internet connected.

Since VoIP phones depends on your internet connection, this means that disconnected internet, no VoIP service. Slow internet connection is also a factor. With slow internet connection, expect audio delays.

It is wise that before getting a VoIP phone, you should determine that the internet connection in your area is broadband and reliable.

Here are some of the top VoIP service providers:

Vonage Sunrocket VoIP.net Time Warner Cable Packet8

If the following companies do not cover your area, you can always find VoIP providers in your area. Just make sure they offer quality services and choose one used by your family and friends so you can call them free, wherever they are.

Bob Hett has extensively covered the VoIP Service Provider industry as an analyst and has researched the various companies for factors based on price, reliability, support and overall quality. Learn more at VoIP Phones

How You Can Save Money With VoIP

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is the technology used by Internet Telephones to transmit voice or audio files over the Internet. Using the Packet Switching Network does this; your voice is transmitted over the Internet and then received by either a computer, internet phone, or standard telephone. This is in contrast to the Circuit Switching networks that are used for the Public Switched Telephone Network (the standard telephone system) that people have been using for almost 100 years.

There are lots of advantages to be gained by using VoIP instead of PSTN primarily the fact that VoIP is considerably less expensive than other networks. In fact a lot of Instant Messaging programs are now including the technology for VoIP and are providing free calls to anyplace in the world. The only requirement is that the other user has a computer, high speed Internet, speakers, a microphone, and the same Instant Messaging program so that the call is handled entirely over the Internet.

To lots of people this opportunity to talk with friends and loved ones worldwide, without time limits, absolutely free of charge is a fantastic money saver. Now that Skype version 2 have introduced the ability to have a video connect as well, the video telephone is now here and it is free to use.

Many users adore VoIP because of its ability to integrate telecommunication services such as Email, Audio, Video, and Web applications into one program. This again is best shown by the Instant Messaging programs, while talking on a VoIP telephone service, users can continue to surf the web, read and write email, and also send video with their web cameras or digital cameras. All of this is made feasible by the power of the Internet.

This develpment offers amazing advantages for businesses as well as the personal user.

Internet telephones are starting to achieve a reputation as a replacement for the old style PSTN network. In fact, several PSTN networks are starting to recognize the value of VoIP and have started offering VoIP plans to their customers. Sprint, Verizon, and Cingular wireless are all including VoIP services. Over the next few years we will see a enormous increase of VoIP services and products.

VoIP telephone service providers are increasing in popularity as well, as more and more people realize all of the benefits available to them by switching to VoIP. First, that VoIP costs significantly less than standard telephone service, and this is a great attraction for new customers. Many VoIP service plans will let you make unlimited long distance calls or supply you with a plan for very inexpensive rates and of course if you are working over the Internet with no connection to a PSTN network then the call is completely free.

Also people are discovering that they prefer a VoIP service plan compared to a standard telephone plan for numerous reasons.

First, many of the additional services that you have to pay for with standard phone companies are typically free with a VoIP unlimited long distance and local calling plan.

These services include Voice Mail, Call Waiting, Caller ID, Call Blocking, Call Forwarding and Call Transfer. Obviously you will need to confirm with individual VoIP service providers the exact listing of detailed services and features offered.

Again, long distance calls are usually unlimited check with the service provider you are thinking of using to find out which countries you may call for either free or at significantly lower rates. There are presently no tax fees involved with VoIP services and no roaming charges when using mobile VoIP Wireless as well.

Businesses have found that they can eliminate extensive telephone cabling networks from their offices and replace them with VoIP and High Speed Internet connection. Many businesses prefer transacting their audio over the Internet for a mass of reasons. First, it is cost effective, second it provides superior flexibility and freedom, and third businesses can integrate their audio, video, Email, and Web applications and increase productivity and enhance their customer service all while saving money.

One benefit that may not be so popular with the general public is that Call centers have started to utilize VoIP and are now establishing virtual call centers worldwide. This gives them the ability to outsource to other countries, saving them money, and allows them the freedom to hire personnel in different time zones. In return this creates virtual call centers equipped with agents who can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year so now they can call us 24/7/365!

VoIP has allowed working practice flexibility to rise because employees can exploit features such as Interactive Voice Response and Desktop Telephony Integration. Mobile employees can also benefit from VoIP services as VoIP is applicable wherever that there is a High Speed Internet connection or Wireless Hot Spot.

By allowing greater flexibility of working better integration with other computer programs, low cost connections to the traditional telephone system and free connections over the Internet, VoIP is allowing Internet Telephones to give huge savings and increased benefits to both the personal and business user.

For all the latest news and information about Internet Phones and VoIP check with www.internetphonecenter.info

You may reproduce this article provided you maintain an active link back to www.internetphonecenter.info

Using VoIP for your Business

Communication is important for us. Since the development of the internet, it has made communication faster and more efficient by using emails.

With this technology, researchers and developers invented the Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP for short. VoIP works like your regular landline phone, but instead of using telephone lines, VoIP uses the internet to transmit voice and video data to the person you are calling. With VoIP, it is possible to make free or cheap long distance calls.

VoIP not only enable us to call long distance free, but also lets us view the person we are calling with the use of a webcam or videophone.

With free long distance calls and conferencing, VoIP benefits businesses in many ways. Many features offered by VoIP free or at a minimal cost enabled VoIP literally replace traditional phones.

VoIP is probably the best way to keep in touch with your business associates and customers.

With VoIP it can make your business, either small or large, have an edge against your competitors.

Here are some features that can benefit your business by using VoIP:

With video conferencing capabilities, you can conduct meetings and presentation right in your own office. No longer will you spend expensive travel expenses when using VoIP. It allows you to close deals with your customers a lot faster than before.

Save money on phone bills. With VoIP, this is possible. You will just pay your monthly internet connection bills and small fees to your VoIP internet service provider allowing more profits for your business.

Not only that VoIP is limited to calling other VoIP phones, but it also allows you to call mobile phones, regular phones, and long distance or international numbers for a very low cost.

With the technology to take your own personal VoIP number, it is possible to make and receive calls anywhere you are in the planet as long as there is an internet connection. This feature allows you to not miss any business opportunities or emergencies while you travel.

This means more business deals, therefore, more profits and also you can take care of your clients while you travel, answering their important questions about your products or services.

A business wants to minimize expenses in order to gain more profit, therefore allowing the business to grow. With VoIP, it can significantly cut your phone expenses, traveling expenses, and more.

However, no matter how many great features VoIP offer, it still depends on your internet connection. If you plan to integrate VoIP in your business, be sure your internet connection is high speed and reliable in order to prevent voice delays or being cut off.

Remember that good communication is crucial for a business to succeed, meaning that a voice lag can mean the difference of an answer to your business associates or clients. A one-second delay may not seem much but it can make the difference of a simple "yes" or "no" answer. This can lead to misunderstanding, therefore, possible of not making the deal.

Choosing the VoIP service provider is also an important factor for your business. Choose one that offers maximum voice quality and reliability.

Also, remember that features such as caller ID, call waiting, speed dialing, call forwarding, video phone, voice mails, call logs, conference calls, long distance or international calls, and call hold should be offered cheap or no fee at all.

Bob Hett has extensively covered the Internet Service Provider industry as an analyst and has researched the various companies for factors based on price, reliability, support and overall quality. Learn more at Broadband Internet Service

How Does Voip Work?

Copyright 2006 Dave Markel

To make your VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) work good enough you need to have broadband internet connection. Internet broadband connections are represented with cable or DSL modems with bandwidth of 56 kbits and higher.

The main idea of VoIP is voice connection using computers. All you need is appropriate software installed on your computer and microphone with a headset or speakers connected. Do not forget that using such software is free and easy to download.

Unlike computer-to-computer calls which are free of charge VoIP software is also used as simple trunk-line. But even so such calls are still cheaper then phone-to-phone ones.

Remember- to make computer-to-computer calls you should run the same software at both sides. But in case of making cellular or land-line call via VoIP no extra software or equipment is needed.

How does it work?

All internet transmissions including VoIP appear to be digital data that travels through the telephone, optical fiber or even satellite lines. To transmit the voice signal VoIP software must convert human (analog) voice to the set of 1s and 0s (digital data). It is done with the help of ADC (analog-to-digital converters) and codecs which compress and decompress (on receive) data to make it more compact during transfer.

Compressed data is divided into packets. Without going into details i can say that these packets consist of the header and the body. Headers contain source and destination addresses and other system data. And the body is the spitted and compressed audio file.

All data transmitted over internet follows the set of rules gathered in the models (OSI, TCP/IP). Models consist of layers that represent particular network function.

Video and audio transmission use the set of protocols originally developed or changed for faster work over the internet. Transport layer in VoIP is usually represented with User Datagram Protocol (UDP). And the application layer is Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP).

Drop of delayed packets is the main advantage of RTP. By doing so the VoIP software skips the delayed packets that must be reassembled and decoded. It is quite preferable because it prevents undesirable pauses in the conversation. Even if the amount of dropped packets is big enough the conversation is still legible. Of course, the better internet connection you possess- the better conversation you'll be having after the remote software will receive, reassemble and decode data into the analog signal (human voice).

Dave Markel is the owner of a Voip Services Blog. Visit it at http://voip--services.blogspot.com

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.

Consulting Reviews When Considering The Switch To VoIP

Making a long distance phone call used to mean using your land phone line to dial through a long distance carrier that charged you often-exorbitant by-the-minute fees, because there was no competition to keep the prices reasonable. Then came the mobile phone, and that gave consumers another option when it came to calling far away. But, as we all know, mobile phones do not always work, often drop calls, and tend to have sporadic reception. A new trend in phone calling is gaining popularity. VOIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, is not a new technology. It has been used for years in the business world. Fairly recently, it has seen a surge in popularity of use by the average consumer due to its many appealing attributes, namely its ease of use, available calling features, and low pricing. VOIP works by converting analog audio signals into digital data, which can be dispatched over an Internet connection. VOIP can make your Internet your home computer the best place to make your long-distance phone calls - nearly free of charge. You use VOIP devices and software that are widely available; therefore the phone company is sidestepped. There are many reviews widely available that you can consult regarding VOIP, VOIP devices, VOIP phones, and VOIP services. Consult these reviews to get as much information you can about the vast quantity of products and services available.

There are several benefits to using VOIP for making your phone calls. Chief among them is the flexibility you have with the service. If you are a business traveler, you know that your mobile phone is not always a reliable source of communication, because of lack of service or technical difficulties. With VOIP you have the ability to take your phone and your phone number anywhere you go and use it to place calls as long as there is an Internet connection available. The next principal benefit to VOIP is price. VOIP services have the ability to offer local and long distance phone service, as well as many common phone features at extremely low monthly prices. It is becoming clear that traditional phone companies cannot compete. The "extras" that phone companies charge high monthly fees for, such as Caller ID or Call Waiting, are often standard features with VOIP services.

Another benefit of VOIP is the outstanding features that are available to you. You can check your voice mail via the Internet. You can have your voice mail sent to you as email messages. You can make customized voice mail messages for specific callers. These are but a few of the available features. These are services that a traditional phone company just can't offer, especially at low monthly rates. If you are interested in learning more about VOIP features and services, consult online VOIP reviews to get a thorough rundown of services, features, and pricing, to make sure you get the best deal out there.

There are three primary VOIP devices available that you can opt to use to place phone calls from your computer. They are all relatively easy to use, meaning that you don't have to be an expert computer user, and they cost very little, if anything at all. The ATA, or Analog Telephone Adapter, lets you connect your home telephone to your computer. It converts the analog signal to digital simply by plugging your phone cord into the device. The IP, or Internet Protocol, phone is another VOIP device currently in use. It looks like your standard home telephone, but is equipped with Ethernet wiring to make it VOIP capable. The IP phone simply connects to your computer's router, and you are ready to make calls. Computer-to-computer is the last method of implementing VOIP. If your computer has an Internet connection, PC speakers, a sound card, and a microphone, you have the capability to download available software and make free long distance phone calls from your computer. The software is often very inexpensive, sometimes even free of charge. If you want to know more about VOIP devices, or are not sure which route to go, there are many VOIP reviews online that will explain them completely, as well as provide assessments on VOIP telephone that you can buy to help make the use of VOIP even easier for you. VOIP is an efficient and cost-sensible way to make long distance telephone calls to friends and family members that live far away.

Learn the essential information for picking the Voip provider / services at Voip Reviews

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Cable Company VoIP Information

Recently many internet service providers such as Comcast and WOW have started offering VoIP service as a package price plan when you purchase their cable. If you are already paying for Cable TV and High Speed Internet from the cable company don't be tricked into adding VoIP from them also. Cable and traditional phone companies are realizing that VoIP is here to stay and want to join in.

Many people see the initial savings over traditional phone service and think they are getting a good deal, however many times they are paying almost double for VoIP just to have a single bill for all three services.

Comcast charges $39.95 a month for their unlimited VoIP service compared to $16.58 for VoIP service through SunRocket if you pay yearly. Probably the most well known and best VoIP service provider available is Vonage and they charge $24.99 for unlimited calling. WOW charges about $35.00 a month depending on the package you purchase. As you can see using the cable companies for your VoIP needs can cost you $23.00 more a month just to keep your Cable, Internet, and Phone on one bill. The VoIP service that the cable companies are offering is usually no better than most VoIP providers out there regardless of what the telemarketer tells you.

Cable Company VoIP Provider Information:

* Comcast Digital Voice: Comcast offers an unlimited US & Canada calling package for $39.95 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service. If you would like to keep your existing internet service from a competitor then the price jumps to $54.95. The main selling point for Comcast is the promise of calls traveling across proprietary Comcast lines, which allows for higher quality and reliability than calls from upstarts that travel exclusively across the public Internet. Comcast quality and reliability have yet to be proven compared to other competitive VoIP providers.

* Wide Open West (WOW): WOW offers two choices, the WOW phone Basic and Advanced plans. The basic service offer unlimited calling in the US with Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3Way Calling, and Call Return(*69). The Advanced plan offers the same features as the basic plan and Caller ID, Repeat Dial, Selective Call Forwarding, and Voice Mail. The Basic plan costs around $25.00 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service. The Advanced plan costs around $30.00 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service. WOW does not offer VoIP unless you purchase internet service from them.

* Bright HouseNetworks: Bright house offers what they call Digital Phone for their VoIP plan. The plan offers unlimited calling in the US with Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3Way Calling, and Call Return(*69), Caller ID, Repeat Dial, and Selective Call Forwarding. The plan costs $39.99 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service or $49.99 if you use your existing internet service provider.

* Time Warner: Time Warner offers what they call Digital Phone for their VoIP plan. The plan offers unlimited calling in the US with Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3Way Calling, and Call Return(*69), Caller ID, Repeat Dial, and Selective Call Forwarding plus a few more. The plan costs $39.99 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service.

This is just a sample of Cable Companies that are starting to provide VoIP. To find out more you can search for additional providers online or visit our website.

For more information regarding VoIP visit our site at Michigan VoIP

Article may be reprinted without permission with original content, including signature and links.

Jason Christensen is the creator and editor of Michigan-VoIP-Info.com Visit our site for additional VoIP information Michigan VoIP

Voip - 3 Ways To Make The Call

We're hearing a lot about Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) these days. I for one am a big fan of this technology. Did you know that you could actually use VoIP in 3 different ways? That's right! There are really 3 different ways that you can 'make the call'. Ok, you can actually receive the call 3 different ways as well.

First up is probably the most popular. I use this way myself and most of the residential providers out there today use this as well. What is it?

ATA - Analog Telephone Adapter

Your normal phone plugs into an ATA that you received from your VoIP provider. This is the most common way to get hooked into VoIP. This device takes care of all the magic that occurs when you make and receive your calls over your broadband connection. Your analog phone signal must be converted to digital to be routed through your broadband connection and this ATA does the job.

IP Phone - Internet Protocol Phones

As the name would imply, these are 'special' phones. You wouldn't know it by looking at them. They look like normal phones. What is different about these phones is the electronics inside them and the fact they don't take a 'regular' phone cable (RJ-11). Instead these phones take an Ethernet cable connection (RJ-45) and also come equipped with the necessary electronics to plug directly into your router.

Computer-to-Computer

This is the oldest and possibly the easiest way to get plugged into VoIP. Here instead of using your normal phone or IP phone to make calls through your broadband connection, you use your computer itself! (You could do this over dial-up, but broadband is certainly better) There are a number of services available that offer no cost or low cost service. You'll need the software and a microphone to speak into and speakers to hear from and of course your computer and a high-speed internet connection. Some providers offer this service for free when their software is being used on both ends of the call.

Watch out for Wi-Fi (using IP phones) and other advancements in VoIP technology. We truly are on the verge of a major breakthrough in telecommunications. So, what are you waiting for? Make the call!

FullService Broadband Provider. Unbiased, informative information on broadband technology. A division of Try Right Technology, Inc. Copyright 2006

VoIP Telephony Grows with Telecommunications Boom

The VoIP telephony and the international telecommunications market is not only healthy, it is robust! The market is expected to continue its double-digit growth and reach over $2 trillion by 2008.

Spending on telecommunications equipment and services in Canada, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia/Pacific will grow at a rate of 10.6% say the experts. What's behind this growth in telecommunications? Prosperity! With improving economic conditions throughout the world there is increasing demand for Voip, mobile devices and wireless telecommunication services.

The number of subscribers to wireless telephone services is growing faster than the number of landlines in all regions. 1.9 billion wireless subscribers are expected by 2008 and they will outnumber landline subscribers by 69.1%.

The accessibility of high-speed broadband will drive equipment revenue over the next few years. This will give a boost to Internet telephony service and that growth will continue as broadband access revenue triples in future years.

As the move to wireless, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and cable telephony continues, the landline market will increase from $391 billion in 2004 to $422 billion in 2008.

Internationally Europe is expected to be the largest region in support services spending, reaching $354 billion by 2008 as the demand for equipment increases there will be increased demand for services to support that equipment.

In the United States the broadband market is expected to reach an estimated 56.9 million subscribers by 2008. That up from 32.5 million subscribers in 2004. The broadband market has had a huge move since 2001, when there were only 5.1 million subscribers.

Broadband's faster speeds are behind the increasing demand for cable modem and DSL providers. Telephone companies are offering more bundled DSL services and cable operators are losing subscribers to direct broadcast satellite. The gap between the number cable and DSL subscribers is narrowing and will continue to decrease.

In addition, there is plenty going on with wireless communications. The U.S. wireless market includes transport services, handsets, capital expenditures and infrastructure equipment including Wi-Fi equipment plus the emerging market for wireless broadband access. The future of VoIP technology and wireless VoIP promises to be one of the most exciting developments in telecommunications.

Not counting PC-to-PC services, the number of residential VoIP customers more than tripled to 4.2 million in 2005. That number is expected to grow by a compound annual rate of over 43% in the next few years. That will result in about 18 million VoIP users.

Growth in the residential VoIP market is being driven by a number of factors. First and foremost is that VoIP telephony provides consumers with inexpensive voice communications. VoIP escapes the burden of the many regulations and taxes governments have imposed on traditional telephone services. So far that has allowed the VoIP service providers to beat the prices charged for wired telephone services. The burst of growth in broadband subscribership is a good sign for VoIP, because it works best over a broadband connection,

In the United States and around the world, people are talking and they want to do that with speed and economy. VoIP phone services are prepared to meet that need.

If you have not yet made the switch to VoIP telephone service author Mark Walters offers a free introduction called Five Reasons for VoIP.

Can VOIP Calling Save You Money on Your Phone Bill

As high speed and broadband internet connections are becoming more prevalent in homes across the United States, people are asking themselves can VOIP calling save me money on my phone bill? To answer this question you need to take a deeper look at VOIP calling and the expenses related to switching to VOIP.

The first thing to you should know is how VOIP calling works. When you place a VOIP call it works by converting the voice signal that you speak into the phone handset into a digital signal and sending it over the internet. This signal is then converted back into a voice signal and comes out of the earpiece on the other end. By sending the signal over the internet it doesn't matter how far it has to go, a call across the street costs the same as call across the country. For people who have monthly long distance bills that are over $20, VOIP calling may be able to save you money on your phone bill.

When evaluating VOIP services you should have an idea of your monthly calling volume. The best thing to do is look at your phone bill for the past three months and figure out how many minutes you are using. If you are using less than 500 minutes a month you will find VOIP calling plans that are probably much less than your monthly phone bill. If you are using over 1000 minutes each month you'll probably find unlimited calling plans will be more cost effective. If you make a lot of international calls, check to see if those calls are included in the plans you are evaluating.

Some VOIP services require that you update your telephone equipment. This is especially important if you have more then one phone in the house. The key to the VOIP system is VOIP router. It connects your broadband internet access to your new phone system. Some routers only interface with newer VOIP phones, meaning you will have to purchase new phones. Some routers allow you to plug conventional phones into them and keep your existing equipment. This really becomes an important factor if you have more than one telephone in your house.

Another factor to consider is the length of the contract. Many companies offer month to month contracts, others offer yearly, and some offer two year contracts. While a two year contract may look attractive from a price standpoint, locking yourself into a developing technology for twenty four months is something to give serious consideration to. A one year contract usually provides the best trade off between price and time commitment.

? Copyright VOIPTelephoneSystem.org, All Rights Reserved.

Jessica Liu writes articles about VOIP for http://www.voiptelephonesystem.org which cover VOIP technology and VOIP related news.

Is Your VoIP Hosted PBX Provider Blind to Your Troubles?

A recent survey conducted by Emprix revealed that more than one third of all VoIP service providers, which includes Hosted PBX service, are unable to recognize they have a service quality problem until a customer complaint is received.

In a world where mission critical business applications routinely flow through data networks, it is distressing that no monitoring capability exists for many service providers of our newest and best technology. In the enterprise market, the financial viability of a business can very well depend on a vendor's technical strength and on their capability to proactively monitor and fix problems before the end user is affected.

Before selecting a vendor for your VoIP Hosted PBX service make sure they are equipped with the proper Network Management System (NMS) for their VoIP deployments, one that allows their Network Operations and Field Technicians to identify and troubleshoot VoIP problems without relying upon a complaint from you to trigger an action on their part.

Your Hosted PBX provider should have the capability to proactively monitor detailed call quality statistics including MOS, jitter, latency, and other measurements. State-of-the-Art network monitoring systems have advanced diagnostics linked to an online knowledgebases that automatically provide network technicians with troubleshooting tips. This capability dramatically reduces the effort and time required to identify the root cause of poor quality calls, and more importantly it reduces the time that your business is affected by the trouble.

Their system should also incorporate trend analysis and pro-active notification of poor VoIP call performance so that the network technician is able to identify and resolve issues that would otherwise impact VoIP service delivery to your business. With the proper network management system, in the event that you do have a problem, it is likely that the trouble can be rectified remotely rather than waiting for a time-consuming truckroll.

When you are in the process of evaluating Hosted PBX service offerings, make sure that your evaluation criteria is heavily weighted to include the vendor's network monitoring capabilities, and that they have the proper tools to effectively measure, monitor and manage all of their VoIP endpoints.

Whatever you do, don't buy VoIP service from a "blind" provider.

Bill Casey is the Vice President of Marketing for Reignmaker Communications, Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Reignmaker offers REIGN-FREE Hosted PBX service. Call 877-VOIP.4U2 for information or visit www.reignmaker.net

VoIP 101

The buzz for this new phone system technology is reaching a fever pitch yet, many people still have limited knowledge. There are many terms that you need to understand when searching for a VoIP provider so that you may take advantage of this low cost technology. I am going to list them here.

AS - A group of networks under mutual administration that share the same routing methodology. An AS uses an internal gateway protocol and common metrics to route Packets within the AS, and uses an external gateway protocol to route packets to other AS.

ASP (Application Service Provider)
An independent, third-party provider of software-based services delivered to customers across a wide area network (WAN).

ATA ? Analog Telephone Adapter A device that connects between an analog telephone and an Internet connection port, and allows you to use a standard phone to make and receive VoIP calls over the Internet.

Average Hold Time - The average length of time between the moment a caller finishes dialing and the moment the call is answered or terminated

Bandwidth The maximum data carrying capacity of a transmission link. For networks, bandwidth is usually expressed in bits per second (bps).

Broadband
Descriptive term for evolving digital technology that provides consumers a single switch facility offering integrated access to voice, high-speed data service, video demand services, and interactive delivery services.

Codec - Short for coder/decoder, a piece of hardware or software that automatically encodes/compresses and decodes/decompresses voice signal data packets. A codec is used to minimize bandwith usage while preserving voice quality. Although many proprietary compression schemes exist, VoIP networks typically incorporate at least one of several standardized audio CODECs for the sake of interoperability.

Compression
compression is used at anywhere from 1:1 to 12:1 ratios in VOIP applications to consume less bandwidth and leave more for data or other voice/fax communications. The voice quality may decrease with increased compression ratios.

Find-me/Follow-me Lying at the heart of the "unified messaging" or "ubiquitous communication" concept, Find me/Follow me is a feature that routes incoming calls to a user no matter where he or she roams or what type of device is being used (home, business or mobile phone). This "presence" feature, which rings multiple phones simultaneously, is offered by many IP PBXs and some hosted services. The feature is typically activated by pressing a softkey.


Firewall
A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented as hardware, software, or a combination of both. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the security criteria specified on the firewall.

FXO - Foreign Exchange Office. A device that connects with a Central Office (CO) or PSTN analog line.

FXS - Foreign Exchange Station. A device that connects with an "end-user" device such as a telephone or fax machine.

Gatekeeper - The central control entity that performs management functions in a Voice and Fax over IP network and for multimedia applications such as video conferencing. Gatekeepers provide intelligence for the network, including address resolution, authorization, and authentication services, the logging of Call Detail Records, and communications with network management systems.

Gatekeepers control bandwidth, provide interfaces to existing legacy systems, and monitor the network for engineering purposes as well as for real-time network management and load balancing, .
Internet Telephony ? Any method of transmitting voice over the internet. A multimedia PC with special client software will digitalize your voice.

IP PBX - IP Private Branch Exchange. A business phone system that offers advanced phone services between VoIP and PSTN networks, such as music-on-hold, automatic call-routing, voicemail, and call transfer.

IP phone - also called an Internet phone or broadband phone. An IP phone plugs into a broadband Internet connection to make and receive VoIP calls over the Internet.

Packet ? A logically grouped unit of data. These packets of data are distributed over the internet, and then are de-constructed to voice when they reach their destination.

PSTN - Public-Switched Telephone Network, is the commonly-known telephone network. PSTN is a circuit-switched network.

PSTN Failover - an optional port on an IP phone or ATA device that connects to the PSTN network in case your Internet connection or electrical power goes down. This configuration requires you to have a regular telephone line and service.

Route - A set of parameters predefined by Voip provider to facilitate routing of traffic between the Gateways/Gatekeepers controlled by a Voip provider Member either via ownership or via a partnership with the owner. Along with specifying other parameters, a Voip provider Member using the Gatekeeping Service assigns to a Route values specifying the details of both originating and terminating Gateways/Gatekeepers.

SIP - Session Initiation Protocol. One of the newer, more common signaling protocols used for VoIP.

Softphone - a "software" phone on a PC that can send and receive calls over the Internet.

VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol, which is a technology that allows you to make and receive phone calls and faxes over the Internet instead of through the telephone or cellular network.

VoIP Gateway - device that converts analog voice signals to digital IP packets for communication over an Ethernet (LAN or WAN) network.

VSP - VoIP Service Provider

In order to use VoIP, both sender and receiver need to have a broadband connection. This is a high-speed Internet connection usually provided by cable or a DSL modem. Broadband modems are usually used to connect computers to the Internet, but in the case of VoIP, computers are not necessary, because now there are telephones that connect directly.

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.

Six VoIP Security Recommendations

Before you begin to implement VoIP across your organization, there are several things you should consider. Security is extremely important these days and it is best to think before than act after an attack. Some vendors are building security solutions within their products others are not, leaving it up to the user to implement these measures.

1. Make sure your network and security infrastructure, including firewalls routers, VPNs, etc., are voice-optimized and capable of supporting the advanced security requirements for VoIP. More importantly, bandwidth, latency and quality of service become critical requirements for network and security infrastructure.

2. Your IP PBX is at the core of your VoIP infrastructure. Depending on the software you are using, especially windows servers, ensure that the base operating system of your IP PBX, as well as network infrastructure, are always updated and patched for the latest security vulnerabilities. Vendors that provide proprietary operating systems are a lot less vulnerable.

3. It is important to be proactive in conducting regular security assessments of your VoIP infrastructure. Being aware of such security flaws will help to avoid attacks and prevent system outages.

4. Manage your remote access ports and system backdoors. Default login and administrator passwords on such devices are a very common entry for attacks. Disable any insecure remote access features, such as FTP and Telnet, and disable local administration and management features.

5. Structure your network to use VLANs to separate voice and data devices and its corresponding traffic. Deploying VoIP devices on separate VLANs permits isolating data traffic from voice and signaling traffic, as well as utilizing Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities. VLAN separation does not ensure a robust security practice but having separate VLANs will help in isolating the traffic.

6. If your VoIP traffic goes over the Internet, use encryption technologies like IPsec tunnels to secure the VoIP traffic. While many of the VoIP protocols include capabilities for encryption and authentication, most of them are optional. Ensure your vendor has a security policy within the product itself.

John Leonardelli, President, Gale Force Communications. John brings 20 years of voice, data and wireless telecommunications experience in various sales, management and operational roles. John is a Certified IP Telephony Expert where his expertise has been focused on IP Telephony, Contact Centre and complex technical solutions. John has a degree in Electronics Engineering, Telecommunications and Sales Management.

Most Underrated Use of VoIP Telephony.

With the proliferation, affordability, and convenience of broadband Internet and cell phone service, customers are foregoing traditional telephone service all together. Having a cell phone instead of a land line seems like a terrific idea. Cell phone customers do not have to be tied down to a location, they can get phone calls from anywhere, and plus they get long-distance included. In theory it seems like a good idea but actually it does not tend to work out as planned. Cell phones were not designed to be used for regular everyday calls while in your home. They were designed as mobile phones and most service plans treat them as such, with outrageous fees for going over the allotted monthly minutes. Most cell phone only customers find they run out of minutes every month and have enormous cell phone bills as a result. So they would be better off having a land line or paying for enormous monthly minutes on their cell phone service. There is a better way.

VoIP phone service is a wonderful way to eliminate the need for expensive, regular telephone service. With a VoIP adapter and VoIP service, customers can use their broadband Internet service and regular telephone to make local and long-distance calls for a low monthly fee. The monthly fee usually includes such typical services as unlimited long-distance, call waiting, caller ID, voicemail, 3-way calling, call forwarding, and other lesser used features that regular telephone companies charge extra. So for a modest monthly fee VoIP customers can have broadband Internet and land line phone services and still afford to keep their cell phone. VoIP saves money by eliminating expensive traditional telephone service and allows cell phone minutes to be used when necessary.

Visit http://www.cleardigitalvoice.com for more information on how to save money with VoIP phone service.

Sol is the owner of ClearDigitalVoice.com, a new VoIP provider for residential and small business customers. http://www.cleardigitalvoice.com

Why Business Should Switch to VoIP

Company should choose to unplug and switch to VoIP technology because there are many advantages for using VoIP. Here is an overview of five reasons that your business should make the switch to VoIP.

VoIP is perfect for Call Centers

VoIP is slowly becoming the standard choice for Call Centers. VoIP offers some major benefits for Call Centers such as flexibility, cost efficiency, and enhanced customer service applications. For instance, in the past, a Call Center needed to be a stabilized facility equipped with many phone lines used by people who would physically be located in the Call Center. By using VoIP for your Call Center, not only is your main location easily relocated as your business expands, but you can hire employees virtually world wide. Larger companies take advantage of VoIP Call Centers by outsourcing work overseas where they can hire employees for less.

The Integration of data, audio, and web based features is another reason why businesses are opting for VoIP. Customer service calls are handled more efficiently with the integration of these three components. Not only are calls transferred more proficiently, but also greater care can be given to customers when Call Centers use integrated software platforms.

More Call Centers are taking advantage of the opportunity to hire employees world wide through VoIP services. Employees may work in different time zones, giving greater customer service benefits year round, and hiring home based employees is another way businesses are choosing to save money.

VoIP is better for Mobile Employees

Many companies employ mobile workers. Mobile Employees have typically used cell phones at the company's expense to stay in touch during the day. By utilizing VoIP Mobile Employees can remain virtually connected with the company, and the company saves money on fees.

When mobile employees rely on cell phones, many times a customer will call the main office, only to hear a message or be told the worker's cell phone number. This requires the customer to hang up and call the employee on their cell phone- increasing the chance that the employee will lose the sale. By using VoIP, a call is instantly routed to the mobile employee and productivity increases.

Since VoIP integrates many other technologies, including E-mail, mobile employees are able to conduct many more transactions with one application.

VoIP Reduces Cost

Businesses today depend upon telecommunications. Whether it is Internet, E-mail, Customer Service through telephone, online web applications, and E-mail, or whatever your IT business needs may be, VoIP offers to handle all of your needs with one application. Additionally, this reduces cost and increases productivity. VoIP also has combined with software applications that are perfect for many business needs. Software such as accounting programs, Email, and PC based applications help to save money by combining services.

The reduction in long distance charges is another great advantage for switching to VoIP for business needs. By combining data, video, and audio needs, companies save on bandwidth usage, which ultimately leads to financial savings.

VoIP allows Real Time Global Conferencing

Global conferencing and training can put a burden on a business. Attempts to reach employees worldwide are not only expensive but time consuming as well. With VoIP technology businesses can avoid conferencing costs, and enable secure audio and videoconferences to offices worldwide. By reducing long distance costs, employees are also taking advantage of calling each other and corporate headquarters more frequently.

VoIP offers Flexibility that Ultimately Increases Productivity VoIP allows greater flexibility. By using a standard VoIP Phone Adapter, you are able to take your telephone number with you. This allows greater productivity by allowing employees to conduct business overseas, while traveling, staying in hotels, etc. Your customers will be able to call you on your regular business phone number, and you won't have to use your cell phone.

Many VoIP services are fully integrated with PC applications such as fax and email. There is greater productivity when employees can integrate their email and phone services with one application. Conduct business with VoIP on your laptop, any time day or night.

With the option to get VoIP phone numbers with area codes throughout the country, and some world wide, businesses can expand by choosing local area codes for the city, state, or country they are targeting.

Olivia Tan is co-publisher of VoIP Ebook. She provides tips and review on business VoIP and residential VoIP.

Voip Service Review For Business Users

Making phone calls applying a broadband Internet connection,known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), is becoming so popular with corporations of each size. The prospect of paying a flat fee for unlimited long-distance phone calls is attractive to each company that has struggled to balance the want to conduct business phone calls with the cost of those calls.

Many companies are finding that installation of VoIP phones is simpler than traditional Private Branch eXchange (PBX) systems, since the desk sets can share the Ethernet cables already in place for the desktop computers. Now, I m going to review 3 most popular Voip Services providers who offer full service products primarily aimed at the small to medium sized business telephone market. Such companies typically support multi-line telephone systems, small PBX gateways and hosted VoIP.

Vonage will bring VoIP service without routing calls through your PC. When you sign higher for its DigitalVoice service, the company gives you a phone number in the area code of your option and sends you a free ashtray-size devices device known as an analog telephone adapter or even ATA. You easily plug the adapter into your network router and attach your phone to the adapter, and you're ready to produce calls. If you like, you are able to plug the adapter to a wall jack, connecting each phone in the home.

For corporations that want extensions and services that are even more closely identified with PBXs uncovered in the corporate globe, Vonage isn't a very good option. Its Microscopic Business Project is built on a lone line, similar to a residential line, and does not provide facilities for multiple extensions, call transfers, administrative functions, and the more tasks virtually all corporate users take for granted. 2 more vendors are better suited for the corporate environment.

Vonage Features:

Equipment required: Broadband telephone adapter (included in activation fee) , Motorola VT1005V
$30 activation fee. No contract.
$39.99 termination fee after 14 days (refunded if you return the adapter)
call waiting, caller ID and conference calling.
911 service

TalkSwitch 48-CVA

The TalkSwitch uses your phone company's existing phone lines and phone numbers to connect to the outside world, but uses your Internet connection to connect to other TalkSwitches in your company's remote offices. This setup is simple to install and lets you keep your existing phone numbers and lines. It also lets you keep your existing phone bills, since your long-distance calls still travel over your phone-company lines. (Of course, you could replace your traditional phone lines with Vonage lines if your long-distance volume dictates such a move.)

Where TalkSwitch shines is in its features as a PBX and its ability to connect remote offices and treat them as a single phone system. When two or more TalkSwitches connect through the Internet, the company has a virtual PBX. The offices can make calls to one another by dialing extensions that may be in the same office or at a remote office without incurring long-distance charges.

The same connection can be used to make standard calls to phone numbers that are local to the remote office but long-distance from the calling office. I found this feature worked well, but it requires the person making the call to know whether the number is local to the remote office. That's something many callers won't make the effort to deal with.

TalkSwitch 48-CVA Features:

Price: $1,795
4 lines in
4 VoIP trunks
8 local extensions
8 remote extensions
Expandable to a 16-line, 32-extension phone system by networking up to four 48-CA or 48-CVA units on the LAN
9 Auto Attendants
26 voice mailboxes
Built-in traditional and VoIP trunks for combined network access
Full-featured PBX telephone system
Customer installable and configurable via PC interface
Works with standard analog cordless or corded phones and TalkSwitch TS 100 phone sets

Packet8 Virtual Office

Packet8 is a service provider. It will bring a "virtual office" by means of a hosted PBX that you are able to attach to from any broadband connection. The equipment consists of 1 DTA and 1 phone for every extension. Minimum configuration for a Packet8 system is 3 extensions, however there appears to be no upper limit to the number of extensions. Every DTA and phone combination costs $100, and there exists a $40 activation fee per line.

Because all the extensions attach to the equivalent PBX, calls to extensions and calls to outside amounts are processed just as they usually are in a corporate office. The phones have a huge LCD with soft-buttons for voicemail, don't disturb, and each feature you would expect in a corporate PBX. I personally discovered the system elementary to utilise however as well incredibly flexible. Phone functions are managed applying the phone's LCD and its buttons, while extension assignment, routing, auto-attendant, and system-related functions are managed through the PBX's Web interface.

Packet8's sound quality was incredibly fantastic. Calls between Packet8 VoIP lines were clear with no noticeable delay. Calls between Packet8 VoIP phones and standard phone lines were equally clear. The quality of the overall system was even more than acceptable.

This is the kind of system that fits any virtual office whose employees require to produce lots of long-distance calls. The Packet8 system is particularly well suited to today's distributed virtual businesses. The fact that all the extensions are section of the equivalent system and operate as a seamless phone system puts a consolidated face on the distributed office.

Packet8 Virtual Office Features:

Price: $40 per extension per month, plus setup costs of $100 for equipment and $40 activation fee per line
Unlimited calling within the U.S. and Canada
Full-featured conference bridge for up to 20 participants
Auto-Attendant
Voicemail with message forwarding and e-mail notification
Call transfer and automatic call forwarding
3-way conferencing
Music/messaging on hold
Distinctive ringing for internal/external calls
Caller ID and call-waiting caller ID
Stutter tone notifications
Call park/call pick-up
Rashme Wong has been an Commuciation and Network Analyst for 5 years whose articles on Voip business have appeared on many major Voip websites. You can find more of these at:

www.1voipphoneservice.info