You may have heard of a new technology called Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP for short, but you may not be aware of the potential that it has to change the way you use your telephone. That’s because until relatively recently, VOIP has been relatively obscure and not particularly easy to use. That’s not the case now though, thanks to the efforts of a number of companies that have refined VOIP technology and adapted it for everyday use.
In its simplest form VOIP is a technology that takes advantage of the fact that data can be transmitted long distances over the Internet without the fees that conventional telephone companies charge for long distance voice communication. This technology essentially converts speech into data that can be streamed over the Internet and then converted back into speech on the other end. The process goes both ways and is compatible with existing telephone networks.
The newer VOIP services have refined the technology to the point where it’s easy for everyone to use and offers plenty of bonus features that make it convenient for local calls as well as long distance calls. For example, when VOIP technology first became available, a computer with a microphone and speakers was necessary to use it. You could generally call someone using another computer for free, but if you wanted use it to place a long distance call to a normal phone line there was a small per minute fee. Now, all you need is a high speed Internet connection and a special router that your normal phone can be plugged into. While you can still use a computer to place calls using VOIP technology, calls can still be made without your computer being on, and you really don’t need a computer at all!
One great way that most VOIP services provide more value is by including all of the convenient features that are offered by conventional phone companies in there service plans at no extra charge. This alone saves you money above and beyond what conventional phone companies would charge for the same services. These services include voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, and a lot more. Best of all, you can control how you uses these services just by making changes to your account on the service’s website. You can use your computer to access voice mails, determine how you want to be informed of new voice mails, block the phone numbers of telemarketers, deny your caller ID information to people who you’re calling, block calls from numbers that don’t provide caller ID information, and much more.
There are also extra features that VOIP service can provide that are worth paying a little extra for. For example, you can get extra lines added to your account. These extra lines can be business and personal lines just for you, or one line for each member of your household. Each line can also be assigned a different ring tone, so that when they all ring though to the same handset, it’s easy to tell which line is being called just by the way it sounds. Your phone lines can also break the rules of how phones work by each having different area codes. That way if you have friends, family, or business clients concentrated in area codes other than your own, you can make it cheaper for them to call you. If you have a business, it might also be worth considering adding a toll free number.
There are so many options when it comes to VOIP technology and services, the only way to learn about them all is to go ahead and sign up.
By: Julia Hall
Posts Tagged ‘Conventional Telephone’
VOIP Services Offer Numerous Advantages
January 1st, 2010The Aim To Standardize VoIP Protocols
January 1st, 2010
Voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) is a remarkable technology that lets us talk to one another from our home computers. It provides an efficient and flexible way for us to communicate at work and at home, and the cost savings versus conventional telephone services are incredible. It requires little upfront investment, and you have the ability to travel with your phone number all over the world. It is a technology that almost seems too good to be true. As with any relatively new technology, though, there are technical kinks with VOIP that continue to need refining and development in order for the technology to reach its fullest potential as a replacement for the current telephone systems that we are accustomed to using.
At the beginning of a VOIP phone call, there is an analog phone (in use with an ATA), an IP phone, or software that converts data from analog to digital and routes the call to an endpoint. Along with these pieces of equipment, there are protocols that are employed to get the job done efficiently. A protocol is a set of rules that control data transfer between two points, in this case, from the placement of a phone call to the destination. Protocols are put into use by any combination of hardware and software to define real-time communications performance.
There are several VOIP protocols used at this time that mark out which programs (that transform the data) connect with one another along with the network. The most common protocol being used for VOIP is know as H.323, which was created by the International Telecommunication Union for the purposes of videoconferencing. This protocol is actually a group of several specific protocols that provide provisions for videoconferencing, data sharing, and audio transmission (VOIP). However, since it was not expressly designed for VOIP, there are often compatibility issues with its use.
A newer protocol has come out known as Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP. SIP was developed specifically for VOIP, and it is less complex than H.323. Yet another protocol used for VOIP is known as Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP). It focuses on destination control, and is intended to be used for supplemental features such as Call Waiting. A big problem arises because these three protocols do not always work together very congruently. This is often a problem when placing VOIP calls between different networks that use different protocols. And since there has not been yet developed a uniform set of standards for protocols to use for VOIP, problems are likely to continue until they are established.
Despite the technical glitches that can be encountered in using the technology to place phone calls, VOIP is still far more efficient, accommodating, and cost effective to what we are used to in telephone communications. The direction in which VOIP is heading hints that it is poised to one day replace our traditional telephone technology altogether. As with any technology-driven product or service, developers of VOIP will likely continue to improve upon current standards of VOIP and its protocols, further improving the technology for widespread use. This will provide users of VOIP even greater efficiency and reliability when they want to make a telephone call.
By: Mark Woodcock
VOIP Technology Saves Money and Increases Flexibility
December 26th, 2009
Computer technology- and the Internet in particular- is changing the way we conduct out lives in some pretty dramatic ways. One of the most dramatic changes that the Internet has brought us is the ability to take more control over how we communicate with each other by telephone and how we spend our money on phone service.
The specific technology that allows this is called Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP for short. Voice Over Internet Protocol takes advantage the fact that data moves across the Internet without any of the constraints of conventional telephone calls when it comes to geography and distance. Just like you can send an email to anyone, anywhere in the world and download a web page from anywhere in the world without incurring long distance charges, Voice Over Internet Protocol technology allows you to call anyone in the world either without long distance fees or with sharply discounted long distance fees. Basically, VOIP converts both ends of a phone conversation into data that can be streamed back and forth across the Internet without any loss of sound quality or noticeable time lag. This revolutionary technology also makes it possible to for users of VOIP to call phone numbers that don’t use VOIP technology as well as the other way around.
VOIP technology has actually been around since the late twentieth century. In those days though, the service was rather limited. For example, calls were only made using computers and, though calls between users of VOIP services were free, there was still a long distance charge for calls made from a VOIP user to a conventional phone number. Users of VOIP technology still saw the benefit of the service when calling conventional phone numbers in the form of reduced long distance rates.
Now there are a number of services offering calling plans based on Voice Over Internet Protocol technology, including well known companies like Verizon and Vonage, as well as lesser known companies like SunRocket and Lingo. While there is a fair amount of variation in their services, these companies have a lot in common, including the improvements that they’ve made over the original VOIP services. Generally, these modern VOIP services offer free long distance inside the United States- often with Canada and Puerto Rico included- to any phone number whether it’s conventional or one that also uses VOIP. There’s still a long distance fee for most international calls, but most services will waive that fee if the number you’re calling uses the same service. Another big improvement over the original services is that most of these newer companies will let you use your own phone rather than a computer.
In fact, in most cases, you don’t even have to have a computer at all! Although a computer is helpful for changing account settings on the service’s website and you can still make phone calls from a computer, all you really need is a high speed Internet connection and your own phone. The service will supply a special router that plugs into your Internet connection and that you can, in turn, plug your phone into. Such a set up is also very practical in the sense that allows you to use your phone just like you would with a conventional phone line. Both DSL and cable high speed Internet connections are ample for this service, but if you happen to have a cable connection, you can save even more money by getting rid of your phone line completely. Most VOIP services add even more value by providing all of the features free of charge that you would ordinarily pay extra for from a conventional phone service and charging a monthly rate that’s equivalent to- and often lower than- a basic phone line from a conventional telephone company.
If you’re looking for a flexible way to keep in touch while saving money, then VOIP may be exactly the technology that you’re looking for.
By: Julia Hall
