Seattle venture capitalist, Greg Gottesman, calls it “…one of the most important changes in communications in the past 100 years.”
The Boeing Company announced plans to move its 150,000 employees to an internet-based phone system, and several Seattle area residents are using internet telephones to get cheap rates or, in some cases, free international phone calls.
Using VoIP, homes and businesses can save up to 80% on current phone bills, while enjoying a quality of sound that is superior to traditional lines. The only equipment needed is a computer with sound, and a microphone or headset, which can be purchased at a local store for between $5 to $45. Upgrades to existing equipment is virtually eliminated, as VoIP can be used on dial-up (contrary to numerous published claims), broadband, wireless, or satellite connections.
When shopping for a VoIP solutions provider
• Look for secure lines and patented technology.
• Look for free PC to PC calls.
• Check for hidden costs.
• Avoid providers with unsecure lines and/or peer-to-peer programs as public listing of names and numbers, shared servers, or open platforms, as may leave you vulnerable to not only spyware, but viruses, worms, Trojan horses, unscrupulous hackers, not to mention violation of privacy.
By: Dee Scrip
Posts Tagged ‘Phone Bills’
How VoIP Will Affect Every Household and Business in the World
January 12th, 2010Learning the Basics of VoIP
January 10th, 2010
If you have been paying large long distance phone bills, it’s time to introduce you to the VOIP basics. Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP or VoIP) is the latest telecommunications internet technology. It will allow you to make long distance calls over your internet connection, bypassing most, or all of you your long distance provider’s charges.
However, several large telecommunications companies have caught on to the growing trend for consumers to bypass their charges, and have reacted by offering packaged services that include your regular, local phone line service and the VOIP service that will let you place calls over the internet.
When discussing VOIP basics, it’s important to realize that there are actually 3 types of VOIP technologies that are currently in use. The first is called ATA or Analog Telephone Adapter technology. The ATA technologydoes exactly what it sounds like; it takes the analog signal on your regular telephone line and translates it into a digital signal. T
hat digital signal is then sent via the internet. This is the type of service that the large telecommunications providers are offering. They will mail you the ATA and you can set it up easily on your own.
Another of the technologies that is necessary for understanding VOIP basics still has to do with the phone itself. Instead of using an adaptor to change a regular phone into a VOIP compatible one, you purchase a phone that is designed for making VOIP calls. But that phone won’t plug into a regular phone jack (RJ-11). It will have to be plugged into an Ethernet connection (an RJ-45 jack or a spot on your router).
The necessary hardware and software to make a VOIP call is included in the phone itself.
The third technology involved in learning VOIP Basics is the most exciting for the average consumer, as it doesn’t require a monthly service charge from a provider in order to make free business long distance calls. It is computer-to-computer VOIP service. In this case, you download free or purchase low-cost software that turns your computer into the phone.
In addition to the software, you’ll need speakers so you can hear the other party, a microphone so you can speak to them, a sound card in your computer, and a preferably high-speed internet connection so the signal can travel fast enough to avoid delays in what you or the other party hears.
The person you call doesn’t need to be talking to you over a computer; a regular phone will work just fine. You can use the service on your end to make calls to anyone, anywhere without a charge.
Now that we’ve looked at the VOIP or also know as voice over internet protocol, you might be interested in trying it for yourself. But what you don’t realize is that you most likely already are.
Telephone companies have been using the technology for several years in order to route the mass number of calls they receive more efficiently over their networks.
But to try VOIP at home, download software at sites such as skype site. If you already have the needed items mentioned above (speakers, microphone, sound card and high-speed internet connection), you can be making calls in as little as 5 minutes.
By: Van Theodorou
The Present and Future of WiFi VOIP Phone Technology
December 5th, 2009
VOIP, or voice over internet protocol, has already changed the way that many Americans communicate with friends and loved ones. With VOIP it became possible to make seemingly regular phone calls – even long distance phone calls that would have cost a fortune with regular phone services, for free.
In today’s world, with the current state of the economy, everyone is looking for ways to cut their costs of living and to save money in any way possible. Eliminating high phone bills all together would be a tremendous way to save money, but there was one problem with using VOIP that severely limited its value in its original state – the user had to be close to a computer to use it.
People today have grown accustomed to portability, almost everything that we communicate on these days is portable – cordless phones and cell phone let us communicate with friends and loved ones no matter where we are or what we are doing, so it was almost like taking a step backward in terms of convenience in order to save some money.
Saving the money on all phone calls is great, but are people really willing to give up the portability of their cordless phones and cell phones to save the money – sure the VOIP would be good for calls if you new you were going to be just sitting and chatting for a while, but not being able to move about while conversing is a pretty big inconvenience for saving some money.
Enter the WiFi VOIP phone
Looking to advance the technology even further and to make VOIP a serious threat as an alternative to traditional phone service, manufacturers began to look in a similar direction to wireless modems for VOIP to operate on. The WiFi VOIP phone will allow users the same convenience and portability that they enjoy with a wireless internet connection in their homes. What this does is to give the user the same portability with their VOIP service in their homes that they would have with a regular cordless phone. With a WiFi VOIP phone, the user honestly won’t even be able to notice a difference in a switch over from the phone that they had been using to make all of their home phone calls – in fact the only difference there will be will occur in the absence of a bill from the phone company.
The Future
As technology improves and further advancements are made, there is almost no limit to what users will be able to accomplish with a WiFi VOIP phone. As more and more cities begin to adopt city-wide wireless networks, which residents can pay a monthly fee to have access to, there is a strong potential that VOIP technology will allow users to all but replace their cell phones with VOIP phones. Users would pay the monthly fee to have access to the wireless network which would cover their regular internet access, but also give them city wide access to the network on their portable VOIP phones.
What this would mean for end users who use their cell phones for nothing more than connecting with friends, family and associates is that they could effectively eliminate those cell phones and the bills that come along with them. So what we could see in the future of VOIP could conceivably be a device that would very effectively allow end users to do away with their home phone service as well as their cell phone service and allow them to do all of the connecting that they need to (local and long distance, day and night) without spending a penny more than they would already be spending for a wireless internet connection.
By: Amy Nutt
