Previously we explored the history and technology that gave
rise to VOIP Telephone service (*see footnotes). Today we will examine
some of the benefits and also the drawbacks of this new opportunity.
In previous articles we discovered that traditional “Landline” type
phone service is set up much like a “Toll Highway”. Billing starts
when the “Circuit” is opened, and continues until it is closed.
Just like travelling down a Tollway, the longer you stay on, and the
farther you travel, the more “Toll Booths” you pass through. These
toll booths are the phone company’s switches, and you get charged
for every one that you pass through.
In contrast, VOIP phones use “Packet” switching. As the broadband
Internet connection is always open, digitized voice signals are
sent to the receiver in discrete packets. The result is that no
“dead air” exists on the line, as no traffic is sent when there is
a lull or pause in the conversation. This allows several two-way
conversations to use the same “bandwidth”, or space that previously
was tied up by ONE call.
This has resulted in great economy for VOIP providers who in turn
pass along the savings to the end user. Most top VOIP plans run
around 30 dollars a month, and the best include International calls
to many countries worldwide within that base fee along with a host
of features like Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Three-way
Calling, Online Access, Etc.
While most major traditional carriers have an “all inclusive” plan,
none that I know of include International calling, and most of their
“basic” plans are double the cost of VOIP. In my experience, the most
coveted features are also charged extra for. Add in the taxes and fees,
and all of a sudden you’re talking REAL money!
The other great benefit of VOIP is the ability to take your device
anywhere and make calls just like you were at home. The best services
are fully find-me, follow-me capable. This means that wherever you
happen to be, your phone number will find you and ring at THAT location.
I use mine with a Laptop, a cheap cigarette lighter a/c converter,
a wireless card, and an old “princess” phone in my truck parked outside
of hotspots all the time. That’s huge. You can have your office in
whatever hotel or airport or Starbucks you happen to be in at the moment.
Having covered most of the benefits of VOIP, let’s examine some of
the drawbacks. The major one is spotty 911 service availability. As
the device is portable, any call to 911 will result in emergency
crews being sent to the device’s address of record, which is set up
when you activate the VOIP device and service. Obviously this doesn’t
do you much good if you are in a hotel in Montana but live in Ohio.
One way around this is to change your address with your provider when
you travel, and then change it back when you return home. Of course,
this only works with domestic addresses, and you must remember to do it.
A better way is to ignore the issue entirely, and keep a very basic,
cheap, no frills service plan with your local phone provider. This will
still be cheaper by far than a full blown plan. Also, you avoid the other
main issue with VOIP- Power Outages. If power goes out, or you lose your
Internet Connection, you lose your phone service. Of course, you run
that risk with today’s cordless phones too, so it’s always a good idea
to have an old hardwired phone around the house, or at least a cell
phone available.
By: Glenn Grundberg
Posts Tagged ‘Voice Mail’
VOIP Telephony – The Benefits and Limitations
January 25th, 20106 VOIP Features That Attract People
December 22nd, 2009
VOIP is an advanced technology which has surpassed the telephone companies and the mobile companies. Its popularity is increasing enormously with an increase in its network coverage. It has proved to be an astonishing invention which has created a new mode of telecommunication by using internet. VOIP is an abbreviated form of Voice Over Internet Protocol.
Salient Features Of VOIP
The VOIP technology possesses many salient features which have attracted a large section of people towards itself.
1 – With the introduction of VOIP technology, the making of calls has become easy and cheap. You can easily make local, long distance, and international calls by using a broadband net connection which is a high-speed net connection.
2 – Its one of the significant advantages is the capability of directing the incoming calls to the VOIP service and one can easily get the details of incoming calls from any computer possessing internet by using VOIP system.
3 – It is a network that follows you wherever you go therefore you will never miss any of your important calls even if you are out of town.
4 – It has helped a lot in cost reduction because of the cheap call rates, the monthly telephone bills have cut down. Therefore, setting up of VOIP is very much beneficial economically.
5 – There are many value added services offered by the various VOIP service providers. For example, there is voice mail facility, 3-way conference, speed dialing, call forwarding, simultaneous ring, call waiting, caller ID, call return, caller ID block, anonymous call rejection, an interesting feature of do not disturb, and last number dial. All these services are mostly free of cost in their basic service plan.
6 – There is a facility of managing your VOIP account online from any corner of the world if there is an availability of a broadband internet connection.
Drawbacks Of VOIP Technology
The dark side of using VOIP technology has made the customer to reach the state of dilemma whether to go for VOIP technology or not. The major disadvantage of VOIP is that a problem can be cropped up by using VOIP technology and text messaging because it has been found that the use of this technology can lead to many security flaws.
Experts are working on the problem of security flaws, but have not come to any results yet. Therefore, one cannot rely completely on the use of VOIP technology. In terms of security, VOIP is not also completely supportive for their encryptions. Because of this weak point, it has become easy for the cyber attackers to impede the communication system.
How To Call Without VOIP
It is also very easy to make calls without possessing VOIP service by using an adaptor. This adaptor will be hooked up to a regular phone and to your VOIP in order to utilize the residential VOIP phone which can be a VOIP phone, landline, or cell phone. This adapter has proved to be very much useful for those who do not want to make investment in VOIP service.
Residential VOIP
Residential VOIP is a type of software which permits the downloading of technology on your computer to chat with anyone across the globe. In this system of communication, computer will be solving the purpose of the telephone. There is one specification in using residential VOIP service and that is the person whom you want to contact should also need to possess the software with same technology on his computer.
Therefore, after considering the both positive and negative aspects of the VOIP technology, you should come to an apt and appropriate decision whether to opt for it or not.
By: M. Jedediah
Why Invest in Voip Technology?
December 21st, 2009
The answer is, as usual, it depends. Voip is evolutionary, not revolutionary, technology. If you are moving into a facility where you need to completely build out your infrastructure, then installing a voice over ip device makes sense. It can be very competitive with traditional POTS switched networks. Some companies put a Voip blade in an existing POTS switch. They feel that it gives them the best of both worlds, but I suspect that they might be hedging their bets a bit too much and not benefiting fully from either technology.
Advantage Of IP-Telephony
There are some other ways that you can take advantage of Voip technology. In a “green field” installation, you have a number of attractive choices that can give you more network flexibility. One possibility is eliminating the wires entirely. There is nothing preventing you from installing Voip over wireless 802.11x networks.
Unified Messaging
Unified messaging is another example. Unified messaging is one-stop shopping for all your voice mail, email, and fax communications (Email Fax). Unified messaging lets you retrieve all your messages with one phone call or visit to a website. While unified messaging sounds great, the technology has not entirely jelled yet. It can be costly and complicated to implement, and the services have not been perfected, including problems with voice to text translation. Unified messaging is dependent on the Voip technology so as that application matures, there will be more incentive to implement a Voip solution.
Investing in Voice over IP
It is claimed that a Voip system will save 50% over the costs of maintaining the old equipment.
Of course, it isn’t clear if or not replacing an old system with a more modern switched network would result in similar savings. IT departments are real pragmatists. They will not invest in a technology unless there are demonstrated cost savings or substantial improvements in the quality of service.
Here’s a checklist of things to watch for when considering if to invest in Internet Telephony or not:
If you answer Yes to most of these questions, then you should seriously consider Voip Technology as part of your IT infrastructure mix.
- Does your company have good connectivity to the Internet?
- Are you planning on implementing unified messaging or other integrated data/voice services?
- Is your traditional POTS equipment overdue?
- Does your company have enough bandwidth for all your data and voice needs?
- Does your company have a substantial international presence or communication requirements?
- Does your company have multiple locations?
By: Jim Francisto
