Travelling abroad has always involved an element of adventure, but even as recently as 20 years ago visiting countries as technically advanced as the USA meant that you literally went into a communications black hole until your return. That is because the cost of transatlantic phone calls was so outrageously high that your entire holiday budget could be used up calling home, and that was just for a few minutes.
However, advances in competition amongst telephony companies have changed that. For example, travellers to the USA can purchase great value phone cards starting from as little as £5 for approximately 167 minutes of calls to a landline number in London. Or, if they prefer travellers can also call home using a mobile phone. But, even though that’s not as relatively expensive as it was to use landlines at the end of the 1980s, it is still an expensive way to keep in touch with calls to home typically costing around £1.37 – £1.99 per minute outside Europe.
As technology has advanced the amount of differing communication methods have also grown exponentially. Now even without a landline or mobile phone, it is still possible to call home just as long as you are connected to the internet. VoIP (Voice over internet protocol) now enables broadband users to be able to communicate both freely and for free with anyone on the internet who has the same software installed.
Indeed, modern technology expands at such a phenomenal rate each year that nothing seems impossible when it comes to global communication. Logging into your email account when in the heart of Peru to send and receive messages or even using your laptop to make free calls to home via WiFi at the top of the CN Tower in Toronto; both are eminently possible in the 21st century.
Wherever you go in the world the internet has invariably got there first, unless the destination is extremely remote and off the beaten track. For those on extended holidays or especially back-packing then internet phone calls can be a great way to make sure everyone back home realises what a great time you are having, as well as a great way for you to keep in touch with happenings on the domestic front. But the real advantage is that you save your much needed cash to spend on essentials or fun activities and without having to spend it all it on expensive phone calls. So, before heading off to foreign parts make sure you open an internet VoIP account, and you’ll have the ability to stay in touch just about wherever you go!
By: Isla Campbell
Posts Tagged ‘Voip Protocol’
Use Internet Technology to ‘Phone Home’ When on Holiday
March 7th, 2010Internet Telephone VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) – Technology and Terms
October 29th, 2009
If you are just starting to look at VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) as an alternative to conventional POTS (plain old telephone service) for your home or office, you will be hit with an all new set of technical terminology and industry jargon. This is a guide to help clarify and define some of the basic vocabulary used in the VoIP world.
Many of these terms are not limited to the VoIP world. As with so many technologies that revolve around broadband access, wireless networking and telephony, you will see these terms elsewhere so it will be helpful for you to understand their meaning as they relate to VoIP.
Telephone Adapter – In the world of VoIP, a telephone adapter is a device that is installed between your network and your telephone hardware. You can think of it as a converter as it sometimes referred to by this term. The most simple of these devices have three connections: power adapter connected to a power outlet, a 4-wire telephone connection where you plug in your conventional telephone hardware and an Ethernet adapter to connect the device to your network. The adapter converts (digitizes) the analog phone signal to an IP protocol.
Codec – Short for coder/decoder, this is a compression and decompression utility that digitizes and compresses the analog voice signal created by your telephone. There are a number of different codecs used and each one offers differing levels of compression. With varying levels of compression come different levels of quality of voice over the line.
VoIP Service Provider – This is a provider of the actual connectivity of your VoIP hardware, your network and the rest of the world. Some provide only computer-based services while others provide complete home or office solutions including multiple phone numbers and fax/data solutions.
RTP – Real-time Transport Protocol is the protocol used to specify standards for carrying voice calls over broadband connections. RTP is used in conjunction with RTCP (Real-time Transport Control Protocol) to provide QoS (Quality of Service) support. This provides a precedence or ‘right-of-way’ traffic control of voice calls over standard traffic over the network. Standard traffic can be thought of as text, email or other low priority, non-time sensitive traffic.
SIP – Session Initiation Protocol controls the way VoIP traffic is transmitted and routed over a broadband network. In simple terms, SIP is the standard by which a session (phone call) is initiated and terminated (phone hangs up).
VoIP phone – This is a telephone that is designed specifically to be used with a VoIP service. It has the functionality of both a telephone in its basic design but incorporates all the functionality of a telephone adapter making is a single, self-contained VoIP device.
Softphone – This is actually a misleading term in that it is not really a phone at all. A softphone is a computer that is equipped with a microphone, a speaker (or headset) and a software program that allows you to make telephone calls without the need for a conventional telephone or adapter.
By: Jeff Runyon
VoIP Tutorial – Understanding VoIP
October 20th, 2009
VoIP is fast becoming the replacement technology for voice communication. However many people still have questions as to how it works? VoIP costs less than your traditional phone service, this is what makes it attractive to most consumers. Not only does it cost less than your traditional phone service it also costs less than the vast majority of monthly cell phone plans.
The number of VoIP providers is increasing giving you more choices and better calling plans. VoIP is still at its developmental stage. The VoIP service is available for both commercial and residential use, ranging from PC-to-PC service, all the way up to phone-to-phone. The following are the basic features of VoIP.
Anybody with an internet connection has the basic capability to use a VoIP service and benefit from the cost savings associated with VoIP. A basic plan that offers a number of long-distance minutes is very inexpensive and if that’s what you need then VoIP will work perfectly for you.
VOIP is a method which takes voice phone calls and then encodes them digitally. Basically VoIP is the protocol that is used to send your voice over the internet. The VoIP technology transmits your voice over what is called an IP network.
Most everyone agrees that VoIP is the future of voice and data communications.. By the looks of it VoIP is going to continue to grow and expand. VoIP is the Wave of the Future–”and the Present. Although you may be intimidated by this new technology at present, my advice would be to learn more about this new service as it seems this technology is here to stay.
By: Paul Hegarty
