Computer Software

Have you heard that you can make phone calls over the internet cheaply? Have you had a chance to try it? Most people that have had a chance to try it have experienced hit or miss quality, dropped calls as well as some speech delays. But there are some steps that you can take to really improve the quality and consistency of you VoIP calls over your internet Connection.

There is a lot of buzz these days around Internet based communication, VoIP, replacing regular/traditional telephone service. Much of the buzz has been created by/around a company called Vonage, who’s motto is “Leading the Internet Phone Revolution”.

Even if you do not have a broadband connection, you can still save a fortune by using VOIP service for long distance calls. A broadband connection will give you more consistent, reliable call quality, but similar results can be obtained using a dial up account if some guidelines are followed.

All VoIP service providers are different, they do not all support dial-up users. Companies such as Vonage happens to be one that backs away from dial up connections. The providers that do support dial up usually only support dial-up above certain speeds. The two most popular companies that do support dial up VoIP are Callserve and Go2Call.

If you close programs that are running in the background, you will get higher call quality. If you are using windows, just right click & close all open non-essential applications that are shown in your taskbar at the bottom right of your screen. If you are using windows XP & there are other users logged on, be sure they log off before trying to make a call.

You also need to be conscience of what you are doing while you are on the call. If you overload the limited data capability your call quality will suffer. Other activities that will compete for bandwith are: Instant Messaging, checking your email, web cameras, surfing the internet or downloading anything.

Scan your system frequently for Viruses and Adware, these programs can tie up your browser and internet connection, slow down your system and affect your call quality.

Make it a habit to scan your system every month so your virus software remains uo to date. McAfee or Nortons are good programs, Spybot – Search & Detroy is good for removing spyware.

Use a headset with a boom microphone and this should eliminate annoying voice echoes often associated with VoIP phone calls. If you use a headset, voice signals are limited in volume and thus the chances of your microphone ‘re-transmitting’ those voice signals is greatly reduced.

So if you have dial up you can still enjoy the cost savings of making PC to VoIP call.

VoIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, is an enigma for many businesses. There are many flavors of VoIP and many pros and cons that you need to be aware of when considering which service to choose. One goal of this article is to help you decipher through the technospeak so that you can make an informed decision that will save you time and money.

The first thing you need to know about VoIP Service is that it can replace your local phone company. Whether you have just one POTS (plain old telephone service) line or a voice T1 (24 bundled dedicated lines), a VoIP solution is meant to replace your phone company. Instead of using your local phone company’s voice connection, VoIP will digitize your voice signal and send it over an internet connection.

In order for your voice to transmit digitally through the internet, you need to be sure you have enough bandwidth to facilitate the communication link. A minimum of a DSL line is required, but most larger companies will want a T1 line – a dedicated link directly to the internet that is guaranteed to be up over 99.999% of the time. Since you will be entrusting all of your business voice communication to this new technology, your connection to the internet becomes the critical link and you don’t want to risk a company-wide phone outage to save a few hundred dollars on your bandwidth connection. To help with this DS3-Bandwidth.com has developed software that will allow you to
generate a T1 or DS3 price in just seconds.

Once you have your high-speed internet connection taken care of, it’s time to select a VoIP Service Provider – the company that will actually route your digitized voice signal to a real telephone on the other end. In essence, your VoIP Carrier will become your long distance carrier. The service providers
Business-VoIP-Solution.com work with offer unlimited telephone calls to the United States and Canada, all for one fixed price. That’s a good place to start your search. For companies who average more than $40 in local and long distance usage per employee, VoIP is well worth the initial investment.

There are likewise other hidden benefits of VoIP Service, the main benefit being the reduced bandwidth required to conduct a regular telephone conversation. Since a VoIP transmission only requires 32KB of bandwidth, you can fix up to 24 ‘VoIP lines’ on a data T1, and still have 768KB left over for dedicated high-speed internet access! This means that you can migrate your entire phone system on to your existing T1 and still have half of the bandwidth allocated for data.

Other benefit of VoIP lies in the prioritization of the digitized voice signals that are generated when you speak. In the event no one is talking, the VoIP line does not transmit any data. This allows your T1 line to dynamically allocate bandwidth as it is needed, instead of permanently blocking out an entire channel of data.

Lastly, the MAJOR benefit of VoIP telephone systems is that they come with a very rich feature set. Some common features include: Unlimited Minutes, Local Number Porting (LNP), Personalized Voicemail, Unlimited In-Network Calling, Caller ID, Caller ID Blocking, Call Waiting, Call Waiting ID, Call Forwarding, 3-way Conferencing, Call Return *69 activates, Online Management & Billing, Choose Your Own Area Code, *70 Call Waiting Disable, *78/*79 Do Not Disturb, *77/*87 Anonymous Call Blocking,
Distinctive Ringing for Virtual Numbers, Virtual Phone Numbers all over the world, Enhanced 911, and Toll Free Services. You just can’t get all that service with regular phone service without paying extra fees and surcharges. These features are standard with most business VoIP plans!

The most immediate benefit of VoIP for most businesses is savings on long distance charges. Companies equipped for VoIP can place long-distance calls over the Internet rather than the PSTN and avoid paying long distance charges. Since most companies already pay for broadband Internet connections, the only additional requirement is the equipment that connects telephones to the IP network.

The so called “VoIP revolution” in telecommunications can benefit many consumers. The group who stands to gain the most….if they’re smart…are small businesses.

In addition to the cost savings, bringing voice and data together on one network opens the door to new services. Advanced conferencing, unified e-mail and voicemail messaging and dialing calls by selecting from a computer contact list are just a few of the new service possibilities.

The benefits of VoIP can go beyond free long distance calling and new services. Because VoIP integrates voice calling with the IP network, small businesses of the future will only need one network to operate, rather than separate telephone and computer networks. A single integrated network is cheaper to install and maintain, and there would only be one network service bill to pay. We recommend Packet8 service for small businesses of today…..and tomorrow.

But fully converged networks are a long way off for most small companies. Today, traditional PSTN telephony is still crucial for the vast majority of small businesses. Since most of the telephone calls for the majority of small businesses come from local callers using the traditional telephone network, small businesses need to maintain their traditional PSTN links. For those small business where VoIP doesn’t make sense yet we recommend using a “Best Rate Calculator” to optimize your PSTN usage and cost effectiveness.

To set up a business VoIP system, you need several components. A central device to manage the calls, the way a private branch exchange (PBX) or key system unit (KSU) does in traditional phone systems is one of them.

This can be a dedicated piece of hardware such as an IP PBX, a regular PBX that has been IP-enabled, or a server running specialized software. You will also need phones and a data network. In many cases, you may be able to use your existing digital phones and computer network, although you may need to upgrade some of your network hardware.

VoIP Benefit

The most prominent benefit of an IP PBX is for businesses with multiple locations. With the advantage of VoIP, all the offices on a LAN or WAN can get the profits of having a common office phone system. The profits are – extension dialing, seamless call transfers, and other features.

In addition to making it easier to communicate, this sharing of features can enhance collaboration as employees at different locations can truly feel like they are part of the same organization. Plus, if they are on the company network, the phone calls are free – even if your offices are located thousands of miles apart. It is an advantage in saving money expended on calling between two branches of the same office.

VoIP Conversations

Computer networks are designed to handle messy data: packets arrive out of order and some are even lost, but in most cases the data being sent can easily be reconstructed when it is needed. Voice conversations, though, are not as tolerant of these kinds of disturbances. Each packet of sound has to arrive in the correct order because they are being sent in real time – if packets are lost; the conversation sounds distorted, choppy, or falls off all together. This is why VoIP services that rely on the Internet to transmit calls can have uneven phone quality.

The selection of a business VoIP solution is a major decision. Voice service is critical to the operation of the business, so no one wants to implement a technology that will compromise call quality or reliability in any way. On the other hand, the cost savings and value-added functionality available with VoIP makes it a compelling investment.

LANs & WANs

The VoIP phone system is beneficial for companies having multiple locations branches, telecommuters and remote sales offices. And the locations are connected with a company’s Local Area Network (LAN) or Wide Area Network (WAN). In that case the companies are suitable for using a VoIP system.

You can share the full features of your phone system across all your locations. In addition, even if you have one office in one place and one in different place, VoIP allows calls between them via extension dialing, making it a zero cost call. For businesses with hefty monthly long distance charges due to calls between far off locations, is an attractive reason to upgrade.

VoIP Process

A VoIP phoning process requires a regular phone, an adapter, broadband Internet service, and a subscription to a VoIP service. When you place a call, it is sent over the Internet as data until it nears the recipient’s destination.

Then the call is translated back into a more traditional format and completes the trip over standard phone lines. Also known as Internet telephony, this allows for extremely cheap long-distance and international calls.

VoIP Drawbacks

The main drawback of VoIP systems is the network requirements.

In VoIP telephony the greatest challenge is the bandwidth. It requires high bandwidth for clear messaging.

It is no secret that communication is key to survival for small business. The advantage to small busineses of using a VoIP solution is that the market is very competitive. While there are relatively few companies from which to choose for normal phone service, many VoIP providers will gladly offer VoIP phone service at a very competitive rate and with unlimited long distance.

But….you need to do your homework first.

Phone service features indispensable to your business, such as voicemail, conferencing and call waiting, allow business to flow smoothly and efficiently. So….how do you decide if a VoIP solution is best for your business?

One of the first steps when analyzing your current service is to decide what features your business needs. Does it need multiple lines to accommodate the sales force? What about a toll free number for customer service? Make a list of all the features your office uses and think about others you might want to try.

The next step is to make an estimate of all intrastate (in- state), interstate (state-to-state) and international calls. An easy way to estimate these numbers is to view a recent phone bill. You might be surprised at how large or small your call volume actually is. If you rely heavily on fax machines, consider the number of incoming and outgoing faxes. As you review these numbers, remember to consult growth projections for the rest of the year.

Once you’ve done all this…you’re ready to go comparison shopping.

Here’s some resources to help you do that:

* VoIP Comparison Reviews

VoIPReview does a good job comparing feature sets from each of the providers. Its user reviews seem a bit skewed, but otherwise the site looks good.

* ZDNet Reviews

ZDNet usually has objective reviews. Read through its commentary on any of the providers you are considering.

* Broadband Reports

Broadband reports has a specific area for review by users…with a regularly updated scoring system. It’s often skewed with a tad bit of emotion….and reviews are mostly residential. But it does give you an idea for business use.

* Google

I’m sure most of you already do this, but once you’ve figured out what you’re looking for, perform a search on companies on Google to see what others have said about it.

If you’re willing to do a bit more work, contact various providers and create your own comparison chart. You can begin your research by visiting voipreview.org. The site offers VoIP facts and reviews of various broadband phone service providers. Compare the business plans for different providers and research the various features offered with each plan. Also, make sure your current Internet connection can handle VoIP calls. The Web site testyourvoip.com will evaluate and score your Internet connection. You’ll know if it makes sense to run your phone traffic over your broadband connection.

Here is a list and description of the top ten (supposedly) VoIP providers (includes home plans for telecommuter staff).

- Axvoice

Axvoice has many plans for you to sign up. Unlimited call to USA/Canada plan costs $ 18.99 per month. Unlimited international & USA/Canada plan costs $29.99. Axvoice also has business plan starting from $ 39.99 per month.

- INVIVNI

INVIVNI has three plans, Residentials, Small Office, and Business. The Residential plan costs $24.95 per month. The Small Office plan costs $32.95 per month, and the Business plan costs is negotiable.

- VCInetwork

VCInetwork has three plans, Unlimited Long Distance :Home, Unlimited Long Distance: Business and 500 minutes to USA/Canada and Europe. Unlimited Long Distance : Home plan costs $28.95 per month. Unlimited Long Distance : Business plan costs $49.95 per month and 500 minutes to USA/Canada and Europe plan costs $14.50 per month.

- Skype

Skype is famous for their slogan, “The Whole World can Talk for Free”. Skype is a free download and users can make free calls via, Skype to Skype. For a fee, you can advance your Skype to Skype Out and make calls to landline phones. Skype In will let your choose your area code and phone number. This way, friends and relatives can call you locally, if you select the same area code. Skype is compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, and Pocket Pc operating systems. Not really a good business solution.

- Vonage

Probably the most well known VoIP providers, you may be surprised to discover that Vonage is also one of the more expensive providers. Vonage offers two plans, residential and small business. Residential users may choose between the Basic 500 plan and Unlimited. The Basic 500 plan offers 500 minutes of talk time for $14.99 a month. The Premium Unlimited residential plan costs $24.99 per month.

The Small Business Basic plan costs $39.99 per month and allows 1500 minutes. The Small Business Unlimited plan costs $49.99 a month and provides unlimited calls throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada.

- Dialpad

Dialpad and Yahoo have merged services. Currently, Dialpad offers three plans- Dialpad Monthly 300, Dialpad Monthly 500, and Dialpad USA. The cost for Dialpad Monthly 300 is $7.50 per month, Dialpad Monthly 500 costs $9.99 per month, and Dialpad USA costs $11.99 per month.

- Broadvox Direct

Broadvox Direct offers residential and small business services. Their residential services include the Residential Choice Plus plan for $9.95 per month. The Residential Choice Plus plan includes 100 outbound minutes and unlimited incoming minutes. Their Residential Unlimited Plan costs $29.95 a month and includes unlimited calling anywhere in the US and Canada. The SoHo Small Business Regional Plan costs $34.95 per month and includes 1500 monthly minutes in the US and in Canada. The SoHo Small Business Unlimited Plan costs $44.95 per month and includes unlimited calls in the US and Canada and also includes a free fax line and Yellow Page listing.

- Galaxy Voice

Galaxy Voice offers two plans, Residential and Business. Their residential plan costs $19.95 a month and includes unlimited calling, Voicemail, Caller Id, Call Waiting, Call Return, Three Way Calling, and Call Forwarding. Their business plan costs $39.95 per month and includes unlimited calling, Free Voice Mail, Free Call Transfer, Free Call Forwarding, Free Repeat Dialing, and Free Caller ID block.

- Voice Pulse

Voice Pulse has three plans, America Unlimited, Local Unlimited +200, and Business Unlimited. The America Unlimited plan costs $24.99 per month. The Local Unlimited +200 costs $14.99 per month, and the Business Unlimited costs $45.99 per month.

- VoIP American

VoIP American has three different plans. These are the VoIP American PBX plan, the VoIP American Voice plan and the VoIP American bVoice plan. The VoIP American PBX plan cost $19.99 a month for a private line and $44.99 a month for unlimited calling. The VoIP Voice Residential Basic plan costs $14.99 per month and the VoIP Voice Residential Unlimited plan costs $29.99 per month. The bVoice Business plan costs $34.99 per month.

- Packet 8

Packet 8 not only offers phone plans, but they also offer videophone plans. Their residential plans are the Freedom International and Freedom Unlimited. Both of these plans cost $19.99 per month. [note: currently they're running a special for $9.95 per month for your 1st 3 months.] The Videophone plan is the Freedom Unlimited and that too is $19.99 per month. Their business plans consists of three different plans. These are the Virtual Office service plans, the Virtual Attendant Service plans, and the Business Phone Service plans. The Virtual office phone plan costs $39.95 per month, the Virtual Attendant service plan costs $14.95 per month, and the Business Attendant service plan costs $34.95 per month.

- Sun Rocket

Sun Rocket offers their signature service for either $24.95 per month or $199.00 per year.

- Speakeasy

Speakeasy offers many different plans ranging from Home Office, Small Office I, Small Office II, and Small Business. Their Home Office plan costs 79.90 per month, the Small Office I plan costs $560.00 per month, the Small Office II plan costs 1,039 per month and the Small Business plan costs $2,349 per month.

Analyzing phone service is often a real headache. However, unreliable line quality, which results in poor customer service and huge monthly bills are even worse. In the end, doing your research will pay dividends for your business. Personally, I have no reservations recommending Packet8 for your business VoIP solution right now. However, go through the above steps first for your own peace of mind…..you’ll likely reach the same conclusion.

Making telephone calls over the Internet using voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) is an efficient and cost saving technology that is in a position to forever change telephone communications. VOIP is not a new phenomenon, having been in use in the business world for quite a few years. In the last couple of years, though, it has begun to catch on with consumers as a way to efficiently combine all their modes communication in their homes, for either their work lives or personal lives, and avoid paying high charges as they have with long distance companies. With the many products and services available to customers, it seems like a lucrative business to be a part of. VOIP resellers have the opportunity to pass reasonably priced products and services on to consumers while at the same time making a great profit and being a part of a communications revolution.

VOIP technology provides the customer with an exciting opportunity to experience low priced telephone service. Subscribers to VOIP services have a bevy of options from which they can choose. The ability to subscribe to VOIP is dependent on the customer having a reliable broadband Internet connection, and will require the customer to either purchase a few new pieces of equipment or software that will enable VOIP to work from the home computer. Customers can choose to use a specially equipped microphone hooked up to the computer, making the experience like that of a speakerphone. The customer can use his or her home telephone with the service, if he or she purchases an analog telephone adapter that converts the analog audio into digital data. They can also buy an IP phone that is plugs directly into the computer and is ready for immediate use. There is also a wireless option, and VOIP cell phones are beginning to make an appearance on the market. It’s important for the customer to be aware that VOIP phone service isn’t that dissimilar to traditional telephone service, except that the cabling has changed. Once the customer has the necessary equipment for VOIP, he or she then needs to search for a reliable, affordable, and dependable service provider. This is where the VOIP reseller can step in. A VOIP reseller has an opportunity to provide affordable phone service to customers beyond the startup costs, while at the same time getting in on a potential technology and business boom.

A VOIP reseller does just that, he or she resells minutes to VOIP customers that have been purchased from a VOIP provider. These resold minutes are marked up to allow the VOIP reseller a reasonable profit. The reseller becomes the liaison between the service provider and the customer, providing customer service and resolving issues. It is important to note that for anyone interested in becoming a VOIP reseller, there is often a considerable investment in the beginning. A new reseller will have to purchase software and equipment that will enable his or her to provide service to his or her customers. However, there are services available for the potential reseller that provide their own gateways and servers while giving him or her the opportunity to be their own business owner without the expensive startup costs. These firms provide software that make it possible for a VOIP reseller to establish and maintain a set customer base. Customers can access their accounts, contact the reseller with issues or questions, and view their bills. These firms also help to alleviate the big startup cost by offering not only their servers and gateways, but also billing systems that would normally cost a hefty sum to purchase. All of this is offered in a secured interface.

VOIP is primed to take the place of the traditional telephone system. There are tremendous moneymaking opportunities to be sought for someone that is good at marketing and selling a product. There are opportunities to provide service and support to customers while being self-employed. For a VOIP reseller, the opportunities are tremendous.

Vonage announced on Feb 8 that it intends to issue an IPO in an attempt to raise $250 million. This move underlines some of the problems mainstream VoIP providers are having.

The problem for Vonage is that while its subscriber base is growing, it is still losing money. According to the IPO filing, Vonage lost $189.6 million on sales of $174 million in the first nine months of 2005.

The company spends so much on marketing that it is almost impossible to make money from low spending subscribers. Average single line subscribers paid $26.73 per month in 2005. But the company spent $213.77 per subscriber on marketing. That means it would take more than 8 months to recoup their up front marketing costs.

Market share is also shrinking and the competition is ramping up. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are all aggressively entering the market.

They are also getting squeezed on the expense side. Currently VOiP providers like Vonage offload the carrier costs to internet subscribers. But the major telcos are lobbying hard for approval to charge providers like Vonage extra tool fees for the ramped up level of service required to make wide scale VOiP possible.

Pure VOiP providers like Vonage are eating into the traditional market of the telcos. So it seems almost inevitable that the telcos will retaliate in various ways to either hold on to their customer base, or convert customers to their own services.

**Other developments in VoIP

Microsoft – Gates and company will be entering the VoIP market aggressively in 2006. The new version of MSN Messenger, called Windows Live Messenger will have advanced VoIP capabilities, and an interface with the traditional phone system through an agreement with MCI. This alliance with MCI is Microsoft’s way of avoiding the threat of telco toll charges.

As with Skype, PC to PC calls will be free using Windows Live Messenger. Microsoft and MCI claim that PC to landline calls will cost only a few cents a minute, and much less than some other alternatives currently being developed.

Google – Much like Microsoft and Yahoo, Google is putting the pieces together to offer a comprehensive PC to PC chat/voice service, as well as a PC to landline service. That would take Google just one relatively small step from becoming a complete VoIP provider.

Google released Google Talk last August, and recently announced the release of Gmail Chat which integrates GMail and Chat. For voice capability, users still have to download the Google Talk client, but it is just a matter of time before there is one client for all three services (mail, chat, talk).

The company has also confirmed that it is working with VoiceOne, a Florida company owned by VoIP Inc. VoiceOne is providing Google with “click-to-call” services. This free service lets people speak directly to Adwords advertisers who come up in searches, with the costs, presumably, being covered by advertisers.

Yahoo – Yahoo announced in December that they will offer two new fee-based voice over IP services so customers can make voice calls from a PC to a telephone and receive phone calls on a PC.

The new VoIP services are called Phone Out and Phone In and are part of Yahoo Messenger with Voice.

Phone Out will let users to make calls from a PC to traditional or mobile phones in more than 180 countries. Projected cost will be $0.01 per minute to the U.S. and less than $0.02 per minute to more than 30 international countries.

Phone In will let users receive calls on a PC from traditional or mobile phones for $2.99 a month. Multiple phone numbers will be available for travelers, and phone numbers in different countries will be available so people who call them from that area will only pay for a local call. This is very similar to Skype’s current offerings (see below).

Skype – EBay bought Skype in 2005 for $2.6 billion, so chances are they have big plans for the service. Skype offers a range of VoIP services, but so far all require at least one user be tethered to a PC with a broadband connection. Services include free computer-to-computer calls, as well as paid calls from a PC to the public network (SkypeOut) or public phone to PC (SkypeIn).

With the release of Skype 2.0, the company has announced a number of enhancements to their core service such as teleconferencing capability, and video calling. Another useful service is Skype VoiceMail. Callers from anywhere can call your number and leave a voice mail on your computer.

Judging from their web-centric approach to VoIP, Skype does not have plans to directly compete with the telcos for traditional phone business. However, they are well-positioned to offer click-to-call services to everything from community and dating websites, to EBay itself.

Previously I wrote that VoIP was a good choice. If naked DSL or DSL without phone service is not an option for you, then VoIP can still be a good choice for your second or even third phone line. It sure comes in handy for your teenage children not to mention a home office. I recently sold service to a gentleman who wanted VoIP specifically for the ability to have a virtual number. His daughter recently went off to college in another state. He purchased VoIP service and signed up for a virtual number. He got a virtual number in the same area code that his daughter was in. This allows his daughter to call him at local charges vs. the long distance charges she would normally have to pay. Kudos’ to him for making his decision. Just another great benefit VoIP has to offer.

This weekend I was speaking with a friend of mine who recently purchased a home computer. He knew about my business and wanted to know his options for internet access. He also knows that I’m not just a big fan of VoIP but that I myself use it. His primary objective was internet access, secondary objective was VoIP. Here’s where the choices, for him, weren’t so straightforward.

First off, his current phone provider is the local cable company. He doesn’t use cable TV, rather he uses satellite TV. This current scenario meets his needs. He’s a huge sports fan and not about to give up his satellite TV because of the sports packages. Do you know anyone else in this type of situation? I told him that ‘normal’ DSL is out of the question. Our local RBOC won’t allow DSL access without phone service. What about naked DSL? Yes, my company has recently signed up a couple providers offering naked DSL, but the price is a bit higher. About the same as cable internet access would cost when you don’t have cable TV service. In both cases, naked DSL and cable access, the monthly fee was more than he’s willing to pay.

Well then, that was our dilemma. His existing setup won’t allow for either DSL or Cable without him spending more than he wants per month. A switch to cable TV service with cable broadband access won’t work for him either. He just doesn’t want to give up the satellite TV sports package. So what to do?

His options, as it were, are limited. I asked about his phone habits. How many local and long distance minutes do him and his family use? His child is fairly young and his wife’s family lives in the area, so long distance minutes don’t come into the picture. That leaves local calling. I have a bundled service I could offer him, but guess what, YEP, the RBOC ‘will’ allow a competitor to offer local service BUT the RBOC will ‘not’ allow that competitor to offer DSL.

He was trying to avoid the local RBOC, which is why he switched to cable phone service a few years back. Now, although he does have choices, the only thing to meet his budget is to cancel cable phone service and go back with the RBOC. Once phone service is active, then I can get him DSL access. DSL access from the local RBOC’s is really dropping in price so he can get his first 6 months at a very reasonable price. Even after that 6-month period, the rate is reasonable as well. This solves his primary objective to get high-speed internet access but doesn’t solve his secondary objective to get VoIP. He has no use for a second phone line so that’s not an option.

Since the FCC has mandated that RBOC’s need to offer naked DSL in roughly 3 years time, that’s actually going to work for him. After that 3-year timeframe his young child will be in high school. He’ll have more choices in just a few years. So, for this case, he doesn’t get everything he wants at the budget he can afford. Rather he solves his primary objective of internet access for now and will go for VoIP once the prices of naked DSL come down.

Although this is doable, it’s really a shame. It may be rare and it was the first time I’ve personally run across this type of situation. Phone from cable, TV from satellite works great for him, but because the phone companies and cable companies don’t play well, he looses. I will show him how to make his long distance calls from his computer, but for VoIP as a primary phone service, he’ll need to wait. Sometimes the decision to use VoIP is not such an easy choice. (For now)

What makes VoIP so great is all of the money that you will save each month. If you make a lot of long distance phone calls each and every month then VoIP is for you. It does not even matter if you are making calls for business reasons or for pleasure, you can still save hundreds of dollars by using it. VoIP is easy to use and everyone can benefit from it.

When you have VoIP you will be making all of your important phone calls over the internet rather than the telephone lines. Since so many millions of people are choosing VoIP over regular phone calls it is changing the way that people call others and have phone meetings.

Over the last few years VoIP has come a long way. It is now a very trustworthy and smart technology. As long as you have a broadband connection you can use VoIP reliably. You will be bale to contact anyone anywhere in the world for free, and you can talk as long as you want. You can even have conference calls with as many people as you want to and this is great for business.

If you want to make big money then you need to be able to get in touch with people at any time of the day or night and you need to be able to talk as long as you need to in order to nail down the important details of your deal. These things are always taken care of when you are using VoIP.

With VoIP you will be bale to use your phone to call anywhere in the world for free. So if you are ready to save some money on your calls for a change then you can get VoIP set up in your computer today.

By the end of 2006, Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) may account for as much as 25 – 40% of international voice traffic. This prediction is impressive, but it is even more amazing when you consider the relatively short history of voice over internet protocol. It began as a hobby for some people in Israel who were only able to communicate by computer.

Later that year, in 1995, the first company in the history of voice over internet protocol to put a product on the market was Vocaltec. They released Internet Phone Software, which in combination with a home computer, sound card, speakers, microphone and modem allowed users to make a phone call over the internet. However, the people on both ends had to have the same setup, and sound quality was much less than on a normal phone.

In 1998, there were more milestones in the history of voice over internet protocol. Entrepreneurs began to recognize the potential of the technology and soon computer-to-phone and phone-to-phone connections (still using a computer for the transmission) were possible for making voice calls over the internet. The service was available using a phone at a provider’s location in North America only.

It required the users to listen to an advertisement at the beginning and end of each phone call, but in exchange their long distance calls were free. In 1998, less than 1% of voice calls were made using voice over internet protocol.

Businesses began to use VOIP over their intranets to help communicate within their company. But with the introduction of switching equipment in 1998 by 3 manufacturing companies, the history of voice over internet protocol took a turn towards the future.

Now VOIP could become more readily available to users at home instead of at a specific facility belonging to the provider. By the year 2000, more than 3% of voice calls were made over the internet using VOIP.

Today, there are both hardware and software options for those interested in business VOIP and for their personal use. You can purchase hardware that will allow you to use your normal phone handset when making a phone call.

You can buy phones that are VOIP ready and need only an internet broadband connection. Or, you can purchase or download software that will let you use your computer instead of a phone, provided that you have speakers, a microphone, and an appropriate sound card.

Many phone companies have begun to offer packages that include local and long distance VOIP calls for a flat monthly fee. With the advent of broadband services, sound quality has become parallel to regular land line phones for the first time in the history of voice over internet protocol. And the number of people using VOIP is only expected to grow.