Computer Software

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.

Using DSL for your broadband access? Naked DSL (DSL without primary phone service) still not available in your area? Don’t discount VoIP phone service just because you cannot discontinue your existing primary phone service. VoIP can be a huge help to those with home-based business, satellite employees needing a business line and of course families with teenagers! (just to name a few possible candidates!)

Tired of the high phone bills? For some the high costs are because of one or more of the categories mentioned above. This is ‘exactly’ why you should not discount VoIP for your second or third line. Imagine the looks on your teenagers face when you tell them they can get their own phone complete with their own phone number, voice mail and unlimited local and long distance calling! WOW – problem solved. For satellite employees, mentioning to your boss you can cut your existing phone expense will also put a smile on their face. For the home based-business ANY cost savings certainly helps. Now you can make those long distance calls without worrying about the expense.

If you’re putting off VoIP because you cannot use the service ‘exclusively’ you still just might be able to save money every month. Your home office or employee business line or the line for your child can all be easily converted to VoIP.

There are ‘some’ providers offering naked DSL so you should first check with your local telephone company. Ask if they provide this service. If not, you can visit our web site as we’ve recently added a couple providers that offer naked DSL. You can find them in our VoIP section.

If your goal is to eliminate your local telephone company all together and you don’t want to wait for naked DSL to become widely available, then perhaps it’s time to consider switching your residential broadband access to cable. If you’re a cable TV subscriber the monthly fee is usually lower than if you were not. In either case, run your own numbers. Take your existing phone bill and add the cost of cable broadband. What’s the total? Now add up the cost of cable broadband and VoIP. Compare the two numbers. Paying a little more for your cable broadband access just might be offset with the cost savings achievable through VoIP. Run the numbers and decide for yourself. For more information on VoIP technology, visit our site, search the net, do whatever it takes to get the information you need to make a more informed decision.

VoIP is a good choice and a good way to save money.

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.

Copyright © 2006 Gobala Krishnan

Telecommunication cost is always an obstacle for small business owners, especially if you need to call domestic or international long distance. The long distance cost factor alone, depending on the type of business you’re in, can make the difference in the success of any small business.

The telecommunication market today is one of the most competitive. Rates for both local, domestic long distance or DLL (long distance in the same country) and international long distance (ILD) are going down every day. The new player in small business phone systems, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), adds a whole new dimension when it comes to choosing a phone system for your small business or home based business.

There’s so much hype today about VoIP, or Voice over IP, or Voice over Broadband, whatever you want to call it. Everyone’s saying that VoIP is the “future of communication” and that VoIP will replace regular analog phone calls. Is all this true? If it is, how do you, as an entrepreneur, decide how to choose and invest in what’s best for you? Firstly, if you have no idea what VoIP is really about, here’s where you can get educate yourself: http://www.mybusinessvoip.com/start

There are two things you need to consider:

1) Level of investment
2) Cost vs. Quality

To go full out into using VoIP, you’ll need to invest in IP phones, and possibly even in IP PBX. Otherwise, you should go for IP phone adapters, which allow you to maintain whatever system you already have, but also gives you the option of converting some of those phone lines to VoIP. Most entrepreneurs are reluctant to go 100% into VoIP, and yet they still want the benefits that come from it. That’s why IP phone adapters are so popular today. In fact, here’s a list of the most popular providers for comparison: http://www.mybusinessvoip.com/compare

When is comes to quality vs. cost, the direction is pretty clear. Before choosing the proper VoIP phone system for your business, you need to figure out exactly what your business needs. If your business relies heavily on the phone for prospecting customers, providing customer support, or giving out important information through the phone, then you should definitely opt for better quality.

If you use the phone for short communication with your business partners or agents, or any other reason which is NOT your main business function, it would be better to save a little and go with the low cost option. The difference in quality is not very apparent in most cases.

If you are just starting your small business, VoIP phone cards also provide some sort of temporary solution until you can get enough financing to develop a better system. Phone cards usually let you dial international and national long distance at a lower cost because they use either VoIP as the back end provider or through a special promotion or arrangement between telecommunications companies.

Today, you can even get “virtual phone cards” which allow you to make phone calls by dialing a toll-free number in a long list of countries. This is especially useful if you spend more time travelling and doing business overseas than you are at home.

Regardless of which VoIP phone system you choose for your small business, make sure you are getting the most out of the money you spend for these long distance or international plans. Forget the bells and whistles. The purpose of having a good phone system is, and always should be, to communicate and express yourself.

Broadband or Internet phones function like real phones but convert voice into digital signals that are then conveyed over the Internet. The technology used is termed as, VoIP, Voice over Internet Protocol. Less expensive than regular phone services broadband phone services offer caller ID, call waiting, voice mail, call filters, hunt facilities, as well as conferencing.

Broadband phone services need a high-speed Internet connection and do work with wireless ISPs. However, there are still concerns over voice quality, reliability, and security.
The advantages are:

• Great savings in phone bills especially in long distance calling.

• Choice of area code and addition of other inbound numbers for a small fee. This means you can have local numbers in multiple area codes around the country.

• The option of a second full service line at low cost with unlimited long distance service. Can be used as a voice or fax line.

• Availability of comprehensive on-line control over call forwarding, time of forwarding or number forwarded to. E-mail notifications, voice mail messages or e-mail or voice mail, can all be arranged.

• One can access voice mail by taking along the phone adapter from hotels, offices, internet cafes, and so on. The VoiP service can travel with you.

VoIP can work with:

• A home office PC in which the software is loaded along with a headset or specialized broadband phone connected to the PC. Advantages of software based VoIP are that it allows integration with other software, offers lowest calling rates, uses existing hardware, utilizes few power connection, and needs little space. Disadvantages are that the system needs the computer on at all times, cannot use existing telephone equipment, and blocks valuable computer resources.

Or

• With an adapter box that links the high speed net modem and the home office network or PC. Advantages of this are that it functions independently of the computer, uses landline equipment, allows vendor control of adaptor support and programming. Disadvantages are that it is not compatible with computer software, needs space and power outlets, and lends limited control.
The new technology is provided by many companies like AT&T CallVantage, Broad Voice, BroadVox, Lingo, PacketB, and Vonage. The approximate costs are from US$ 14.95 to US$ 19.99 per month for residences and US$ 29.99 to US$49.95 per month for small businesses. There is a start up fee of US$ 39.94 to US$ 138.00 charged by some companies.
More information on the options as well as services can be gleaned from:

• What Broadband? at http://www.broadband-service-uk.com/why.html covers different broadband suppliers, has in depth articles as well as FAQs.

• The Connection Store at http://broadband-phone.connection-store.com/ features broadband phone vendors, a service provider comparison, as well as articles and quick links.

• Database Systems Corp at http://www.databasesystemscorp.com/psphoneservice_directory_broadband.htm has detailed information directory on broadband service providers.

• Broadband Phone at http://www.broadbandtry.com/broadbandphone/ –has information about broad band phones, providers, news, as well as blogs. There are links as well as articles and resources.

Using broadband phone services can save you considerable amounts in phone bills. Make an in depth study of options in your area. Weigh the pros and cons and reap the many benefits. Technology can really work for you.