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Is My Home Ready for Voice over IP (VoIP) Telephony?
By Chuck Smith
Is My Home Ready for Voice over IP (VoIP) Telephony?
VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is finally reaching out to
thousands of average homes to offer huge savings in telephone
costs. Already popular with the corporate world, VoIP, sometimes
called Internet Telephony, IP telephony, or Internet phone, uses
your computer's broadband connection - not traditional phones
lines - to make long distance, inter-state or local calls.
VoIP works by converting your voice into data, transmitting it over
the Internet, and then converting it back into a voice stream so
that it can be played on any telephone in the world - almost in the
same way your computer transmits email over the Internet.
Less expensive than traditional phones, and convenient -- you just
use your computer or a VoIP-ready phone and a broadband
Internet connection to make your calls -- VoIP makes for good
economic sense. Around for a decade now, VoIP has overcome
teething problems to come of age, using advances in PC and IP
technology to provide voice quality telephone calls at low Internet
rates.
Rising Popularity
International and state-to-state calls, expensive on conventional
phone systems, are available at lower prices on VoIP. Finding this
cost saving and its voice quality attractive, more home users and
businesses are choosing to opt for VoIP.
But, to work well, VoIP needs a good bandwidth connection, such
as broadband cable or DSL. Freely accessible nowadays -- 22% of
Americans use broadband right now and the numbers are rising
each day -- analysts estimate that 50% of Americans will use VoIP
in the next two to three years.
The Ins and Outs of VoIP
To use VoIP, you need a broadband connection (either cable or
DSL), a regular phone or computer microphone, and a special VoIP
router adaptor to connect your phone to the Internet. And, you'll
also need the services of a VoIP service provider, such as Vonage
or Skype. Depending on the service you use, you can either use
the telephone connected to the VoIP router, or call directly from
your computer using your computer's microphone and speaker.
Your call connects to your VoIP service provider, and they route the
call to the phone number you dialed, converting the VoIP data into
a plain old telephone call before reaching its destination. This is
how you connect to any telephone in the world, regardless of
whether the person you are calling is using VoIP or plain old
telephone service.
There are a number of different companies that offer VoIP services.
But make sure they provide good voice quality and reliable
support, and comply with Industry Standards. Ask potential service
providers about the security controls they use to ensure your data
and identity is safe and not open to hackers or virus attacks. You
can test several trial downloads before you choose your VoIP
service provider, and you can always visit user forums on the
Internet to check out the kind of problems that customers
experience with these service providers.
Cost Factors
Right now, VoIP is fairly inexpensive, averaging around $15 - $65
per month. This is because the VoIP industry enjoys special tax
breaks and other privileges. These privileges may be withdrawn in
the future, though lobbyists are trying hard not to let that happen.
In any case, VoIP is likely to become less expensive as more
people turn to it in the future.
In addition, there are a number of free VoIP service providers (who
usually have some paid upgraded services) that will allow you to
make free VoIP calls among the users of their network. For
example, if you sign up for the free Skype service, you can connect
with any other Skype user and talk for free.
VoIP - the Pluses and Minuses
Apart from the ease of use, people choose VoIP because it is
inexpensive, letting them "phone-trot" any wherever they want to
without having to worry about the length of a call, how often you
call, or the cost when the bill arrives. Additionally, with some VoIP
services, there are no fixed monthly charges to pay, like a regular
phone.
On the other hand, if your Internet connection is down, your
Internet phone is inoperable as well. And, slow IP connections can
hamper VoIP transmissions, causing problems like echoes, delayed
response times or voice failure. It's the sort of thing that happens
when you find it difficult to connect to the Web, or can't download
a file, only it affects VoIP more.
Still, with the advances made in VoIP technology over the past
year or so, and the growing momentum with consumers, VoIP is
definitely worth looking into for your home. There's even a site
that will let you test whether your home broadband connection is
ready for VoIP. Just go to www.TestYourVoIP.com, and test your
home broadband connection in less than 5 minutes for free.
So take a chance and look into VoIP. You may be surprised at how
much money you can save every month on phone services -- and
you can brag about your technical savvy to friends, co-workers,
and neighbors!
About the Author
Chuck Smith runs http://www.LGVoIP.com, a resource for information about the Voice over IP (VoIP) industry. Find out more about VoIP, and whether VoIP is right for you, at LG VoIP.
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/12506.html
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