|
|
|
Benefits Of VOIP Technology
Benefits of VOIP
Voice Over Internet Protocol, commonly referred to as VOIP has
arrived as a mainstream technology. Over the last two years VOIP
has emerged as one of the hottest technologies in the industry.
VOIP allows residents or...
VOIP Not Just For Residential Use
VOIP, Not Only for Residential Use
You probably heard about the emerging new technology VOIP which
is short for Voice Over Internet Protocol. VOIP is a fantastic
technology that has been growing for a few years but recently
has exploded in...
VoIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol
Voice over internet protocol or VoIP is beginning to come into
it's own. The promise of cost savings over traditional phone
lines is driving this technology into the mainstream. Leveraging
your existing broadband connection to save on your...
What is VoIP?
VoIP is an acronym for voice over internet protocol. A VoIP, in essence, is a computer phone that allows you to make phone calls from your computer to anyone in the world, e.g., PC to PC, PC to landlines, or PC to cell phones. The voice signal...
What's The Story With VoIP?
Unless you've been residing in a cave for the last couple of
years, you've probably at least heard the word "VoIP" even if
you didn't realize what all the excitement is about.
VoIP stands for "Voice over Internet Protocol" and it's...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Skype vs. Vonage: VoIP services explained!
Many of you have probably already heard about VoIP, or voice over IP. This is a technology that allows you to make telephone calls using the internet. With VoIP you can save money on your monthly bill, get inexpensive or even free long distance, plus get loads of extra services without any additional cost. Unless you have lots of time to explore the more than 1100 VoIP providers that exists today, you will probably want to simply decide between two choices: Vonage or Skype.
In the world of VoIP you have two basic options; you can get the "regular phone replacement with lower monthly phone bills" option (Vonage) or you can get the "plug a phone into my computer and it costs me nothing" option (Skype).
If you go for Vonage, everything works pretty much like it works today with your home phone. The main differences are:
1) Your phone bill is somewhere between 15$ to 25$ a month.
2) You get inexpensive long distance rates, free if you are talking to another customer who uses Vonage.
3) You get a bunch of features included in the price. (VoiceMail, Call Forwarding, Caller ID, Call Waiting etc..)
4) You have a "box" that sits between your computer and your internet connection. (This box will cost you 50$ to 100$)
You will keep your current phone number. You will have 911 service (FCC has mandated that VoIP providers such as Vonage provide full 911 service by ~September, 2005). You will have a nice web interface to all your fancy new phone features. You will get some pretty good customer service. If you want to keep your regular phone wiring you can do that too, though you will need to be a bit of a handyman type.
On top of this, you get some nifty extra benefits. For example, if you travel frequently you can take your "box" with you, plug it into any internet connection, plug a phone into the box and it's like you are sitting at home with your telephone!
Finally, Vonage is a reasonably large, aggressive company. This means they want your business and they are willing to fight for it. You can expect their prices to be competitive and to remain competitive. For more information you can go to their web site www.vonage.com. Don't forget that you should already have a high speed internet connection before using Vonage (or Skype).
Now, if you go for the "plug a phone into my computer and it costs me nothing" option then you want Skype. Skype is free, Skype is easy to use and Skype works. All you have to do is download, install and start using it. It is completely painless. If you are like me, you will start using Skype because you want to stop paying for long distance. My mother lives in the Czech Republic. In the Czech Republic it costs a lot of money to call North America. I told her to get Skype, now she calls me all time. Good thing Skype has VoiceMail!
After you get used to paying nothing for long distance, you will begin discovering some of Skype's other options. As of June,
2005 Skype has the following options:
1) You can get Skype Voicemail for ~19$ a year (that is about ~1.50$ per month)
2) You can call almost any phone number on the planet for 2 cents a minute, half of what Vonage charges! (Skype to Skype calls are free)
3) You can get an incoming phone number for around ~40$ a year (that is only 3.50$ per month and they throw in voicemail for free! Remember, unlike Vonage which gives you a phone number when you agree to pay the 15$-25$ a month, Skype starts you off for free but will only give you a phone number when you start paying them 3.50$ a month. I started off using Skype for free since I was only making Skype to Skype calls at first)
4) You get a bunch of features included for free (conference calling, Caller ID, Call Waiting ...)
5) There are tons of add-ons (also know as plug-ins) for Skype, many of them are free. You can get a Skype Answering machine, you can have Skype integrated into Microsoft Outlook or you can even start Podcasting with Skype.
6) There are lots of Skype communities. You can meet people for fun and conversation, you can even meet people to learn new languages.
7) Last, but not least, Skype has instant messaging and file sharing.
Once you get going with Skype you will find that it starts to grow on you. I haven't replaced my regular phone with Skype, but it has become my second phone line and I use it frequently. At work I use Skype all the time. Since I'm already sitting at my computer it is much more convenient to talk with my team members using Skype than picking up the phone and giving them a call.
However, Skype does not have 911 service, nor would I expect it to have 911 service until 2007. Skype does not have good customer service. To be fair, they are growing really fast. They are getting 150,000 new users everyday, can you imagine trying to have great customer service when you are getting 150,000 new users signing up every single day?
Nonetheless, if you are like me you will find that Skype is the easiest choice to make. I wasn't ready to cancel my home phone and I wasn't ready to commit to paying a company a monthly fee, I simply wanted to stop paying for long distance. After that I got hooked!
If you are interested in Skype, then download Skype for free at www.skype.com.
Once you have Skype, you can find a Skype phone, add-on or community at SummitCircle.com. There you will find all the Skype add-ons (or plug-ins) that you want, you will find links to dozens of different Skype phones along with reviews and comments by users and you will find links to all the different Skype community sites on the web.
About the Author
Louis Philip is the owner of SummitCircle.com where he writes about the world of Skype and maintain the largest Skype resource site on the web.
|
|
|
|
|
| Voice over IP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Encyclopedia article with background information, technical details, and the advantages and disadvantages of VoIP. |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Voice-Over-Internet Protocol |
| An overview of VoIP from the Federal Communications Commission. With news, FAQs, factsheets, and findings. |
| www.fcc.gov |
|
| voip-info.org - voip-info.org |
| A wiki that covers VoIP software, hardware, service providers, reviews, configurations, and standards. |
| www.voip-info.org |
|
| Howstuffworks "How VoIP Works" |
| Voice over Internet Protocol lets you make free long-distance phone calls using your computer. It’s essentially a phone network that uses the Internet ... |
| www.howstuffworks.com |
|
| VOIP.ORG.UK - The UK resource for IP telephony |
| UK resource with the emphasis on small businesses and home users. Includes news, reviews, and forums. |
| www.voip.org.uk |
|
| Packet8: VoIP Internet Phone Service Provider and Voice Over IP ... |
| Packet8 offers VoIP Internet Phone Service and Voice Over IP Telephony phone systems. |
| www.packet8.net |
|
| Voip |
| 1-800-TRY-VOIP; Voip.com: do more, pay less. Use a broadband connection and your voip.com adapter to make and receive calls using a regular phone. |
| www.voip.com |
|
| Vonage - Leading the Internet Phone Revolution |
| Use your high-speed Internet connection to make all of your phone calls with Vonage digital phone service. Plans start at $14.99 per month. |
| www.vonage.com |
|
| VoipBuster - The Free* Calls Company |
| Free* phone calls with the VoipBuster. Call your online friends for free as well as a special selection of popular international destinations. |
| www.voipbuster.com |
|
| The VoIP Weblog |
| OK, VoIP customers, the $24.99 a month party is just about over. ... The issue definitely kept me from switching to a VoIP service for over a year because I ... |
| voip.weblogsinc.com |
|
| IVR Platforms / IVR Hosting / IVR Development |
| Get to market quickly with our A to Z VoIP platforms and services >> ... Our IVR and VOIP hosting, turnkey platforms, and developer services - powered by ... |
| www.voxeo.com |
|
| VoIP |
| Connecting a business to a VoIP network doesn’t require a big, expensive integration overhaul. Quintum’s VoIP access solutions are designed with “integrated ... |
| www.tmcnet.com |
|
| VoIP - Internet Telephony |
| voip, Internet Telephony Magazine. ... Internet Telephony is the leading VoIP magazine in the world covering all topics VoIP. ... |
| www.tmcnet.com |
|
| Convergence & VoIP - Network World |
| The Convergence & VoIP research center is your source for the latest convergence and VoIP news, analysis and research links from Network World. |
| www.networkworld.com |
|
| VoIP News - Enterprise, Carrier, Small Business VoIP Information |
| VoIP news, trends, experts, product reviews. Carrier and enterprise-class voice over ip. |
| www.voip-news.com |
|
| O'Reilly Network -- What Is VoIP |
| Ted Wallingford looks at why the VoIP technology, the key ingredient in Vonage, Skype, Cisco CallManager, and a host of other technology products, ... |
| www.oreillynet.com |
|
| What is VoIP? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer ... |
| This page describes the term VoIP and lists other pages on the Web where you can find additional information. |
| www.webopedia.com |
|
| Access >> VoIP | CNET News.com |
| EarthLink expands VoIP service. Eight more cities will get access to Net phone service that requires no ... Verizon sues Vonage for VoIP patent infringement ... |
| news.com.com |
|
| Pages tagged with "voip" on del.icio.us |
| All items tagged voip ??? view popular ... SunRocket Internet Phone Service · save this. by dbrogdon to VOIP ... saved by 18 other people ... 3 hours ago ... |
| del.icio.us |
|
| VoIP (Voice Over IP) Solutions - AudioCodes |
| VoIP, VoP Chip Processors and Voice over IP packets solutions developed by AudioCodes, leaders in the VoIP market for VoIP equipment and VoIP technology. |
| www.audiocodes.com |
|
|