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Getting Started with Voip
VoIP offers a great way to help you save money on your phone
bill. With a few simple steps, you can be on your way to
utilizing this new technology. Here are some tips that will help
you find the best options for your needs:
Your Internet...
History of the Telephone - From Bell to VoIP and Beyond
Everyone knows the story of Alexander Graham Bell inventing the telephone. There’s the story of Bell’s first words, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you,” that’s indelibly printed on our brains from childhood. However, what some don’t know is...
VoIP Communications Joins Escape International as Representative of Team Manager
Recent News and Press Releases The Latest Announcements and Press Releases For Immediate Release VoIP Communications Joins Escape International as Representative of Team Manager Making calls and talk to me with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)...
VoIP Technology - Talk is Cheap!
VoIP products are integral to the most advanced and reliable
VoIP and Voice over ATM platforms currently sold by leading VoIP
telecom and networking companies worldwide. VoIP products based
on VoIP enabled technology products employ Voice over...
Ways to Use VoIP Technology
Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, uses your broadband
internet connection to place phone calls. By converting your
voice (or analog) signal into a digital signal, this makes for a
more efficient way to talk on the phone and can save you...
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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.
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| Voice over IP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Encyclopedia article with background information, technical details, and the advantages and disadvantages of VoIP. |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| Voice-Over-Internet Protocol |
| An overview of VoIP from the Federal Communications Commission. With news, FAQs, factsheets, and findings. |
| www.fcc.gov |
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| voip-info.org - voip-info.org |
| A wiki that covers VoIP software, hardware, service providers, reviews, configurations, and standards. |
| www.voip-info.org |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| VoIP - Internet Telephony |
| voip, Internet Telephony Magazine. ... Internet Telephony is the leading VoIP magazine in the world covering all topics VoIP. ... |
| www.tmcnet.com |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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