Broadband Internet Phones

The world is on the brink of a phone revolution, with a growing number of people cutting their telecom bills by making free calls via the World Wide Web.

A recent sign of this is that EBay, the online auction website, is so sure the idea will catch on, that it has paid $4.1 billion for the Internet Phone firm Skype Technologies.

Shortly all the millions of people who buy and sell goods on eBay will be able to use Skype’s software, to talk to each other free and also make cut price calls to other landlines and cell phones.

Internet Phone services such as Skype are specially valuable for people who make a great deal of international telephone calls, as even these are free as long as both caller and receiver use the Skype software. The service works best over a broadband World Wide Web link but it can be used over dial up. Also a microphone headset is required to improve sound quality, nonetheless you can also use the external speakers and microphone that are supplied with most personal computers these days.

Its terribly convenient to make an Internet Phone call, just determine which Skype user or phone number you want to call, press dial and a few seconds later you will hear the phone ring at the other end. Skype claims that the sound quality for an Internet Phone call is at least as good as a normal phone call, particularly if you use a headset. Nevertheless, some users complain about echoes and some delays between speaking and hearing the feedback.

There are also more drawbacks, most Internet phone services don’t permit calls to emergency services, also you may not hear incoming telephone calls whilst you are away from your computer, and if you go offline or switch off your computer you will not be able to receive calls at all. On the plus side you can use the Internet Phone services to make conference calls and if you have a Web Cam you could also set up a videoconference.

Skype is not the only provider of free Internet Phone calls; they are also available with Vontage, BT Google Talk and several others.

Vontage is one of the most popular. The service uses a router and your normal telephone so you just make calls in the usual way, but they are carried over the Internet rather than you telephone company’s landline. Telephone calls to other Vontage users are free, and you get extra services such as voice mail and call waiting included in the monthly charge cost.

With the on going take up of Broad Band services around the world one has to wonder what is the longer term future for traditional land line based telephone services?

Roger Overanout.

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Internet telephony services with fax are used to manage Internet faxing operations of individual users and large organizations. It enables different faxing operations such as sending faxes via the Internet, sending faxes by e-mail, sending faxes by fax modem, and forwarding incoming faxes to an e-mail address.

Faxing via Internet telephony services is enabled with the use of Internet fax programs that can easily be downloaded from online freeware websites. It is easy to install and the whole procedure is completed within a few minutes. It allows users to send and receive faxes from Single computer and Modem or Network with Multiple Modems. The software works by adding a fax generating “print driver” to the printer system. This enables users to generate a fax from any document and send it to any fax machine in the world.

It has a number of useful features such as Dynamic View/ Edit Cover Page, Fax Book Import/ Export, Windows Dynamic All Class Fax Modem Driver, and technical support. Users can store unlimited names and fax numbers into each fax book depending on the memory space available in the hard drive. The “send fax” function can be set to execute at a particular time. This enables users to send an occasional fax or large numbers of high quality faxes from the background while working on other tasks.

It enables users to create short or long faxes and supports Microsoft windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/2003/XP. It also supports different fax modems such as group 3 CLASS 1, CLASS 2, and CLASS 2.0. Many well-known establishments including military, government, education, medical, and business use this software.

Internet telephony faxing services have eroded the market share of standalone fax machines as it provides for faster, easier, cheaper and error free faxing operations. Software development firms are continuously involved in the process of developing and adding new features to the existing version of the software program that enables Internet faxing.

A Little More Clarity On VoIP

By now, many people are beginning to at least hear about Voice Over IP, or internet phone service. This is a testament to how fast it is growing. Whereas just a few months ago VoIP was still in relative obscurity, it is now a term that is beginning to invade many households.

However, what has become obvious is that people are unclear as to what VoIP is, have misconceptions, and/or are not fully aware of all the unique qualities that separate it from traditional phone service.

I am hoping to clear most of that up right here and now!

Let’s start with the basics; Voice Over IP is simply phone service using the internet instead of the landline. You plus your phone into an adaptor connected to your modem, instead of plugging your phone into the phone jack in the wall.

Make sense so far? So we’re taking the phone line in your home completely out of the equation.

Now, where most people get confused is here. A lot of people are thinking about online software that allows you to use a microphone and camera with your computer to chat with someone else who is online. Although this is also using the internet to communicate, the VoIP we are talking about here is an actual phone service that allows you to continue using your phone as you’re used to.

Same phone, same phone number, same dialing habits. It’s all the same; the only noticeable difference is your phone bill being much smaller.

Are you with me so far? So this is not using a microphone and/or camera online in a chat room. This is real phone service with a number and a real phone. Got it? Great!

Now that we have the basics down, let’s get into some more detail and some of the features that I feel make VoIP unique and beneficial. The main ones are; unlimited calling (US and Canada, at the most basic level), all the calling features included that other phone companies charge extra for, number portability, phone portability, videophone capability, extremely low international rates and FREE between customers worldwide, and HUGE tax savings.

So let’s go through each of those briefly. Unlimited calling and the calling features speak for themselves. You can get an unlimited plan for around $25 per month which includes unlimited calling to at least the US and Canada, and it includes all the calling features you can think of; 3-way, call waiting, call forwarding, call blast, voicemail, etc. Most phone companies charge extra for many of the features that come included with VoIP.

Do you currently have a home phone? Well, you can keep that number when you make the leap to VoIP. What if you move? Unlike traditional phone service, your number and account are not attached to a physical location – your home. If you move, just take the adaptor or your VoIP phone with you. Your info is programmed into the VoIP adaptor.

So yes, that means that your VoIP adaptor will work anywhere in the world (for most VoIP companies) as long as you have a high speed internet connection. And the number will still be the same. For instance, I have family overseas. They have a VoIP videophone, which has a US number. This means that I dial a local number, and it rings over there and vice versa. They could take that phone and go anywhere in the world, plug it into a high speed connection, and it would be the same number and work just the same.

Still with me? Good!

Now that overlaps the next feature – international calling. The international calling rates are extremely cheap because the calls originate on the internet as opposed to on a company’s landline. However, if you are calling another VoIP customer anywhere in the world (on the same service) it is considered a local, free call.

In addition, and one of my favorites, is the tax savings. An unlimited calling plan on traditional phone service can range from $40-50 plus about $15-20 in taxes, depending on what part of the country you’re in. Taxes with VoIP can be as low as $2.50. That’s over $17 you’re saving on taxes alone! This is what caught my attention immediately when I was checking it out.

As mentioned earlier, there is also videophone capability. Not all companies offer this, and not all the ones that do offer good quality. But there are a couple of providers who offer an amazing videophone service. Being able to see someone in real time while you’re speaking with them – especially if they are long distance family and friends – is truly a wonderful feature that I have enjoyed, and have enjoyed sharing.

I truly hope this painted a clearer picture of VoIP and the features and benefits it offers. If you want more info, or have questions, feel free to get in touch with me either one!

Best Regards, Adel

Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is the technology that allows voice communications over the Internet. The quality of voice over IP now is crystal clear and rivals the one of traditional telephone. The VoIP services from leading provider Vonage are subscribed by over one million users by 2006. It all started back in 1995 when a few hobbyists developed software for sending voice data packets over the Internet rather than communicating through standard telephone service, so they could make long distance calls free of charges. Early VoIP were marked by poor sound quality and connectivity. Besdies, it required both callers to have a computer equipped with the same software, the same sound card and the same microphone. In 1996, Vocaltec was the first company that released a commercial VoIP product found on the shelves of Compusa and other retail outlets.

By 1998, a caller could make calls to any standard phones from a PC with right hardware and software. Phone to phone service soon followed, but the phones were required to connect to PCs to establish the Internet connection. The same year, the VoIP landscape changed drastically when both the Internet hardware giant Cisco and major communication hardware manufacturer Nortel entered the VoIP market with hardware equipment that allowed easy switch between standard phones and the voice data packets on the Internet. The new hardware made the VoIP hardware less computer dependent. Eventually, the connection to VoIP with a router is just as easy as to connect to a standard phone outlet.

VoIP finally took off in 2000. It has become a mainstream alternative to standard telephone service since then. The growing acceptance of VoIP in both business and residential phone use is evidential in the phenomenal success of Vonage, a major player in VoIP market today. Vonage offered VoIP service to business communities in 2001 and signed its first residential customer in 2002. Year 2003 was marked by the first platform for 911 calls on VoIP software. Between 2004 to 2005, Vonage launched VoIP service in Canada, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom and other European countries. Vonage phone service charges a monthly service fee, and calls (local, long distance or international) are technical free or unlimited. With more than one million subscribers this year, Vonage continues to offer new services and plans to meet the needs of both business and residential markets. Some small businesses have started to take the advantage of the flat fee of VoIP plans. They now have an alternative to 1-800 numbers to interact with their customers.

There are a number of service providers that provide free Internet telephony. Generally, the Internet access providers provide these services at no additional cost. A broadband connection is the first step towards free Internet telephony. There is software available online that can be downloaded free of cost and can then be used to help you make long distance calls without paying any bill. There is more than one way to use free Internet telephony.

The most common method is when an Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA) is used to connect a regular telephone to the computer that has an Internet connection. The ATA performs the function of a digital converter. It takes an analog signal from a regular telephone, converts it into digital data and then transfers it through the Internet. The ATA services are free. Even the software required to make this system work is available for free online.

The second method involves the use of IP phones. Just use your wi-fi laptop to get connected to the Internet and you can make phone calls from an IP phone to anywhere in the world.

The most commonly used method is computer-to-computer VOIP. Several companies are offering free online software which helps in utilizing VOIP technology if one has a broadband or cable DSL connection, speakers, sound card and relevant software. The voice quality on computer-to-computer VOIP is quite good, and there no extra charges for making long distance calls.

Due to the fact no additional costs have to be incurred in making long distance calls, more and more organizations, commercial as well as non-commercial, have started installing VOIP. This trend is likely to gain further momentum.

Internet telephony refers to a technology that allows the Internet to be used a telephone. It is also known as voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) or Internet protocol (IP) telephony. It is one of the most popular technologies these days.

It is easy to use. Even a common household can use it. All you need is a computer with Internet access and certain software. On a normal telephone one can generally talk with one person at a time, but Internet telephony allows you to talk to more than one person at once. There are a variety of hardware and software devices that can make and receive Internet telephony calls. Many traditional telephone networks have started offering these services in view of their huge business potential. Today there are large numbers of companies offering these services at competitive rates. The Internet telephony market is poised to grow rapidly.

One of the reasons for the rapid expansion of this market is cost effectiveness. The procedure to install software and hardware required for this service is not only simple, but very cheap. The software is available online also.

For a consumer it means cutting costs, especially if one is making frequent overseas calls. The voice quality is almost as good as with a traditional telephone. Corporate entities are able to cut costs drastically with the help of Internet telephony. In fact, long distance calls can be made for free if one has Internet access and the required Internet telephony hardware and software.

Internet telephony has made it possible to receive telephone calls anywhere if you are connected to the Internet. It can be integrated with other date-transfer services also. However, there are certain drawbacks of this technology. If the broadband connection is not reliable there can be a breakdown in the transfer of voice. This could result in aborting a call abruptly. Also, at times, the quality of the voice may suffer.

VoIP is an acronym for Voice over IP (Internet Protocol), or in more common terms, phone service over the Internet. Basically, it’s a set of common Internet standards that allows a user’s voice to be converted into small packs of digital data which can then be sent over computer networks. At the receiving end, VoIP computers reassemble the data packets back into a conventional audio signal that can be heard just as if on a regular telephone line. This is an online scheme that has been bubbling around the Internet community for the past few years. A major advantage of VoIP is that it avoids the tolls charged by ordinary telephone services.

There is VoIP billing software also that handles billing and other processes. This software can be used by all kinds of businesses. It helps in keeping track of customers, the bills to be sent to them and other such details through a protocol. This software has features like broadband phone, PC to phone, wholesale (termination), traffic exchange, international callback and prepaid calling cards that meet your VOIP business needs.

VoIP billing is tightly integrated with popular gateways, gatekeepers, proxies and soft switches from vendors like Quintum, Cisco, Sylantro, Veraz, Nextone, IPtel, Mera, and other compliant devices. Most telephony billing systems currently used today are based on non-IP standards, making them not equipped to handle or accurately bill for IP services; hence, VoIP billing rose to prominence. The reasons why most of the service providers and enterprises chose the VoIP billing software to expand their business is that it integrates the core functions like authentication, authorization, and accounting with vital functions that facilitate the effective management of all billing-related processes, like customers, services, finance, service distribution, reporting, traffic partners, and user rights.

VoIP billing software allows service providers and enterprises to expand their business by including cost-effective VoIP services in their offerings. It also enables the pre-paid or post-paid billing options for call usage and provides the ability to offer flexible call plans.

This article provides up to date information in relation to VoIP services provided by VoipStunt and Skype however mainly focuses on call cost and free calls.

VoipStunt
Free calls to any regular landline in these countries with the condition that the call drops out after one minute if not registered with credits however if have call credits provides 300 minutes of free calls per week? It appears 10 Euro will activate the 300 minutes of free calls and low priced calls to many other destinations and mobiles.

It must be noted however that it is very clearly written into the terms and conditions that Voipstunt do not nor do they intend to provide emergency service call facilities. This option should seriously be weighed up especially in the case where this provider is going to be utilized as the sole method of telephone communications. However most households do have mobile phone(s) so this may not be a significant consideration.

Countries included for free calls include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela.

If using the software phone option ie a headset with VoipStunt software, it is possible that Zimmerman’s Beta encryption tool ZFone may be utilized where as Skype utilizes a separate propriety encryption that allows no public scrutiny.

The service does allow for SIP connection with instructions on how to configure your SIP phone or router. (Source: VoipStunt website)

Skype
With Skype calls to other Skype clients are free regardless of location.

However if you wish to make calls to non Skype clients then this is called “SkypeOut”. Calls can be made to the 20 most popular call destinations for the one SkypeOut global rate. At the time of writing this rate was 1.7 Euro Cents per minute equating to about 2 US cents or 1.1 pence. With SkypeOut there is no line rental and no contract fees.

The SkypeOut global rate includes the following countries:

Argentina (Buenos Aires), Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Canada (mobiles), Chile, China (Beijing, Guanzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen), China (mobiles), Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hong Kong (mobiles), Ireland, Italy, Mexico (Mexico City, Monterrey), Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland (Poland, Gdansk, Warsaw), Portugal, Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg), Singapore, Singapore (mobiles), South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan (Taipei), United Kingdom, United States (except Alaska and Hawaii) and United States (mobiles).

It should be noted that unless specifically mentioned, this rate is only applicable to regular landline telephones with mobiles more expensive. However note that Canada, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and United States are listed under the SkypeOut global rate for calling mobiles.

Other destinations are available and it would be advisable to check this rate prior to obtaining credits or calling.

Skype voicemail is available for a fee of 5 Euro for 3 months or 15 Euro for 12 months.

SkypeIn is where you wish to have a conventional phone number so you can be called from conventional phones. The fee for this service is 10 Euro for 3 months and 30 Euro for 12 months. Voicemail is included free if you subscribe to SkypeIn.

Please note that Skype also does not provide emergency services access and actually stipulates that “Skype is not a replacement for your ordinary telephone and can’t be used for emergency calling.” (source : Skype website).

Summary
This article has compared two well known VoIP providers to allow potential or existing VoIP users an idea of whether either of these providers may be useful to you. Both provide significant free calls with numerous countries included on a free list for both services.

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Skype is easy to get started with. Download, register, install, plug in your headset, speakers or USB phone and start calling your friends. The calls have excellent sound quality and are highly secure with end-to-end encryption. You don’t even need to configure your firewall or router or any other networking gear. It just, you know… works.

Business owners of companies both large and small can achieve rich improvements in their operations if they start to ask themselves regularly, “I have just been handed a powerful new tool. It essentially lets me costless communicate with anyone on the planet. How can I best use it to my advantage?”

To focus, business owners must first ask themselves two questions: As a business owner, what am I trying to achieve?

Marry your answers to the diverse communications capabilities of the World Wide Web; you will inevitably create some powerful and highly beneficial new initiatives.

In exploring strategies for success in the developing environment, it is essential to recognize a fact that is often overlooked: The Internet is fundamentally a new communications vehicle. As a consequence, a large part of its value arises because it permits cost-effective communications — down the street or on a worldwide basis—that were not possible before its emergence.

Why is this so important? Because many people have a very different view of the World Wide Web. They will suggest that the Web is an entertainment medium —something that has more in common with the television than the telephone. This focus is easy to appreciate; the typical person is more interested in the new offerings on the Web that can entertain him or her than the less exciting details of enhanced communications capabilities. In addition, Internet use is the first activity in over forty years that has been clearly documented as something that causes people to spend less time watching television. It’s therefore natural to think of it as a substitute for this medium.

Benefits of Internet Telephony to Your Business:

1) Availability Completely under Customer Control. With the internet, visitors—potential customers —come to Web sites at their convenience, making them far more receptive to what companies have to say because the customers aren’t being intruded upon (as happens with telemarketing).

2) One-to-Many Communications Performed Seamlessly. The Internet offers one-to-many communications systems without losing the privacy or interaction possible by phone. A single posting at a Web site reaches as many people as visit the site that day .

3) Reduced Effort, Time, and Cost. The Web makes things easy and affordable.

Not all businesses are currently bringing in added profit via the Web yet; nonetheless, every business needs to be working on it in order to be competitive today.

The Web makes it possible for companies both large and small to develop new communications processes that save time and money while enabling faster responses to customer needs.

Many industries rely on widely distributed field sales forces that may consist of independent agents or company employees. In today’s fast-moving business environment, providing these frontline soldiers with the most up-to-the-minute information and the best possible tools and support is critical to success, and by using the Web, companies can do so at far lower cost.

2) Availability Completely under Customer Control.

With the Internet, visitors—potential customers—come to Web sites at their convenience, making them far more receptive to what companies have to say because the customers aren’t being intruded upon (as happens with telemarketing).

3) One-to-Many Communications Performed Seamlessly

The Internet offers one-to-many communications systems without losing the privacy or interaction possible by phone. A single posting at a Web site reaches as many people as visit the site that day.

4) Reduced Effort, Time, and Cost.

The Web makes things easy and affordable.

The Web makes it possible to communicate regularly with a large volume of customers at virtually no cost.

Businesses can generally benefit by disseminating information; yet up to now, there has not been a cost-effective, satisfactory way of timely customer notification. Not only is direct mail costly, but the timing of delivery is erratic and an overwhelming amount of it is never even opened. The telephone is timely, but information disseminated by telephone is also costly and runs the risk of alienating customers who don’t want to be bothered by solicitors.

Enter the Internet. The World Wide Web gives companies a low-cost method to communicate with existing customers and to reach out to potential ones with a timeliness that has never before existed.

The new capabilities created by the Internet far exceed what could be accomplished with the telephone. Consider how a well-designed Internet customer-communications system can work:

1.) Orders are confirmed by e-mail —first immediately after they are placed, and again when they are shipped out. The shipping confirmation notice includes an internal tracking number to help customers locate the package if it fails to arrive on a timely basis.

2.) Customers can register for e-mail notifications of various kinds. By filling out an online form, customers can request to be notified about newly available products that are likely to be of interest to them.

3.) “Missing” customers can be inexpensively lured back: If a frequent customer has not made a purchase for some time, the electronic retailer can send a $5 or $10 digital coupon to encourage a return purchase. These types of ongoing efforts to build loyalty can be triggered by well-designed automated databases, combined with virtually costless e-mail, to create an inexpensive, potentially high-return, and customer loyalty program.

This suggests a central strategy for any business today: Gather e-mail addresses from customers (and permission to contact them using these addresses), even if you don’t yet have an interactive Web site. Every business from a major manufacturer to a regional discount store to the local plumber will find that well-designed e-mail messages can be a low-cost, highly effective means of building profitable revenues. In Strategy 7, I discuss how a local pest-control business might benefit tremendously from an e-mail-based initiative.

The Importance of round the clock availability

Like a good catalog and 800 numbers, the Internet makes your company accessible to customers worldwide twenty-four hours a day. However, the “Web” is better than the world’s greatest catalog.”

Here’s why:

Additional visuals as well as more written detail. Catalogs face an inherent limitation: Paper and postage are costly. As a result, details —other views of a product as well as more written description—often have to be left out. So while the 800-number operator can read to customers the special washing instructions, if the product is offered on the Internet, the consumer can read the special washing instructions for him- or herself, scroll through a more lengthy product description, and in all likelihood, see more than one view of the item.

Expanded offerings. Today catalogs typically list only a portion of a company’s offerings, simply because more listings mean expansion of printing and mailing costs. The Web obliterates this limitation.

Remember too, that anything that can be accomplished online instead of by phone is more cost effective. A five-minute call to order a $50 item, at a cost of $1 per minute, means that the call is a significant percentage of the cost structure, and a five-minute inquiry—with no purchase attached —creates a financial loss in addition to time lost by personnel who might have been making a sale to someone else. This contrasts with use of the Internet, where—to the extent that communications cost exists—they are trivial, and consumers bear the cost of company contact by paying their access service.

The Internet has now led to a new definition of what customers have come to expect: In the emerging era, businesses are almost required to provide twenty-four-hour Internet communications, so that the consumer can shop from home whenever he or she wants to. Sites that prosper will be more than order-taking vehicles; they will provide a creative, educational experience that builds knowledge about their products and services and engenders sales as well as ongoing customer loyalty.

Whether your business specializes in Porche luxury cars or temporary employment services, the Web offers you the opportunity to find people who are looking for what your company sells.

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