Voice over IP telephony
is a fabulous way to save money and communicate with friend’s family,
clients and business workers over the internet. You can actually communicate
vocally with people without paying long distance charges, which is a great
way to save money and keep the world flat. Thousands of consumers
save a plethora of cash each month just by replacing their traditional telephone
service with personal voice over IP telephony. Large corporations
and long distance carriers have used IP to transmit voice on their private
networks for years.
Additionally, private citizens have used their computers and the Internet
to talk with other PC users for a few years now, but in the past users of
such solutions have had to contend with poor voice quality and the need
for at least one computer to be connected to the Internet. The majority
of VoIP service providers actually offer all-inclusive calling plans that
provide you with unlimited local, regional and long distance at flat rates
starting as low as twenty-five dollars per month! Some offer usage-based
plans at a lower monthly cost and most provide inexpensive per minute rates
on international calls as well.
Service providers also include a conglomeration of advanced features such
as name and number caller ID, call forwarding, call blocking and voice mail
that traditional phone companies sell as premium services. When signing
up for VoIP service, several providers give you the option of choosing the
area code, and possibly the exchange, for your service.
Remember that since the data travels across the Internet, there is the potential
for dropouts or burbles that are similar to what is experienced on a cell
phone. Most people we called during our tests were surprised at the
quality of the calls, and did not realize they were on a VoIP connection
until we told them. Keep in mind that the call quality for VoIP
providers who do not manage their IP networks and depend on the Internet
for routing will yield varying and sometimes disappointing voice quality
and unreliable connections.