If you want to save money on your telephone service using the
internet, you will need to sign up with a VOIP (Voice Over
Internet Protocol) service provider. They will sell you the
necessary equipment and assign you a number, which is used like
a regular phone number.
VOIP providers are useful and very cheap. Most providers offer
VOIP connections free of charge. They make their money by
charging for calls to the regular telephone network. Most
providers allow you to call any phone number in the world for a
moderately low fee. For modest monthly fees (about $8-$20), they
offer unlimited calls to certain geographic areas. They also
provide voicemail, call forwarding and conference calls, at no
extra charge.
Vonage, BroadVoice, Diamond, iConnectHere, Lingo, mywebphone,
Packet8, and VoicePulse are some of the major VOIP providers.
Most of these companies are based in the United States; some
also have offices in other countries.
VOIP equipment includes a broadband modem and an ATA (Analog
Telephone Adapter) or IP phone. Both the ATA and IP phone
connect directly to the modem, but the ATA allows you to use
older analog phones. No matter which equipment you use, it has a
unique number that identifies your current IP (Internet
Protocol) address. If you're constantly on the move, your VOIP
provider tracks your current IP address, which allows people to
contact you no matter where you are.
Even if you're using your Internet phone from a single location,
a VOIP provider is usually still necessary. The majority of
residential Internet connections have 'dynamic' IP addresses, so
every time you reconnect to the Internet, you have a different
IP address.
The VOIP provider is also useful, because people can contact you
by entering your user name, rather than your IP address.
When choosing a VOIP provider, keep in mind the protocol they
use. SIP seems to be the emerging standard. It offers fairly
easy connection routes between different VOIP providers. H.323
and IAX protocols are sometimes offered in addition to SIP.
Skype, popular for PC-to-PC VOIP systems, uses a proprietary
protocol, so it is not easy to connect to the Skype network from
another VOIP provider.
It is a bit of work to research and set everything up, but the
sooner you start, the quicker you will be able to look back and
say, "Why did I wait so long?"
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