Advantages and Disadvantages of VoIP Know Them Before Switching to VoIP Service
By admin | November 13, 2008
Today, more and more people are consciously making an effort to learn about Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP. One thing that they all look for is whether or not VoIP can act as an alternative to the good ol’ telephone service, which has made such an impact in the lives. Can VoIP replace the humble telephone for good? One way to find out is to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of VoIP.
VoIP offers many advantages for you. Among them are:
1. VoIP is a whole lot cheaper compared to your normal landline telephone. With a residential VoIP plan you only need to pay about $9.95 for the most basic service up to about $39.95. For a business VoIP plan, the cost would be somewhere about $49.95 to $99.95 and comes inclusive with a separate fax number.
2. The VoIP “modem” (which is free) is delivered to you in only 5 to 10 days. Or you could buy it at your local store for same day service and get the VoIP provider to credit it against your bill.
3. The services which are considered as ‘extras’ in your regular landline telephone service, such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Voice Mail, 3-Way Conferencing, Repeat Dialling, and Call Block are now standard services with your VoIP. In short, you don’t have to pay extra for these ‘extra’ services. They come free with the package, including the most sought after service: unlimited calling, either local or long distance.
4. With VoIP service, there is no charge for any incoming calls, which cannot be said for US cellular service providers. The same also holds true for outgoing ‘local’ calls, which depends on your talk plan.
5. With VoIP service in North America, ‘local’ is always inclusive of US, Canada, some countries in Western Europe, parts of Asia, and parts of Latin America. For countries which are not already included, there are international plans available which cost a lot less than that offered by the standard long distance services providers. Another way is for you to make occasional calls without a plan, but for far lower charges per-minute compared to the usual long distance plans. For VoIP services in Europe, Asia and elsewhere around the globe, this also applies (more or less) in reverse.
6. With VoIP service, you don’t need to have a computer. Just take your average phone cable from your VoIP modem and plug it into your regular desktop or portable phone.
7. With VoIP service, you can activate every phone jack in the house. First, disconnect your house internal phone wiring from the regular telephone service at the phone box outside (most probably on your front wall). Then, simply take the VoIP modem and plug it into any existing wall jack inside your house. However, this option is not available for those who live in apartments.
8. With VoIP service, you can choose your own virtual phone number in almost any area code that you wish for at a very low price (around $5). This way you can have friends and family dial a local number that will then ring on your phone. The drawback is that you can’t make outgoing calls, as it’s not considered as a ‘real’ line phone line.
9. With VoIP service you can have low cost 800 numbers. This way it will be free for people to call you and yet will not be too hard on your pockets. There are monthly rates fixed for you, but they vary according to the provider. Generally it could cost you about $5 for the first 100 minutes per month, and somewhere about 4.5 cents per minute beyond that.
10. Some VoIP service providers offer a service that could locate you called ‘Find Me’ at other numbers that you provide, either in sequence or simultaneously, should you fail to answer your call. If you still don’t answer, your call will then go to your Voice Mail which can be retrieved later.
11. And finally, the icing on the cake: You can take your home or office ‘phone’ with you wherever you go. Just bring your VoIP modem with you, and when you get to your destination, plug it into any high-speed internet connection. You could be in a hotel room in the Caribbean, at your friend’s or relative’s house in Paris or even at the airport. No matter where you are, one you’re plugged in, you can make as well as receive calls on your regular phone number. Charges are based on your home location. You could be in New Zealand and if anybody were to call your office or home number in Atlanta, they would never know that you’re not really there. And if you make calls, your regular caller ID still shows.
As with everything else, with advantages there are certain disadvantages, even for VoIP services:
1. If you utilise a cable connection for your Internet, your upline is 2 to 10 times slower than your downline. This means that, although you can hear crystal clear what the other person is saying, they may not necessarily hear you. This could lead them to hang up (as they don’t know you’re on the line), or to them telling you to call from a regular phone and to get off the speaker phone.
Even though VoIP companies insist that 256K should be sufficient for a clear signal, it does not seem to be the case. Thankfully there are ways to overcome this obstacle if you have a very knowledgeable VoIP support tech. Consult your VoIP service providers about this.
2. The quality of high-speed connections may vary, as it is dependant on many factors, including the number of other users on your cable line, or your distance from the nearest DSL booster node. This means that the VoIP quality may vary daily or during each call.
3. During your calls, when there is no one speaking, there is a silence that could lead the other person to think that the line has gone dead. This is especially true for those who have become so used to hearing a slight buzz when using a regular telephone. Instead of being bombarded with many people asking “are you still on the line?” you should first explain this silence that you will encounter at the very beginning of your conversation.
4. When using VoIP service, you may not be able to ‘activate’ a new credit card, as the computer at the other end will claim that you are not calling from a home phone. The reason for this is yet unknown as VoIP providers have yet to answer this.
5. While conversing, you should never allow anyone to put you on silent hold, as the VoIP service may disconnect you when it doesn’t hear anything. It assumes that you are no longer on the line, thus disconnecting you after a while.
6. If you have an upline signal that is not capable of relaying your call, and when you cannot get through, all that you’ll be hearing is a recording stating that “Your call cannot be completed at this time”, which can be very annoying if it happens often.
7. Sometimes, your VoIP service will just cease to work. How to solve this depends on your provider. Mostly it will take some unplugging and replugging of various connections: VoIP modem, router, cable connection, DSL connection. It all depends on your provider and the solution (and sequence) that they provide you with.
8. And finally, in what is the worst disadvantage among all, if you lose your Internet connection for whatever reason imaginable, you lose your telephone service. Should you decide to depend almost entirely on VoIP service, then you are strongly advised to have a cell phone with you at all times. This also works in your favour as you can set your VoIP service to call your cell automatically should you not answer your VoIP line.
The verdict? Commercial VoIP service is an actual telephone service, compared to the likes of messenger services (computer-based) or Skype (which insists that it is not a telephone service). Of course it has its disadvantages, it has no video (at the moment that is) and has some minor glitches. Yet these glitches can be put up with when you realize that you can save anywhere from $30 to $100 a month. These glitches may be a big issue if you plan to use VoIP for your office, but if you have a cell phone with you for back up, you’d have no problems at all. You may find yourself joining the huge number of users who have gone 100% VoIP, with the intention of never again using the telephone.
Juzaily Ramli is the owner of VoIP Tutorial website that discusses on all things VoIP including benefits of VoIP and business VoIP. Feel free to visit his site and discover how much everyone can benefit from this revolutionary technology.
Tags: benefits of voip, business voip, free voip, VoIP, VoIP Phone, voip service, voip tutorialTopics: VoIP | No Comments »
What’s Your IQ on Basic PC Phone (VoIP) Knowledge
By admin | October 17, 2008
Short T/F quiz
1. T / F You can save a significant amount of money using VoIP rather than traditional telephone/cell phone calling methods.
2. T / F The minimum requirement for VoIP is a broadband (high speed) connection.
3. T / F VoIP security is not an issue to be concerned about because most computers are protected with firewalls.
4. T / F Over 75% of the world will be using VoIP for communication within the next 3-4 years.
5. T / F You can make all your phone calls anywhere in the world from your computer.
6. T / F Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are perfectly safe to use, especially if your computer is protected with firewalls.
Answers
1. The answer is True. In fact, it is the tremendous savings of up to 80% off traditional phone calling that makes VoIP attractive to consumers and businesses. The only equipment needed for VoIP is your PC and a microphone (if one is not built into your PC). Beware of VoIP service providers that require you to purchase additional equipment and/or sign contracts.
2. The answer is False. Although the public has been fed a steady diet that the minimum requirement for VoIP is a high speed (broadband) connection, this is absolutely false.
Over 90% of the VoIP providers have used this false premise as a smokescreen to take your focus off the fact that their priority was and is to line their own pockets rather than expend the time, effort, and funds to develop technology that incorporates dial up capability.
The technology required for dial up connections to use VoIP involves the ability to compress data packets down to a minimum size of 8 kbps prior to traveling over the Internet.
3. The answer is False. Security should be the most important feature of any VoIP solution provider. Firewalls do not incorporate protection for VoIP. VoIP security should incorporate protection against identity theft, Trojan horses, viruses, and worms.
Craig Pollard of Siemens advised that “Voice must be protected like any other application”. He further stated that, “Along with IT directors and telecom managers, a number of financial directors came to our road shows, which may not be surprising considering the damaging potential of VoIP threats if a network is not properly protected.”
Over 90% of VoIP solution providers do not operate on secure lines. These providers, in order to save a few dollars at your expense, operate on industry standard codec (encryption codes) and industry standard protocols which are publicly open and interpretable. Hacker friendly providers offer hacker manuals, software, programs, and even processor chips that makes accessibility to your computer from these industry standards - as enticing as chum is to sharks in a feeding frenzy.
When a computer hacker gains unauthorized access to your computer, their sole purpose is to steal your identity and sell your personal and confidential information to other criminal entities. In addition, they often plant Trojan horses, viruses, and worms into your computer.
4. The answer is True. Industry insiders such AT&T says, “VoIP traffic is projected to account for approximately 75% of the world’s voice traffic by 2007″. This suggests a major paradigm shift in communication.
5. The answer is True. Not only can you make all your phone calls anywhere in the world from your computer, you can also travel with your computer phone. Simply by bringing your unique number and password, you can download your phone with your entire contact list. Of course, PC to PC is usually free between subscribers. PC to telephones and cell phones typically involves fees at drastically reduced rates when compared to traditional calling rates.
6. The answer is False. P2P networks use industry standard codec (encryption codes) and industry standard protocols which are publicly open and interpretable.
John Ashcroft, Attorney General, in remarks at the High Technology Crime Investigation Association 2004 International Training Conference held on September 13, 2004 stated, “We have seen worms and viruses attackdisrupting basic servicesAnd with the increased use of the Internet and especially peer-to-peer networking, we have seen malicious code spread more quickly and infect more personal computers than ever before. The cost of these worms, viruses, and denial-of-service attacksreaches into the billions of dollars.”
P2P networks such as Skype operate by taking bandwidth (information carrying capacity) from customers on their service to assist other customers using their service - analogous to a symbiotic relationship. The tools that enable them to accomplish this are bundled in the software their customers agree to in order to download and access their VoIP service.
Another grave concern for both individuals and businesses when using P2P systems is unknowingly having your computer used as a supernode. A supernode occurs when your computer is arbitrarily assigned as a hub.
When you are running the software for P2P services, your computer’s disk space, bandwidth, and processing power are used to help other users on the same system operate their software more efficiently because of their own network or firewall constraints.
We as consumers still have a lot to learn about VoIP, as this technology is the new era of communication and is continuously being changed.
All VoIP service providers need to incorporate the protection, needs, and desires of its customers, as well as address security and dial up capability.
All VoIP service providers should invest in developing a proprietary patented technology that incorporates compression of data packets so that their VoIP can be used on dial up connections, as well as cable, satellite, and wireless.
All VoIP service providers should develop and create their own proprietary high end encryption codec with patented technology, simply because they do not want their customers to be victims of viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or have their identity stolen as a result of using their VoIP service.
Simply put, all VoIP service providers should place the protection, security, and needs of their customers FIRST. Of course, they are in business to earn profits, but it should not be at the expense of exposing their customers to unscrupulous entities.
Want to hear and experience what exceptional sound quality on optimally secure lines sounds like? Download a 7 day free trial at http://www.free-pc-phone.com and see for yourself.
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Dee Scrip is a well known and respected published author of numerous articles on VoIP, VoIP Security, and other related VoIP issues. Other articles can be found at http://www.free-pc-phone.com
Tags: 3wtel, p2p, pc phone, superior voip, VoIP, VOIP Providers, voip security, voip serviceTopics: VoIP | No Comments »
VoIP - Thee Emerging Technology
By admin | October 2, 2008
Changes in technology are opening doors and creating jobs that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. VoIP is one of those areas, and this emerging technology has produced significant changes in the way people communicate. Understanding VoIP is rather difficult for many, but the concept is actually a fairly basic one.
VoIP is the acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol. Most commonly, the term is written as VoIP (note the small “o”), though there are many other terms that refer to this same process. Telephony is one of those terms, and Broadband telephony is another.
The idea of VoIP is too simply to create a network and then allow people to send all sorts of transmissions across that same network. Consider what that can do to the costs of communicating in some situations.
For example, a large office of a half-century ago would likely have two major methods of communication. There’d be a telephone system that connected all the desks and offices within that building - a network of telephones that may or may not have also been connected to outside lines. But what happened when those workers on the second floor needed to see a report that the workers on the eighth floor had just produced? For that situation, there were usually messengers who had the important task of physically taking those documents, messages and packages from one point in the office to another.
Then personal computers and personal fax machines became affordable and available, effectively replacing the need for messengers in most cases. Email and faxes became the norm, making it possible for those people within a specific network to instantly share those documents and reports. But there was still a need for telephones for those cases in which voice communication was necessary as well.
As technology tends to do, it was probably inevitable that the personal computers and telephones would eventually find more common ground. VoIP is that common ground.
VoIP allows data and voice streaming within a particular network. That network may or may not be limited to a specific building or company, though many companies are finding that it’s a very cost effective way of dealing with the need for data and voice streaming.
The fact that this is typically a very effective and cost effective way of communicating means that more companies are likely to be moving in this direction in the future. For those who are technically adept at understanding VoIP, this means that there will continue to be more jobs in the field. As is the case with computers, it takes some natural ability to be truly adept in this field, but there are also many schools and training facilities ready and able to offer quality programs to prepare you for a career in this field.
As more people and companies understand the potential for effective communication with VoIP, there’s likely to be more career opportunities in the field. If you’re one of those people who understand technology, computers and electronics, you may very well find that this is a perfect field for you.
This article may be reproduced only in its entirety.
Scott Knutson is an entrepreneur and writer. For more of his articles visit: Internet Phone | Internet Phone Service | VoIP Service
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