VOIP and Some Providers

Written by: Les Harper - Mar 13, 2010

Voice over IP:

Once upon a time, the public switched telephone system was primarily used for voice traffic with a little bit of data traffic. But the data traffic grew and grew. By 2002, the volume of data traffic was an order of magnitude more than the volume of voice traffic and still growing exponentially, with voice traffic being almost same. As a consequence, many network operators became interested in carrying voice over their data networks. However, the average person’s phone bill is probably larger than his Internet bill, so the data network operators saw Internet Telephony or VoIP as a way to earn a large amount of additional money without changing much in their data networks. Thus Internet Telephony, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), was born.

In Voice over Internet Protocol, voice traffics are converted into digital signals. These signals then travel through IP (Internet Protocol) network to reach the destination. If you are calling a regular phone number, the signal is then converted to a regular telephone signal at the destination. As VoIP is using internet for data transfers, VoIP phone calls can be made from anywhere as long as you have internet access.

The main benefit of VoIP is, cost saving, which makes it popular day by day. But it also has many disadvantages. VoIP is a new technology, so it is not mature yet. It lacks in quality and reliability issues. The majority of consumer VoIP solutions do not support encryption yet, so security is an issue.

Some of major VoIP service providers and their offers.

1. Vonage is the current market leader in the residential VoIP marketplace. They currently supply service to over 1,000,000 customers. Vonage offers plans starting at $14.99 a month for 500 long distance minutes, $24.99 for unlimited calls to anyone in the U.S. and Canada. Calls to a land line in France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom are included in the plan as well. Standard features include: Voicemail, CallerID, Call Forwarding, Call Transfer, 3 Way Calling, Call Waiting, Speed Dialing, and more. Additional features can include Virtual Phone Numbers, Fax lines, and Toll Free features. In most cases, Vonage will allow you to transfer your existing phone number to Vonage. In our opinion, this is the VoIP that is closest service to regular telephone lines in service and features. Vonage also offers business VoIP plans. 2. Packet8, only one residential VoIP plan, which is an unlimited VoIP long distance calling plan. Packet8’s unlimited VoIP long distance calling plan is either $199 per year or $19.95 per month which allows you unlimited free calls to anyone in the U.S. or Canada. Standard features include: Voicemail, CallerID, Call Forwarding, 3 Way Calling, Call Waiting, Speed Dialing, and more. Packet8 also has unlimited calling plans to both Asia and Europe as well. 3. SunRocket’s Annual Edition gives you a year's worth of Internet home phone service, everything included for $199. That is only $16.58 per month!! You can cancel anytime and receive a refund for unused months. SunRocket offers Unlimited calling – U.S. and Canada, free international minutes ($3.00 allowance every month), free extra phone number - Local or Anywhere Number, over 10 enhanced calling features, two free Directory Assistance calls each month, all the necessary equipment to get started, no charge to activate - includes free shipping, no hidden fees, all Taxes included in the Bottom-Line price, no cancellation fees, and a 31 day risk-free guarantee.

VoIP has a major disadvantage, and that is it is not legal in every country.