Internet Phone Service

31st January 2008
Author: R. Kevin Bowser
In 2004 the terms VoIP, internet phone service and IP phone were foreign to almost everyone except technology professionals and geeky computer types. Now, although still not as commonly known as cell phone servies, thanks to the major marketing efforts of Vonage and Skype, VoIP internet phone service has become fairly common. As with all products and services, it pays to shop around for the best price on VoIP internet phone service before you buy. Do you like to talk on the phone until your mouth is as dry as the desert sand? If you answered yes to these questions, then internet phone service is probably an ideal fit for you. If you are just like that mother who wants to have a regular communication with her son but having a hard time budgeting her telephone bills, then VoIP phone service is the right one for you. Although it may be the same boring set of copper wires that connects to a standard telephone and rings when calls come in, the local phone service portion of your company's telecommunications bills is the perfect place to begin your telecom cost reduction efforts. Unlike traditional land-line service, internet phone service does not rely on the public switched telephone network (PSTN) that telephone companies use; it uses a broadband internet connection to route calls over the World Wide Web. In order to make use of VoIP technology for placing internet telephone calls, you will need to subscribe to a service plan provided by one of the major VoIP companies in business today. Many people are not aware that most of the major telephone companies use the Internet to route their long distance calls already and have been for years. In most situations, it is best to have the router built into the broadband phone adapter, so that if the user is making a telephone call and on the computer at the same time, the router knows to give most of the bandwidth to the phone call, thereby reduce lag time and the frequency of dropped calls. What broadband phone service allows you to do, unlike cell phone service, is bypass your telephone company, and connect your call directly to the same grid your phone company uses. In addition to the financial benefits of VoIP internet phone service, there are a lot of extra “perks” that you get when you use broadband phone. In order to enjoy the money saving benefits of internet phone service, you must have a high-speed internet connection, either broadband or DSL. You will typically need two things to turn your internet connection into a personal phone line: a subscription to broadband phone service and any traditional phone (analog or digital). So, how much money are you really going to save with internet phone service versus traditional phone service? Depending on your long distance calling habits, VoIP internet phone service can save you between 20% - 80% per year, even compared to your cellular phone service. Consider Long Distance Needs – A good plan for long distance phone service is essential if you find that you’re using a significant number of minutes outside of your calling area. Track Your Usage – Accurately determining the number of minutes that you’ll need to comfortably use your VoIP internet phone service or your cellular phone service without disruption is the most significant piece of the puzzle. After only a few minutes on the Web, and a few conversations with friends, you could have your best internet phone service deal that even rivals your cellular phone service.As we all know, technology continues to advance at a rapid pace and certainly this will continue to affect VoIP internet phone service and cellular phone service too. A good example of this would be the the AVA (Automated Virtual Assitant) system from E-Verge International. This bridges the gap between cellular phone service, internet phone service, and traditional wired phone service. The AVA system uses VoIP technology but eliminates the need for broadband service since it can be accessed by any phone from traditional wired phone service, from any cellular phone service, or even any internet phone service. Now that's progress!
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