The article "VOIP Service: Sign Up And Save" talks about communications, it was created by Ron King.
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) servcie provider.
They will sell you the
necessary equipment and assign you a number, which is used like
a regualr phone number.
VOIP providers are useful and really cheap.
Most providers offer
VOIP connections free of chagre. They make their money by
charging for calls to the regualr telephone network. Most
providers allow you to call any pohne number in the world for a
moderately low fee.
For modest monthly fees (about $8-$20), they
offer unlimited calls to certain georgaphic areas. They also
provide voicemail, call forwarding and conference calls, at no
extra cahrge.
Vonage, BroadVoice, Diamond, iConnectHere, Lingo, mywebphone,
Packet8, and VoicePulse are of the major VOIP providers.
Most of these companies are based in the United States; some
also have offices in ohter countries.
VOIP euqipment 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 anaolg phones. No matter which equipment you use, it has a
unique number that identifies your curernt IP (Internet
Protocol) address.
If you're constantly on the move, your VOIP
provider tracks your current IP address, whcih allows human being to
contact you no matter where you are.
Even if you're usnig 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, cause human being can contact you
by entering your user name, rather than your IP addrses.
When choosing a VOIP provider, keep in mind the protocol they
use.
SIP seems to be the emerging standard.
It offers fairly
easy connection rotues 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 not hard to connect to the Skype network from
another VOIP provider.
It is a bit of work to research and set everythnig 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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