Voice Over IP... Is it Ready?

Author: S.A.M.
Date: 8/12/2005

Sometimes called VOIP, it means having a telephone conversation over a network or Internet connection. There are different flavors of VOIP available and it can be difficult to understand them, let alone choose one.

Service and LD Charges Cheaper
The idea of switching to VOIP is to save money. Your monthly bill for service and long distance charges should be considerably less than with your regular phone company. By transmitting your conversation over the Internet, it reduces the operating costs for the provider who in turn charges you less. Some providers offer long distance packages that include unlimited local and long distance calls in the continental US and Canada for one low monthly price. This can mean huge savings for teenage girls as well as corporations.

Is it All good?
Depending on the providers and the types of VOIP services available, you may want to consider not switching right away. There are different scenarios in which you can get VOIP. You can subscribe to this service either through your local Internet, cable or telephone provider or through a third party company. Signing up with a third party company means that you will receive the service through an existing broadband Internet connection. This means that your conversations will travel over a normal Internet connection much like the one established to view this web page. There are any factor which can affect the quality of your VOIP conversation under this scenario. You should consider waiting if your Internet provider goes down once in a while for if your Internet is down, your phone will be dead. If you have children who are heavy bandwidth users by playing games or downloading music, it may affect the quality by making a conversation choppy, delayed or unintelligeble. Other providers, mostly your existing Internet, cable or telephone providers, can offer you a more stable kind of service. They will connect to your VOIP adapter through a separate signal than that of the Internet. This mean that if your Internet connection is temporarily unavailable because of viruses, over-usage or maintenance, your telephone service will still be active. These types of VOIP providers sometimes offer 99% or more uptime guarantee.

Other things to Look For
When looking for a Voice Over IP provider, you shouldn't have to give up some of the services you are used to with your regular telephone provider. Ask many questions about call answer, call waiting, call display and other standard services. Make sure they offer local emergency services such as 9-1-1. Also ask them if your telephone service will be interrupted if your electricity goes out. You should ask every question that comes to mind and not just about the price. In My Opinion... if you are not satisfied with the answers given, move on to the next provider or wait until you are convinced that they can offer you a phone service that is as good or better than the one you already have.

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