Use Internet Phone Service to make cheap calls worldwide
Have you ever heard of an Internet phone?If not, get prepared to
change the way you think about long distance phone calls. You
can actually use your Internet connection to make cheap
telephone calls anywhere in the world. Today we find several
Internet phone service providers across the world that provide
this service at little or no cost and can help you reduce your
phone bills drastically.
Over the last decade, we have seen that the Internet and
computer technology have changed the way people live, work and
communicate. An Internet phone is one such revolution that has
changed the way people talk with each other.
How does an Internet Phone work?
An Internet Phone uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP),
which converts the voice signal from the telephone to a digital
signal. This digital signal travels over the Internet and is
converted back at the other end to voice so that you can speak
to anyone with a regular phone number. VoIP sends voice
information in digital form in discrete packets rather than in
the traditional circuit based protocols of the public switched
telephone network (PSTN) and helps you use your standard
Internet connection to make phone calls worldwide at a very low
or no cost.
How to make a call using the Internet Phone?
To make a call using an Internet Phone, you can subscribe to an
Internet Phone Service. Besides this, you need to have a good
speed Internet connection in place. Some Internet Phone services
allow you to use a regular telephone, as long as you connect it
to an adaptor while others allow you to make calls from a
computer or a special VoIP phone that doesn't require an
additional adapter.
Depending upon the service that you choose, one way to make a
call is to pick up your phone and dial the number, using an
adaptor that connects to your Internet connection. Another way
is to use a microphone headset plugged into your computer. In
this case, the number is dialed using the keyboard and is routed
through the cable modem.
In fact your computer need not even be turned on in case you
are making calls with a phone and adaptor or special VoIP phone.
It's just that your Internet connection needs to be active. You
can even use your computer while you are talking on the phone.
How to choose an Internet Phone Service?
Depending upon the Internet Phone service that you choose, you
might be limited only to other subscribers to the service, or
you may be able to call any phone number, anywhere in the world.
The call may be made to a local number, a mobile phone, a long
distance number, or an international number. You can even
utilize the service for a conference call, that is, to speak
with more than one person at a time.
Different Internet Phone Service providers offer various plans
for making calls. Some providers offer their service for free,
normally only for calls to other subscribers to the service.
While others charge for a long distance call to a number outside
your calling area, similar to the existing, traditional
telephone service. Still some other providers permit you to call
anywhere at a flat rate for a fixed number of minutes.
Before choosing an Internet Service Provider you have to
carefully look at his offering and balance it with your needs.
Benefits of using an Internet Phone Service
The biggest benefit of using an Internet Phone is that you can
make cheap phone calls as you are utilizing an existing data
network that is the Internet. Moreover since VoIP is digital, it
offers features and services that are not available with a
traditional phone. It gives you the flexibility to combine phone
calls with business data and offers value added features like
integration with software on your computer.
The Internet Phone also provides you with the ability to be
mobile as you can take your phone anywhere in the world. Besides
this, it provides you access to features like voice mail, caller
ID, call conferencing, call forwarding etc.
The Flip side.... disadvantages
Despite the numerous advantages that an Internet phone offers,
there are some disadvantages to utilizing the service.First, an
Internet Phone is dependant on power. Your current phone runs on
power that is provided over the line from the central office, so
even if your power goes out, your phone connection still
works.With an Internet phone, you cannot use your phone service
in case there is a power failure.Unlike using traditional PSTN
technology, that is dependent on a point-to-point connection,
the Internet Phone utilizes the Internet and its web-like,
multi-link network.Therefore if a traditional PSTN circuit phone
line is down or cut for some reason, you will be unable to make
a call.With Internet Phone service, if a specific link is down,
the call will just be routed over one of the many other routing
options that the Internet provides to still complete the
call.There have been many recent natural and man-made disasters,
where Internet Phone Service, was the only available and working
service - as both PSTN lines and mobile cellular towers were
rendered inoperable.
Additionally, early Internet Phone Service suffered from issues
of "delay" which causes the problem of "echo" and "talk
overlap". These initial Internet Phone Service offerings were
susceptible to all the problems normally associated with home
Internet connections like latency, jitter and packet loss.Due to
all these factors phone conversations can sometimes become
distorted, garbled or lost.In the last few years, with the
improvements to the Internet backbone, broadband technologies
and VoIP protocols and codecs, most of these issues have been
corrected.
Conclusion
Internet phone usage is growing rapidly around the world
because of the numerous advantages that it offers. It is a
powerful technology that has the potential to turn the rapidly
growing Internet infrastructure into a giant global telephone
network.