Traveling with VoIP
The vast array of features that VoIP has to offer allows the
technology to be used in a myriad of ways. One advantage VoIP
telephony has over traditional phone service is its ability to
travel with you. By this, we mean that with VoIP you can
travel locally or internationally and keep the same number, move
house and have no break in service or simply go on vacation and
have your same number and features. Cell phones can
potentially fill this niche, however it is expensive to have a
service that will work internationally and when moving house or
going on vacation there is no guarantee that there will be
coverage at your new location.
VoIP offers a number of features that not only allow you
to travel but will make it an advantage to take your VoIP phone
with you rather than say a cell phone or pay those expensive
hotel rates. Below we will introduce a few of these features.
First, you must find a plan that that has the travel
global feature. Use our advanced search to see all the Service
Providers that support this feature. This feature, allows you
to take your IP ready phone or ATA and plug it into any
broadband connection around the world and you will have the same
service and features you are accustomed to at home. This can
be extremely useful to you when visiting family abroad as I do.
I take my VoIP phone with me and stay in touch for free. Having
the same phone number also means that you can easily be reached
and there are no surprise phone charges for the people who
call you. Not something you are likely to see with a cell phone
plan.
For business users Call transfer is an extremely
beneficial feature. This allows you to transfer a call you have
already answered to another number. Effectively you are taking
your office network with you. Again this feature is not
available with your standard Cell phone but does came as
standard with most VoIP plans.
PC to Phone or sometimes referred to as softphone can be
a cheaper alternative or more convenient than traveling with an
ATA or an IP ready phone. A simple software download and you can
turn your PC into your telephone. You will still have all the
features of VoIP but you will use your laptop to make and
receive calls. For business travelers you are almost guaranteed
a phone service from anywhere in the world, excellent value
for money at $10 a month.
The above features are network features in that they
depend upon the Service Provider you choose. However, the
introduction in recent years of the IP ready phone, which has
the ATA built in, offers consumers a whole host of new features
and applications. The Video Phone is one such application
that is becoming more and more common place. Video over cellular
networks such as TDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE or even 3G networks
have proved problematic. Only when using 3G networks is it
realistically possible and that then depends on the number of
people sharing your wireless bandwidth. If you take into account
the size of 3G cell phones, video becomes impractical. With
VoIP, as you are using a broadband internet connection, you
are guaranteed the bandwidth to have good resolution video.
VoIP is expanding at an exponential rate and with its
protocol well defined, it promises the integration that has
been promised but has never been realized with the cell phone
industry. New standards like WI-MAX are well suited to VoIP and
several service providers have been testing their service using
this new standard. The future of VoIP is well assured, and
perhaps it won't be long before you are carrying your IP
ready phone rather than a cell phone and battery charger.
This article highlights some of the many benefits of
having a VoIP broadband phone service. Use our free VoIP plan search engine to select the best VoIP
phone plan for your families needs, and start saving today.