You may have heard of a new technology called Voice Over Internet
Protocol, or VOIP for short, but you may not be aware of the potential
that it has to change the way you use your telephone. That's because
until relatively recently, VOIP has been relatively obscure and not
particularly easy to use. That's not the case now though, thanks to the
efforts of a number of companies that have refined VOIP technology and
adapted it for everyday use.
In its simplest form VOIP is a technology that takes advantage of the
fact that data can be transmitted long distances over the Internet
without the fees that conventional telephone companies charge for long
distance voice communication. This technology essentially converts
speech into data that can be streamed over the Internet and then
converted back into speech on the other end. The process goes both ways
and is compatible with existing telephone networks.
The newer VOIP services have refined the technology to the point where
it's easy for everyone to use and offers plenty of bonus features that
make it convenient for local calls as well as long distance calls. For
example, when VOIP technology first became available, a computer with a
microphone and speakers was necessary to use it. You could generally
call someone using another computer for free, but if you wanted use it
to place a long distance call to a normal phone line there was a small
per minute fee. Now, all you need is a high speed Internet connection
and a special router that your normal phone can be plugged into. While
you can still use a computer to place calls using VOIP technology,
calls can still be made without your computer being on, and you really
don't need a computer at all!
One great way that most VOIP services provide more value is by
including all of the convenient features that are offered by
conventional phone companies in there service plans at no extra charge.
This alone saves you money above and beyond what conventional phone
companies would charge for the same services. These services include
voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, and a lot more.
Best of all, you can control how you uses these services just by making
changes to your account on the service's website. You can use your
computer to access voice mails, determine how you want to be informed
of new voice mails, block the phone numbers of telemarketers, deny your
caller ID information to people who you're calling, block calls from
numbers that don't provide caller ID information, and much more.
There are also extra features that VOIP service can provide that are
worth paying a little extra for. For example, you can get extra lines
added to your account. These extra lines can be business and personal
lines just for you, or one line for each member of your household. Each
line can also be assigned a different ring tone, so that when they all
ring though to the same handset, it's easy to tell which line is being
called just by the way it sounds. Your phone lines can also break the
rules of how phones work by each having different area codes. That way
if you have friends, family, or business clients concentrated in area
codes other than your own, you can make it cheaper for them to call
you. If you have a business, it might also be worth considering adding
a toll free number.
There are so many options when it comes to VOIP technology and
services, the only way to learn about them all is to go ahead and sign
up.