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What is exactly VoIP?

Most people are familiar with NetMeeting and other software that let you talk to others over the internet. VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is similar. However, it also uses your phone - the interface we are all familiar with.

Instead of connecting your phone to the wall, you connect it to a box either the VoIP company provides or you buy on your own. This is the modem. You need highspeed / broadband internet for this. Your modem plugs into your cable / DSL modem and now a "conversation" can occur between your phone and the internet.

For those who have never heard about the potential of VoIP, be prepared to radically change the way you think about your current long-distance calling plan. VoIP is very simply, a method for taking ordinary analog audio signals and turning them into digital signals that can be sent over the Internet.

So what? Well, for those of you who are already paying a monthly fee for an Internet connection, this means that you can use that same connection to place free long distance phone calls. This process works by using already available VoIP software to make phone calls over the Internet, essentially circumventing phone companies and their service charges.

Interestingly, VoIP is not an entirely new thing. In fact, a number of providing companies have been around for some time. But it has only been with the more recent explosion of high-speed internet access usage, that VoIP has gotten any attention. Now the major telephone carriers are setting up their own VoIP calling plans throughout the USA, another testament to the potential of the technology.

How hard is it to setup?
It is actually very easy. Assuming you have the company send you a modem or you buy a kit at the store, you simply plug the modem between your current cable / DSL modem and your computer (e.g., the out from your cable modem now goes to the new box and the out from that to your computer). It also provides a phone jack for your regular phone.

Once it is on, it will boot up and configure itself.

What are the benefits?
There are many benefits depending on the company you go with, but here are a few major advantages

1. Features like caller id, call waiting, call waiting caller id, call forwarding, etc.
2. Voicemail.
3. Web access to voicemail - you can play your messages on your computer.
4. Auto-forward - if the phone is ever down or isn't answered, it is auto-routed to another number.
5. Email alerts for new voicemail.
6. Online management of all features, settings, account etc.
7. Computer dialing - simply highlight any number on your computer, hit F6 and it sets up the calls from your phone to the receiver's.
8. Keep your regular phone.

There are some other cool features available such as the softphone, which lets you use your computer as a phone without the modem. This implies that you can take your laptop with you wherever and you have your phone with the same phone number everywhere too. Alternatively, you can also do this without the softphone, but this will mean that you have to take your VOIP modem around with you.

Another useful feature of VoIP is virtual numbers. You can get extra numbers that ring the same phone, but they are local numbers to any area code you want. So if you live in Sydney and your family is in Perth, you can get a local phone number both in Sydney and Perth. In this way, your family in Perth can call a local number and talk to you without having to incur IDD charges and vice versa.

Bottom Line
Consumers will only need to pay a low monthly subscription (as low as less than US$20) to the VoIP providers and will be able to enjoy a wide range of features, without the umpteen taxes, charges, fees etc charged by telco companies.

Article contributed by San Singhania who is a VoIP consultant at Lantone Communications. Led by a team of experienced IT developers, Lantone Communications is one of the leadingVoIP Provider in Singapore. Please visit their official website for the latest information on VoIP.

This article may be reprinted in its original form as long as the resource box is left intact and the links live and the article is not to be modified in any way

E-TEN Information Systems today announced that its M600 Pocket PC Phone Edition now has the latest version of Skype 2.0 pre-installed on the device. E-TEN also confirmed that the company is scheduled to release an OS upgrade for the device soon and that Skype 2.0 will be one of the new features included in this package.

Skype certified E-TEN M600 Pocket PC Phone EditionWith its built-in support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Quad-band GSM and GPRS, the M600 Pocket PC Phone delivers a complete communications package in one compact device. And with Skype 2.0 for the Pocket PC, these capabilities extend even further allowing users to share the same Skype account with their PCs and M600 and to enjoy free/low rate internet calls.

A big number of Pocket PC devices currently available are unable to meet the hardware requirements for Skype certification – Windows Mobile 5.0, 312MHz processor and high-speed wireless internet connection. E-TEN's M600 is not just one of the few products that is certified, but its small size, innovative internal antenna design and fast 400MHz processor give it the edge over products from other well known manufacturers.

For more Smartphone and Pocket PC News or Applications for windows mobile devices visit us at mobiletopsoft.com

Skype Now Available For Cell Phones
Call Skype users to their PCs. Make cost-effective calls to any destination.
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Voice over IP is an Internet technology and perfected over time. It is basically a technology that allows you to make telephone calls through the Internet instead of directly through wires, which is the way that telephone calls have been made for decades, in fact since inception of the telephone.

VoIP makes business travel easy
The type of technology that Voice over IP brings suddenly makes life much comfortable not only for business people. Install IM+ for Skype onto your Palm OS Device and receive all your cellular phone calls and messages directly through your mobile device.

Join the Voice over IP and Cellular Phone Blog to be always informed.

Jim Price writes articles for

Credit-Card-FAQ.com

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There are a few problems associated with VOIP. Like, if the broadband connection is problematic, if there is a conversation that is taking place between two VOIP users and a few IP packets get destroyed or there is a delay in its reaching the destination at any point there is a pause for a few moments, rather no voice is heard.

This happens more in networks that are saturated or when the distances of the call are long. The voice quality has improved a lot today though and it will get better with time.

It is considered better to use the media that is 'packeted' in terms of VOIP as these works on multi-path routing or the incoming and outgoing packets take different routes. This reduces the effect of the minute failures.

There are a number of protocols that help in supporting the report of QoS/QoE which are for VOIP calls. Like RTCP XR (RFC3611) or the SIP RTCP Summary Reports, H.248.30 and MGCP extensions. The RFC3611 VOIP metric report support the feedback which is related to the QoS problems.

It is a little difficult to send faxes through VOIP. The voice codec that already exist are not meant to be sending faxes. Everyday technology is changing, everyday a solution is thought of for fixing this problem. Efforts are being made to answer this problem by defining a solution based on a different IP for sending Fax. These include the T.38 protocol.

Other solutions have also been thought of. Treating the system of fax like a system for message switching and it doesn't need a great data transmission, like sending over a fax like an attachment with the email. The system at the end can buffer the fax data that is incoming prior to its display or its being printed.

You may wish to read more at: VoIP Requirement List and Skype Problems and Complaints

Joe, a reporter, has been travelling around the world for more than a decade now and has extensive experience in many fields. Now he has a blog along with other article writers. To know more about him, do visit: Random Rants

VoIP is an interesting concept. Lets see - we can make calls pc to pc or phone to pc for free or at a minimal cost. Vontage, Skype, and a host of other carriers are making it simplier and cheaper to impliment with less pain and more gain. So lets make the move, why wait?

1. What about our phone system that we have already purchased and invested money in?

2. How do we integrate exsisting software and technolgy with VoIP?

3. Security issues? Network bandwidth? etc. etc.

There are so many questions, but the risk is minimal.

Why?

Since VoIP transfers information over the network it is easier to integrate with other applications that are based on the network. Plus its cheaper to make phone calls.

How?

Cisco and Avaya have installed hundreds if not thousands of systems in 2005 and industry experts expect huge growth over the next 6 years. So there are many experts on VoIP already, consulting firms, individuals etc, whom can be hired to help you implement VoIP. It is no longer a mystery, the man behind the curtain has been exposed.

The greatest advantage to a small business when converting to VoIP may not be just the price but all the applications that they can pile onto their network for 1/4 of the price: voice recording, crm, even your phone applications can be easily integrated with your voice stream that is produced by incoming calls.

Bruce Kaskey is a founder of OrecX, has 20 years experience in the software and technology sectors. http://www.orecx.com