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

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

Jim Price writes articles for

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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

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

The advantages are clear - low cost or free telephone calls. But the downsides are just as obvious. Poor quality of earlier technologies such as Skype is well known. But usability issues are the key.

Take a typical scenario - calling for a Pizza delivery. How many consumers users are going to;

1. Go to the PC (often in another part of the home) 2. Turn it on 3. Wait for Windows to load 4. Watch as the latest anti-versus toolkit is downloaded 5. Find the headset 6. Look up the number ...... five minutes have passed and you've forgotten why you want to make the call anyway!!

PC based VoIP is good; but not good enough. Users want instant connectability; a single address book and a service that is mobile. Oh and they want broadband download speeds as well.

So convenience and mobility are critical to the success of VoIP. Don't get me wrong. PC based VoIP will be here for sometime - but the true mass market is going to require a much improved user experience.

WiFi is likely to be the answer. Over 10% of US and UK homes are already WiFi enabled. Almost all broadband packages now come with bundled WiFi routers. A further 15 million homes will be WiFi'd this year. A similar picture is developing across the corporate world. But surprisingly penetration of WiFi is lower than in homes - but rapidly catching up.

WiFi hotspot coverage is also growing with most major cities planning large scale roll-out of free access WiFi.

But WiFi in the home is where the battle will be won or lost. There is a good range of WiFi VoIP handsets coming on to the market. These are the handset that are going to transform the user experience - providing always on internet phone capability in "the pocket". These phones have all the functionality of VoIP plus the all convenience of a mobile – cheap, mobile and always available.

The pocket internet phone concept is being developed by companies such as Mobiboo (http://www.mobiboo.com/ or http://www.tovo.co.uk/.). Cleverly Mobiboo have launched a branded WiFi service through Tesco in the UK. It comes in two “flavours” – WiFi only and dual mode. WiFi only is good basic handset that offers service whenever logged into WiFi. Dual mode is even better – this works as a WiFi phone in WiFi areas and a standard (GSM) mobile when not. Both phones have good battery life; large phonebooks and amazing download speeds – up to 5Mbit/s.

So the scenario above has a very different outcome

1. Take the phone out of your pocket
2. Dial the number.

Now isn't that a so much better way to do it! And the call can be made from anywhere in the home or office. And the local cafe, restaurant, shop or airport! All the convenience of mobile; at the price of VoIP.

Martin Heath has been actrive in the Telcoms and Media industries since the mid 1980's. He has worked with organisations such as BBC, Vodafone, BT, AT&T, Motorola, IBM and Lockheed Martin. Until recently he lead KPMG's Information and Communications Consulting Practice in London and was a member of KPMG's Global Telecoms Management Team. After 20 years of helping clients turn ideas into cash Martin left KPMG early last year to enter the world of technology start-ups. Mobiboo is one of these.

www.mobiboo.com

PDA accessories enabled the consumers to access certain Internet features that previously were only limited to desktop computers, notebook and laptop devices. At the same time cell phones became smartphones providing access to the Internet as well and opening a world of connectivity possibilities.

Therefore, handheld accessories were developed to enhance PDA devices with VoIP capabilities. Vonage was the first company providing phone lines that made it possible to place a phone call from any PDA or device connected to the Internet.

Soon after, many other companies began to provide Internet telephony and many handheld accessories were developed to provide connectivity to those devices with no smarthphone features available today.

VoIP is today as popular as traditional telephony, but with the convenience of going with you anywhere. In addition, you can save a lot of money on your monthly phone bills by taking advantage of Internet telephony, especially long distance calls.

When it comes to productivity on the go, PDA cell phones and devices provide you with full featured functions from a single location, making it easier for the exchanging of data between mobile and desktop devices by mean of numerous PDA accessories.

Cell phones like Vonage UT Starcom Wi-Fi are just another way to access voice over the Internet services, while cell phones with previous technology, can partially obtain this functionality through specific handheld accessories.

A typical Vonage account cost about $29.95 a month, including your phone line and unlimited calls to any location within the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Otherwise, the cost for long distance service is very low if compared with the costs of traditional long distance calls.

PDA devices range from cheap to expensive, but prices are more dependable on brand, features, PDA accessories included and VoIP services included or to be added when you sign up for them.

There is no doubt that VoiP meeting PDA in our modern lifestyle, has been one of the biggest events of this, our current century, still developing more surprises, not only in handset accessories but also in wireless and Internet technologies.

Natalie Aranda writes on communications. For a long time voice, services were only related to traditional telephony, and too far from their successful meeting with Personal Digital Assistants (PDA). After the introduction of VoIP services, Vonage was just one of the companies that introduced the Voice Over the Internet (VoIP) protocol as part of the integrated services available through wireless devices. PDA accessories enabled the consumers to access certain Internet features that previously were only limited to desktop computers, notebook and laptop devices.