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The Real Advantages And Disadvantages To Effectively Using VoIP For Cheap Long Distance Phone Calls
By Tim Gorman
Technology seems to be moving along at such a rapid pace, it can be hard to keep up. Plus, a lot of technologies are being released onto the market before all the bugs have been found and removed. VoIP falls into that category - it has a lot of advantages over a regular phone service, but it still needs a bit of work to make it a trouble free alternative. However the work is being done to remove the flaws, and it won't be long before VoIP starts to replace the traditional phone service in many homes. We're already some of that change occurring, as phone companies use VoIP technology to offer cheap long distance call rates.
Basically, if you have a fast Internet connection, such as DSL or cable, then you can use VoIP. It costs you nothing to make a call from your PC to any other PC in the world. It's also possible with some VoIP services to make calls from your PC to regular phones, but you usually have to pay something for that service. Still, chances are it's cheaper than using your regular phone service.
Some VoIP service providers also offer a package fee, which means you can sign up, pay a monthly fee, and make unlimited calls within a defined geographic area. As an example, some US VoIP providers allow you to make calls to anywhere in North America for no extra cost. You will pay if you make calls outside of the US, but these are still cheaper than your regular phone service.
Another great thing about VoIP is that it's portable. All you need is a broadband connection wherever you might be, and you can make a call by signing into your VoIP account. So it's as convenient as email when you're traveling. Just pack a headset or an Internet phone and it can cost you almost nothing to talk to your business associates or family.
It's also possible to access phone-to-phone VoIP while you're on the move. With most service providers, you're given an Internet phone or adaptor. This is allocated a unique number in the system, and this doesn't change no matter where you are when you sign in to your service. Internet phones are small and light, and easy to take anywhere. Plug into a broadband connection wherever you happen to be, and it works. You can make or receive calls in exactly the same way you would if you were at the office or at home.
As the technology develops, more features are being added to help make VoIP more attractive. It's possible to use a service with call waiting, call forwarding, voicemail, caller ID and multiple party calling. Quite often these are available at no extra charge. Many services also make it possible for you to send pictures or documents via the service even while you're talking on the phone.
By now you're probably thinking - where's the catch? And it's true, if VoIP was that brilliant we'd all have converted long ago. There are still some disadvantages in using VoIP. One of the most obvious ones is - what happens when the power's out? The regular phone service still operates, so you can make phone calls if you need to. But when you use an Internet phone, there's no power available on the line, so it doesn't function. You can use battery backups or a power generator, but this can be more difficult.
911 calls are also a problem. Your location can be traced through regular phone equipment, and so when you phone 911 your call is diverted to the call center closest to your location, just in case you're incapable of speaking. VoIP doesn't provide any location information, which means your call can't be handled by 911. This issue may soon be resolved, however, with the development of e911, a service designed to address this issue.
VoIP also doesn't always have reliable sound quality. Information is sent across the Internet in a scrambled order, and then reassembled again when it reaches its destination. This is fine for email or documents, because it doesn't matter if it takes a few seconds to decode the information. VoIP is operating real-time, however, so if there's a delay in reassembling the data, the result can be gaps in the conversation or poor quality sound. Sometimes, in order to minimize delays, some of the data packets are dropped enroute, which can result in gaps in the conversation.
The amount of data lost in transit depends on the speed and distance of the connection. The amount of traffic a network receives can vary enormously, and congestion can contribute to disruptions in the audio stream. Many providers are now creating dedicated data paths to try and resolve this issue and provide high quality audio connections.
As VoIP is such a new technology, it's hardly surprising it has some problems. But there are a lot of companies working very hard to overcome the issues, and it won't be long before they succeed. Once that happens, VoIP will receive much broader consumer acceptance.
For more information on how VoIP works and how it can save you money on your long distance phone calls by choosing a VoIP provider visit UnlimitedLongDistanceWithVoIP.com located at http://www.unlimitedlongdistancewithvoip.com
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