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BENIFITS OF BROADBAND PHONE:
Today's Technology
Over the years, the
technology has made remarkable progress. Telephonys improved data
compression rate, better sound quality, and the availability of
residential broadband has given consumers more affordable solutions
with even more features than you might have currently. Today, there are
a number of available service providers with most offering the
equipment for free along with pricing packages that can reduce your
phone bills by up to 50% or more.
How It Works
Internet Voice, commonly
known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), uses your broadband
Internet connection to make and receive phone calls instead of your
regular phone line. It works by converting your phone calls to data
packets and sends the information over your Internet connection, like
email, and is received on the other end just like a regular phone call.
What's the advantage? Using
your Internet connection instead of your phone line is less expensive.
You can call anywhere, anytime for less and still get features like
Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Caller ID, 3-way Calling, and so much
more.
One common misconception
about VoIP is that it's a bandwidth hog, when, in fact, voice is a very
efficient type of traffic. As a rule of thumb, 14 Kbps of bandwidth per
call is ideal. This includes the compressed voice packet and the IP
overhead. While your broadband connection will range from 768 Kbps
1.5 Mbps, this is negligible and not worth concerning yourself over.
Let's Talk Features
VoIP service providers
offer different packages to fit your specific needs. Actual usage,
desired features, and potential expansion capabilities will be the
determining factors when selecting a package. The basic plans most VoIP
providers offer include:
Low-cost Basic with Limited Usage
Unlimited US and Canada calls
Unlimited Business with Fax
You're almost certain to
save money switching to VoIP. Not only is the monthly service itself
generally less expensive than your current phone company's monthly
service, the features you get with VoIP are much more extensive and
are, most of the time, offered for free. Features like:
Web Based Administration Allows you to configure your phone settings and log all your calls in real time.
Caller ID Standard with all VoIP service providers.
Voice Mail Replaces your answering machine and lets you listen to voice messages on-line.
Call forwarding Forward calls to your cell, office, or any other number after a predetermined number of rings.
Portability Take your
phone adapter anywhere around the world, use your same phone number,
and call anytime, anywhere in the US for free, and vice-versa
Software Phone this application can be installed on any PC and will function exactly the same way as any VoIP phone
Call Transfer
3-way conferencing v Call return
What You Need
An Internet connection -
While VoIP works with a regular 56kbps dial-up connection, it is highly
recommended you use a Cable or DSL broadband connection.
A Computer The only
reason you will need a computer (PC or Mac) is to configure the phone
adaptor to work with your broadband service provider. Once this is
done, you will not need to do this again.
A Digital Phone Adapter
DPA's, also referred to as phone adapters, are provided mostly free of
charge. This is similar to your Cable/DSL router that converts the
signal to use a regular phone or fax unit.
A Telephone There are also options for plugging in multiple phones to a single DPA unit.
A VoIP Service provider
There are several available. Here are a few you might want to check
out: LINGO Broadband Phone, SUN ROCET Internet Phone, Packet8 Voip and
ConnectMyPhone.
Making phone calls applying a broadband Internet connection,known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol),
is becoming so popular with corporations of each size. The prospect of
paying a flat fee for unlimited long-distance phone calls is attractive
to each company that has struggled to balance the want to conduct
business phone calls with the cost of those calls.
Monthly
costs: A VoIP provider can save you up to 80% on your telephone/long
distance expenses. There are many VoIP providers out there so it will
benefit you from shopping around. Unlimited calling packages can range
from $16.58/month to as high as $54.95/month. Usually the lower priced
providers have more customers and are able to offer the service at a
lower price due to a lower overhead per subscriber.
VoIP Product Features: Not
all VoIP providers are created equal. VoIP offers a great value to the
consumers because of the drastically reduced long distance costs as
well as inexpensive local phone service with lots of enhanced features.
Some providers offer more features than others. Features like Call
Waiting, 3 Way Calling, etc. are usually included in the VoIP monthly
cost where as the traditional phone companies will charge up to and
above $5/month per feature. When shopping for a VoIP provider, be sure
to compare VoIP providers by features as well as by monthly price.
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LINGO will
bring VoIP service without routing calls through your PC. When you sign
higher for its DigitalVoice service, the company gives you a phone
number in the area code of your option and sends you a free
ashtray-size devices device known as an analog telephone adapter or
even ATA. You easily plug the adapter into your network router and
attach your phone to the adapter, and you're ready to produce calls. If
you like, you are able to plug the adapter to a wall jack, connecting
each phone in the home.
For
corporations that want extensions and services that are even more
closely identified with PBXs uncovered in the corporate. Its
Microscopic Business Project is built on a lone line, similar to a
residential line, and does not provide facilities for multiple
extensions, call transfers, administrative functions, and the more
tasks virtually all corporate users take for granted. 2 more vendors
are better suited for the corporate environment.
LINGO Features:
Equipment required: Broadband telephone adapter,
$29.95 activation fee.
No contract.
$39.99 termination fee after 30 days
Call waiting, caller ID and conference calling.
911 service
SUN ROCKET Internet Phone:
The Sun Rocket uses
your phone company's existing phone lines and phone numbers to connect
to the outside world, but uses your Internet connection to connect to
other Sun Rocket in your company's remote offices. This setup is simple
to install and lets you keep your existing phone numbers and lines. It
also lets you keep your existing phone bills, since your long-distance
calls still travel over your phone-company lines.
Where Sun
Rocket shines is in its features as a PBX and its ability to connect
remote offices and treat them as a single phone system. When two or
more Son Rocket connect through the Internet, the company has a virtual
PBX. The offices can make calls to one another by dialing extensions
that may be in the same office or at a remote office without incurring
long-distance charges.
The same
connection can be used to make standard calls to phone numbers that are
local to the remote office but long-distance from the calling office. I
found this feature worked well, but it requires the person making the
call to know whether the number is local to the remote office. That's
something many callers won't make the effort to deal with.
SUN ROCKET Features:
4 lines in
4 VoIP trunks
8 local extensions
8 remote extensions
Expandable to a 16-line, 32-extension phone system by networking up to four 48-CA or 48-CVA units on the LAN
9 Auto Attendants
26 voice mailboxes
Built-in traditional and VoIP trunks for combined network access
Full-featured PBX telephone system
Customer installable and configurable via PC interface
Works with standard analog cordless or corded phones and
TalkSwitch TS 100 phone sets
Packet8 Virtual Office
Packet8
is a service provider. It will bring a "virtual office" by means of a
hosted PBX that you are able to attach to from any broadband
connection. The equipment consists of 1 DTA and 1 phone for every
extension. Minimum configuration for a Packet8 system is 3 extensions,
however there appears to be no upper limit to the number of extensions.
Every DTA and phone combination costs $100, and there exists a $40
activation fee per line.
Because all
the extensions attach to the equivalent PBX, calls to extensions and
calls to outside amounts are processed just as they usually are in a
corporate office. The phones have a huge LCD with soft-buttons for
voicemail, don't disturb, and each feature you would expect in a
corporate PBX. I personally discovered the system elementary to utilise
however as well incredibly flexible. Phone functions are managed
applying the phone's LCD and its buttons, while extension assignment,
routing, auto-attendant, and system-related functions are managed
through the PBX's Web interface.
Packet8's
sound quality was incredibly fantastic. Calls between Packet8 VoIP
lines were clear with no noticeable delay. Calls between Packet8 VoIP
phones and standard phone lines were equally clear. The quality of the
overall system was even more than acceptable.
This is the
kind of system that fits any virtual office whose employees require to
produce lots of long-distance calls. The Packet8 system is particularly
well suited to today's distributed virtual businesses. The fact that
all the extensions are section of the equivalent system and operate as
a seamless phone system puts a consolidated face on the distributed
office.
Packet8 Virtual Office Features:
Price: $40 per extension per month
Setup costs of $100 for equipment and $40 activation fee per line
Unlimited calling within the U.S. and Canada
Full-featured conference bridge for up to 20 participants
Auto-Attendant
Voicemail with message forwarding and e-mail notification
Call transfer and automatic call forwarding
3-way conferencing
Music/messaging on hold
Distinctive ringing for internal/external calls
Caller ID and call-waiting caller ID
Stutter tone notifications
Call park/call pick-up
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