VoIP Phones

VoIP is an internet phone service. Most of the time you can plug your current telephone into an adapter box the service provider gives you and everything works. The adapter box plugs into your broadband router. The new hookup works just like the old one. Pick up the phone, wait for a dial tone and then enter the number.

Most companies also offer softphones as well. A softphone is a computer application that mimics a real telephone. You dial by clicking on the on-screen keypad and you talk and listen on a headset that plugs into your computer’s USB port.

Technical Requirements

Broadband Connection – That means a DSL, cable or T1 connection to the internet.

Adapter box – to use your regular phone with the service

Why use VoIP?

Cost - VoIP is cheaper than a land line. The service has flat-rate local, regional and long distance calling. It also has very reasonable international rates. Plus the internet phone has features that are not available anywhere else.

Pick your area code – Internet phones are tied to any area code so for the first time, phone number are truly portable anywhere within a country.

The phone integrates with your computer – some systems send all of your voice mail to your email inbox and let you dial directly from Outlook. Even the smallest business can set up a phone system that functions like the expensive PBXs used by large corporations. For example, you can set up simultaneous ringing so all of the employee’s phones ring until someone answers even if they have regular phones.

Disadvantages

Variable quality – depending on where your call is routed on the internet, the quality can vary greatly. You need to test it in your area and make the common calls you make to judge for yourself what the quality will be. In many cases it is far superior to a landline while in other there is a noticeable time lag. Make sure you check it out.

911 service – you must register your phone number to make certain that the emergency personnel respond to the correct address since the phone is no longer to any physical location.

Future Considerations – VoIP service is currently exempt from the taxes that traditional service pays to maintain the 911 call centers and other emergency services. This will not last forever. Eventually these phones will be taxed just like the existing ones when enough people actually switch to them.