Before many of us came to rely on cell phones to make long distance phone calls, our only option was to commit to a long distance phone company. Long distance carriers charged what were at times exorbitant by-the-minute fees to make calls to friends and loved ones often living only a few hours away. When cell phones came into prominence, they brought with them service plans that gave us such luxuries as free night and weekend calling anywhere domestically. Alas, even cell phones had their drawbacks, in that their reception was often broken up, and calls could be dropped unceremoniously. When along came VOIP, a new choice in long distance phone calling was on the horizon. VOIP has many different options, and now it seems that we have the choice of combining VOIP technology with cell phones. The prospect of VOIP cell phone service brings with it the potential for even more freedom and convenience, along with lower prices. Or does it?

Normally, VOIP service is available in three modes: ATA, IP phone, and computer-to-computer. All of these services are common and available for use at your home computer. ATA, or analog telephone adapter, lets you connect your regular home telephone to your computer and use it for VOIP service by converting analog sound bits into digital data. IP, or Internet protocol, phones are telephones that are specially designed for use with VOPI service. These phones look just like a standard home phone, but are wired differently to be VOIP capable. You can have a cordless IP phone that allows you to move freely through your home or office as you talk. Computer-to-computer VOIP is achieved by installing software that you can get through a provider. You make long distance calls from your computer, and talk through a microphone that is hooked up to your machine. All of these services are convenient in their own ways, but do not have quite the portability that cell phones offer. That is why the idea of VOIP cell phones is so appealing. Potentially, it is the best of both worlds: portability and low cost phone service.

Cost savings is by far the most attractive aspect of VOIP. With typical VOIP, you can expect to pay anywhere from $19.95 to $34.99 per month for a service that consists of many features, including free domestic calls, dirt cheap International calling rates, Caller ID, Call Waiting, 3-way Calling, among others. This, of course, is in addition to your current monthly ISP charge, which for broadband is usually around $40 per month. The combined cost for your ISP and VOIP services is likely to still be less expensive than if you were to remain in service with a traditional telephone company. However, this is not necessarily the case if you were to switch your cell phone over to VOIP as well.

Providers that offer VOIP cell phone services usually charge a monthly fee in addition to a per-minute fee. If you don’t use your cell phone often enough to meet or exceed your current allotted plan minutes, then it is simply not cost effective for you to subscribe to VOIP cell phone service. VOIP and cell phones go well together for those customers that regularly exceed their plan minutes or make International calls on their cell phone on a regular basis. And, if your Internet connection if prone to outages, you could experience the same dropped call occurrences that you might often get with a standard cell phone service.

There is no doubt that VOIP is a reasonably priced and convenient way to bundle all of you communications together. VOIP service is improving all the time as technologies moves forward, which will allow providers to offer more reliable and even more affordable service down the line. Currently, VOIP cell phone service is in its infancy, and the kinks are being worked out. If you do the math, and feel that your monthly cell phone bill would benefit from a reasonable VOIP service plan, then it is worth the switch. If you do not make International calls on your cell phone, and you rarely or never go over your plan’s allotted monthly minutes, then you are probably better off sticking with your traditional cell phone service for now than putting out more money for VOIP cell phone service.

About The Author
Mark Woodcock is a director of 3 Internet Companies, is a published author and has written many articles on a widespread number of topics. All his articles may be reproduced provided that an active link is included to http://www.voip-services-provider.com.

Tags: internet telephony, Residential Voip, voip services, Voip Business Phone System, voice over internet protocol

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Ever come across a site that claims broadband phone is also
known as VoIP or vise verse? Or a web page that explains
PC-to-phone is VoIP? How about Internet phone service? VoIP
right? Wrong! VoIP is neither broadband phone, PC-to-phone
or Internet phone service. It’s time to set the record
straight once and for all.

VoIP is an abbreviation for Voice over Internet Protocol.
VoIP is a technology that makes such things as broadband
phone service, PC-to-phone, and Internet phone service
possible by using the Internet to send and receive phone
calls. The technology is VoIP while the means are broadband
phone or PC-to-phone and the like.

So now we know what broadband phone isn’t, I suppose this
would be a good place to explain what it is, exactly.
Broadband phone service as discussed before, uses VoIP
technology to send and receive phone calls using your
regular everyday household touch tone corded or wireless
telephone.

Technically broadband phone service doesn’t even need your
computer to work, you just need a broadband Internet
connection, and both DSL or cable broadband will work.
You’ll also need a broadband telephone adaptor to plug your
phone line into instead of the usual wall jack. Pretty
simple huh?

What broadband phone service allows you to do is bypass your
telephone company, and connect your call directly to the
same grid your phone company uses. Can you guess what that
is? Right, the Internet. All this time your phone company
has charged you just to connect your call to the Internet!
What a rip off, right?

Now just wait, it gets better. So far Uncle Sam and the
telcos have not been able to tax or collect on sir charges
as had been the case for many years with your landline phone
company. Right now additional charges are very minimal. Did
you know that taxes and hidden fee’s can make up as much as
20% of your landline phone bill?

Now on to PC-to-phone service. PC-to-phone works in much the
same way broadband phone works, but without an adapter.
Instead you just need a headset or speakers and microphone
and PC-to-phone software installed on your computer. You can
use PC-to-phone to call someones phone from your computer,
and sometimes people can even call your computer.

Now before you get excited, PC-to-phone is not free. The
cent per minute rates are low for long distance, but you
normally get charged the same amount for a local call. Whats
worse, PC-to-phone services actually do no service for you
at all. It uses the software that you downloaded and host on
your computer to track your calls, and doesn’t cost them a
penny when you make a call. You’re just paying for the
software over, and over, and over again.

Internet phone service is just a vague term for broadband
and PC-to-phone type services. So now that you know what
VoIP is not, and what broadband phone service and
PC-to-phone is, why are you still using that landline phone?
Broadband phone service is without any doubt the cheapest
phone service on the planet and is the best way to take
advantage of VoIP technology. Not to mention, it finally
gives you a way to “stick it” to your phone company.

Daymon Hoag is founder of Cheapest Service and provisioner of quality Broadband Phone Service

Tags: Voip Telephony, free voip, voip services, voice over internet protocol, Voip Provider

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The VOIP phone system is one of the latest technological innovations that can be found in the workplace. The Internet undoubtedly revolutionized the way businesses work and individuals spend their free time. The Voice Over Internet Protocol allows you to make calls over the Internet rather than using traditional methods of telephoning other people. However, few people know about the ins and the outs of the technology and so the following article will give you a little insight into what it is, what it can do and how you use it! By the time you have finished reading, you will have more than enough basic knowledge to use a VOIP system effectively.

Equipment
In order to be able to use a VOIP system, you first need to obtain a computer. Without a computer it is extremely difficult to make VOIP calls. There are some mobile devices that allow VOIP functionality but they are less widely used and not as convenient. A computer will give you access to all of the free Internet-based calling services out there. If you have a computer, simply log on to the Internet and search for VOIP software. The majority of it can be downloaded for free, which […]

Full Article At: KnowHow-Now.com Articles

Tags: Voip Provider, Residential Voip, free voip, Voip Telephony, Voip Internet Phone

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