VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. VOIP have became very popular recent days. One of the reason that Voip phones is becoming so popular becuase more and more people have high bandwidth internet connection at their residences and offices. VOIP phone service uses internet to place calls. As the internet is very cheap so is the Voip phone service. There are many companies which provide VOIP services these days.
With VoIP technology voice which is analogue converted into the digital packets and then the data is transmitted to the internet. These packets are again converted to analogue when reach the destination .
There are some pros and cons of using VoIP
Benifits are that you can get any phone number of any area code. This is a big benefit if you change your home . Your number would remain the same and your clients or people who want to contact you would not even notice that you have changed the place. This is not limited to one country. Even if you go outside the country you can use the same phone number. The other advantage of using VoIP phone service is that it is usually very cheap compared to the ordinary phone. Usually VoIp providers provide unlimited long distance calls for a fixed monthly fee. Some VoIP providers also provides Business VoIP services. This Business VoIP services means that they include a lot more facilities like 3 way conferencing , call forwarding and even unlimited calls to other countries. For commercial businesses VoIP providers also give Fax services Via internet. So for this reason that VoIp is very cheap compared to ordinary land line people are moving to it.
The major disadvantage of using VoIP is the quality. Specially for business people sometimes this can create more problems if the quality of call or voice is not up to the standard or the clarity of voice is suffering due to reasons like loss of packets, low internet speed, Latency. As data travels in packets over the internet so it depends upon the distance and routers speed . So sometimes if a packet is coming from far places and routes have distortion it can significantly effect quality of voice and call. The other major disadvantage of using VoIP is that suppose your internet is down for some reason so will be your phone as the phone was depending on the internet for calls.
Ohter disadvantages are that usually Voip companies does not have physical presence in your town or area so in case of minor problems you are at your own. So this is not suggested for people who are very nontechnical or who does not even want to plug a wire in socket.
Free VoIP service is also becoming popular these days but company give you free VoIp for few months if you sign a contract with them for 1 or 2 year. Also one thing you should immediately do after you take up a Voice over IP service is that make sure they give you 911 service in case of emergency. Most of them do it free of charge. Make sure that you keep your address update at all time so if you dial 911 in case of emergency. If you think that you need emergency services more frequently then we think that VOIP phones or SIP voip internet phone service is not a good option for you as you will be unable to use it in case of emergency even if the internet is down or you cable modem is not working in case of power failure which most of the times occurs in case of emergencies.
Before you sign up to any Voice over Ip phone service provider do a thourough research . Reason is that the Voip system companies usually ask you for a long term contract. Also in most of cases you have to buy special VoIP adapters and it would be difficult to change the provider once you sign up with one. The major thing you should consider is the quality of service that company offers as this is the major issue with all voip providers. Service is the major issue. The next thing to consider is the voip packages these companies are offering specially if you call long distance or overseas . So consider and see the rate sheet of that particular voip provider before you go with them in a contract. Also before choosing voip phone service consider how many free minutes they are offering you and what time of day they are giving or if they are all time minutes.
7VGCGRREGRXB