Tip! With VoIP service, you can activate every phone jack in the house. First, disconnect your house internal phone wiring from the regular telephone service at the phone box outside (most probably on your front wall).
VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol is an emerging technology that with the right equipment and a provider, enables voice communications or the audio content of a phone conversation to be transmitted in digital form over the internet. The advantage of this is that a standard telephone line is not required for VoIP.
As VoIP is an ever evolving technology, it is important to familiarize oneself in latest developments prior to making a commitment to a particular phone, provider or setup.
But let's look at some of the basics and how practically anyone can give this technology a ?run' without dipping deep into the pockets.
The Basics VoIP has a range of options and abilities depending on the service and equipment utilized. These include: ? Only calling other people using the same service; ? Ability to call any phone number including long distance, international, mobiles and of course local; ? Calling directly from a computer using a microphone or VoIP telephone; and ? Calling from an ordinary phone which is plugged into an Analog Telephone Adaptor or ATA.
Equipment Required Given that this is Voice over Internet, it stands to reason that an internet connection is necessary - albeit one of high speed (broadband).
Depending on the service being utilized it may be as simple as a microphone, or a VoIP telephone, or an adaptor that a normal phone can plug into with the adaptor plugging into an Ethernet connection.
Tip! Call Security: A VoIP service's audio (your voice) should compress your voice into proprietary encryption packets to travel across the internet, and return back to voice at destination. That particular VoIP service should host proprietary software, and as such, the only one that can interpret the voice and data contained in those packets.
So How Can I Make Calls for Free? There is a range of free VOIP software on the internet. A well know one is Skype at www.skype.com where users can make calls to landlines and mobiles for a fee but call each other for free.
Ok so you see the limitation here. To get free calls the person you wish to contact also needs to be a user of the same service. Whilst this is true, there are ways of obtaining very low cost calls through a number of providers. This said, the free services like Skype are well worthwhile for someone who wishes to experiment at no cost.
Service Providers Vonage is a major VoIP provider and AT&T are also offering services. There are many others some of which I have listed below with no particular bias: ? 1TouchTone ? AOL Internet Phone Service ? Axvoice ? BroadVoice ? Dialpad ? GalaxyVoice ? Net2Phone
For Australia several websites of VoIP providers are listed below: ? www.engin.com.au ? www.broadip.com.au ? www.faktortel.com.au
VoiPStunt - Free International Calls to a Range of Countries At the time of writing, VoiPStunt were providing free software which allows free calls between peers. However they are also providing free international calls to a list of international countries listed below:
Tip! When using VoIP service, you may not be able to ?activate' a new credit card, as the computer at the other end will claim that you are not calling from a home phone. The reason for this is yet unknown as VoIP providers have yet to answer this.
Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela.
Now that's not a bad list. The catch, a minor one, is that international calls for trial users are limited to one minute. To obtain up to 20 hours of free international calls you will need to top up your account however VoiPStunt state on their website they will not touch these credits so long as you are calling the free destinations. (source - www.voipstunt.com).
Current terms and conditions should be examined prior to engaging any service.
Tip! With VoIP service you can have low cost 800 numbers. This way it will be free for people to call you and yet will not be too hard on your pockets.
Summary VoIP is an emerging technology with much more to come in the future. Why not enjoy free international and peer phone calls in the meantime.
Author Tim ONeill has an Associate Diploma in Electronic Engineering. For further information, books and VoIP items, visit http://www.voipworking4you.info.
