Voice Over IP Telephony Comes Of Age
With the advent of widespread broadband Internet connections, consumers are discovering what businesses have known for a while. Voice over IP telephony, or VoIP as it is known, can be a viable and cost effective alternative to the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS). As VoIP upstarts are popping up everywhere, most notably Vonage, Packet8 and Skype, even the big Internet Service Providers are offering voice over IP packages to their residential subscribers
Such features as caller ID, call forwarding, automatic redial, and even 3-way calling are standard on most VoIP packages, whereas many phone companies consider them add on’s and will charge you extra. But the real kicker is, if it is right for you and you pick the right Voice over IP solution, you should be able to reduce your phone bill by half or more.
How Does Voice over IP Work?
IP Telephony is a packet switching technology, as opposed to circuit switching as used by the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). The PSTN method uses copper wires to physically connect one caller to another through a series of circuit switches, as illustrated by the switchboard operators of old.
In voice over IP, the analog voice is converted into digital packets that are routed through the internet, and in the case of one of the parties being on a PSTN connection, the packets are routed to the nearest local switching station and placed back on the PSTN. If both persons are using VoIP, then there is no reason to use the PSTN, and the entire conversation takes place over the Internet.
Needless to say, this is much more cost effective than using land lines for the entire distance. If a caller in New York uses VoIP to call a PSTN number in Seattle, the call doesn’t leave the internet until it reaches the switching station in Seattle, making it for all practical purposes, a local call.
The Drawbacks of Voice over IP Telephony
There are some points that one should seriously consider when thinking about dumping the POTS. VoIP generally requires a Broadband Internet connection, which in turn requires power. If a power outage should occur, you have no telephone service. Battery backups could solve this problem, but not on a long term basis. Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) also have a tendency to go down occasionally, though they are getting better all the time. Calls can be forwarded to your cell phone if your power is out, but in real disaster situation, even cell phones are not a perfect backup, as seen by Hurricane Katrina. Faxing over an IP network has proven to be problematic. Fax machines scan a document and convert the data into sounds, which don’t travel well over the internet. In IP telephony, much progress has been made on a standard called T.38, whose mission is to convert the fax sound into sendable data. Another option is iFax, the T.37 standard that sends faxes as an email attachment or a remote printout using the Internet Printing Protocol. Today, separate Fax lines can be added by most VoIP providers for an extra charge.
Emergency services such as 911 are also an issue with IP telephony. It is the nature of the Internet that tying a particular node to a geographic location is quite difficult, and street addresses are not easily routed to a nearby call center. In the U.S., the FCC has mandated that VoIP providers implement Enhanced 911 (E911). Providers are making progress by encouraging their customers to register a street address to their phone number, enabling them to route emergency calls to a nearby call center.
Voice over IP and Broadband Connections
While a broadband connection is not absolutely necessary, it is what makes VoIP shine. Many households are turning to DSL or cable modems for their internet connections, and wireless broadband WiFi hotspots are popping up everywhere.
The problem with DSL is that it is provided by telephone companies which for the most part require you to have a landline, pretty much defeating the purpose. Some regional Telco’s are starting to unbundle their DSL services by offering “naked DSLâ€, an Internet connection without the analog line on the local loop. When you think about it, there really doesn’t seem to be much motivation for the Telco’s to promote VoIP, as it would effectively be like cutting their revenues in half.
If your household has cable television, you more than likely can get broadband access through a cable modem. Most cable providers charge around $50 a month for broadband internet access, and for those who utilize the Internet often, a high speed internet connection is well worth the price. Some cable IPS’s offer residential Voice over IP for $40-$50 a month. Through the pure play VoIP companies like Vonage or Packet8, you can get VoIP for around $15-$25 a month, potentially eliminating the need for a land line at all.
Wireless networks also work great for VoIP, and are especially convenient if you travel a lot. Hotspots all over the world allow you to call anywhere using a WiFi VoIP phone. Internet phones come in all shapes and sizes with all kinds of bells and whistles. From a full business desk phone from Cisco, to phones indistinguishable from cell phones, even regular cell phones that are VoIP capable – new products and technologies are coming out every day to get you better connected for less.
Voice over IP telephony has come of age. If you have access to a broadband Internet connection, you could conceivably cut your phone bill by half or more, never pay long distance charges in the U.S. and Canada, and pay way less for International calls – as low as 3 cents per minute. Sound quality is usually as good as a cell phone connection. To test you current broadband connection, visit http://www.TestYourVoip.com and download the java applet. In about 20 seconds they will show you in detail how your VoIP phone call would fare to and from national and international destinations. Once you know if your connection can sustain the extra traffic, it’s just a matter of finding a reliable Voice over IP telephony service provider.
Callcentric and Skype – a Comparative Study
In the world of internet phone service, Callcentric and Skype could be very well considered the toughest competitors. Both have a relatively big customer base and an equally big reputation in the industry. Both offer lots of value added services to their customers and are considered very cheap when compared to traditional international phone calls. Despite these similarities, there are a few things that can be compared between Callcentric and Skype to highlight certain features that separate one from the other.
Callcentric offers four plans that could be considered the cheapest in the market. They are Callcentric IP Freedom Plan, Callcentric Pay per Call, Callcentric North America Unlimited, and Callcentric World Select. All of them offer unlimited PC to PC calls to other Callcentric members for free, wherever in the world they are. IP Freedom Plan is considered the cheapest of them all, as it provides free calls to other members, wherever they are. At no monthly charge, no surcharge, no hidden fees, no per-call rate, and no other commitment, this is considered the best bargain. All you need is an adapter or software and you are good to go with the Callcentric IP Freedom plan.
Skype also has a similar structure, as calls made to any Skype customer are free all over the world. In fact, Skype became extremely popular due to this feature, as free PC to PC calls were something really rare at the time when Skype brought in this feature. So, basically this plan works the same way for Skype and Callcentric. Free PC to phone international call and phone calls from the PC are something everyone looks forward to while using Skype and Callcentric, and this is the area where Callcentric scores over Skype.
Callcentric has plans such as Pay per Call, North America Unlimited, and World Select which offer tremendous value for the money you pay. At a miserly monthly rate around $19.95 per month, you will be able to make unlimited phone calls to the USA and Canada. With this plan, you will be able to make hundreds of calls in a month and still pay an incredibly low $19.95.
In the World Select plan, Callcentric goes a step ahead of its competitors and offer unlimited calls to people all over the world for a monthly rate of $29.95. Thanks to the wide network of Callcentric with over 35 countries across the globe, you can call any of your near and dear ones any number of times for just around $30 a month.
Skype has an offer called Skype Credit which asks you to pay some amount and you also need to pay a connection fee. Once you log in, the credit you have will appear next to your name. Then you can start calling any part of the world. But the catch here is the rate per call. The rates range around 1.7 Euro cents per minute, which is considered costlier than Callcentric, as you can make unlimited calls to any part of the world in case of Callcentric for just under $30 per month. This is where Callcentric scores over Skype and is considered the better option when it comes to PC to phone calling.
VoIP Services: Enjoy Easy Calling
The latest VoIP services allow the ‘next generation’ users to make the most of unified communications. The internet telephony services deliver a competitive edge to all its users with efficiency in operations, increased productivity and improved customer services. As a matter of fact, these services help the business entities to establish reliable and secured connections with others at relatively low costs. The business entities can make the most of these services to dramatically simplify and improve their business communications as well as increase the agility of their enterprises.
As per the predictions, it can be said that in the upcoming 20 years or much sooner, global telephone systems will run mainly on the fiber optics rather than coaxial wires. The advanced internet telephony services using the broadband speed internet connections to transmit the data packets would be the norm as opposed to the wires in the traditional PSTN services of recent times. With the VoIP services, the users are expected to bring about a reduction in the monthly telephone bills by up to 40-60 percent.
The most important facet of VoIP phone service is the low costs as well as their easy installation. To make the most of these services, the users would need a service provider, a PC, a broadband connection and an Analog Telephone Adaptor. Usually, the standard equipment such as an ATA is supplied by the providers when the users sign up for IP telephony services. The companies that offer such services are better known as VoIP service providers, wholesalers and resellers.
The service providers lead the other two groups by offering some portion of their services, according to the specific needs or requirements. In some parts of the globe, these services are ruling the roost over the PSTN services as they are backed with various features and benefits such as:
1. Flexibility: The VoIP services allow the users to enjoy IP telephony solutions in a more flexible way. This advanced service gives a liberty to the business entities as well as individual users to extend or add telephone lines in their exiting systems, for instance.
2. Reliability: The business entities must always choose a provider that satisfies and guarantees the maximum quality in the business services. And if possible, one must opt for the provider that offers a free trial for its services. This is because contemporary market is flooded with service providers and many a time it becomes rather difficult to zero in on any one.
3. Scalability: The Voice over IP service can be experienced anywhere across the globe, as they are location independent. As a matter of fact, one requires a broadband speed internet connection to get connected from almost anywhere, even from a remote location.
4. Additional services: Unlike PSTN services, the voice over IP business services is backed with value-added offers. The users can enjoy 3-way calling, caller ID, call forwarding and call waiting. Importantly, one can even participate in audio as well as video conferencing.
5. Cost Advantages: With the Voice over IP services, the users can cut down on their monthly telephone bills. As a matter of fact, cost advantage is purely dependent on the selection of the VoIP service provider and more importantly on products that the users use.
To conclude, the Voice over IP services are backed with some very extraordinary features that are driving its rapid adoption by both business entities as well as casual users in diverse parts of the world.
Google Radio / Audio Ad Experience
Recently Google stepped into audio / radio advertisements. We wanted to give it a try for our classified ads site webcosmo.com. With the radio stations available all around the US states this was a great opportunity for introducing a website to a bigger, great audience. Plus there was a $400 give away by Google for people who was giving it a try.
You need a professional quality audio ad for running audio/radio ads. Don’t worry Google already made it easy for you with the Ad Creation Marketplace. Google Ad Creation Marketplace put together many professional voice artists, you can hear the example ads and make a decision.
Making a Google Audio / Radio ad is easy like one two three. First on Google AdWords account create a new Audio Ad campaign. Specify there your desired audience, budget, when to play ad, ad play date range etc. You can target the audience by age range, gender as well as locations down to city level. Another good feature is you can target stations like news, easy listening etc.
Google audio ad is bidding based. You specify how much maximum you want to pay per thousand(CPM) listeners, and Google will find best ad slots for you for that bid.
Audio Ad creation wizard will ask you then if you already have an audio ad ready to use, or you wanna create one. If you want to create one use the Ad Creation Market place. Here is the link to the ad we made for webcosmo.com by Michael Corley http://www.webcosmo.com/web.mp3Audio Ad Marketplace is a bidding place also. You specify your need, price, pick the artists you like, and they will reply back with a price. This can be pay per play or ownership option. With pay per play you pay each time ad is played. With ownership option its all yours. Personally I like the ownership option.
Upon completion of the audio ad campaign you have to wait until Google approves it.
We ran the campaign for one month, mostly in Boston, California, Newyork area. It wasn’t a revolutionary change. All we wanted is brand awareness. We got that. We have had more quality ads from those locations, traffic went up by 25%. We been happy with the results. Furthermore WebCosmo.com has been selected as a model site for Google Audio Ad creation marketplace. And recently we started another Google Audio Ad campaign.
