Is Internet Phone Service Worth the Switch?
You’ve seen the advertisements. You probably know at least one person who has tried it, but is Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a.k.a. Internet phone or digital phone, for you? Let’s face it. Your traditional phone service works pretty well, so why switch? The answer is savings.
Let’s start with the basic monthly plan. The average monthly residential Internet phone plan is approximately $25/month. Business plans are roughly double the residential rate. Usually included within this price are loads of free features like voice mail, call waiting, three way calling, caller id, and call forwarding. Traditional phone service ranges from approximately $15/month to $60/month depending upon add-ons, long distance, taxes, and surcharges. Internet phone service may be for you if you are on the higher end of this scale. Moreover, many cable companies offer Internet phone service as part of a bundled package- Internet, television, and home phone service on one bill. This combination may prove to be very cost effective.
International calls are extremely cheap with Internet phone. Rates can start from around
$.02/min., depending upon the destination country. Also, some calls may even be free. For example, if you subscribe to XYZ Internet phone service, and you call a friend overseas who also subscribes to XYZ, the call should be free. You can even take your Internet phone service with you when you travel. If you have a wi-fi Internet phone, you should have service wherever there is a wi-fi hotspot worldwide. Or if you take your hardware with you (i.e. telephone adapter, router, IP phone), you should be able to use your service wherever there is a broadband Internet connection available. Thus, frequent travelers or people with overseas relatives and friends would greatly benefit from Internet phone service.
Business owners stand to benefit the most from switching to Internet phone service. High long distance volume, systems integration, phone number mobility, and local market presence are the main reasons why. First, businesses have inherently high call volumes, especially domestic and international long distance. VoIP should lower these expenses, lowering monthly overhead. Second, VoIP is highly flexible and meshes well with other business applications. Third, businesses spend thousands of dollars annually on advertising, and those dollars are wasted if a phone number has to be changed. VoIP allows a business to keep the same number regardless of location changes. Closely related is the issue of local market presence. With VoIP, businesses can have a local phone number but be located in a different city, state, or country. The cost to you is just a local phone call. Despite the many benefits of VoIP for businesses, there is one major concern – security. Since voice conversations travel via the Internet, VoIP systems are susceptible to the same perils as your computer (i.e. hackers, viruses, etc.). Small to medium sized business are less of a target than larger businesses. However, all businesses utilizing VoIP should have up-to-date security software and contingency plans in place to minimize the threat.
Despite the many benefits of VoIP, there are a few issues that require consideration. These issues include: voice quality, power outages, emergency services, alarm systems, fax capabilities, digital video recorder (DVR) devices, local number portability (LNP), and broadband Internet requirement. For you, these issues may be just a intermittent irritation, like a dropped phone call or poor signal reception during a cell phone call. For others, these concerns could be insignificant or a deciding factor.
With Internet phone service, voice quality depends heavily upon the quality of your high speed Internet connection. So if your connection is not fast enough, voice quality may be inconsistent. It’s always best to test your broadband connection with a VoIP speed test before subscribing.
Presently, unless an alternate back-up power source is readily available, Internet phone service will not work during a power outage because vital pieces of equipment such as routers, analog telephone adapters, and modems require power. Aware of the problem, some companies supply equipment with built-in battery back-ups. Other companies will route calls to an alternate phone number during an outage. Or, you could purchase an Uninterruptable Power Source (UPS) to provide power during an outage. The amount of power supplied by UPS’s will vary by model and price. Barring the aforementioned, be ready to use a cell phone during a power outage, or consider keeping a bare minimum landline as a back-up.
In 2005 VoIP companies that interconnected with the public telephone network were required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide 911 service and disclose service limitations. When you dial 911, calls are routed through a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). E911 (Enhanced 911), which is utilized in many areas, allows the PSAP to automatically discern your location. Due to the dynamic nature of VoIP, your location is more difficult to determine. Many companies have bypassed this obstacle by sending the PSAP the address of the subscriber. However, all PSAP’s are not set-up to receive VoIP data. In which case, you would have to provide your location to the call center. As more and more people use Internet phone service, upgrades are being made to provide E911.
Presently, most alarm systems use a landline for monitoring purposes. Your alarm system may work with VoIP, although some equipment adjustments and testing may be required. Since VoIP data travels at higher speeds, these adjustments involve the lowering of these speeds. Similarly, faxes may be sent over a standard VoIP line, with equipment adjustments needed in many cases. To mitigate this problem, many companies offer designated fax lines as an add-on or as part of a business service plan. Additionally, many digital video recorder (DVR) devices require landlines to receive updates. However, some subscribers have reported successful DVR operation with VoIP. For a seamless transition, if you already have a DVR, you may want to check to see if it has a broadband port before subscribing to VoIP service.
When subscribing to Internet phone service, many people prefer to keep the same phone number, and in most cases this is possible through local number portability. LNP is the process by which consumers can transfer their phone numbers when changing telecommunications carriers. This process can take from approximately 10 to 20 business days until completion.
Finally, VoIP requires a high speed broadband Internet connection. For those of you who already use broadband Internet, this is not an issue. However, millions of people still use dial-up or have no Internet access at all. Therefore, this segment of the population must evaluate the cost of upgrading to broadband Internet versus the benefits of Internet phone service.
Is VoIP worth the switch? Individual answers will vary. Using the aforementioned considerations, a side-by-side comparison between your traditional phone service and your potential VoIP provider should prove to be informative at the very least. Savings is the key. If your potential savings outweigh all other factors, by all means, internet phone service should be worth the switch.
What is Internet Phone Service – Part 1
Internet Telephony
A pioneer in Internet Phone Calls since 1996, iConnectHere serves millions of customers worldwide with award winning quality phone services. Our high-quality Internet telephony solutions have become viable and cost-effective alternatives to traditional telephone calling.
What is Internet Telephony?
Internet Telephony refers to communication services such as voice, fax, and voice messaging applications that are transported via the Internet – rather than the public switched telephone network. The basic steps that iConnectHere, powered by Deltathree, has taken to originate Internet telephony are the conversion of the analog voice signal into digital format and compression/translation of the signal into Internet protocol.
In a short period of time, iConnectHere and Internet telephony have evolved. With support for PC-to-Phone calls, phone-to-phone calls, and Phone-to-PC calls, Internet telephony represents a significant opportunity for the integration of voice and data networks and elimination of substantial costs for consumers, enterprises, and carriers. If you are interested in learning more about Internet telephony please keep reading. You can also learn more about Internet Telephony and the services we provide by following this link to our homepage. Internet Telephony Information.
The Benefits of Internet Telephony
Retail customers have begun to embrace Internet Telephony as lowered call costs have established themselves. Corporations, small businesses, and even individual customers have reduced their phone bills by supporting full duplex- real time communication. IConnectHere will continue to optimize our privately-held network to let Internet Telephony reach its true potential. The launch of session initiation protocol (SIP) will push Internet telephony forward, allowing value added developments to Internet telephony, and rapid call setup and teardown.
With Internet telephony, you will enjoy low rates and smart Internet telephony calling plans. IConnectHere, an Internet Telephony service provider, has a leading global brand name with regard to VoIP services. As Internet telephony continues to grow in popularity, iConnectHere continues to work to help Internet telephony grow and reach its full potential. With Internet telephony services from iConnectHere, pc-to-phone rates to the US are as low as 1.2 cents/min, with more programs and promotions constantly being developed to provide you affordable rates with the most optimal service. Internet telephony continues to evolve, and iConnectHere continues to work to help make Internet Phone calls as beneficial as possible to all of our customers. To learn more about iConnectHere and Internet Telephony please take the time to visit our homepage.
