Skype is an Internet Sensation That Crashed Once
Skype is one of the most popular communication programs used by people on the Internet. People with Skype accounts can call one another and talk with each other verbally with computer microphones. Phone calls from standard landlines can even be received and handled through a Skype account.
Rates for calls through Skype are cheaper than that of standard calls and calls between Skype users are free, and this makes Skype especially popular. However, on August 16 and 17 in 2007 there was a time in which Skype shut down because of a crash in the system. Here is a look at what caused Skype to shut down.
One of the factors that caused Skype to shut down was that there was a security update that took place on the Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft Windows users will receive routine security updates from time to time. These updates are all used with the intention of helping to protect the user’s computer from the newest hazards that are online.
One of the requirements that are needed for a security update on the Windows operating system is that the computer will have to be restarted so that the new updates will be installed and able to function. According to reports from Skype, there was a high amount of traffic and it seemed that everyone was rebooting their computers at the same time and then trying to get onto the Skype program. This plays a very important factor into learning about what caused Skype to shut down.
Another issue that caused Skype to shut down was from an error in the software code in the Skype program. This error prompted Skype to shut down in the event that excessive activity takes place. It is not clear as to how the error came about, but after this was found, work began to close the error so that a shut down like this would not take place again.
The Skype Company described the error that caused Skype to shut down as a “deficiency in an algorithm within Skype networking software.†The algorithm was described as an interaction that helps to connect the Skype network with the client that the individual Skype user has to connect. This was considered to be the first time in which this took place within the system. Some have argued that the company was not prepared to take care of this particular type of error.
Many other factors evolve around what caused Skype to shut down. One of the biggest problems is that more people are using Skype more so than in recent years. This has prompted more people to use up the bandwidth that Skype has available. It is in theory that because of the incredible demand for services from Skype that the system may have shut down as a result.
How popular has Skype become recently? In the early part of 2006, there were a little less than a hundred million Skype accounts throughout the world. As of July 2007, there are a little over 220 million users throughout the world. With an average of nine million individual users on at once at any time of the day around the world, the bandwidth amount and activity that can take place with all of the Skype accounts can cause the Skype program to be over taxed.
That is a general look into what caused Skype to shut down. While the original problem has been fixed and Skype is now available for all people to use again, the Skype Company will be looking to take care of the problem so that this will not happen again. However, with the continuously growing popularity of Skype and the increased activity that is used in Skype, there is always the chance that something new may happen, unless Skype can upgrade their system to handle so much traffic.
USB Phone – Features and Advantages
The USB phone is a computer telephone designed to send and receive calls through the Internet. The USB phone can place and receive calls to the regular phone numbers. It can be wall mounted or placed at your desk. The USB phone connects directly to the USB port of your computer or laptop and allows you PC-to-PC phone calls through the internet, PC to regular phone calls, Static gateway calls and webcall calls. It requires a very small amount of power to run, usually only “sipping” a small amount from your USB.
A softphone on the other hand is software that works like a regular telephone and is operated through a personal computer and not through a dedicated line. Usually, a headset is used that is connected to the PC’s sound card or the USB phone. Softphones are part of the VoIP environments. It could be a standard SIP/H323 or proprietary. The usual softphones include the – OpenWengo, Nexge, Express Talk, sipXphone, eyeBeam from CounterPath (formerly Xten), Sjphone and Adore Softphone. These phones are compatible with the Internet Telephony Service Providers or the ITSP.
As already mentioned, softphones can work on different environments. Some softphones use the Local Area Network (LAN) to dial trough the hardware phone via the VoIP, while others use USB phones done through a call center environment to enable calls and to receive calls.
Features of USB Phones
There are a number of USB phone manufacturers and some features enumerated may not apply and some features may be applied in combination.
· Many USB phones are designed and can give free and unlimited international long distance calls to a land phone.
· Echo Free – Long distance echo, noises and interference with multimedia settings and hisses are eliminated in most USB phones. The clarity of reception is comparable to land based toll phones.
· Keypad – uses the keypad to dial numbers and accesses voice mails by DTMF.
· Incoming Calls – the phone rings to alert the user for incoming calls using the keypad button to take the call.
· Installation – Installing a USB phone is simple. An installation CD for drivers comes with the hardware together with detailed instructions. Some USB phones will require you to use the computer soundcard occupying the sound channel while others may not.
· Some USB phones may be in the form of a headset, while others may be patterned after a real phone that usually comes with cord.
· Products are already optimized for service providers like Skype, Dialpad etc.
· Utilizes the VoIP (Voice Internet Protocol) transmitting encoded voice through the Internet infrastructure by a standard TCP/IP network.
· Many USB phones has built-in soundcards and can be used at work, at home, on your laptop, on you PC and can be used to call around the world for free.
· Newer models of USB phones do not need a mouse to dial. Instead it uses the key pad that is featured with a cursor allowing you to navigate through the address book, redials, access menu functions, on and off button, pops up IP telephony application, number dialing and send button.
· Usual System requirements: 16 MB RAM, USB port, 2MB of HDD space.
· USB headsets can come with features for multi-media application like speech recognition, MP3, CD’s and games.
How To Hire A Voice Over Talent
It’s not just commercials on television and radio that need actors to read information off-camera. There are a myriad of ways to use voice to educate, inform, guide, entertain, and, of course, sell. Places where you can use voice over talent include PowerPoint presentations, training videos, eLearning courses, flash introductions, voice mail greetings, on-hold advertisements and website audio messages.
So, look at your media and if you would like to add some zip to your presentations then find a competent voice over talent. Here are vital steps that you should take to get the right voice for your job.
1. Search for a Voice Over Specialist Online
You are looking for that perfect voice. Where can you find it? If you are a big company or an advertising agency then you will probably turn to a big talent agency to offer voice over talent for your project. Alternatively, large agencies and companies use www.voicebank.net . This site feeds a description of your need to all the big agencies.
However, if you are a small company you will not be able to afford the union fees that are added on to the cost of hiring actors and voice talent via an agency. Your best alternative is to search online for a free-lance voice over specialist.
Voice 123.com and InteractiveVoices.com are the two main casting portals for voice over. The good news about these sites is that there are thousands of voices in one place. The bad news is that there are thousands of voices in one place!
The problem is of course to find the voice that is best for you.
The voice over portals have a filtering tool so you can find people who have ISDN or home MP3 studios, who can do kids voices or senior citizen voices, etc. However, because these sites are so large, anybody who has ever wanted to do voice over, regardless if they have talent, can sign up and clog your inbox with their bad auditions.
You can widen your choices by searching on Google or Yahoo for “voice over talent.” This search will bring up top quality voice over actors’ sites. Usually the very successful voice over artists don’t use the voice over portals mentioned above, but just rely on word-of-mouth and the traffic that comes to their well-ranked web sites.
I’ve been doing voice over for 20 years here in Los Angeles, and I rely on the search engines to bring me serious clients. So, browse the sites and email those whom you’d like to audition for your job.
2. After you have found many voices, you need to choose the best one.
When business folks step into the hybrid world of art and business, they need a way to discern what they are looking for.
Just because a voice sounds smooth or really deep, doesn’t mean it will be right for your project. Who is your market? What do THEY sound like? That’s a good starting point. Find a voice that sounds like your market.
Once you do that, the next question is, do they sound like they know what they are saying when they read your copy? Are they convincing? Are they natural? Did they follow your directions? If you said in your audition request “need you to be casual” and their recording has them bold and loud, then you might want to avoid them.
3. Determine if the quality of their home recording is up to professional standards. A good voice recorded badly helps no one.
Once you’ve clarified these things, the right choice will be apparent.
Finally, the last step is to negotiate a price.
Sure, some voice over talent will work for $50. If you find a good voice over talent who will work for that, then their audition was luck, not talent. Any voice over talent worth their salt usually works for fees that hover just under the union minimums. Your savings comes from not having to pay residuals, agency commissions and contributing to the pension and healthcare. You can find union minimums at www.sag.org.
And last, but not least, be nice to the talent. They work alone in dark booths all day!
Advantages Offered By Residential Voip
Residential Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) enables the home user to use their Internet connection make telephone calls. This advancement has made it possible for many people to have advanced calling features installed on their home phones at little or no extra cost. The cost of calling has also come down by anywhere from one-third to half the cost of conventional telephony service.
Among the many special features that are typically included with a VoIP phone service are caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, and three-way calling. One of the most important abilities of VoIP is unparalleled number retention. A VoIP phone functions with equal ease regardless of real-world location so long as it is supplied sufficient Internet bandwidth. This is especially useful for users who don’t want to lose a phone number when they move from one city to another. VoIP phones can be configured to receive all facilities that Web-based administration make possible.
A VoIP phone does, however, require a connection to broadband Internet. This is important because anything less does not have the necessary bandwidth to route voice traffic. Lower bandwidth connections will suffer from traffic congestion, which results in a severe reduction in voice quality.
There are hundreds of companies today that are providing residential VoIP phone service. Consumers must consider their needs before selecting one package over another. Fortunately, most service providers offer a variety of packages, making it easy to test the waters with a basic package providing limited usage. Then, if satisfied with the service, the user can upgrade to an unlimited USA and Canada calls package or an unlimited business package. This makes it easy to keep phone bills properly in line with individual needs.
Currently, the leading VoIP companies are AT&T CallVantage, Lingo, Verizon, Packet8, and of course Vonage. All these services come highly rated, so a customer is likely to find them more than adequate to supply their residential VoIP needs. However, there are several smaller VoIP companies that, while charging much lower rates, may have difficulty providing adequate service.
There are, of course, some disadvantages in switching to a VoIP phone. Typically it is necessary to register the address the phone will be at for location identification before it will be possible to make 911 calls. Also, the service is unlikely to work during power outages unless special provisions are made to supply it with another source of power. Furthermore, VoIP services may not offer white page listings, though some customers consider this an advantage.
However, the vast majority of consumers consider these to be minor inconveniences. They are significantly outweighed by the advantages of VoIP. In fact, it may not be wrong to say that the balance is tilted so far in favor of VoIP phones that it will only a question of time before VoIP home phones will replace landline phones altogether.
A Reliable VoIP Provider
Voice over Internet Protocol, also known as VoIP, has grown in popularity over the past few years. There are some popular brands of VoIP services on the market that provide telephone service to individuals and businesses for monthly fees regardless of the nature of the calls, be they local, long distance or even international. Many VoIP providers allow you to use standard phones that once connected through a landline.
How does VoIP work? Your standard telephone landlines convert the voice into electric signals with the help of the transmitter. Those signals transfer to the person at the other end through cables. The receiver of the phone then decodes the electric signals. The process is the same with the VoIP calls. You can make the calls either by using your computer’s hardware or from a standard phone connected to the computer. The voice converts to digital signals, instead of electrical, and the receiver is another computer. The Internet takes the place of the cable transmitting system.
The advantages of VoIP services are numerous. It may be the reason why many businesses are choosing this communication alternative over the standard telephone access. Some features included in the packages VoIP providers offer are caller ID, call waiting and forwarding, three way calling and more. A major advantage of VoIP is the ability to route incoming calls to your VoIP service. Call retrieval is possible with your VoIP connection from any place that has Internet access. That is a big help for a businessperson.
You can check voicemails as easy as email with VoIP and you can save and send the messages as attachments. There are three major types of VoIP services available. One of them requires additional hardware called an analog telephone adapter, also known as ATA. This is instrumental for plugging in a standard phone and using it to make the VoIP calls. It may be a solution for many, but the extra hardware is not a very appealing feature and may require additional funds for purchase.
Something that may present a more comfortable solution is the softphone. This is a software program that you can install on every PC or laptop that has a microphone, speakers or headphones. The laptop may need a wireless Internet card, but if you choose to go this way, you will not have to travel with your ATA and physical phone. This will save some hassle and increase your level of comfort.
Here on maxatel.com, you can find a reliable VoIP provider that uses a softphone application. The software is easy to install and use and it is completely free. Another feature included in the package is the call shop. This consists of an online billing system and is free of charge for anybody who signs up for an account with this VoIP provider.
The call shop feature allows two levels of access. You can choose either to restrict the reporting and configuration of the system to an administrator, or to be available to all staff. The call shop is self-configuring. All you need to do is sign up, establish the currency by which you intend to charge your callers and finally set the rates you want your customers to pay. After that, you can check the call shop for your billing reports every three hours.
The most important feature that the choice of your VoIP provider is based on is the cost of operation. The Maxatel VoIP provider offers very low costs for international calls. You can check the rates section of the website to find out more. You will find that the costs for international calls are very low, making Maxatel the right VoIP provider for you.
Cheap telephone calls with broadband phone services
Making phone calls through the Internet is the technology which enables cheap telephone calls, be they operated on a local basis or on a long-distance one. Broadband phone services or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) rule over Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) lines, which are the regular landlines, first of all by means of this aspect concerning costs. Other advantages, summed up, advantages which are not made available by a regular PSTN, mainly relate to digital features only VoIP service providers can offer: conference, voicemail, caller ID, music-on-hold, and many others.
The number one requirement of VoIP services is that you make sure you are connected to high-speed Internet. The requirement is imposed by several VoIP codecs which need a bandwidth higher than the one provided by dial-up. At the same time, higher bandwidth is equal to time saving and voice quality preserving, preventing the delays which may occur with dial-up. Moreover, even if you make really cheap telephone calls, it does not mean that the quality of VoIP services has to suffer; with VoIP, cheap telephone calls also mean high-quality calls; and high-quality calls are equal to broadband connections.
Are traditional phone companies becoming nervous about the cheap telephone calls that subscribers can make by requiring the services of VoIP providers? Well, they should, because it is not only cheap telephone calls which make VoIP a valid and increasingly attractive choice, but also the supplementary advantages which are either provided for a fee by regular PSTNs or they are not provided at all. For instance, caller ID or call waiting, which are commonly a reason of supplementary charge for the conventional landlines, are more often than not offered for free or otherwise very low charged by VoIP service providers.
The same cheap telephone calls are maintained even if you choose to talk with your whole family at once. Due to three-way calling conferences, this is another application which sets VoIP at an advantage as compared to what a landline offers.
You can even travel with your broadband phone services active and you can surely rely on their functionality. Are you traveling abroad on a business trip and think about setting an agreement with your cell phone communication provider so as to enable international phone calls? Are you thinking about the supplementary costs of this extra service? With broadband phone services and a previous attentive searching of your ITSP’s (Internet Telephony Service Provider) calling offers, you will see that cheap telephone calls remain within your scope even if you leave the country. You can talk with your family or with business associates and not worry about conversation costs which could damage your budget.
Are you moving away from your current location? Do you worry that keeping in touch with your friends, relatives and other acquaintances, whom you are practically leaving in another state, will mean long-distance call charges which won’t allow you to talk with them as long and as often as you imagined? Well, in fact, there is no need to worry; not even in this case, since opting for a local number within broadband phone services is possible even if you move away from the locality. This means, indeed, that long-distance calls – for which a regular landline would have charged you considerably – remain the cheap telephone calls you use to make on a local basis.
And remember, the telecommunication market is highly competitive nowadays, so offers, promotional packages, free features are a recurrent phenomenon in the business of Voice over Internet Protocol enabled conversations. If you worry that you won’t be able to make a phone call to a regular landline destination, you worry in vain. The costs are, once again, maintained as low as possible while you are calling from your computer or from your softphone a dear friend who is registered as a subscriber to a regular PSTN line. Therefore, even if cost-effectiveness is what initially attracts customers towards VoIP services, at a certain point they become aware that the providers of such high-quality assistance in communication will also render available a number of applications otherwise impossible to get or too pricey with the regular landline. Cost-effectiveness and these supplementary advantages are the facts which determine more and more people to require the services of an ITSP.
Tucson Business: VoIP is it Better Than Traditional Telecommunications ?
VoIP is Better, Cheaper, less resource intensive, and still presently tax free (although I see that changing in the near future)
The arrival of VoIP has changed the landscape of telecommunications for everyone in the industry. The quality of the new internet technology, when it is good, is far superior to land line calls. When it’s bad it has more to do with the lack of control of VoIP packets traversing the public Internet to deliver it’s service.
Vonage, Lingo, Packet 8, and XO communications are huge, highly marketed VoIP providers focusing both on the residential market and commercial business market. These companies suffer a lot of abuse talking about voice quality and over all quality of service in general. Although some of this abuse may be justified due to poor infrastructure planning most of the quality of service issues are due to relying on the public internet to deliver it’s voice packets. No one can predict what will happen to a VoIP voice packet once it leaves the controlled enviroment of the providers network and ventures out into the wild west of the uncontrolled public internet.
VoIP works best when the service is delivered over a private network without having to traverse the public internet. Simply Bits in Tucson AZ has built out the largest privately owned VoIP and broadband network in southern Arizona.
Simply Bits is able to deliver its VoIP service to all businesses in southern AZ without having to have the VoIP voice packets traverse the public internet. What this equates to is VoIP the way it is supposed to be… Superior voice quality, with far more versatility, features and less overall cost than traditional telecommunications legacy copper line solutions.
The traditional telephone communication companies have been locked in a time warp. Many of the older companies still have a small bandwidth of only 300 to 3400 hertz and a limited dynamic range of around 50 to 60 decibels (compare that to a typical hi-fi sound system that spans 18,000 to 20,000 hertz with a dynamic range of around 100 decibels).
VoIP may force these leopards to change their spots. The typical bandwidth spans over 50 to 7000 hertz, but it can extend as high as 14k hertz. The dynamic range is also good. If the providers ever get VoIP service to a consistent delivery, there is no doubt that the quality will win out even the biggest skeptics.
Legacy, copper wire business telecom solutions are inherently inferior for one simple reason. A single point of failure because it has to use a physical “wire”.
Wires are good for mending fences and straightening teeth.
In this day and age a wire in the ground or in the air supplying Voice and Data services to a business with mission critical applications is out-dated and borderline reckless.
Sometimes a wire in the ground is just begging to be inadvertently cut…This usually happens at the worst time possible…Like in the middle of credit card transactions during the busy holiday season…
Can you really afford to depend on an out-dated copper wire?
VoIP is “virtual” and delivered via an ethernet connection. It runs over the bandwidth connection that you run your internal network on that gives you access to the internet.
VoIP and traditional telecommunications are worlds apart when it comes to sound. Traditional calls are like using a hand held FM radio compared to the VOIP which is more like a large hi-fi system.
VoIP still has a ways to go before it dominates the telecommunications industry. When it is good, it is the best thing available to subscribers. The problem is that it is not always good when it is delivered via the public internet as it’s backbone (someithing Simply Bits of Tucson AZ has eliminated). When VoIP voice packets are delivered via the public internet and the quality of service is bad,.. it is bad, and you wouldn’t want to be on an important phone call, that’s for sure.
Find out why Simply Bits of Tucson has solved this problem and can deliver VoIP the way it is meant to be….A superior solution.
Call Keith with Simply Bits for your Free no obligation VoIP demo 520-545-7287
VoIP Services: Offers Multifarious Opportunities
World over, telephone users are finding new ways of speaking with each other, by using VoIP services. VoIP technology is a way of transmitting voice data using Internet Protocol through the World Wide Web. So, with computer as the transmission media, it allows the user to go for Global conversation at any time. Services offered over VoIP are very inexpensive and are considered as an efficient mode of world wide communication.
Voice over IP refers to transmitting voice communication over IP network, for instance Internet. Unlike PSTN, through VoIP technology user can send images, videos or voice through the same line. The service of VoIP is to terminate the international long distance calls coming over the IP to the destination PSTN.
To define VoIP Service; user’s analog voice is converted into small packets of digital data and sent over Internet connection to VoIP service provider. Voice service provider gets it connected with PSTN at recipient’s end and then the process of receiving is reversed. The digital packets are turned back to analog signals, so that user can understand conversation. Each time you speak, the process is repeated. With VoIP services, any user can make calls at any given time period. While accessing the VoIP services, user accesses long distance and international calls at cheaper rates.
To avail VoIP, users have to install additional piece of Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA) to its computer. This ATA is generally supplied by the VoIP service provider when user signs up for the service. Once the user phone is installed with VoIP software and ATA, user can make phone calls as normal; using standard phone. VoIP services offer users to make multifarious processes at same time; for instance while surfing the web, user can talk to his friend over the phone. Moreover, unlike PSTN with VoIP service, a user can listen to voice transmission without any gap in stream of digital packets.
