How To Choose The Right VoIP Service
The Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service is in a state of flux, and is still a budding technology that will offer several new features as it matures. While it is true to say that there are many providers in the VoIP market with “unique†features of their own, one factor is common to all: they rely on the broadband Internet connection and do not bring the traditional telephone providers into the scheme of things. In the process, they offer price packages that are substantially lower than the traditional phone connection. So how do you evaluate one service provider vis-à -vis another, and then install the connection in your office or home? What should be your focus in selecting a specific provider?
Here are a few tips that will assist you in your choice.
Suitability to your specific requirements
For a start, you must weigh the features offered by the leading providers such as Vonage, Lingo, and Skype, and apply those features to your specific work environment and requirements. A service provider might offer the best of features, but they aren’t any good if you cannot use them. If your priority is to make a large volume of international calls, particularly to Europe and Asia, Lingo is for you. Lingo is also a good option if you travel out of the US because you can carry your US number wherever you go and call the US at local rates. Lingo also comes with the lowest price for its range of features.
Skype is different from Lingo and Vonage in one important respect: it does not use a telephone as a go-between. While the Skype outgoing and incoming calls to/from a normal telephone is still to fan out in terms of dependability, Skype is the best option if you and your computer are inseparable and you have friends and family who are similarly inclined. For PC-to-PC calls, Skype is the best voice portal, and there is no price tag attached.
Voice quality and reliability
If your first priority is consistently good call quality, and you don’t mind paying a bit more, consider Vonage. Vonage comes with almost identical features as Lingo, but there is minimal in-call lag and echo experience. With Lingo, be prepared to sacrifice on the quality of calls. In the competitive marketplace, each service provider promises the best of service and voice quality, and you cannot be sure about the product. If you are investing in a monthly/quarterly/annual contract, it is best to settle for a package that has a money-back guarantee behind it. Both Vonage and Lingo offer trial periods.
Installation complicacies
You also need to consider how easy—or how difficult—it is to install the service, both as a business option and for home use. For a single user, the process is not half as complicated as for multiple users in an office environment. You must be sure that the saving you make from an economically viable service is not offset by the installation costs. For example, you must keep in mind that in an office environment, the VoIP usage will put additional stress on your broadband connection, and you might have to invest in increasing your Internet capability.
Broadband connectivity issues
Remember that VoIP needs broadband connectivity to be functional. Prior to reaching a final decision on a VoIP package, you need to do a bit of research on the bandwidth that the service requires, and then ensure that your Internet service provider is able to match up. If you face regular power or Internet outages, you may end up paying for a service you cannot put to optimal use. In such situations, it is always advisable to retain your traditional phone line as a backup.
Flexibility to opt out
VoIP is still in a nascent stage, and the future may bring in new providers with richer services. Therefore, it is important not to get into a long-term contract or commitment with any service provider; keep the flexibility-to-switch option with you.
Internet telephony is the future, and even some traditional telephone service providers have conceded this by initiating VoIP packages of their own. The choices are many, and growing. As the user, it is finally up to you to use the right package to your best advantage.
Voice Over IP reviews: survey of providers
A growing trend in telecommunications is voice over internet protocol, or VOIP. Rather than using traditional copper wires to transmit calls, VOIP uses broadband data lines including cable, DSL, and fiber. In layman’s terms, it’s making calls over the internet. But just who are the major VOIP providers, and how do they differ from the good ol fashioned Ma and Pa Bells?
Recently I saw a television commercial advertising a new product called, “MagicJack.” The advertisement explained how the small unit which plugs into your computer’s USB port on one end and your home telephone on the other end saves you hundreds in phone charges per month. However, many other VOIP providers are competing for your attention including Ooma, Fring, UK-based Voiptalk, and to a lesser degree, instant messaging services such as AIM.
Today, we’ll talk about three of the most popular VOIP services: Skype, Vonage, and MagicJack.
Skype
In order to call a friend over the internet for free, Skype (www.skype.com) is a good bet. However, both caller and receiver must be using Skype’s software. If this is not the case, Skype offers VOIP phone service for a nominal fee on a pay-as-you-go or per month basis.
While in the past Skype tied you down to the computer itself to make calls, you can now purchase a Skype-enabled telephone from your local big-box retail outlet. However, it must be stated that Skype does not offer E-911 service, and is not a replacement for your current phone service. It is, however, useful for unlimited calling locally, nationally, and worldwide if you’re trying to reign in your expensive cell phone minutes.
Vonage
Vonage is more similar to traditional phone service, yet is cheaper at $14.99 per month for their Basic 500 Minute Residential Plan which includes every feature you could want, plus free long-distance. And if you want unlimited minutes plus free international calling, choose Vonage’s Premium Unlimited Residential Plan at $24.99 per month.
To circumvent VOIP’s limitation of lack of service due to power outage, Vonage allows you to forward all calls to your cell phone or landline. The service also allows you to port your current phone number. When you sign up, Vonage sends you everything you need to start making cheap calls over the internet, including the Vonage phone adapter. All you need is your current telephone and a broadband connection.
The Money-Saving MagicJack
MagicJack has
Callcentric Rate Plans – Technology Made Affordable
Callcentric internet phone service is perhaps the only company that allows you to make calls all over the world at a rate which would be considered cheap by any standards. To keep in touch with our near and dear ones, we usually spend a lot of money through international phone calls and other communications services. But thanks to Callcentric, international calling has been made surprisingly easy and affordable. It offers a bundle of plans which includes free phone calls, free PC calls, unlimited phone calls for a nominal charge, other related services, and many, many more.
Callcentric has four types of outgoing plans – Callcentric IP Freedom, Callcentric Pay Per Call, Callcentric North America Unlimited, and Callcentric World Select. All these plans are unique in nature and offer a lot of value added services which make them the best in their genre. If free PC to phone international call and low rate PC to phone call are what you are looking for, then you have come to the right place.
Callcentric IP Freedom Plan is free for life. Yes; it’s as simple as that. You can make free calls to other Callcentric members forever. There are absolutely no hidden charges, no credit card required, no wire transfer required, and no other strings attached whatsoever. As a Callcentric member, you can make free calls to other Callcentric members, wherever in the world they are. All you have to do is to purchase a telephone adapter or to download software to your computer and connect to the internet.
Callcentric Pay per Call is meant for people who make lots of calls in a day and don’t make even a single call the next day. If you are not sure of the frequency of calls, you can go for this plan which offers incredibly low rates for PC to phone calls at per call basis without any monthly charge. You can add your credit card and deposit a small amount – the amount could be as small as $5 – and start using this plan. You can call any number across the globe at incredibly low rates and without any monthly charge whatsoever. And moreover, you can still use the facility of PC calling and call any Callcentric members all over the world for free. There is absolutely no charge for that.
Callcentric North America Unlimited is meant for people who make a lot of calls to the USA and Canada regularly. You can talk any number of times in a month and still pay only $19.95. It is that cheap. For a rate as low as $19.95 per month, North America Unlimited allows you to make any number of calls to the USA and Canada without any hidden charges. And more, you can still make unlimited free calls to other Callcentric members all over the world. You can get all this and more for just $19.95 per month.
People looking for low rate PC phone calls need not look any further. With Callcentric World Select plan, you can call almost anyone from many countries any number of times at a low rate of $29.95 per month. With over 35 countries covered in the wide network of Callcentric, you can reach almost anyone across the globe. Do you remember the times you used to burn your pocket every month for those big international calls you made? Well, it’s history now.
VoIP – Part 1
What is VoIP?
VoIP, or Voice-Over-Internet Protocol, is literally a phone call placed via an internet connection. VoIP has been a long time coming and early internet phone calls were not that reliable and a bit garbled. But they were free. Over the last decade, VoIP has increasingly made its way into business and is now making its way into more and more homes, as people find better, more affordable ways to communicate with convenience.
An internet protocol is a way in which data is handled over networks. It is typically a standard method for passing data from one point to another point via network cable. Voice-Over-Internet protocol is the method by which one’s voice is translated from an analog signal to digital 1s and 0s then transported over broadband network connections, often still for a fraction of the cost of long distance phone calls.
Advantages
According to many experts VoIP is expected to be the phone protocol of choice for the future, alongside the ubiquitous wireless calls. VoIP is flexible, and affordable. As long as one has an internet connection, some free or inexpensive VoIP software on their PC, and a microphone, VoIP is viable. It is a simple communication method to setup. The major phone companies already use the technology that makes VoIP possible. They must move large bundles of long distance digital data known as packet switching quickly and conveniently.
One of the most attractive advantages to VoIP is the ability to receive internet phone calls anywhere you are, as long as you are accessible to the internet. Like wireless technology, this frees you from the constraints posed by a phone line connected to a wall jack.
What You Need
There are a number of ways to currently use VoIP. The easiest and least expensive by far is the PC-to-PC connection. Requirements are a PC that is connected to the internet, preferably with a cable or DSL connection; a microphone, speakers, and VoIP software that can still be had inexpensively, even free in many cases.
An increasingly popular method for VoIP is the use of the proprietary VoIP phones that are becoming a standard for many businesses. Companies such as IBM and Cisco Systems are well known for their VoIP phone systems that are designed to become a seamless addition to any large or small business network. Many bundle video along with them making long-distance conferencing effective and affordable for business.
Disadvantages
Currently, the disadvantages to VoIP are the reliability of packet switching technology to seamlessly transport important voice data streaming, real time conversations over the long haul of network cable. Businesses that rely on such technology must be willing to accept the risks involved with poor internet connections, lost signals, and dropped data packets. The internet as a real time communication tool is still in relative infancy in comparison to the technology behind the analog telephone system that has been in existence for well over a century.
Why Google Should Not Make It Into The Dictionary As A Verb.
There have been several articles recently discussing the strong possibility that the term “Google†will make it into the 11th edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary as a verb. In June 2006, the term “Google†appeared for the first time in a dictionary; the Oxford English Dictionary included the word in its web site dictionary. It is a common experience to walk down the street or walk into a room and hear someone state, “why don’t you Google this or that� In many cases the person is not even referring to the search engine Google, but rather any search engine or web directory, such as MSN, Yahoo, or Ask. The use of the term seems to dilute the trademark that Google has federally registered and has been granted protection under the trademark laws. The Google trademark can be found on the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s web site at: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=27f2e7.2.9. The use of the term infers that Google is the only search engine that matter any longer. This is certainly not true where MSN and Yahoo hold a combined 36% share in the market place.
The proposed definition of the term in Webster’s dictionary is: “to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internetâ€. Has the term “Google†become so commonly used in our everyday vernacular that it should appear in the dictionary. There is a potential legal issue at stake if such a word, which is protected as a word mark under trademark law, is allowed into the dictionary. There is a strong likelihood that the use of the term may cause a probable detrimental effect on the Google Inc’s trademark protection. If the term is accepted as a verb it could result in businesses using the word “Google†to market their own products, thus potentially diminishing the Google brand name.
Based on the trademark, Google is defined as a word mark for the as applied to the following goods and services: Telecommunication services; data transmission and reception services via telecommunication means; electronic exchange of voice, data, and graphics accessible via computer and telecommunication networks; providing multiple-user access to a global computer information network; internet cafe services, namely, providing telecommunications connections to the internet in a cafe environment; bulletin board and discussion group services; electronic mail services; workgroup communications services over computer networks; instant messaging services; voice over ip services; computer communication services; wireless communication services; mobile phone communication services. The first use of the term in commerce was on February 12th, 2001.
The legal significance of a trademark:
The reason that trademark protection is so important is to prevent others from using creative and distinct words, logos or slogans in the use of selling a product or service, which the creator has worked hard to attach an immediate connection in a consumer’s mind between the word mark and the company’s product. For all intense and purposes, this gives a monopoly to the trademark holder on the exclusive use of the word mark as it applies to the industry that is associated with the mark. In this case, there are hundreds if not thousands of search engines on the Internet, and many of these, such as Yahoo have similarly distinctive names, yet those names are not used in everyday speech. There is the chance that when someone hears the term “Google this productâ€, they will start to think of the suggestion as going to any search engine, and not associate the highly relevant search results that are associated with Google, but simply any search engine, regardless of popularity. Moreover, Google has national and even international recognition for its online service; any use of the term can diminish the power of that brand recognition.
This is a case their will very likely be some form of trademark dilution. Google may fall short of having a case for trademark infringement. However, Google’s may be able to bring an action for trademark dilution under either federal or state law. Under federal law, a dilution claim can be brought only if the mark is “famous.†In deciding whether a mark is famous, the courts will look to the following factors: (1) the degree of inherent or acquired distinctiveness; (2) the duration and extent of use; (3) the amount of advertising and publicity; (4) the geographic extent of the market; (5) the channels of trade; (6) the degree of recognition in trading areas; (7) any use of similar marks by third parties; (8) whether the mark is registered. 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c). Kodak, Exxon, and Xerox are all examples of famous marks. There can be no doubt that the term “Google is famous, for it were not famous than there would be no reason to add the term to the dictionary. It seems likely that Google would not want it’s brand, which it has worked so hard to build and maintain.
