Internet Phoning Grows Up
Recent surveys of customers using Voice over Internet Protocol shows increasingly happy customers, but nothing is perfect.
Tired of paying large telephone bills for traditional landline telephone service, looking for a little monetary relief from the onslaught of your progeny’s social needs and your wife’s marathon telephone sessions, take a look at the improved service of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Called VoIP by many users who are saving as much as $20 to $50 or more a month by using the service, it transmits your telephone calls over the same Internet network that delivers your e-mail messages.
Providers of this service are telephone companies, cable operators, and newcomers such as Vonage but check in the area your using your service in to find the one that suits you’re need best. Typically unlimited local and domestic long-distance plans cost around $25 to $40 a month, depending on your provider and services with you’re plan. Just about all include telephone features normally seen, such as voice mail, caller ID, and call waiting and additional services not available with a landline, such as the ability to make local calls with your home phone number even when globetrotting thousands of miles away from your residence.
The combination of price and services is heads above typical landlines, but does VoIP deliver on the promised services or is it just more hype. Surveys conducted by industry specialists with individuals who have used this emerging technology for at least one year indicate customers are generally satisfied with the service provided. Over fifty percent indicated their telephone bills had dropped and the level of service about the same as traditional landline service.
Users indicated dissatisfaction with issues like the 911 emergency service so we suggest you keep your landline even if you opt for VoIP for day to day use.
Around fifty percent of the VoIP consumers surveyed cited reducing local and domestic long-distance phone bills was the main factor in their decision to try VoIP. Surveys indicated that around 80% of users with lower bills saved around $20 a month, and 34% saved over $40 or more. Sound quality and unreliability were not an issue they had to live with to achieve the monetary savings provided by this emerging technology.
Around 57% of those surveyed who used both VoIP and landline service reported Internet phone calls sounded at least as good as calls made on their traditional landline phone, while the other 43% said their landline always sounds better.
Half the consumers with VoIP and a landline reported no difference in their ability to make and receive calls reliably, but the rest were split down the middle in rating either VoIP or landline as the most reliable.
Generally, users of both VoIP and a cell phone reported Internet phoning to have more reliable connections that their cell phone and comparable sound quality.
While many of those surveyed had no problems with VoIP, almost 33% reported at least one dropped call or difficulty making or receiving calls within a week of the surveys and some had occasional problems listening to callers or being heard by callers.
The typically positive reports of VoIP user’s maybe piques your interest in buying the VoIP service, but here are a few things you should be aware of before signing on the dotted line.
You will probably be moving to a new phone company that provides the VoIP service, some landline and wireless providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, offer VoIP service, but you’ll also encounter names you haven’t associated with telephone service. Including cable giants like Cablevision and Time Warner Cable, as well as businesses that specialize in VoIP, like one of the largest mainstream VoIP providers Vonage, a VoIP only provider.
The good thing about VoIP is you can use any standard touch-tone phone with the service, and the person you’re contacting doesn’t need special equipment or Internet access to receive your calls. Typically you plug your phone into an analog telephone adapter, called an ATA, which you can purchase at a retail store near you for about $100 or less; some companies even provide one at little or no expense to the user. The adapter hooks to a router or modem, which in turn connects up to the cable or DSL line that serves as your broadband connection.
Only one phone needs to be connected to the VoIP adapter, but if you have more than one phone connected to the line you can use a cordless phone with several handsets or a multiple-jack device with the adapter. You could use the existing phone wiring and jacks to plug your phones into the VoIP line, but only if your willing to give up your landline, which we don’t recommend just yet.
You might be able to have your landline phone number reassigned to the VoIP line you’re planning on using, but only if you cut your landline service and as we said this is not recommended. It will take a few weeks for the transfer to go through, so you’ll be using a temporary number during the transition period. The only exception to this rule is if you’re using a broadband access is through DSL, in this case you may have to keep your current number for that line and get a new number for the VoIP line.
If you would rather have a new phone number with your new VoIP line, you can usually choose the area code yourself.
Like any service VoIP has its drawbacks it clearly isn’t for everyone, some of the reason indicated for not using the service are. It requires a broadband Internet connection that can cost up to $30 to $45 if you have in installed so you can use VoIP. You will need to know the ins and outs of a computer to get VoIP up and running, about 40% of those who installed it themselves reported problems and even experts can have problems. They said it took them more than two hours to install, several return visits or even some replacement hardware to get it up and running. If you lose power or you’re internet connection at your residence your VoIP phone won’t work, we suggest buying a backup battery that will provide about four to six hours of talk time. Security is an issue with any emerging technology using the Internet because of the risk of vulnerability to viruses, hackers, and denial of service, but no incidents have been reported so far.
The bottom line indicates the need to deal with potential problems associated with the phone service to make it work, but VoIP will increase the time you can talk on the phone, save you shekels on you’re phone costs and add useful features not seen on with typical landline phone service. We urge you to keep a corded phone requiring no power and a traditional landline for emergency situations if you do opt for the VoIP phone though.
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