New Technology - VOIP Phone Service

What Is A Voip Phone?

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol is a way of using analog audio signals, like your regular phone, and turning these signals into digital data that's transmitted over the Internet instead of over conventional phone lines.

Voip is also commonly referred to as Voice over IP or Voice over Internet.

A Voip Phone Service can work on any computer that has broadband connectivity. If you have a headset/microphone, along with a Voip phone system set-up, you can place calls from your computer or laptop anywhere in the broadband-connected world.

It basically works by sending small packets of data from one computer to another over the Internet. This may be over-simplifying, but this method is less expensive than a conventional phone system. It is also the wave of the future!

VoIP companies offer many services that a traditional phone company will charge you an arm or leg for! These include: Caller ID, Call transfer, Call waiting, Return call, Repeat dial, and Three-way calling. And because it is over the Internet you can check your voicemail via the Web - you may even attach messages that's sent to your computer or handheld.

Voip Services have many advantages over the traditional system, mainly its cheap price and availability or access. The sending computer chops data into small packets, with an address on each one telling the network devices where to send them.

However, there are some major hurdles you should be aware of:

The Voip Phone is only as good as the Internet system or computer you're using. There may be down times, for example, if you lose your power - a Voip phone will not work, whereas a regular wall phone or conventional phone will. Your laptop or computer must be able to handle the phone calls, other programs running on your system may disrupt or distort your voip signals if your computer is overloaded or not powerful enough.

Another concern is the Emergency 911 calls which are a challenge with VoIP. Voip phones uses IP-addressed phone numbers and there's no way to tell the geographic location with an IP address - thus routing the emergency call may pose a problem for 911 operators.

Another challenge, as more and more voip phones come online - there is no world-wide standard in place. This would include hardware and protocols that would make this system work anywhere in the world.

Despite these hurdles and challenges, many believe Voip Phone Services will eventually replace the traditional phone lines over time. But the revolution is just starting! According to the Forrester Research Group only 5 million U.S. households will be using VoIP phones by the end of 2006.

However, as we become more and more of a 'wireless world' - Voip Phones will find themselves 'center stage' in our ever increasing technology enhanced universe.