My Bite Into The Apple

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by gigasoft

VoIP Internet Phone Services Grow

The new technology surrounding Voice over Internet phone plans (VoIP Phones) and all the different ways they can deployed in home and office environments, makes VoIP confusing to a lot of people. For home users and cell phone customers, it is very simple to use and no knowledge of VoIP technology is needed. Yet, VoIP usage is still not at the level many industry experts thought it should be. The VoIP consumer marketplace is competitive with phone companies and VoIP providers battling for the consumer’s minds and wallets. As long as consumers are content and don’t understand VoIP service and its value, the big phone companies can keep charging excessively high phone call rates and providing fewer services.

Many consumers still lack the information about VoIP phones and Internet phone service plans they need to make a shift to VoIP. Many will wait until there is a critical mass effect. That’s when a large number of people will shift to VoIP and when VoIP lingo is a common part of people’s vocabulary. Since VoIP operates seamlessly with current phone systems, it’s not a technology that jumps out at people.

Not long ago Google was an obscure web search engine that had little consumer usage. But then Google started to make noise, and it did so with the help of students and web marketers who believed it had something to offer. Now, the word Google is used as a verb and people wonder how they ever got along with its info finding magic. VoIP is starting the same way but still hasn’t found a way to move into mainstream consumer lifestyles. Rest assured though, that VoIP companies are targeting a variety of consumer demographic groups such as teens with cell phones, migrating people to Europe and North America who want to stay in close contact with their relatives back home, and businesses with multiple distant office locations who need inter-office phone communications. For regular home phone users, the value proposition they’re receiving is not as compelling. That will change too as VoIP companies research ways to make that home phone service more valuable to consumers, or to make it unnecessary to keep it.

That critical mass event happens when users believe they have a clear cost savings advantage to make the switch from using their regular telephone service to a VoIP phone service. Being able to dump the home phone would certainly provide a reduction in monthly bills, but consumers aren’t dropping their expensive land lines, even though they may have cable television and cell phone bills to boot. In telecommunications, it seems consumers are over-serviced, and a solution is needed. Internet telephony has that potential to eliminate some of the redundant services, but it hasn’t matured to the point where it can shape the phone services market by itself.

Phone companies in defending themselves, put a fair amount of effort into discussing the possible downside of VoIP and some have even put restrictions on VoIP transmissions to try to thwart VoIP service providers. Old stories of lost calls, garbled voice quality, non functional 911 assistance, and loss of privacy don’t carry much weight anymore though. Quality and technical issues are almost all resolved and the services continue to improve. So, if it’s not technical issues that are preventing widespread VoIP adoption, then what is the problem?

Need to Drop the Land Line

Many consumers won’t adopt a VoIP service until they can drop their current phone company land line completely. Despite the desire to do so, many appear to be resisting eliminating their dependence on the old lines. Most don’t want to be paying for two phone services at the same time, yet they do. A billion people on the planet have cell phones now, so that means there are a lot of phone lines that aren’t necessary, or that are too expensive given the value they offer. As long as phone companies can make customer’s land lines indispensable, or encourage them to stay put, they know their customers won’t switch to VoIP plans. So that leaves many consumers with more than one phone, a home phone and a mobile phone, and it’s costing them a lot of money.

For those who don’t make frequent long distance phone calls, the cost savings from VoIP service plans aren’t compelling enough. However, when you add the cost of the call and line features that phone companies add onto the monthly phone bill, the scenario changes. Call features such as caller ID, call blocking, call waiting, and voice mail, are free with VoIP plans. If these aren’t enough to entice consumers, VoIP companies will certainly look to sweeten the offer. Internet protocol communications are improving all the time and there will be more to offer the consumer such as; services via PDA’s, Blackberries, and IP hard phones connected to WiFi and WiMax services.

Internet Phoning Drawbacks

When VoIP users make a call to another VoIP user, the call is essentially free. However, not everyone has a VoIP-based phone to receive VoIP calls. Many only have their land line or in some cases, a cell phone. That means the call has to go from the Internet into the PSTN or public switched phone system in the destination state or country. This is where the cost of a call shows up. Usually the cost is low for terminating the call to the end user. If the caller is making a long distance call however, this nominal cost is a small sacrifice compared to what they’ll be paying on their traditional home phone service.

High speed DSL customers must have their basic phone service, so as long as they need the high speed Internet connection, they might not switch to VoIP. For cable subscribers, a land line is not needed and VoIP works very well with Cable Internet service. For cable subscribers, the land-based home phone really isn’t needed so the jump to VoIP should be an easy one for cable subscribers. If they aren’t making the leap to VoIP, it might indicate a lack of confidence in cable networks. Most people still have trouble comprehending that a voice telephone call can go through the cable company, or that it will be reliable. Cable companies have come a long way with their technology and networks and are more than capable of providing top notch phone services.

With better education of telecommunications consumers and the presentation of a solid value proposition that offers more than a little cost savings, VoIP will grow steadily. For those with international calling needs, VoIP is already the solution they’re looking for. For small businesses with lots of long distance calling, the savings are even more pronounced. What’s needed is more consumer education. With that, many will finally wean themselves from their dependence on that old analog-based land line telephone and launch into an era of cheap digital phone calls. That day is coming soon as the major phone companies are under increasing pressure to raise the price of local phone service in the face of a major shift to VoIP transmission. Critical mass will occur when price plus features create a force that overcomes consumer’s inertia.

Aastra 480 Telefono VoIP


Image by phylevn
Ahora que estuve en el ENLi salí rayado del evento, pues una de las conferencias que presenté fué sobre Telefonía de Voz sobre IP con Asterisk y no contaba con que la empresa NeoCenter patrocinadora del ENLi y distribuidora de tarjetas VoIP Sangoma y teléfonos VoIP Aastra me regalara una teléfono aastra 480i por presentar una charla de Voz sobre IP.
Solo me resta agradecer al ENLi y a Neocenter por este regalo que ya empiezo a probar sus funcionalidades..

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by fsse8info

The VoIP Service Provider: Residential VoIP Solutions for the Consumer

As technologies mature and more households gain access to high speed Internet, consumers will come to realize that it is simply more efficient and cost effective to send packets of voice over the Internet than over a point to point circuit switched land line. Long distance charges become a thing of the past, and international calls are pennies a minute if not free to some countries.

VoIP solutions are readily available to anyone with a high speed Internet connection, and the only hardware needed is an Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) and a phone. For most consumers, utilizing a calling plan from a VoIP service provider is the best solution. Most VoIP service providers will provide the ATA hardware (or software) for free, and monthly charges range from free on up.

Peer to Peer VoIP

The least expensive VoIP solution would be using a computer on a peer to peer network. Offered from such VoIP service providers as Skype or the Gizmo Project, the software is free to download and calls within the network are free worldwide. Calls to PSTN numbers are charged at a low VoIP rate. Peer to Peer VoIP is a software solution, meaning that no ATA is required, and your phone is a pair of earplugs and a microphone plugged into your computer. The downside is that call quality is lacking compared to some of the hardware VoIP solutions available.

The “Pure Play” VoIP Service Provider

Over the past few years, a new generation of upstarts has introduced themselves into the residential VoIP arena. Probably the most successful (at least popularity wise) would be the VoIP service provider Vonage. Thanks to their lavish spending on advertising, the technology of VoIP is becoming mainstream, and the general public is beginning to realize that if the circumstances are right, Voice over IP can be a viable cost saving alternative to the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS).

Vonage, Packet8, and SunRocket are just a few of many companies that are pure-play VoIP service providers. They have no interest in selling you cable TV, conventional telephone service, or cellular minutes. Monthly plans range anywhere from .00 to .00 and calls are free in the U.S., Canada, and in some cases Europe. International rates vary with many countries as low as 2-3 cents a minute.

These are the companies that have pioneered residential VoIP for the consumer and with their low monthly calling plans, the companies that will keep the giants in the Telecommunications Industry honest.

Telco’s as VoIP Providers

Just as deregulation and the advent of cellular technology in the past, VoIP is poised to revolutionize the Telecommunications Industry. And the large telephone companies, even the cellular phone companies are entering this new era kicking and screaming.

Telco’s like AT&T, the regional Bells and others are happy to provide broadband internet access through DSL, but very few are willing to unbundle the internet service from their conventional telephone services. They could do it technologically, and a few local phone companies are offering DSL on the “local loop”, without the wire with the dial tone. The fact is, having a broadband connection that requires you to also buy a conventional telephone connection pretty much defeats the purpose, thus making VoIP through DSL impractical for most people.

That said, the Telco’s see the writing on the wall and are slowly beginning to implement Voice over IP telephony. AT&T and Quest Communications offer residential VoIP solutions starting at .00 and .00 respectively, just slightly higher than a pure VoIP service provider. All of the basic features such as call forwarding, speed dialing, and 3-way calling are included, and premium services like virtual phone numbers, conference calling, and call filtering can be had for an additional charge. International rates seem to be somewhat higher than pure play rates, though only by pennies.

VoIP and Cable Companies

If anyone is in a position to win the Telecommunication wars, it’s the cable companies. Massive consolidation in the cable industry has led to huge privately owned networks that in many cases make it unnecessary to route calls over the public Internet. Quality of Service issues can be handled in house, and after all, companies like Cisco Systems pretty much built the Internet and are largely responsible for the development of Voice over IP Telephony.

Cable companies as VoIP service providers have the ability to bundle voice with high speed data and digital cable TV, and are even now running introductory offers of all three for 99.00 a month in some markets. But be careful, introductory offers end and VoIP plans with the cable companies are some of the most expensive to be had.

While VoIP service providers like Comcast and Time Warner generally receive good reviews for sound quality, monthly calling plans cost .00 and .00 respectively. Not bad when looking at a .00 phone bill from Bell South, but over twice as much as a pure-play VoIP service provider. No doubt, a good reliable broadband connection through a cable modem is the ideal VoIP solution (wireless notwithstanding), but you don’t have to use your cable company for VoIP.

In the end, it all depends on whats important to you. If all you need is to call a friend in China on the same network, then a peer to peer VoIP service provider is for you. If you live in an area where it’s offered, a telecom VoIP solution promises lower bills than their conventional connections, provided you can drop the land line.

For those that have cable modems, the choice of VoIP service providers is vast. For the monthly cost of another broadband connection, cable companies will come out to install the equipment and rewire every jack in your house. And they are just a service call away. Alternatively, the pure play VoIP providers offer the lowest rates around, and the quality is usually just as good.

Just remember, it’s all in the pipe. Calls will be as clear as your VoIP service providers’ network is uncongested.

VoIP Connecting


Image by King Chung Huang
This new toy appeared on my desk at work this morning. The University of Calgary is in the process of implementing VoIP services on campus.

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