Basics of VOIP
If you have been paying large long distance phone bills,
it's time to introduce you to the basics of VOIP. Voice over
Internet Protocol (VOIP or VoIP) is the latest
telecommunications internet technology that is predicted to be
in use in close to 5 million American homes by the year
2006.
It will allow you to make long distance calls over your
internet connection, bypassing most, or all of you your long
distance provider's charges. However, several large
telecommunications companies have caught on to the growing
trend for consumers to bypass their charges, and have reacted
by offering "packaged services" that include your regular,
local phone line service and the VOIP service that will let you
place calls over the internet. When discussing the basics of
VOIP, it's important to realize that there are actually 3 types
of VOIP technologies that are currently in use.
The first is called ATA or Analog Telephone Adapter
technology. The ATA technology does exactly what it sounds
like; it takes the analog signal on your regular telephone line
and translates it into a digital signal. That digital signal is
then sent via the internet.
This is the type of service that the large
telecommunications providers are offering. They will mail you
the ATA and you can set it up easily on your own. Another of
the technologies that is necessary for understanding the basics
of VOIP still has to do with the phone itself. Instead of using
an adaptor to change a regular phone into a VOIP compatible
one, you purchase a phone that is designed for making VOIP
calls. But that phone won't plug into a regular phone jack
(RJ-11).
It will have to be plugged into an Ethernet connection (an
RJ-45 jack or a spot on your router). The necessary hardware
and software to make a VOIP call is included in the phone
itself. The third technology involved in learning the basics of
VOIP is the most exciting for the average consumer, as it
doesn't require a monthly service charge from a provider in
order to make free long distance calls. It is
computer-to-computer VOIP service.
In this case, you download free or purchase low-cost
software that turns your computer into the "phone." In addition
to the software, you'll need speakers so you can hear the other
party, a microphone so you can speak to them, a sound card in
your computer, and a preferably high-speed internet connection
so the signal can travel fast enough to avoid delays in what
you or the other party hears.
The person you call doesn't need to be talking to you over a
computer; a regular phone will work just fine. You can use the
service on your end to make calls to anyone, anywhere without a
charge. Now that we've looked at the basics of VOIP, you might
be interested in trying it for yourself. But what you don't
realize is that you most likely already are.
Telephone companies have been using the technology for
several years in order to route the mass number of calls they
receive more efficiently over their networks. But to try VOIP
at home, download software at sites such as www.skype.com. If
you already have the needed items mentioned above (speakers,
microphone, sound card and high-speed internet connection), you
can be making free calls in as little as 5 minutes.
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