A typical circuit-switched landline phone costs about $19.95 per month (plus tax). The good old American landline phone should be graphically depicted beside the word “reliable” in the dictionary. Not only does it keep working, even when all electrical power fails, but it can even provide you with a light to dial with. At $15 dollars per month SIP VoIP is still value challenged due to the lack of full support for E9-1-1 emergency services and of course the reliability issues inherent with using a real time application over a “best effort” network like today’s Internet. Although few VoIP articles still reference Internet Request For Comments (RFC) 3714 “IAB Concerns Regarding Congestion Control,” the technical challenges associated with VoIP are widely known. Further, even with the recent dubious edict by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that VoIP service providers will provision support for E9-1-1 within 90 days, this still leaves the reliability issues unresolved. The use of adaptive rate CODEC’s to prevent congestion collapse is a swell idea if it applies to my neighbor’s service but not my own. Using adaptive rate CODEC’s to elicit voluntary user preemption has no appeal in the modern world. Technology is supposed to be getting better and it is clearly not better that users receive disconnects or degraded service quality in order to constrain network bandwidth consumption.

Quality of Service (QoS) has been the four letter word of the Internet for a very long time. Yet, we know that real time applications such as video and voice are a mismatch for “best effort” service models. Cost savings are important, but not if they require users to accept backward technology leaps. After 9/11 the United States should have begun standardization efforts to insure that VoIP QoS levels would be equivalent to circuit-switched networks, especially where emergency E9-1-1 calls are concerned. The recent FCC order only requires that E9-1-1 call center traffic be properly routed. It does nothing to insure QoS of the connection once the call is completed.

As for SIP VoIP in the home, there is too little incentive for savvy consumers to part with more of their hard earned communications dollars for an industry offering that simply does not meet the needs of the user. Until something concrete can be done to move SIP VoIP forward, service based on P2P such as Skype seems to be the only sensible choice on the kitchen table. Why should home users pay $15 or more per month for less reliable communications than they already have with their land line? Skype gives users the ability to experience “best effort” voice over the Internet for FREE. Could this be the reason why more than 125 million copies of Skype’s P2P software has been downloaded? And for the occasions where interconnection with the existing circuit-switched telephone networks is required, Skype offers a very competitive 2 cents per minute interconnection rate. With Skype you can talk for 12

What exactly is VoIP?

Here’s the simple explanation. VoIP technology sends phone calls over the Internet, just as if you were sending an email. To do so, it breaks your call down into many tiny digital packets. Then, when all these little packets arrive at your caller’s phone, VoIP magically reassembles them back into your voice. Pretty neat, huh?

VoIP always costs less than conventional telephone service. There are two reasons for this. First, using the Internet to transmit calls is cheaper than using the phone company’s clunky, old analog system. Second, using the Internet eliminates all hose pesky taxes and surcharges that can just about double your phone bill.

To date, you’ve needed two things to use VoIP – a computer and a broadband cable connection. But this is about to change. New cordless, VoIP phones have been announced that don’t have to be connected through a computer, meaning that you can have one anywhere in your home. Of course, you will still need a broadband connection and a wireless router.

Panasonic and Philips have announced phones that will work with Skype, the popular provider of free and low-cost calls. In addition, Panasonic has announced a new cordless phone that will work with Vonage, and Philips has announced an alliance with Microsoft Corp. to introduce VoIP products.

When will these phones be available?

Netgear has said that it will announce prices and availability of its Skype Wi-Fi phones by the end of March, and Panasonic hopes to begin shipping its Skype-enabled phone by mid-year. On the other hand, Panasonic has offered no timetable for delivering it’s Vonage-enabled phone. Philips has said it will launch its Skype phone in Europe in May and in the U.S. in July 2006. No one knows what these phones will cost as none of these companies has announced any pricing.

So, who knows? By this summer, there may be a VoIP phone sitting on your couch.

Here’s another new technology that may soon be coming to you home. It’s called HD Radio and what it does is enable AM and FM radio stations to broadcast their programs digitally. These digital broadcasts provide listeners with radically improved audio quality, more radio channels through multicasting, and new data services. To learn more about this amazing new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com, to get all the buzz.

Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio, the Internet and family finances.

Hundreds of thousands of consumers collectively save millions of dollars each month by replacing (or supplementing) their traditional telephone service with personal voice over IP (VoIP) telephony.

Using IP to transmit voice is not new. Large corporations and long distance carriers have used IP to transmit voice on their private networks for years. Likewise, private citizens have used their computers and the Internet to talk with other PC users for a few years now, but in the past users of such solutions have had to contend with poor voice quality and the need for at least one computer to be connected to the Internet.

Widespread adoption of broadband Internet service (cable or DSL) in the last few years though has in turn fueled a surge in the growth of much-improved personal VoIP

Most VoIP service providers offer all-inclusive calling plans that provide you with unlimited local, regional and long distance (within the United States) at flat rates starting as low as $24.95 per month. Some offer usage-based plans at a lower monthly cost and most provide inexpensive per minute rates on international calls as well. In addition, VoIP service providers include a smorgasbord of advanced features such as name and number caller ID, call forwarding, call blocking and voice mail that traditional phone companies sell as premium services.

When you sign up for VoIP service, many service providers give you the option of choosing the area code, and possibly the exchange, for your service. You can select from any area where the VoIP provider has local service.

So what are the drawbacks of a personal VoIP solution? The main drawback is the need for a reliable broadband connection; without one a VoIP solution is probably not for you.

Power outages present another hurdle. Since VoIP requires a live Internet connection, losing electricity means losing your phone service.

The voice quality of your VoIP call is also another consideration. Since the data travels across the Internet, there’s the potential for dropouts or “burbles” similar to what you might experience on a cell phone

Most people we called during our tests were surprised at the quality of the calls, and didn’t realize they were on a VoIP connection until we told them. Keep in mind that the call quality for VoIP providers who don’t manage their IP networks and depend on the Internet for routing will yield varying and sometimes disappointing voice quality and unreliable connections.

Syed Akram was 3 years experience in offline and online marketing. He now actively promoting the new free voip communication technology which improve relationship in internet far more better. His site can be visit at http://www.mdi365.com/futurebiz (Futurebiz’s Free Internet Marketing Tool and Training for Work From Home)

The money that can be saved is evident for consumers and also for businesses, especially those that regularly make long distance calls. You may wonder why this is the case, well, the technology of VoIP means that calls that you would usually make are now transmitted along your broadband internet connection, bypassing your regular telephone service provider. This results in a cost-saving from many taxes and charges not being incurred.

The saving in long distance calling can result in a massive saving for businesses. Furthermore, the amount of VoIP service providers entering the market means that the competition and resulting pricing battle between the providers is good for many businesses looking to convert to VoIP.

The converter that you will need in order to use VoIP has a great feature. It will be assigned with your own individual number. If you need to travel anywhere, you are then able to take this converter with you and plug it into any broadband connection, enabling you to make receive calls using the same number. In order for VoIP to successfully work, it is important that you have a good bandwidth connection, such as with broadband or DSL. You will also need a computer microphone or regular phone, plus a VoIP route adaptor to connect to the internet. Another more
obvious requirement is to sign up with a VoIP service provider, but make sure that you look around at the offers that many providers may have before deciding on one.

Looking around and what various service providers have to offer will soon highlight some of the extras that you may receive with their package. These may include call waiting, caller ID, speed dialling, call forwarding, 3-way calling, free voicemail plus much more. You can then make a more informed decision on which provider meets your requirements the best.

VoIP technology looks set to advance over the coming years, although it has been around for some time now. There are some great benefits from switching to VoIP, some of which have been highlighted above. This may mean the end of regular analogue phone system companies as we know them today, who may find it difficult to compete with the benefits that VoIP technology has to offer. VoIP will most certainly continue to develop over the coming years, and may soon dominate the communication market. This will lead to an increase in the number of homes and business premises that will use VoIP as a cheaper alternative to existing
phone lines. It is highly recommended that you take a look at the website below, to discover more interesting information on VoIP technology, and hopefully answer any questions that you may about it.

For tons of useful information on VoIP technology, you must read the info at VoIP Service Providers. Justin Brown has gathered a lot of helpful information on a range of VoIP topics there. He also runs Autoresponder Info and a site for free articles.