Whether for staying in touch while traveling, connecting remote employees or replacing traditional office phone systems, using the internet for placing phone calls or Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP), has become a convenient and cost-effective communication method.
With the rise of the internet, and especially the adaptation of broadband connections, voice communications over the internet have moved over the last decade from not much better than two tin cans and a long piece of string, to a serious component of the telecommunications industry. The major phone companies in North America all provide internet phone service packages as part of their standard offerings, and many large corporations are implementing VoIP-based systems company wide.
While replacing your current phone system may be something that you would like to consider, the focus of this article will be on more short term and immediate benefits you can implement quickly. As an example, we will be discussing two of the more popular VoIP providers, Vonage and Skype. While both of these companies offer voice communications over the Web, the features offered and method of delivery are very different.
Vonage touts itself as "an all-inclusive phone service that can replace your current phone company." While their service is probably not right for replacing a corporate PBX system that goes beyond three to five people, their array of features makes it ideal for connecting remote field personnel or for using their service as an adjunct to your current phone capabilities. With unlimited calling throughout North America starting at $49/month, Vonage could be a great solution for anybody doing a large amount of long distance calling. Standard features included in their plan are: Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3-Way Calling, Call Transfer, Ring Lists, Call Hunt, and more.
You'll probably recognize many of these features from your current land-line based service. Yet, Vonage provides some additional features and add-ons that even go beyond the traditional telco offerings. Their Ring List and Call Hunt features are what enable it to handle multiple people in a small office, and you can add a dedicated fax or toll free number for $9.99 and $4.99 per month respectively. Want a local number for a geographic location away from your home office? You can add additional phone numbers in remote area codes that ring to your main number for an additional $5.00 per number per month. Lastly, calling to popular countries outside of North America generally costs around $.06 cents per minute. And no additional monthly fee is required.
Vonage also provides a "portableness" factor that enables you to "take" your phone number with you when you travel. As shown in the illustration below, by plugging your Vonage phone adapter and any standard telephone into a wired broadband connection, your phone will then work for both incoming and outgoing calls, just as they would in your regular work location.
To facilitate this, you need to take your Vonage router with you when you travel, and you need to take along a telephone handset or have one available. If you were staying in a hotel room, you may want to bring along a wireless router as well so that you can access the internet from your computer at the same time. While the amount of equipment that you may have to bring along on your trip starts to add up, you can also utilize some third party offerings. Companies like Linksys are making combination routers that enable both access to your computer as well as your Vonage service in one device, and even some handset manufacturers are putting the Vonage router into a special handset.
While these devices will usually "plug and play" with each other, you should make sure that you know how to get everything working before you leave. After that, the biggest problem in using the Vonage service on the road is when you don't have a physical cable to connect your router such as a hotel that only offers wireless internet access. Also, there can be times when the hotel internet provider blocks the ports necessary for Vonage to work. This is where Skype excels.
You may have read about Skype in the news as they were recently purchased by eBAY for over $2.6 billion. Founded by the same people who built the Kazaa file sharing service, Skype was created to enable fellow Skype users to speak over the internet FOR FREE! So you may ask, why would anyone pay that much money for a service that charges no money. Well, while Skype currently has over 62 million registered users around the World, they also offer a service called SkypeOut that allows Skype users to call to most regular phone numbers around the world for a little over two cents a minute. Even then, there is no monthly fee involved. Just pay as you go from your Skype account. You fund it with $10 ahead of time using a credit card or PayPal (another eBAY company.)
Different from Vonage, the Skype service requires no other equipment than your computer, speakers and a microphone. In a noisy environment or while traveling, many find it convenient to use a headset with a built in microphone that connects through your USB port. Companies like Plantronics offer headsets, including a foldable one that costs in the $40-$50 range at Amazon.com.
Like Vonage, Skype offers a phone number for people to call you wherever you may be through their SkypeIn feature, a $4.00 monthly charge, including voice mail. The beauty of the Skype service is that because it runs through your computer, wherever you have internet access you can make or receive calls. This works especially well when only wireless is available, such as in hotels or airports. To make it easier to connect in remote places, they even offer a service called SkypeZones that enables you to connect in over 18,000 locations around the world including many airports, hotels and other locations for a flat $7.95 per month. When you compare this to some airport locations that charge that much per day, you really see the value in being able to be connected while waiting for a flight.
Even if you never use one of these services, you may have already benefited from the lower phone rate telephone companies have begun offering for their land based lines in order to stay competitive. However, depending on your needs, a VoIP package could be a great addition to your business.
Vonage®, Skype™, Linksys® and Amazon.com® are registered trademarks of their respective companies.
