VOIP Checklist: Using it as Your Sole Source of Phone Needs
Posted: Sunday, November 23, 2008
by Maureen Carlson
http://www.cannons.com
VOIP Service of making and receiving phone calls has emerged as the most cost effective form of communication, and will most likely end the era of home telephone service. But, VOIP service is still not for all consumers, and there are things that you will have to check and become confident about before you can consider switching to VOIP service.
While there are numerous sites where you can test the speed of your connection, these tests cannot tell the speed over a long period of cotton. A better test would be to ask yourself, do you notice the internet stopping when you are using it or are you experiencing significant time delays? If you have these problems, they could be signs that VOIP will not work well with your connection.
Another problem would be if other people in your household also use the computer and would they be using it when you would be using on your VOIP phone. If other people using the internet while youre using the phone, your connection might not be able to handle both connections at the same time. While that is more of a problem with DSL than for cable, it can still be a problem with a cable connection. You should stick to cable or DSL because you won't be happy with the results of VOIP service on a satellite internet connection.
2. The reliability of your high speed internet provider cannot be stressed enough. The problem with VOIP service is that when your high-speed Internet connection goes out, your phone goes too. Unlike a landline phone, where you can hear the dial tone every time you pick up the phone, a VOIP phone depends on your Internet connection to make and receive phone calls.
3. You have to make sure that 911 is supported on your VOIP. All VOIP providers are supposed to be setup to support 911 (or E-911) in case of emergency. For example, with a traditional phone line, 911 can tell where you are calling from. But this feature does not exist on a VOIP phone, so you will have to register your VOIP phone with the service so 911 will know where to send the help.
4. Now you can save money and enjoy incredible flexibility. VOIP service is much cheaper than traditional phones and plans that are available through phone companies. With VOIP, you don't have to pay extra fees for services like call waiting and call blocking. You can get unlimited or high-usage local and long distance calling around the country with no extra fees. You can take your VOIP phone with you when you travel. For instance, if you are visiting your friends in Denver, simply plug your VOIP phone into their high-speed modem and you can still make and receive calls just as you would if you were at home, it even still uses your same phone number. In hotels, you still just have to plug your VOIP phone into the high-speed connection provided in your hotel room, and again, you are making and receiving phone calls with your same phone number and convince as you would at home.
So if you're ready to switch over to using VOIP as the sole source of your phone needs (making and receiving calls), make sure that you follow the steps above prior to doing so. This will save you headaches and time, in the event that it might not be suited for you and your family. But if it is appropriate and will work for you, VOIP will save you money in the long run.
Carrie Feldman is a freelance writer and mom of four and writes for various online publications including http://www.voiceduck.com which offers consumer information on topics like cheap calling cards , local phone service , wireless phones and more.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)I'm not happy with mine but real unhappy with those regular providers.
Greart article. I had vonage for a little bit, and while prices and options were great, the service side sucked. Whenever there was an issue (my voip router would randomly not "see" my network) Vonage would blame my ISP and my ISP would blame vonage. Ultimately I didnt care, I just wanted the phone to work. Won't be doing that again. Now I have a regular phone I can count on and Skype on the PC which gives me unlimited calls to anywhere for $2.95 a month. Much better option.
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