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VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is an Internet phone service
that bypasses
your normal local telephone company.
Internet VoIP service rings and has a dial tone just like any
other telephone,
but calls are routed over your Internet connection.
Although it has been around for a little while (mostly for business
use),
its growing popularity may help lower the cost of phone communication
for
consumers and eliminate plain old telephone service (POTS) entirely.
Unlike traditional analog telephone signals, which travel through
a PSTN
(public switched telephone network), VoIP digitizes the speaker's
voice
and sends it through either cable or DSL broadband Internet
connections.
An adapter connects your regular telephone to your Internet
connection.
Cable modems are the preferred choice for VoIP service.
Since DSL uses a phone line for operation, you'll still need
to keep an active
traditional phone service, and some reviews note that call quality
with
DSL is not as good as with cable |
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In addition to cost savings, VoIP
provides tools that allow people to integrate their various
messaging platforms,
including voice, text, and video. Experts from the Wall Street
Journal predict offerings, rather than just price, will
drive growth. Consumer Reports concurs, detailing many of the
current VoIP features that are not available with most
traditional landline services, including voice mails e-mailed
in real time, online call logs, and do-not-disturb times
which users can set up when expecting an important call, sending
other calls automatically to voice mail.
You can still use your PC (Personal Computer) normally while
making VoIP phone calls, but the computer does not
need to be turned on to make calls unless you are using a software
VoIP program. However, your broadband
connection needs to be on and active. If you are using the hardware
services, additional phones throughout your
house can have access to VoIP by running a wire from a phone
jack to the adapter. PC World and other reviewers
found that voice quality can sometimes suffer while simultaneously
downloading large files, especially video files,
on the computer.
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