Using the Internet to Cut Your Phone Bill
Submitted by SharpMan Editorial Team on Friday 15th October 2010- What is VOIP?
- How does it work?
- What are the features?
Ever look at your phone bill? I don’t mean the total — which can be scary enough — but the call detail. Have you actually looked at what the phone company is charging you for keeping in touch with that sharp babe you met on vacation last month… or your mom down in West Palm Beach? And, after you add all that up, all the long distance charges plus the charges for calls that are local but outside your calling zone, there’s another surprise: a pretty substantial difference between the number you come up with and the total on your bill. To account for that, you have to go the page listing all the various taxes, fees and surcharges that basically punish you for using a telephone.
Until cellular phone service became affordable, there was really no alternative to all this. Cell phones did provide another option for long distance calling and some of us even gave up our land lines, choosing to rely completely on our cell phones for all our calling needs. Cell phones, however weren’t designed with this purpose in mind. They don’t offer all the virtues of wired phones and, as a result they haven’t really become a threat to the phone company’s stranglehold on the telephony market.
Now, a new technology has stepped up a true competitor. And, like so many other innovative solutions we’ve seen in the last ten years, it springs from the Internet and broadband technology. We’re talking about VOIP.
What is VOIP?
Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, is a technology that allows you make phone calls to anyone… virtually anywhere in the world… without using a standard telephone connection… or a cell phone connection. In fact, you don’t need a phone at all. All you need is a computer… high speed (broadband) Internet access… and a headset and microphone.
VOIP calls are routed over the Internet and are much cheaper than calls placed through the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). Here’s how it works:
Three Ways to Use VOIP Service
- ATA connection. Using a device called an Analog Telephone Adaptor, you can connect your existing telephone directly to your broadband Internet device and your phone will function as it always has, but without those high telephone company charges. The ATA essentially converts the analog signal output of your telephone to a digital signal required for Internet transmission. It also provides the necessary signals to your phone to make it believe it’s connected to a regular phone line, allowing you to hear a dial tone, a busy signal, etc.
- IP phone. Special telephones are available that are already set up with all the hardware and software required to connect directly to your broadband modem or router, that do not require you to hook up the ATA device between the two. IP phones look just like a normal phones, except that the connecting plug is an RJ-45 Ethernet plug instead of the standard RJ-11 telephone plug. Some are even wireless, in which case they communicate with a device that looks similar to a wireless router. In fact, this device will actually plug in to your existing router or broadband modem.
- Computer connection. The easiest and cheapest way to use VOIP is through your computer. Using a microphone and speakers (or a microphone-equipped headset) you can skip the expense of an ATA or an IP phone and make calls directly through your PC using one of a number of services, some of which are free depending on where and how you call.
Decisions… Decisions…
Deciding how to use this service and whether it is right for you means taking a look at your phone requirements and the type of features available. Let’s break it down:
If you simply want to make a weekly call to your brother after the Monday night game and do a play-by-play and you have broadband access, then the simplest, most effective way of doing so is using your computer and any one of the "softphone" clients provided by companies like Skype. A softphone is an application that runs on your computer and, using your own microphone and speakers (or a microphone-equipped headset) allow you to make VOIP phone calls. It’s easy, it’s cheap and it’s fun. The bonus here is that the sound quality is much better than on a standard telephone line. For instance, you won’t confuse the ‘F’ sound with the ‘S’ sound. (This only holds true if both parties on the call are using a softphone connection. If one party is on a regular phone, the sound quality is limited to the quality of that device.) You can even get a phone number in one of many available area codes so your friends can call you from any regular phone. Conversely, you can also call people virtually anywhere in the world on their regular phones for a fraction of what the phone company charges.
If you have more serious telephone requirements, you’ll want to subscribe to a service provider like Vonage, Packet 8, VoicePulse, or one of many others available. These companies provide softphone services as well, but in addition they offer telephone service that uses your existing home phone or lets you use a special IP phone (again, it looks like a standard phone but is designed especially for VOIP use). The subscription prices are reasonable and you’ll be amazed at the variety of features — three-way calling, call waiting and voicemail, to name a few — included in the already low price.
The IP phone option is especially handy for those of us who spend a lot of time in hotel rooms or travel frequently between two homes. With this device and a subscription to one of the above-named services, you take your equipment with you. You can plug your IP phone into a hotel Internet connection (or the cable modem in your vacation home) and be available at the same phone number you use at home. For example, you can be in Vegas (baby) and call in sick from your home number. How great is that?
Fear Not, VOIP Has Features
The major VOIP providers include a set of standard features very similar to the feature set generally available on cell phones and land lines. These include caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling and voicemail. Some also include other, more interesting features such as call forwarding, caller ID blocking, call return (*69) and speed dial. And that’s just the beginning. Although the features vary from one provider to the next, the list of additional options is quite impressive. Here are some of the more interesting ones:
Anonymous Call Block gives you the ability to reject calls from people who do not send caller ID information. Depending upon your provider, you get the option to block these calls completely, send them directly to voicemail or allow the caller to enter their phone number so you can see it displayed on your phone and decide before you pick up the handset whether to accept the call.
Do Not Disturb routes calls directly to voicemail, giving you a chance to get busy or, you know . . . get busy.
Multiple Virtual Numbers lets you have multiple numbers in multiple area codes that all ring through to the same phone. Current pricing is about $5.00 per month for each virtual number. Now here’s the cool part. If you live, say on the West coast but you have family in the Midwest (for instance), you can get a virtual number in their area code and whenever they call you it’s a local call for them! Man, if you’re in college you know mom and dad are gonna pop for that.
Call Hunt — If you have more than one physical VOIP line (i.e. multiple phones receiving calls on different numbers) you can set up a phone so that when a call comes in while the phone is busy, it rings on one of the other phones. Some providers even permit you to ring phones that are not VOIP lines, such as your cell phone or work phone. This is handy if you have siblings or roommates who aren’t real good at relinquishing the line when a call comes in from your girlfriend.
E-mail Voicemail Notification — not only can you check your voicemail on the web but you can have an e-mail sent whenever a new voicemail message is received. You can even have the voicemail attached to the e-mail as a .wav file so you can listen to it without having to call in or logon to the web site.
Local Number Porting — allows you to keep your existing phone number and have it transferred to your Internet Phone. (This is available for many but not all area codes and prefixes.)
What About Emergency 911 Calls?
This varies with your service provider. Some do not offer 911 services at all, in which case you should definitely maintain a standard phone somewhere in your home. Those who do offer 911 service require you to informed of your location. Usually, this is done by updating an online form whenever you (and your VOIP phone) move to a new location. In some cases, they will be able to transmit this location information directly to the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point), just as your standard phone does. In other cases, you may be asked to provide your exact location when the 911 operator picks up the call.
You Make The Call
The list of features goes on and on. There’s call forwarding, number filters, telemarketer blocking, fax services, distinctive ringing and so forth. But probably the very best reason to check out this new technology is the price. Competing providers are comparably priced, with most of the differences lying in the features they provide. The thing that really stands out though, aside from VOIP service being so cheap, is that you will not see that array of fees and taxes added to your monthly bill. And you get to take your number with you wherever you go — even just for the day.
This article last updated on Friday 15th October 2010