Broadband Phone ServicesVoIP - Voice over Internet ProtocolBroadband phone services will, not might, but WILL change the way we make and receive our phone calls.
VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is a technology where you make and receive your phone calls using your existing broadband internet connection.
Once you�re comfortable with the different access methods and have your quote for service, you can easily make your decision, sign up, get online and then leverage your investment in broadband technology with broadband phone service, commonly known as VoIP. 
Side note: If your current broadband is DSL, you may not be able to cancel local phone service and use VoIP. 'Naked DSL' or DSL without primary phone service is rare. VoIP may be a great fit for a second or home business line, but may not be a good fit for your primary line. Check with your local telephone company to see if you can have DSL access without local phone service. Business users have more options. The cost of T1 (and fractional T1) voice and data services have dropped considerably over the last few years. Business users have the option of going with a dedicated circuit. A home business may use this option as well as long as it's cost effective for you. Questions? Contact us and we'll help! Not to worry, the Federal Communications Commision is already involved with this apparent conflict between the local carriers and broadband phone services. We'll keep you up to date, so continue to check back often. UPDATE: We've now added a great provider offering naked DSL. The cost is a bit higher, so you'll need to run your own numbers to determine whether or not there's a cost savings for you. Extra savings in your monhtly phone charges may make the (current) cost of naked DSL a viable solution! To check prices and service availability, click either link below. To continue our discussion on broadband phone services, we�ll refer, at times, to the more commonly used term VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Generally speaking, VoIP sends and receives calls in a digital format in discrete packages as opposed to the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN). Basically this means you bypass the use of your local telephone companies network and instead use your broadband connection to make and receive calls. The biggest benefit to using broadband phone services is cost. Since your calls are not being routed through the local telephones public switched telephone network (PSTN) you bypass the toll charges of those networks.
Here�s our list of recommended VoIP providers.
In order to initiate and receive VoIP calls, you will need certain hardware to make this happen. Not to worry, most people can use their existing phone and use broadband phone services. The hardware requirements are not so much in the phone you use, as it is where your phone plugs in. Since we�re bypassing the local telephone companies network, you would not plug your phone into the normal phone jack in your home of office. After all, the phone jack was probably wired by (at the minimum) but is certainly used by your local telephone service. So, if we don�t plug into a phone jack, where do we plug our phones in?
The broadband modem is the device making your existing broadband access possible. A broadband signal is routed to your home. This signal is plugged into your broadband modem.
What do I need?
 Get your router here!
Now that we know what hardware is required, how does it all plug together?
How do I hook this all up? House -> modem -> computer For broadband phone service to be possible, we�ll need to convert the phone signal to something the internet can understand. Your broadband phone service provider provides the broadband phone converter. This is the first issue we need to overcome. Our current setup is a one-to-one relationship. Simply put, only one device (our computer) can be connected to the modem. But wait, if only one device can be hooked up to my broadband modem, how do I plug in this new broadband phone converter? Not to worry, this is pretty painless. We need to route our broadband internet service to more than one device. We can easily accomplish this by using (guess what it�s called), YES, a router. House -> modem -> router We�re making great progress here and it�s not too tough is it? We�ve got our internet service, we got our modem and now we got our router in place. Where did our computer go? Good question.
Now where's my computer?
House -> modem -> router -> computer I think we can wrap this up because we all know where we�re going. The computer plugs into the router and our new VoIP converter also plugs into the router. So now our router has 2 devices (one computer and one VoIP converter) plugged into it. It�s cabled to the modem, which is providing our internet service and viola, our new phone service is ready to go! WAIT, where�s the phone? Another good question.
So where's the phone?
House -> modem -> router -> converter -> phone That�s a simple outline of each device on our new home network. Congratulations! Not only did you leverage your existing investment in broadband technology, you�ve also setup a home network! The same principles can be applied for business users.
Is my connection ok for VoIP?
Side note: If VoIP is not an option for you, we understand. We also offer traditional and cellular services. Feel free to look into our traditional phone service as well as our cellular phone service offerings below.
How�d the test go? As previously mentioned, your connection is probably just fine. If it�s not, review your test results and if needed email us those results as well. We�ll review them and make a recommendation to you.
Ok, you�ve got your broadband connection and tested your line. You�ve reviewed our current listing of VoIP providers. Now we�ll take it a step further. We�ve provided the following article for additional information on broadband phone services. Keep checking back with us, as we will be providing additional articles over time. Also, be sure to review the glossary of terms to further your understanding of broadband technology. At this point many of you will be confident in your decision-making process. Broadband phone service isn't really that complicated. We'd like to wrap up our discussion of broadband phone service by pointing out one more thing. COST savings.
Let�s say you currently pay $45 per month for your broadband connection. For our example, let�s say your local phone bill is $25 per month and the long distance portion of the monthly bill is $10. That�s $35 in monthly phone charges. Articles of interest: From our very own Broadband Review Series covering Broadband Phone Service: VoIP - Why Some People Use It VoIP and E911 VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol VoIP and Local Telephone Companies VoIP Problems? VoIP Basic Assumptions VoIP and Your Broadband Selection VoIP - Good Choice VoIP - Good Choice But Not Always Easy VoIP - 3 Ways to Make The Call VoIP - Should I or Shouldn't I? From external sources: VoIP and 9-1-1 Service FCC Approves SBC/AT&T and Verizon/MCI Mergers (this is a MS-Word doc)
|
