If you haven't lived under a rock for the last several years, you've seen the ads for the VOIP Service Provider called Vonage, offering a box that, in addition to an Internet connection, lets you make unlimited long distance calls to the US and Canada for a low, flat fee. There are competing VOIP providers, like Skype (owned by eBay) with different pricing models.
VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, and digitally translates your voice into packets that get routed over the Internet, much the same way an email is broken down into packets and sent over the Internet. The benefit of VOIP comes in comparison to traditional switched telephone networks, where calls were routed through individual switches, requiring extensive infrastructure on the part of the telephone companies, and thus, required charging per minute billing.
However, during the telecom boom of the late 1990s, every major telephone company laid new fiber optics lines and switched to a packet driven methodology, greatly reducing their operating expenses – albeit at the cost of a very large investment up front in the new technology.
The result of this is that, eventually, everything is going to go to VOIP, but certain VOIP service providers are jumping the gun, and you can benefit from it. There are VOIP providers that require a fixed monthly service fee or give you free calls to other numbers (or addresses) within their network, but charge you to call a regular land line, and there's even a VOIP provider that's looking to have you buy a $300 piece of hardware and get free phone calls for life.
In the past, VOIP software had latency issues – you'd speak, and there'd be a small (but noticeable) bit of lag between when you spoke and when the other party would hear you. As the networks have matured and grown more robust, and the digitization software has improved, this has ceased to be an issue. VOIP is a great technology for home use. With its virtual voice mail system and multi-line options, it's also a great solution for a home based business, or home office for an entrepreneur; most VOIP service providers charge far less than what a typical telephone company does for the same level of services.
No discussion about VOIP would be complete without talking about one of the major gating factors of VOIP technology. That gating factor is that a good VOIP connection and conversation depend heavily on the reliability of your highspeed Internet connection. If your connection is not fast or reliable, chances are very high that your experience with VOIP technology is not going to be good. Unfortunately, the VOIP carrier you choose has no control over the speed or reliability of your Internet connection.
Still confused about VOIP and how to choose the right VOIP carrier? Our web site provides a great deal of detail about what to look for in VOIP service, where NOT to get VOIP service, and even our Expert Pick for the best VOIP service. VOIP is an extremely cost effective solution that if it's right for you and your location, you should consider.
4.19.2008
VOIP Service Providers – The Future Of Telephones
Compare voip rates and find the best provider out there!
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and it represents one of the most wonderful inventions related to the Internet technology. It has been called the 'voice of the future' by specialists in the field and today it is an extremely advantageous method to make calls over the Internet.
Online, there are practically hundreds of voip service providers that offer various prices and features for voip protocols. Still, for somebody that is new at using the Internet technology and yet is deeply interested in using the Internet for voice conversations, the multitude of offers may seem daunting. This is why specialists have thought the matter through and have come up with professional search engines that can compare voip rates and explain clearly to the prospective customers what the exact benefits of using voip are.
Being updated on a daily basis, the voip search engine can determine for you which are the best voip rates and compare voip prices. Voip rates comparison can be done after you enter the phone destination country, for mobile or landline. In just a short period of time you will receive a carefully organized list with various providers from your country, along with the rates they offer and a specific link to their website. They also explain in short what voip really is and what are the precise requirements of making voip calls, meaning: fast-speed Internet connection, professional voip supplier and a voip phone. In addition, if you want to add yourself another provider to the voip price comparison engine, you can do it anytime you want to.
There is one thing that you have to keep in mind before you decide to use a voip rates comparison. The list may contain plenty of attractive choices but the lowest rates are not always the best choice to make. Do not go for the obvious choice and select the cheapest voip service. You will discover that the features offered are limited and you will have available only certain routes to call. A voip search engine may show you the available rates for diverse service but you have to visit their website for yourself and see what features you are presented with. For example, consider a voip provider that offers advanced features such as: call blocking, call forward, voice mail and conference calling. Make sure that you have full customer support and that you pick out a reliable service.
In the past few years, voip has turned out to be both cost effective and useful for those who were tired of traditional landline telephony. Today, with the help of the Internet one can easily compare voip rates and establish which the most suitable voip provider is. Selecting an appropriate voip provider requires a lot of time and patience, especially when it comes to search engines that offer voip price comparison. Voip may be the cheap and effective communication tool, but cheap is not always synonymous with quality. So, the next time you open your computer and decide to look for a voip rates comparison service, be certain that you go for one that is both reliable and easy to use. You will definitely find some of the most advantageous rates, not to mention prices and a multitude of included features to go along.
Tips For Finding The Best Home VOIP Phone Solution
Everywhere you turn these days, you are bombarded with some company claiming how superior their VOIP solution is for home use. You go into Best Buy and they are promoting one VOIP service, you go into Circuit City, they are promoting another one, then you get VOIP offers with your cable TV bill, your credit card statements, and even with your bank statement! How do you wade through all this marketing hype to find the truth about which VOIP service is best for you?
Although to the tech-savvy consumer it is obvious, it is not obvious to all as to one of the very first things you need to have a good VOIP phone service at home, and that is a solid and reliable high-speed Internet connection. The VOIP carriers don't even mention that but rather they assume that you already have that and that the high-speed Internet service you have is solid and reliable. There is your first problem, which may disqualify you from having anything more than total frustration if you try to switch to VOIP.
VOIP actually stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, which means that you are making and receiving telephone calls from your high-speed Internet connection. This cannot be done using a dial-up connection, which makes almost no sense at all anyway. If your best option for high-speed Internet is satellite, you should also hang up thoughts of using VOIP since satellite can barely accommodate high-speed data, let alone voice communications. If you currently have satellite for your high-speed connection, you already know what I mean – don't even think about it for VOIP.
So let's say you don't use dial-up or satellite. Take a hard look at your high-speed Internet connection and evaluate it. Is it rock solid? Is it reliable? Keep in mind that this is going to be the core and foundation of your VOIP service, and if your high-speed connection is flaky or just barely marginal in terms of "high speed", your VOIP experience is going to be poor in best case. And this is NOT the fault of the VOIP provider you choose, since they have less than zero control over the quality of your Internet connection.
Beyond that, look at price and features. Don't pay a higher price because there are a load of features available that you will never use. The basic features of VOIP are unlimited calling within the continental US, voice mail, and call waiting. Do you really NEED more features than that? If so, you should take a long hard look at your requirements and determine how much extra you will be paying for those extra services, especially comparing against how often you will use them. More often than not, you will find that those additional services are not worth the extra that you will pay for them.
Like anything else, evaluate what you are spending your money on. Are you implementing VOIP to save money, or are you implementing technology for the sake of technology? When you consider that your traditional telephone line from the phone company is costing you about $25 per month just for dial tone, and that a good VOIP service can be obtained for under $17 per month for dial tone and all the long distance calls you care to make, your decision about VOIP starts to become quite clear. Try it, and you may discover that this is something you should have implemented a long time ago!
Secured Web Conferencing – The Cost Effective Way
In due course, web conferencing has proved its worth over traditional audio or video conferencing. In those situations, where the basic meeting format is that of back and forth information flows, web conferencing is just second to face to face meeting.
However, security has always been a major concern with web conferencing. Mere SSL or AES encryption protocol cannot guarantee you complete access security though they are well known as industry standards. Corporate houses cannot ignore this viable communication media and at the same time cannot entirely depend on it for this very reason.
There are so many other problems in traditional web conferencing. The attendees who needed to deal with 3D CAD design, flash graphic design, and other similar collaborations of image based applications, had to fight hard to make the meeting effective up to the minimum level.
Another big problem with traditional web conferencing had been that the attendees had to download and install meeting client software. That is not all. The attendees needed to download Java, flash installations and others to support the client software. The whole process was tedious, time consuming and expensive (in some cases you need to pay monthly usage charges for your meeting client software).
Even after ignoring all these problems, you can not be sure that your meeting is held in a 100% secured atmosphere.
What next?
Here comes “on premise web conferencing appliances”, a secured and easy to use conferencing tool for corporate communication. Just install the appliance and you are ready to start the conference – round the clock.
With these appliances you do not need to pay any monthly fee or you do not need constant IT support. To add to this there is no way that a firewall, proxy server or anti virus can block it. And thus you get a hustle free and smooth conference.
This appliance is supported by all the platforms like Mac, UNIX, Linux or Windows. To add to this, you can attend the conference using your iPhone too – thus you can stay connected even while you are on the move.
The best thing about “on premise web conferencing appliances” is that you can use your firewall to protect access security of web conferencing attendees. Alongside, with some of these appliances, you get the facility to Remotely Access your computer.
To sum up, “on premise web conferencing appliance for web meeting” provides you a simple, easy to use, cost effective and secured conferencing tool for internal and external meetings.
Is Nat Traversal holding back VoIP and IP Communications adoption?
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications is quickly becoming an integral part of the consumer and business markets. High quality multimedia communications along with rich presence, universal mobility and availability, and lower cost are some of the benefits VoIP brings to end-users. For operators, it promises new revenues from new and converged services, service bundling, increased customer loyalty, and lower capital and operation expenses by building and running a single IP-based network for all communications services.
The increased penetration of broadband Internet, the main driving force behind VoIP adoption, also poses one of the biggest challenges – VoIP calls do not work well in many broadband situations for NATs and Firewalls break VoIP.
To address my concerns about NAT Traversal and the future of VoIP I had the CTO of Eyeball Networks, a leading software provider for VoIP, video telephony and instant messaging, answer a few questions.
What is NAT, and why should I be concerned about NAT traversal?
More than 90 percent of PCs or end-devices access the broadband Internet using private IP addresses. These private IP addresses get mapped into real Internet addresses using a mechanism called Network Address Translation (NAT), which is implemented in all broadband access devices (also called broadband routers such as from LinkSys, NetGear or SMC) and sometimes also in the service provider network.
NAT traversal refers to the problem, and solution thereof, where two computers behind NATs sometimes fail to communicate with each other for features such as IM, VoIP, file-sharing and online-games. If you are building devices, applications or services involving Internet communications, then NAT traversal should be a concern.
What are some applications NAT traversal technology is used for?
A list of applications requiring NAT traversal technologies follow:
•VoIP and video telephony
•File-sharing such as picture and video sharing
•Online games
•Collaboration tools such as presentation and white-boarding
•Any other applications using client-to-client data transfer
How has the availability of effective NAT traversal solutions changed the way VoIP and other IP-based services are delivered and used?
Traditionally NAT traversal has been one of the critical barriers for widespread VoIP adoption. Development of IETF standards such as STUN, TURN and ICE provide a rich set of mechanisms for an interoperable standards-based and scalable solution to this problem. Availability of an effective NAT traversal solution such as Eyeball AnyFirewall Engine has removed this barrier providing guaranteed traversal of VoIP calls through NATs, firewalls and web-proxies. It is effectively bringing VoIP and other IP-based services to plug and play level between devices, applications and service providers.
What are some of the challenges traditionally faced by developers of client-to-client networking applications, especially in peer-to-peer and VoIP settings?
Traditionally developers did not have proper technologies and tools to solve the NAT traversal problem for client-to-client networking applications. For example, for VoIP applications the developers/operators faced the following issues.
Some products implemented only partial NAT traversal solution. For example, many VoIP phones only support STUN, and therefore cannot be used for client-to-client data transfer by most broadband Internet users.
In most cases, operators settled for using a relay server (such as Session Border Controller) for all calls. Since all calls are relayed, the relay server becomes a bottleneck (and expensive) for service scalability, and deteriorates call quality by injecting additional delay, jitter and packet-loss. Also since SBCs implement proprietary protocols products from one vendor do not work with those from another vendor.
In some cases, developers have developed proprietary NAT traversal solutions (such as Skype) that do not interoperate with others.
What types of features and capabilities is the VoIP industry looking for in a NAT traversal solution?
Here is a list if features and capabilities the VoIP industry is looking for:
•100 percent traversal of VoIP calls through NATs, firewalls and web-proxies.
• Standard-based solution to ensure 3rd party interoperability (IETF drafts STUN, TURN and ICE).
•Works without changing NATs, firewalls or other infrastructures.
•Most calls should be peer-to-peer for best media quality and scalability.
•Comprehensive solution with handset/client and server components.
•Small footprint for the end-point solution with support for multiple PC and embedded platforms.
•Mature and field-proven technology.
•The bottom-line is that when a user purchases a VoIP phone or service, it should just work in all cases without any service scalability bottlenecks.
What is AnyFirewall Technology and how is it being used by companies in the VoIP industry?
The award winning AnyFirewall™ Engine is the industry's leading NAT traversal Software Development Kit (SDK) for guaranteed VoIP and video call completion across NATs, firewalls, and Web proxies. AFE incorporates the most -- comprehensive implementation of the IETF standards STUN, TURN and ICE. Eyeball's patented AnyFirewall™ Technology offers - for the first time in the industry- a completely software-based solution that is standards-based (i.e. STUN, TURN, ICE) and primarily peer-to-peer resulting in 100% VoIP and video call completion. Our customers are integrating this technology into soft phones, video phones, set-top boxes, and PDA-based mobile phones.
Why use STUN, TURN and ICE for NAT traversal technologies?
STUN, TURN and ICE are results of international standardization body IETF which is responsible for developing all Internet-related protocols. Together they provide an excellent methodology for NAT traversal which is being standardized in order to ensure interoperability between products and services from different vendors. Earlier efforts on NAT traversal solutions such as application level gateways (ALGs) and session border controllers (SBCs) either did not work well enough or had interoperability, performance and scalability problems. STUN, TURN and ICE have received widespread industry support from vendors such as Cisco, Microsoft and Nokia; and has been adopted for CableLabs IMS specification for next-generation communications architecture. Eyeball AnyFirewall Engine provides the most comprehensive implementation of STUN, TURN and ICE along with features such as UPnP and http-tunneling.
In a nut shell I found that NAT devices and firewalls are major barriers to the widespread adoption of VoIP, and IETF work STUN, TURN, and ICE provide an excellent methodology to address this issue. However, implementation of these methodologies requires considerable insight and experience. Eyeball Networks has invested many years to develop its AnyFirewall technology, the most comprehensive implementation of STUN TURN and ICE, to enable service providers and device makers software to ensure 100% firewall and NAT traversal of IP communications. If VoIP providers and device makers take advantage of this AnyFirewall Technology Nat Traversal will no longer be a concern, and IP communications will one day overtake the usage of traditional phone lines.
5 VoIP Terms You Didn't Know About
1. ATA – This term means analog telephone generator and it’s the device used to connect the standard phone in your home to digital data so it can be transmitted over the Internet. ATA is also referred to as an analog-to-digital converter. The analog signal from your phone is simply converted into digital data that will be transmitted on the Internet.
2. H.323 – this term defines the protocols used to provide audio-visual communication sessions on any packet network. H.323 is a system specification used to describe ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). The standard uses various codecs, that includes: video codecs (H.261, H.263, H.264), audio codecs (G.711, G.729, G.729a, G.723.1, G.726) and text codecs (T.140).
3. MGCP – The Media Gateway Control Protocol is another protocol used in the VoIP system. Also known as H.248 and Megaco, the MGCP deals with signaling and session management during a conference. This protocol is the result of combining other two protocols – the Internet Protocol Device Control (IPDC) and Simple Gateway Control Protocol (SGCP),
4. SIP - The Session Initiation Protocol is a standard for multimedia conferencing over IP. SIP is designed to manage sessions within a packet telephony network. SIP also deals with signaling, that allows information to be carried over the network.
5. Megaco - Megaco/H.248, the Media Gateway Control Protocol, is used between a Media Gateway and a Media Gateway Controller in a VoIP network.
How VoIP benefits Modern Business
VoIP Benefits to Business
VoIP is really a wonderful technology to all the corners of the world. VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) has been a trendsetter for all the people doing business all over the world. VoIP is mainly used for communication purposes; It’s a great alternative to traditional telephones. It plays an important role in saving lot of money in long distance calls to business and common people.
Most of the Business Migrate to VoIP Telephony system.
If you take Big, small or medium companies among the essential things for a business to run, communication is very essential. For ex If you take a business whether it is small, medium or large making communication with clients, employees are vital, some companies have branches all over the world and some companies may have clients all over the world to help them the most Invention of VoIP has become a boon to business people where the cost of making an long distance call is very low compared to traditional phone charges.
Guidelines for Switching to VoIP Telephony system.
I’m now going to explain you about the guidelines you need to check before switching to a complete VoIP telephony system.
When your business has more 70% of your clients living in other state or country.
# When you have plenty of branches spread across the world.
# Need to often conduct conference calls, talk with clients, talk with employees etc.
VoIP Service Provider Selection Basics
There are plenty of VoIP service providers and you need to take a correct decision on which VoIP service provider will be suitable for your business. All the calls that you are going to make for your business are vital, you need to make sure that any VoIP service provider you select must have this following things.
* Round the clock – call center to attend your issues either by phone or email.
* Track record of their support and how quickly and qualitatively rectify the issues.
* Check a trial with the sound quality before signing up for a plan.
* Compare Call charges with other service provider before accepting the plan.
* Make sure you get some value added benefits on signing up for the plan like free calls to certain destinations or numbers.
VoIP without Computers
To operate with VoIP you don’t need computers anymore, VoIP routers are available in all leading tech shops or you can purchase it any one of the leading online store. This is how you will do, VoIP Router helps you to connect analog or telephones to the Internet, this enables you to avoid computers for making VoIP calls.