VoIP technology (Voice over IP) is no longer new. However, maybe motivated by a certain lack of technical knowledge, a lot of people miss the opportunity to
use this – almost -
free service and they keep on paying extra for their communications.
In this article, I will not neither deal with technical details nor tell the visitor the history of this technology - those interested can consult the following URLs:
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/VOIP
http://www.ezilon.com/information/article_15544.shtml
What really matters is:
In most cases, just as in the packages of voice communications provided by a "traditional" operator,
communications for land-based telephones are cheaper, or even free.
Communications for mobile nets (mobile telephones) are paid / more expensive.
In the case of a residential user, nowadays, those packages offered by "traditional" operators are already very competitive.
However, in many cases, there are still exist significant differences at a business level.
Nevertheless, both at a private and a business level, this website can be a nice surprise for many of you:
http://www.voipcheap.com
To the date, when I am writing these lines, the cost of a call to a land based telephone line for practically all the countries in Europe, including Portugal, is 0 EUR / minute, and the call rate for any national mobile company (Vodafone, TMN or Optimus) is just 0,10 EUR / minute - This rate applies to a significant amount of European mobile nets.
Now, I think there may be a considerable saving here, both at a private and a business level, because in many cases, calls to land based numbers are still paid if they are made via the "traditional" operators, and the individual / business packages of mobile calls (fixed-mobile) are, also in many cases, costlier than those made by VoIP operators.
I insist - this company (VoIPCheap) is not the only one of its kind, as there are many others in the same industry, but I leave this one as a reference because according to the knowledge on the rates that I have, this one is very competitive in terms of pricing.
But this big question usually arises: Do these calls have to be made via a computer?
Not necessarily.
Nowadays, they are pretty popular, with identical rates to those of a "traditional" telephone; IP telephones can be used at any residence or office.
In case a user already has a telephone switchboard and intends to use it, if this one supports the SIP protocol, the integration of this service should also be smooth and easy.
And what is the quality of these calls?
In my opinion, very good! In other words, in 99,9% of the calls that I make you cannot tell apart whether you are making a VoIP call or a call on a "traditional" telephone.
However, I must mention that these calls are made by using the bandwidth of your existing Internet connection – Internet connections, at present (cable, ADSL, optic fibre), have a more than reasonable quality to support several VoIP connections at the same time. But if you still access Internet via an analogical modem (is it still possible!?!) or through mobile broadband - and you are in a place with a weak signal - then this technology may not have the quality you may wish.
I don't have any telephone switchboard in my company, and I want the same functionalities as if I had one, it is possible with VoIP?
Yes, of course.
There are some applications – some of them are open source packages – that can be installed on a computer. They feature a variety of options, such as:- Unlimited number of extentions;
- Call transfer;
- Calls waiting;
- Calls waiting music;
- Teleconference;
- Vídeoconference;
- Voice mail;
- Links to other telephone switchboards / public telephone nets;
- Personalized menus (IVR);
- Automatic distribution of calls (ACD);
- Registers and detailed reports of calls by extension;
- Etc.