If you still haven’t explored VOIP phone technology, then you’re missing a trick. VOIP means making free phone calls over the web and it WILL SAVE YOU A FORTUNE. IT can be used PC to PC, PC to phone, or even phone to phone (though the calls are still always via the internet). And it’s easy to set up a VOIP phone system.
The biggest player is Skype. Their software offers free computer to computer calls, and you get massive reductions on calls using your phone too. As someone who makes daily business calls from London to Italy … and pays nothing for the privilege, I can hugely recommend the Skype service.
I’m assuming you’ve got a reasonably new computer and a broadband internet connection. You’ll also need a cheap headset, with earphones and a mic. Then, You simply go to the website of any of the hundreds of VOIP providers and download the software. I won’t go into the technicalities here - we’re interested in saving you money, not grappling with complex new technology, so if it isn’t as easy as peeling an orange I won’t recommend it.
For this reason, I’ve stuck with Skype. A lot of computer geeks don’t favour it, as there are simpler and cleaner packages out there, but it’s easy to set up and lots of people are already using it - so you’re going to find it easy to find other users to make PC to PC phone calls to if you use Skype. You will find a VOIP phone call a slightly different experience. You can occasionally get time lags and ‘drop outs’ of dead air time, as the ‘packets’ of information that are being sent don’t quite deliver properly. Though this improves hugely with the quality and speed of your broadband connection. But the actual quality of sound is extraordinary, like moving from a crackly old vinyl album to CD. You suddenly realise how poor the average landline (and especially mobile) call quality is. Wearing headphones, it does give the slightly creepy sensation of having a conversation with someone inside your bed, but you soon get used to it.
Of course you don’t want to converse just from your computer, or only to people who also have computers running Skype. Luckily VOIP telephony solutions abound nowadays - there are now a host of VOIP providers in the UK. No problem. You can call from PC to phone too, or indeed phone to phone. With more and more phone calls being routed over the internet ANYWAY, this technology is increasingly LESS about new technology and MORE about new and hungry firms smashing the price models of BT and the rest. VOIP phone software is now easy to set up and easy to use - in some cases you don’t even need software. Take a look at one of the biggest providers, jajah, and you see a link for Jajah Direct, phone to phone VOIP.
You simply dial a local number (a London number in my case) and when you reach the automated switchboard you then dial your friend’s number. It’s a slicker version of those phone cards you see on sale in markets all over the world, targeted largely at people ringing home to Africa, the States or wherever. And you can use your regular landline. And that should give you pause for thought when you’re on holiday. Don’t use expensive hotel phones (and certainly not rip off mobiles). If you take your foldaway headset, you can use a VOIP service to make your calls free from the hotel computer.
A service such as Vephone doesn’t even demand that you download any software, as it’s web-based, so everything is happening on the company’s servers. You get a ‘real UK telephone number’ that anyone can call, and all you have to do is log in to an internet enabled computer. Services like this, where you get a proper phone number, could be the answer for those of us who are unwilling to dump the expensive landline and just use a mobile.
Of course, making phone calls from your computer doesn’t have to mean you’re stuck at your desk. Think about it - with the growth of mobile broadband, handsets that surf the web, and the Blackberry of course, we’re increasingly carrying our PC in our pocket anyway. It’s a short hop to turning your mobile phone into a webphone. Mobile is, of course, one area where VOIP has lagged behind, as we tend to buy our mobile with a call-plan attached, whether it be Orange, O2 or whatever. This will, inevitably change. Check out the voipproviderslist website for some interesting stuff on the future of mobile VOIP.
Price comparisons are notoriously tricky. The phone companies change their tariffs even more regularly than the gas and electricity providers, with BT recently slashing the cost of weekend calls to users.
And the VOIP providers too have a bewildering array of tariffs. Some will be free to the USA, some will be cheap for PC to phone, others better for phone to mobile calls, and so on. The best advice is to figure out WHERE most of your calls go (a bit like setting up your BT friends and family list) and then head to voiproviderslist.com, where you can match a service to your needs. One thing is sure - you NEVER need to pay for PC to PC calls, and Skype really comes into its own for my company making conference calls, sometimes between the UK, Italy and the United States. With an attached instant messaging service, you can even type in notes, references, URLs of handy websites etc, during your conversation. It’s a terrific business tool - and it’s FREE.
Of course, VOIP provisioning is quickly going mainstream. In a couple of years time, this will all look different, as we dial VOIP direct from our landlines, and big players like TESCO are already in the market. But for now, take the plunge and get VOIP’d. You’ll save a small fortune.
Links: VOIP providers list, Skype, jajah, Tesco internet phone
Tags: voip phone system, voip telephony solutions, voip
