VOIP: Bridging the Gap in A Cost Effective Way

Ever heard of VOIP services? VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol other terms are voice over broadband or internet telephony. VOIP has become commercially available to most people everywhere. More and more people are using VOIP because of its low cost and portability compared to regular landline phones. You can take your phone with you wherever you go and you can use it whenever you need it.

The  Benefits of VOIP:
1. Savings : VOIP is very cheap compared to regular phones. There are many VOIP providers who gives you low low fees when you subscribe to them. Magic Jack for instance has a great plan for only $ 19.99 per year or you could upgrade to $ 60 for five years. Vonage on the other hand charges $24.99 per month or you could avail of their yearly plans that would cost $19.99 a month. Other providers have great plans too that you could check out if you are planning to switch to VOIP.

2. Portability - Some VOIP gives you a router others a thumb drive to connect to your pc and internet. Whatever you get from them whether its a router or a thumb drive  is very handy that you can take it anywhere you go. If you have loved ones in another country that you always talk to every now and then, to cut the cost of international long distance calls you can send the device over to them and they can use it there. However, you have to make sure that they have a good internet connection.  Now you might be wondering about the charges if you send a device to another country, no worries! They will get the same area code that you have and each call will be treated as a local call. Brilliant right?!

3. Cool features - Almost all VOIPS have a wide range of free features that you could use for free.  Like two way calling, call conference, you can even forward your calls to your email and you can retrieve it later. Or some service providers has a feature that converts audio calls into sms or text messages that you can receive in your mobile phone! Check features  that are available to you before signing up.

4. Cheap IDD Rates - If you are a businessman and you need to make tons of calls overseas Voip providers has international plans available to you, this is very affordable compared to traditional landline rates.

The Disadvantages:

1. This is not advisable as a primary phone for people who live in brown out and tornado prone areas. When you loose electricity you cannot make outgoing calls. You could receive incomming calls by accessing your voicemails or audio email attachments.

2. If you have home alarm system and you would be using this as your primary phone this would not be compatible with your home alarm system.

3. You would need a high speed internet in order for VOIP to work. Either a dsl broadband or a high speed cable internet connection.Most VOIPs is not compatible with dial up, satellite and air cards.You would have a choppy line if you use internet connections other than cable or dsl.

4. For people who live in mobile homes and has a router provided by the VOIP company this would not work because you would need to connect the router to the pc to a phone jack. If you have a thumb drive like Magic Jack or the Vonage Vphone this would work.

So those are the pros and cons you have to weigh down when considering to switch to VOIP services. If you do not have the limitations mentioned above Voip will work just fine for you. It will give more value for your money.