What is voip hou can you use?

Answer 1

VOIP stands for Voice over IP. It uses the internet to provide voice communicatons just like the phone company except cheaper. You can get an Internet connection and Phone connection all in the same package. That is what Vonage does. So instead of talking over the phone lines you are talking over the computer cables. It is a lot cheaper than AT@T and it includes Internet access for your PC and phone service all in one monthly fee.

Answer 2

Rtrahan is correct that Voice over Internet Protocol (abbreviated as VoIP) does offer telephone service through an Internet connection and does so much more cheaply than the traditional phone services such as AT&T. However, he is not correct in that VoIP provides the Internet service. Instead, one must obtain the Internet service before one can use VoIP.

There are various options available for getting VoIP service. One is to use such things as MagicJack that offer to connect your computer to their phone service but this type of service (as well as the company promoting MagicJack itself) is very abysmal in quality. Another is to use a software solution such as Skype. This is better than MagicJack but still is not optimal and definitely not very professional if it is to be used on a daily basis for business purposes. The best option is to have a real hardware solution that uses a VoIP adapter. Services that have this type of service include 8x8 (formerly known as Packet8), PhonePower, Ooma, and Vonage.

The advantage of a hardware based solution is that it is much more true to traditional call quality. This is partly due to the hardware being specifically designed to provide this service rather than just throwing something together to make the computer act like the VoIP interface. Also, with a hardware solution, one can use a traditional phone and dial as if one would dial using a normal phone line, complete with dial tone.

How this works is that the VoIP adapter plugs into the network switch or router with a typical Ethernet cable and plugged into the back of the VoIP device is a telephone cord that leads back to the phone that the user will be using to answer and make phone calls. When the user makes a phone call, he picks up the phone, dials as if he would normally and the person he is calling answers just like he would answer any other phone call. He has no idea that the phone call is coming through a non-traditional phone service. When someone calls the VoIP user, it's very much the same. The caller dials a regular phone number as if he were calling a traditional phone service number and a moment later, the phone rings at the VoIP user's end and he answers it just like any other phone call. What is invisible to both users is that the phone call is being converted from standard analog audio into IP packets, sent across the Internet to the appropriate VoIP serivce provider's system interface, and then sent to the appropriate telephone system network switch to reach the traditional participant in the phone call. All this happens at the speed of light, so there is ideally no delay in conversation. It sounds like the two people are talking from across the street, not from across the planet.

Does this help you understand the way the technology works? If you have further questions or if you don't quite understand something, feel free to drop me a line. I'll do what I can to clear up any confusion for you.