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 Cost
In general, phone service via VoIP costs less than equivalent service
from traditional sources but similar to alternative Public Switched
Telephone Network (PSTN) service providers. Some cost savings are due
to using a single network to carry voice and data, especially where
users have existing under-utilized network capacity they can use for
VoIP at no additional cost. Some Internet connections are asymmetrical,
i.e. the upstream data rate is significantly lower than the downstream
data rate. This places a final absolute throttle to the transmitted
data rate and thus voice quality. The slowest Internet connections can
offer lower signal quality than regular dedicated phone networks.
VoIP to VoIP phone calls on any provider are typically free, whilst
VoIP to PSTN calls generally costs the VoIP user. Free VoIP to PSTN
services are rare. A notable provider is VoIP User.
There are two types of PSTN to VoIP services: DID and access numbers.
DID will connect the caller directly to the VoIP user while access
numbers requires the caller to input the extension number of the VoIP
user. Access numbers are usually charged as a local call to the caller
and free to the VoIP user while DID usually has a monthly fee. There
are also DID that are free to the VoIP user but is chargeable to the
caller.
Functionality
VoIP can facilitate tasks that may be more difficult to achieve using
traditional phone networks:
- Incoming phone calls can be automatically routed to your VoIP phone,
irrespective of where you are connected to the network. Take your VoIP
phone with you on a trip, and anywhere you connect it to the Internet,
you can receive your incoming calls. -- Call center agents using VoIP
phones can work from anywhere with a sufficiently fast Internet
connection.
- VoIP phones can integrate with other services available over the
Internet, including video conversation, message or data file exchange
in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing
address books and passing information about whether others (e.g.
friends or colleagues) are available online to interested parties.
Mobility
VoIP allows users to travel anywhere in the world and still make and
receive phone calls:
- Subscribers of phone-line-replacement services can make and receive
local phone calls regardless of their location. For example, if the
user has New York City phone number and are traveling in Europe if
someone calls their phone number it will ring in Europe. Conversely,
if they make a call from Europe to New York City it will be a local
call. Of course, they must be connected to the Internet to make all
this possible.
- Users of IM based VoIP services like Skype or Yahoo! IM can also
travel anywhere in the world and make and receive phone calls. |
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