Broadband Internet Phone

By Sabrina Hinds

For the uninitiated, the term broadbandphone is loosely used to describe the technology currentlyavailable where one can make telephone calls from a telephonesystem that sends the voice signal over your internetconnection. The call may terminate at a regular phone line oranother broadband phone.

Until recently, the technology was not being used widely becauseof its perceived limitations, including lack of featuresavailable. The primary issue however has been that of poor callquality.

Now, continuing improvements in the industry and increasedcompetition pushing the development of the technology haveresulted in significant progress, to the extent that someanalysts now predict that broadband phones (really Voice overInternet Protocol technologies) will dominate the long distancecalling market by 2010 - maybe sooner.

Here are some specific reasons why you may find broadband phonesa good fit at this stage.

Reason #5: Portability and Ease of Use

The equipment provided by the broadband phone companies can beused wherever you have access to a high speed connection. Mostbroadband service companies do not restrict you from travelingwith your phone. As long as the network that you are plugginginto will "automagically" assign your broadband device aninternet address (IP address) - and most will - you are up andrunning.

This means that you can be in a hotel in Japan and still beaccessible at the same phone number - your kids or staff don'tneed to know the hotel's number.

Reason #4: Long Distance Savings

Broadband services typically come with lower long distance ratesthan you can get from most traditional carriers. This calculatesinto immediate cost savings. Some services allow you to add oneor more virtual numbers to your main phone number. This meansthat your phone may be able to receive calls from 2 or moredifferent area codes. This virtually eliminates long-distancephoning charges for anyone calling within those numbers' areacodes.

Reason #3: Freedom from Tariffs

For the time being, calls made over the internet are not subjectto a lot of the tariffs that afflict your regular phone bill.How long will this persist? There are different opinions on thisin the industry, but right now it's a nice advantage that makesfor an even lower phone bill.

Reason #2: Availability of High Speed Internet

All the cost saving and convenience reasons already mentionedwould not do much to propel the growth of the broadband phonemarket if consumers did not have access to high speedconnections at their homes.

Broadband phones perform the best when using cable or DSLhighspeed internet connections. While companies that have localarea networks with high speed connections to the internet caninvestigate VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) relativelyeasily.

Reason #1: Clarity of Sound

The top reason why broadband phone services are currently makingswift inroads is that the call quality has significantlyimproved. All of the major players now offer services that worksatisfactorily for residential use and some can consistentlymeet the most stringent business requirements for clarity.

Finally, considering the initial small investment that may berequired to get a broadband phone account up and running, thevolume of savings you are likely to experience within a shortperiod is very significant. The flexibility, ease of use(technical know-how not needed) combined with improvement inquality definitely makes this bandwagon a good ride

Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com

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