15 December 2014

Residential VoIP Customers Save Every Month with a Residential VoIP Provider
While it seems like ages ago, we aren’t too far away from the time when long-distance calls charges limited people’s phone use. TV viewers were bombarded by commercials from telephone companies offering long-distance rates low enough rates for them to call their loved ones. Even after mobile phones became prevalent, customers got popped with expensive roaming charges and location-based fees.

As broadband penetration has reached higher levels than ever, these concerns have almost become a thing of the past. Residential VoIP customers can choose from a variety of providers and use Internet bandwidth to make phone calls. VoIP stands at the center of this revolution and it is improving all the time. In turn, this drives down costs for residential and commercial customers.

Defining VoIP

If we break down the acronym, VoIP means Voice over Internet Protocol. In other words, speakers' voices no longer travels over standard phone lines as a single unit of information. Rather, the sounds get split up into discrete packets of information. Then, those packets find their way to the destination over the network and reassemble when they arrive. This allows calls to make use of the Internet’s power, which has its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

Easy to Install

VoIP programs have become so ubiquitous that many people have used one already without giving much thought to it. Many well-known ones are just a quick download away. Once they are set up and the user has registered, they can begin calling other users or telephones.

Even for those who opt for a residential VoIP set-up with a connection to a physical telephone, the process usually doesn’t require much. Really, all that has to be done is connect an existing Internet cable to the IP phone after subscribing. Some VoIP providers, in fact, supply customers with an adapter and don’t even require a special phone. Some people opt to switch completely over to VoIP, but keeping a regular phone will not interfere with the VoIP service.

Cheap and Free Calls

Many residential VoIP systems offer free calls to other users of the same system. So, if people who have a friend or family member they regularly talk to, it would make sense to get them on the same service. The same would work for companies with long-term clients or partners who need to keep in constant contact. A variety of computer applications let their users use their audio and video services for free.
Of course, everyone in the world can't join the same network, but VoIP customers can still make inexpensive calls to other phones. Customers who don’t make many calls often choose to just pay as they go, which usually costs a few cents a minute. Customers who rely on the service more might want to get a subscription. The cheapest of these run under ten dollars a month.

More expensive plans often include other features that certain customers will find useful. It all depends on the customers’ reasons for using VoIP. For example, commercial and residential VoIP users will have different needs when it comes to speed, features and functions. Shop around for the best rates according to how the phone will be used.

Features to Consider

Voicemail, Call Forwarding and Simultaneous Rings

Depending on the purpose of using VoIP, users might want voicemail for missed calls. Now, many services can even store voicemails direct to email, complete with a sound recording of the message. Alternatively, a forwarding service can send calls to another location where someone else can answer the phone. People with multiple devices sometimes select the simultaneous ring feature, so they will receive every call on all their devices.

Databases, Control Panel Options and Virtual Numbers

Increasingly, people use residential VoIP for home offices. Such users can avail themselves of feature like databases to keep records of the time, date, duration and even voice recordings of all incoming and outgoing calls. To access this data, some services offer control panels that let users manage every aspect of their account on a computer or handheld device. Finally, virtual phone numbers can localize a number for friends, family, colleagues or customers who want a local number to dial.

A Technology’s Coming of Age

The telecommunications of the future will undoubtedly transform the way we communicate in ways we can’t even begin to imagine. Right now, innovative companies are devoting significant resources to making VoIP even faster than it is now, and with more sophisticated features. But the public doesn’t have to wait for those developments to start saving money with residential VoIP providers. The days of bad connections and frequently dropped calls are mostly behind us. Given how quickly VoIP has developed since it invention, the future promises even more reliable voice and video connections for all users.

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