Jon Arnold asked:


In the process of trying to explain to some older friends why they should consider VOIP service for their home, it struck me that I have not found a true beginner’s guide or novice guide that explains what VOIP is and why it may be a good economic and financial decision. This article will address home VOIP service from the beginner’s standpoint, and while not addressing each and every question or concern about VOIP, should provide enough basic information to the point where it will give you a background to know what you are looking at and whether or not it makes sense for your home.

Basic Requirement

The VOIP service provider, almost regardless of which one you choose, does NOT provide your high-speed Internet access. When you buy the VOIP service from them, they assume you already have that. You see, VOIP service uses your existing high-speed Internet service to make and receive phone calls, and the VOIP provider assumes you already have that to email, surf the web, etc.

Even if you do already have high-speed Internet access, it needs to be stable, fast, and reliable. If it is not all three of those things, you are not going to be happy with VOIP service from ANY provider. If your high-speed Internet connection is via satellite, do not consider VOIP, satellite will not work well with it.

Your Local Phone Number

In larger cities and major metropolitan areas, you can almost always get a phone number for your VOIP phone that would be considered a LOCAL phone call for people in your area who want to call you. But in many less-than-metropolitan areas, it is not possible to get a local phone number for your VOIP phone. You can still get and use VOIP service but you won’t have a local phone number. For example, if you live in Podunk Idaho, you may not be able to get a phone number for your VOIP phone that is local to Podunk, but you CAN get a local number for Boise Idaho. The problem with this is that when people want to call you on your VOIP phone, they will actually be making a long distance call to reach you, since your phone number is a Boise number.

If you are just considering VOIP service for making long distance calls and really don’t care that local residents will need to make a long distance call to reach your VOIP phone, then this is not an issue, but it is something to be aware of nonetheless.



BARTER