The ability to offer data, and voice and video services is something that your company wants to do, but is it possible to justify implementing the needed VoIP solution to offer those services rapidly, easily, and cost effectively—without disrupting your current network environment? This article will examine the possibilities of VoIP services for individuals and corporations in order to generalize what makes them attractive to potential VoIP service carriers.

What is VoIP?

VoIP phones use existing high speed internet connections (Cable, ADSL, office LAN, etc.) to make telephone calls over the Internet. It is possible to use a regular telephone, but instead of being carried over a landline wired connection, your voice is digitized by a VoIP interface and then it is sent over the Internet. The caller on the opposite end could be on a regular landline, a cellular phone, or even another VoIP connection. It is a fact that in many cases the other caller will not be able to determine that you are using a VoIP connection.

Two types of PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) to VoIP services exist: DID (Direct Inward Dialing) and access numbers. DIDs connect the caller directly to the VoIP user, while access numbers require the caller to use the extension number of the VoIP user. Access numbers are often charged as a local call to the caller and free to the VoIP user while a DID has a monthly fee associated with it. There are also cases where DIDs are free to the VoIP user but can be chargeable to the caller.

What Kind of Equipment do you Need?

Signing up with a VoIP service provider is the same as signing up with a landline service provider or a cellular provider. You buy a monthly service, but first you must get some equipment to use their service. Landline service providers install wires into your residence and cellular phone providers sell you either a mobile phone or a SIM card. VoIP providers will supply you with an interface box that you then plug in both a regular landline phone and a high speed internet connection. Your current Internet Service Provider (ISP) must allow provide you with at least 2 IP addresses, one for your phone and one for your computer.

To become an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) you will need a softswitch application server, a gateway and a high bandwidth or fibre Internet connection.

Switching to VoIP

The goal of VoIP services is to create presence-based communication systems. This means that VoIP will offer unified communications, allowing the user the choice of how and by whom they can be contacted. It will be possible to choose whether you want to be contacted by mobile, home, or work phone or email, and to determine which calls you want to go straight to voicemail which ones you want to go through to your phone directly.

Over the next ten years telecommunications manufacturers will be moving to VoIP products in order to facilitate unified communication. The infrastructure needs to be in place before software and applications developers have the motivation to be inventive. VoIP application development should increase as the number of converged networks grow.

Commercial VoIP Services

When it comes to Voice over Internet Protocol phone calling, or VoIP, many people will have heard of one of the major independent players — Vonage. Many will also have heard of the PC-based alternative, the softphone Skype, if only because eBay purchased the company for $2.6-billion (U.S.) dollars last year from the founders of Kazaa file-swapping software.

Both services definitely have their benefits, and are very useful in different ways. Vonage is useful for anyone who wants a VoIP phone that works much like a regular phone — you plug your regular phone into the Vonage box (ATA), and it sends your phone calls over the Internet. Many cable companies offer the same type of services. Skype is a lot cheaper, (Skype-to-Skype calls are free), but it is a software-based phone (softphone) that only works when you are at your computer. Other services allow you to use a basic IP phone for communication. This phone plugs into your LAN hub or router and enables you to make calls directly over the Internet. New IP phones are becoming increasingly competitively priced and have all kinds of excellent features, like video.

With broadband penetration closing in on the saturation point in Canada, the potential market for Internet-based phone service is huge. In the year 2002, about ninety-five per cent of the local residential and business telephone markets were controlled by monopolies such as Bell and Telus Corp., according to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The CRTC says that the two markets were worth nearly $10 billion that year.

It could be even more lucrative with VoIP, since the technology doesn't need any of the expensive wires and intricate switching equipment required by traditional analog lines. The savings could translate into lower prices to lure consumers, who typically expect to save twenty-five to forty per cent on monthly phone bills when calling via the Web.

VoIP means big savings, especially for businesses, since it substantially lowers long-distance expenses.

Using phone number portability and virtual numbers, VoIP services allow users to travel anywhere in the world and still make and receive phone calls:

Subscribers to phone-line replacement services can make or receive local phone calls regardless of their location. For example, if a user has a New York City phone number and is traveling through Europe and someone calls the phone number, it will ring in Europe. Conversely, if a call is made from their user agent (UA) in Europe to New York City, it will be treated the same as if it is a local call. Of course, there must be a broadband connection to the Internet e.g. WiFi to make all of this possible.
 
Users of Instant Messenger based VoIP services can also travel anywhere in the world and make and receive phone calls easily.
 
Specialized mobile VoIP services allow users to speak over internet protocol and use VoIP based Instant Messenger services from their mobile phones.

VoIP phones integrate with other services available over the Web, including video conversation, messaging or data file exchange in parallel with the conversation, managing address books, audio conferencing and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or business colleagues) are available online to interested parties.

Pre-Paid Phone Cards

VoIP has become an important technology for phone services to travelers, migrant workers and ex-pats, who either, due to not having a land line or mobile phone or high overseas roaming charges, decide instead to use VoIP services to make their phone calls. Pre-paid phone cards can be used either from a normal phone, a pay phone or from Internet cafes that have phone services. Developing countries and regions with many tourists or immigrant communities generally have a higher amount of users.

Telco and Corporate Use

Although very few office environments and even less homes use a pure VoIP infrastructure, telecommunications providers often use IP telephony, over a dedicated IP network, in connecting switching stations, converting voice signals to IP packets and back. The result is a multi-purpose data-abstracted completely digital network which the provider can easily upgrade.

Corporate customer telephone support centers often use IP telephony to take advantage of the data abstraction. The benefit of using this technology is the need for a single class of circuit connection and better bandwidth use. Companies can acquire their own gateways to eliminate third-party costs, which may be worthwhile in certain situations.

VoIP is often employed by carriers, especially for international telephone calls. It is widely used to route traffic starting and ending at conventional PSTN telephones.

The hosted PBX is a central-based ASP-model server that enables companies to take advantage of all of the features of a circuit-switched or IP-PBX, without necessitating the cash outlay for equipment or software. It is located at the ITSP and local users have access to its services. It can offer a fully automated IVR, caller accounts and Web-based voicemail management features regardless of phone model or office location. This VoIP service is a cost-effective Internet telephony solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Many telecommunications companies are looking at the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) which merges Internet technologies with the mobile world, utilizing a pure VoIP infrastructure. It enables businesses to upgrade their existing systems while embracing technologies such as the Internet, email, instant messaging, presence, and also video conferencing. IMS will also allow existing VoIP systems to interface with conventional PSTN and mobile phones.

Voice over IP services functioning over managed networks are considered to be a practical substitute for PSTN telephone services (despite problems such as of power outages and lack of geographical information); as a result, major operators that provide managed services (in practice, incumbent operators) may find themselves bound by the requirements of price control or accounting separation.

VoIP services that function over unmanaged networks can be considered to be too poor in quality to be a practical substitute for PSTN services; as a result, they can be provided without any specific obligations, even if a service provider has "significant market power".

How to Choose a VoIP Service Provider

Selecting an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) is similar to choosing a mobile phone service provider – it is important to do your research first by visiting service providers' web sites and learning about the service they offer and the fees that are involved. Talking to friends is also quite important since they will be more than happy to share their thoughts on their current VoIP service provider. Another option to consider is to telephone potential VoIP service providers and to ask them to tell you about their products, service fees, number portability, and so on.

Most calls on VoIP lines are just as clear as a regular landline, but due to QoS (Quality of Service) issues, a few calls may be choppy, similar to bad cell phone connections. This is an issue that VoIP service providers are working on, but be prepared to experience just a few choppy calls on your VoIP line.

Another flaw, however, will always remain: VoIP services only work if your broadband connection is working. If the power goes out, or your connection drops, your phone service will go down. There is another good reason to look to the coming rollout of hybrid cell/VoIP services, so you have a fallback in case of emergencies. On the flip side, one of VoIP's best savings comes from the relative lack of taxes and fees. That situation may not last forever, but services should be relatively levy-free in the near future.

Select a good provider and you can expect quality service, excellent features, and huge savings. Call features that may cost several dollars a piece with your local phone company are often free with VoIP services. These may include call waiting, Caller ID, Do Not Disturb, call forwarding, and three-way conferencing. Many services offer increasingly sophisticated call forwarding features, like the “follow-me” feature that you can customize for individual phone numbers and circumstances, so you forward certain callers to specific phone numbers at certain times. Voicemail is standard, and some services enable you to forward voice calls to an email address or access it on the Internet. Other advanced features include conference calls, call filtering and screening, and contact list management.

Depend on Your Application

The ideal softswitch or hosted PBX will give the ITSP the ability to administrate and manage all these services, while providing billing solutions, using a cross-browser, Web-based interface. The VoIP service provider that offers excellent residential and/or commercial customer service and all the calling features in an attractive and easy-to-use package could see profits from the return on their investment (ROI) in no time. With the right ITSP, individuals and businesses, large and small, can take advantage of the efficiencies and savings associated with IP-based communications and Voice over IP services.