Internet Phone (VoIP)
Last Updated: October 3, 2007
What is it?
It's telephone over the internet. The main appeal is that it's very inexpensive. I used to pay $75/month for local and long distance, but now I pay $20/month including taxes. The setup is pretty easy. Vonage provided a VoIP modem for me to install. It's the middleman between the home network and the phones in your house. A network cable plugs into the home network to connect to the internet and a phone cord plugs into an empty phone jack on the wall to connect to all of the phones in the house. The phones and answering machine work the same. All you need is a broadband connection to the internet.
Best VoIP Service
In October 2007, PC Magazine compared 5 different VoIP companies and gave Vonage their Editor's Choice Award. Unfortunately, the review didn't include AT&T Call Vantage, a prior winner.
According to a survey by PC Magazine in September 2006, AT&T CallVantage rated the best by consumers. Plans start at $20/month for unlimited residential service.
Avoid One Year Contracts
If you sign up with a provider, make sure you aren't locked into a one year contract. It can take 30 days to switch your phone number, so don't plan on using the free 30 days to evaluate the service. Test your internet connection BEFORE signing up using Test Your VoIP.com.
Free Computer to Computer Calls
There are several free programs that allow free computer to computer phone calls and most even add video. All you need is a broadband connection, a headset with boom microphone, and a webcam. See the desktop accessories sections for some suggestions. Skype is quite popular for voice only, while SightSpeed is the best for video. Other software like AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, GTalk, and others also work, but not as well. Here are 9 other software applications with a brief synopsis on each one.
Fixing our Call Quality Problem with Vonage
We joined Vonage in August 2005 and people complained about the call quality through September 2006. We heard everything perfectly, but the person at the other end had dropouts where there was silence for 2 to 4 seconds at a time, especially when we first answered the call. At the beginning of each call, we had to ask if they could hear us before we started a conversation. I replaced all of our home network equipment with gigabit hardware and wiring, replaced the cable modem, and downgraded our Vonage voice quality from 90kbps to 50kbps and we still had dropouts.
As a last ditch effort, I reconfigured the network from automatic (using DHCP on the router) to manual (assigning each computer a static IP address on the network). I then used port forwarding to have Vonage traffic directed straight to the VoIP modem. It worked! I even bumped up the call quality to the maximum 90kbps and we haven't had a single complaint. Here are Vonage's and VoIP-Sol.com's suggestions for improved call quality.
Verizon Wins Patent Infringement Case Against Vonage
In March 2007, Verizon sued and won a patent infringement case against Vonage. The most significant patent infringement was how a computer call connected to a phone switch to call a landline phone. Vonage signed a deal with VoIP, Inc in April to avoid future infringements. The U.S. Court of Appeals allowed Vonage to continue business as usual and Vonage will appeal Verizon's win claiming Verizon's patents were applied too broadly in this case. Vonage's problem was they didn't have any patents to counter Verizon's patents.
All Things VoIP
VoIP Monitor.net is a good, single source of most things relating to VoIP.